There’s nothing more irritating than choosing the perfect outfit for a night out, only to come to the sudden realisation that it’s going to reveal your less than hairless legs and the horror of choosing a hair removal method sets in. Salon waxing is too expensive, shaving doesn’t last long enough and epilating is damn painful.
So, here at HC Manchester we’ve put two at-home waxing methods to the test – store-bought waxing strips and natural sugar waxing – to see which one is more effective and are judging the results based on four factors:
- Hair removal
- Value for money
- Time consumption
- Pain
Sugar Waxing
After researching how to make our own sugar wax, we popped to the shop to pick up our ingredients. With just two components required – lemons and sugar – the formulae cost just £3 to make.
We put the ingredients in a pan on the stove and cooked them for just 10 minutes before kneading the wax into a paste that we then applied directly to the leg. As this was our first experience with sugar wax, we decided to use reusable waxing strips to make the hair removal process a little easier.
Before and after
There was a bit of redness and spotting after the waxing, mainly due to the fact that sugar wax is removed by going with the direction of the hair growth instead of against it, but it wasn’t significant. This is so the hairs aren’t ripped from their pore so harshly, damaging the skin the way traditional waxing methods do. As sugar dissolves in warm water, the leftover residue was easy to remove – a quick wipe with a flannel and we were good to go!
Pros…
- Exfoliates the skin while waxing
- Less damaging to the skin than traditional waxing
- Super affordable
- Very little redness
Cons…
- Messy! As the wax isn’t stuck to a strip, it can – and will – get everywhere
- Can be time consuming to make
Overall…
- Hair removal: 5/5
- Value for money: 5/5
- Time consumption: 3/5
- Pain: 3/5
Waxing Strips
We then tried our hand at waxing strips. We bought a box of 40 strips at a local pharmacy, which cost just over £6. At first this seemed like a good deal, but once we started waxing, we realised that it took 20 strips for just one leg.
Before and after
Immediate results looked great, but half an hour or so later, the skin became irritated and started to redden and did not calm down until the next day.
Pros…
- Quick and easy – no need to make anything – just buy and go
- No clean up! The strip contains all the wax and can be disposed of easily
Cons…
- Very painful, especially on the knees
- Quite expensive for how long a box lasts
- Can irritate the skin – would need to be done with plenty of time before you bare all
Overall…
- Hair removal: 4/5
- Value for money: 3/5
- Time consumption: 4/5
- Pain: 4/5
And, after multiple days of enduring the pain of hair removal, we came to the conclusion that, all things considered, sugar waxing is our favourite at-home hair removal method. It’s great value for money and kind to your skin. So give it a go – you won’t be disappointed!