As a man, unless you have a particularly hairy back, work in performance arts or are a body builder, you are unlikely to have suffered the pain us women go through to look beautiful for you. I am, of course, talking about waxing – ripping your hairs out by the root. Obviously, we could choose to perform the less painful shaving, but personally I get a rash from this in a certain area (bikini line), and also the hairs grow back quicker. We could also melt the hair using smelly, disgusting cream, which often leaves the odd fluffy, half melted patch. Instead I go through expensive torture every few weeks.
I decided to try and do it myself (when not going on holiday) to save some money and embarrassment (would you want to spread your legs to a stranger?). I had seen an article on Watchdog about microwaveable wax, which didn’t heat evenly all through and badly burned a few people, so I obviously avoided this. Instead I saw an advert for a wax that was heated by water – the Immac Aqua System.
I found it in Boots for the expensive price of £8.99, but I convinced myself that I would save money in the long run. For your money you get a cardboard box, showing the applicator through a hole, the turquoise applicator, two 50ml canisters of wax, a roller, a lid, 10 fabric strips and an instruction leaflet. It comes in two fragrances - extracts of refreshing green tea and extracts of gentle cotton flowers. I chose the latter for no particular reason.
The instruction leaflet gives details of how to warm the wax, how to check the temperature of the wax, how to apply and remove the wax for legs, underarms and bikini line, how to replace the refill and what to do after use. I will concentrate on the bikini line instructions, as that was what I used it for.
•• Let’s get going! •• To get going you remove the plastic lid and plastic roller (imagine the head of a Philips Ladyshave with the blades being a roller and you will get the idea) from the applicator. You then fill the applicator with hot water (too hot for a hand to bear, but not boiling) up to the fill line. The problem was I couldn’t immediately see a fill line and in the meantime the hot water was burning my hand – preparation is everything! It is actually on the sides and not the back or front, and is obvious when you find it. You then insert the wax canister carefully into the applicator until it clicks, which was harder than it sounds as I couldn’t get it to click immediately. Remove the sealed foil lid from the wax canister and click the roller on to the applicator, again not easy, or maybe I just got a duff one. Wait three minutes. Of course, you are supposed to do a small test patch if you are new to waxing, but of course I didn't.
•• Let’s start ripping! •• You are now ready to inflict pain upon yourself! Check the temperature of the wax by seeing if you can hold the applicator and by putting a small amount on your wrist. For the bikini line, cut a fabric strip in half. Apply a thin layer of was in the direction of hair growth. Oh, how simple this sounds! What actually happened was that I ended up with a very uneven scraping of wax round my bits, as more decided to come out of one side of the roller than the other. You then immediately smooth on a fabric strip, and, holding the skin taut with one hand, peel it off against the direction of hair growth with the other hand. Yowch! Oh, actually it was not as painful as I expected. I looked expectantly at the strip to realise the reason why - it had hardly taken any hair out at all, but where it had the pores were very slightly bleeding. Instead it had just painfully pulled my skin making it very red immediately. I tried again watching this time instead of closing my eyes, and it was like watching a piece of paper being removed from a patch of honey, with little sugary peaks being left behind. I therefore assumed the wax was too hot and runny so needed to be cooler to solidify and pull out my hairs. I tried again after a few more minutes, but the same thing happened again.
By now I was in a right mess! I had half used fabric strips all over the sink, my legs and bits were covered in a sticky goo, my bikini line was red raw and I still looked like a hairy gorilla. I gave up and delicately washed all the wax off. I must say it did clean up very easily, unlike beautician’s wax.
I decided it could be the cheap papery strips they supplied and the uneven coverage that the roller provided. As I have a friend who is a beautician I scrounged a spatula and some proper fabric strips and gave it another go a few days later. To cut a long story short, it did not improve, and yet again only a few hairs were ripped out.
•• Let’s not bother again! •• I was utterly disappointed with this useless product, as it was a complete waste of money. I have already booked a beautician’s appointment for a waxing, as I will not bother with it again. However, in case any of you want to try (you are welcome to my twice used kit), I will complete this opinion by telling you any other relevant facts about the product.
You can get refill kits consisting of more wax and strips for around £6.99. Do not swallow (titter!). It is not suitable for use on the face, breast or genital area and should not be used on broken or sensitive skin, spots or varicose veins. Interestingly it is also not suitable for the elderly, diabetics or people who are taking prescribed medicine for acne (does anyone know why?). You should thoroughly rinse all the equipment after use or the roller will not work properly next time. As with my skin, washing the roller was very easy, with the wax dissolving quickly. You can use each fabric strip up to 3 times, and they can be rinsed. I’m afraid I binned mine in disgust. The wax does have a nice, fresh smell, but I was past caring about this after using it. The instructions suggest applying a cold compress after waxing if you are sensitive or very red. You must not use this system in the microwave. Immac is shortly to be renamed Veet, so avoid the equivalent Veet product too. This product is made by Reckitt Benckiser and they can be contacted on 0845 769 7079.
Well, hopefully I have put you off this dreadful product, and if I haven’t, just read the other Ciao opinions on it, which should convince you. I just wish I had read them too!
More details
Next hair removal necessary after
A very short time
Why did you buy it?
Advertising
Value for money
Very poor
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