Today I am back with a review of the Sally Hansen Microwavable Eyebrow, Face & Lip Wax Kit. Wow that name is a mouthful! First off I want to say that I was kind of unsure when I bought this product as I had read absolutely no reviews on it prior to purchasing; however I was pleasantly surprised! This waxing kit really worked well for me. Usually I use another Sally Hansen kit that has actually wax stuck onto clear plastic strips but this microwaveable wax kit works far better for me and actually hurts a lot less.
A little background on my skin, I have fairly sensitive and dry skin, it is acne prone and easily irritated by almost anything-it also has a ton of fine peach fuzz that is dark. So any kind of disturbance to my skin, whether it be from a face wash, a peel, or in this case-waxing, will cause some kind of reaction on my skin.
The last waxing kit I used that actually came with strips left me with a ton of raised white bumps and a lot of itchy, red, patches that I can't tell if those were from an allergic reaction or just from the friction of waxing, but I am proud to proclaim that this kit from Sally Hansen does not do that to me, after finishing my entire waxing I only had a couple of those raised white bumps by the right side of my mouth and overall the red patches I did have were gone by morning and did not hurt even after waxing initially.
Onto the actual waxing experience and process:
Once I opened the package and began reading the instructions, they said to only heat the wax for 90 seconds and to not exceed 2 minutes of heating time; however it took about 5 minutes for the wax to be completely warm up and be pliable. On top of the long heating time, it smelled awful. The closest I can describe the scent to is like burning plastic, and honestly the smell made me hesitant to even put it on my face because I was concerned the chemicals in the wax would give me a bad chemical burn just from smelling the wax itself.
Secondly, included in the package was a tiny blue plastic spatula to stir the wax and the spatula itself wasn't particularly helpful in stirring. The wax as it cooled continued to stick to it and clump up so that made mixing the wax itself even harder. As an application tool though, I found it rather precise and I managed to get 98% of the hairs on my upper lip covered with the wax without having to go back for a second pass like I normally would using a small wooden stick.
When it came to the actual waxing, the wax did work. It did do its job on my hair at least, the peach fuzz on my face isn't particularly coarse or stubborn, it's just very dark against my skin tone so it is noticeable. I will say this wax got about 80% of the hairs all over my face in one swipe when I was working section by section. Some places like my sideburns did require second passes, but I think that has less to do with the wax and more to do with the fact that the hair I have there is stubborn.
(if you look closely you can see the little hairs, and blue spatula making a cameo in the background)
As far as pain went, I actually did not find this wax painful at all. It hurt initially but not as bad as the waxing strip kits I have used in the past have hurt. I attribute the lessened pain due to this kind of strip-less wax being less sticky than the wax that comes on the clear plastic strips so it doesn't grip on to the skin as much.
One major complaint I do have about this wax besides the smell is the fact that you get such a small amount of wax for the price you pay, I got my kit at WalMart for around $5.50 however I know some places can have huge price disparities so the amount you pay vs the amount of wax you get can be a bit steep. One jar was enough for my whole face, and I did have some left over but probably only enough left for a touch up on my upper lip and nothing more.
To sum up, I think this waxing kit is a step up from the Sally Hansen kit I was using previously and I will repurchase but it is not spectacular. I give it a 3.5 out of five stars in terms of value, effectiveness, and pain level.
Off and Out,
Minted Rose
