Wax On, Wax Off

Good afternoon, peeps! Despite the lack of new posts in the past few days (sorry!), I'm going to have a lot of good stuff in the next week...starting with today's post on waxing. :)

I suppose this would be an appropriate time for me to warn my gentlemen readers that today's post may not be the sexiest or most exciting thing for them to read. However, they may want to continue reading and pass these tips along to a lady friend of theirs...wink, wink. 

So, let's get right to it. I had the pleasure of having a girl's night with two of my fabulous girlfriends (and I mean FABULOUS...one is a neuro scientist, the other is a film director heading to one of the best film schools in the country this fall, and they are both amazingly beautiful, kind, and fun people) last night. It was a great night of yummy snacks (jalapeno hummus...yum, berries, chocolate [not for this girl]), gin and tonic (my first time trying it...also yum!), hot-tubbing,  and a lot of girl talk.  

One subject that came up was body hair removal. [Gentlemen, my apologies in advance for "tmi."]  The girls and I were discussing bikini season and fitness, when the subject turned to hair removal. The truth is, I couldn't have been happier to discuss hair removal, because I think it's important...Dr. Love does too ;). I, unlike many of my fellow Persian ladies, am not very hairy. But I, like almost every other woman, love to have smooth, silky, and hair-free skin. I don't, however, care to break the bank getting it.  So when the girls brought up the subject of waxing, and I shared my waxing secrets with them, they asked me to do a blog post about it. They thought some of my other girlfriends and readers may be interested too.

For me, when it comes to waxing, I am not a big fan of having it professionally done. I think it costs too much, can be very awkward and uncomfortable, and requires that I plan my waxing needs in advance. I have always hated, and been bad at, planning it in advance. When I was a teenager, my mom taught me how to wax so that I would have the ability to do it whenever I wanted to, instead of begging her to do it for me at the end of the night on a busy weekday.

I'm not sure what brand I used back then, but it was definitely a Persian wax of some kind. As an adult, I only trust one brand of wax: Parissa Persian Cold Wax.

This stuff is like magic! It comes on smooth, is easy to use, and is extremely easy to wash off. I warm mine up in the microwave (about 55 seconds to a minute for a full large container, and 40-45 seconds for a partially used container...decreasing heating time as contents of container decrease), and then apply it to my skin with a butter knife (non-serrated edge). I always apply the wax in a downward direction (mimicking the direction of my natural hair growth), so that when I pull the waxing strip off, I'm pulling upwards against the direction of hair growth. This pulls out more hair at once and ensures that you don't upset your body's natural hair growth pattern (I mean, who wants random patches of hair growing in different directions...that just sounds awful).

The best thing about Parissa Wax is that it is entirely water soluble. That means that once you are done waxing, you can use a wet washcloth or jump in the shower to rinse away all of the excess wax. Unlike many other waxes that I have tried in the past, Parissa Wax does not leave you (or your house, if you happen to spill your wax, like I do every now and then) sticky for days.

As seen in the picture above, a container of Parissa Wax usually comes with a popsicle stick applicator (I always use a butter knife instead), and some waxing strips. The strips are great, but I have found that they usually run out wayyy before the wax runs out. So, I pick up extra strips from my local ULTA beauty supply store (sorry, couldn't find the product on the ULTA website to link) for a very, very reasonable price. However, if you find yourself absolutely desperate for removal strips while in the middle of a waxing session or when you are otherwise unable to go to the store, don't worry. There are plenty of items commonly found in your home that will do the trick just fine. Some things that I have used in the past and that I can confirm work great are old (clean) jeans and clean sheets that you don't mind getting rid of. If using either of these fabrics, you will need to ensure that they are both clean and that they do not have elastic in them. Elasticity allows the fabric to stretch when you pull the strip and that prevents the fabric from getting a solid grip on the wax and your hair. All you need to do is to cut the fabric into strips (about 3 inches by 10 inches) and, if using jean material, apply the inside of the jeans right onto the wax on your body. Another commonly found home supply that I have not tried, but that my cousins swear works amazingly well, is white printer paper.

I hope that this post has been informative to the ladies and has not scared away too many of the gentlemen! I would love know whether you would like to hear more about products that I have used and love, or if I just bored you to death with this post.

That's all for now, but I cannot wait for tomorrow's post about making homemade salsa. Until then, happy waxing!!!