Jolen Facial Strip Wax

...across a pack of sixteen Jolen cold facial waxing strips for £2.27; Jolen, a reputable brand, who by all accounts produce a pretty fine hair lightening cream. I thought this could be the answer to all my problems at a fraction of the price of Veet! Well, I hate to say it ladies (and possibly gentleman), but unfortunately, this was not to be…

~~ The Product ~~

As mentioned, each box comes with 16 "pre-coated facial ...
...and provide "long lasting results". Jolen state the strips "remove hair quickly and effectively leaving the skin feeling silky smooth and hair free for weeks". I beg to differ. I opened up the pack, and admit I was a little disappointed to find four sheets each with four clear wax strips on, with an uncanny resemblance to sticky tape (which, in retrospect might have been a cheaper option). I was a bit disheartened - where was ... more

It's time to make a rather unfortunate (if not unattractive) confession: left unattended, a lot of tiny dark hairs start to appear on my upper-lip. As time goes on, these tiny hairs start to resemble a moustache that Hulk Hogan, Ned Flanders and even my dear late father would be proud of. Understandably, this is not really something I want to keep on my person for too long. So, for a few years, every four weeks, I'd pop off down to a local beauty salon and have it waxed off for me. Great - results were perfect - my upper-lip was hair-free! But then I started to become disheartened about how much money I was wasting on this four-weekly event, I mean, how hard can it be to wax off some hairs from a relatively small patch of skin? Well, quite hard by all accounts. Maybe my technique is wrong, but I have tried numerous cold-wax products, and whilst hairs are removed, I am still left with something of a five-o-clock shadow…my stubborn nature prevents me from returning to the salon however, so I am persevering to find the 'Holy Grail' of the facial waxing world…

Having become frustrated by the lack of results from the Boots own and Superdrug own wax strips, I looked towards Veet. Great, I thought - here's a brand they seem to be the real deal, so I didn't mind paying up for the specially designed strips. Yet, whilst better than the Boots and Superdrug waxing strips, they were definitely not brilliant. So imagine my glee when I was in my local chemist and stumbled across a pack of sixteen Jolen cold facial waxing strips for £2.27; Jolen, a reputable brand, who by all accounts produce a pretty fine hair lightening cream. I thought this could be the answer to all my problems at a fraction of the price of Veet! Well, I hate to say it ladies (and possibly gentleman), but unfortunately, this was not to be…

~~ The Product ~~

As mentioned, each box comes with 16 "pre-coated facial strips". As Jolen proudly advertise on the pront of the pack, these little strips are "ready to use" and provide "long lasting results". Jolen state the strips "remove hair quickly and effectively leaving the skin feeling silky smooth and hair free for weeks". I beg to differ. I opened up the pack, and admit I was a little disappointed to find four sheets each with four clear wax strips on, with an uncanny resemblance to sticky tape (which, in retrospect might have been a cheaper option). I was a bit disheartened - where was the wax exactly? Also, this was in the same style of the Boots own brand supplied me with and they were not at all effective. But still, undeterred, I carried on. I got to work. Half the packet later I gave up. Although my upper lip certainly have less hair than before, there were still pesky hairs remaining. In the end, I resorted to the tweezers.

~~ Instructions for Use ~~

Here is a quick summary of Jolen's instructions:

Cleanse the skin to remove make-up residue and skincare products
Sprinkle talcum powder over the skin (this is a great tip - it helps the wax grip to the skin more because it soaks up natural skin oils)
Smooth a strip over the skin in direction of hair growth
Holding the skin taut, quickly pull away the strip against the direction of hair growth

~~ Positives ~~

Right, being quite an optimistic person, I do try and look for the good in most things, so here we go - the goods of Jolen facial wax strips

Price

Not much wax residue leftover on skin

Clear Instructions

Gave a good tip for future reference - if any wax residue is on the skin, remove with some baby oil. This is a really good tip I didn't know before -a word of warning though - do not remove with baby oil and cotton wool, because half the cotton ended up stuck to my face. A tissue is the way forward!

~~ Negatives ~~

Not effective - not all hairs are removed

Not as painful as Veet wax (but this may be because not many hairs come out)

A few hours after use produced a sore, stinging and red rash - whilst admittedly this could be a sensitive skin issue on my part, this has never happened to me before when waxing…I'm a little dubious…

Sticky tape may have been more effective

Have to use half the pack to resemble a girl without a moustache of a man, which in the end isn't that cost effective.

~~ Price and Availability ~~

Right, these little strips cost me £2.27 - which is reasonable if they were effective. I bought mine from a local independent chemist. I'm afraid I'm unaware if you can purchase these from Boots or Superdrug. I know however the Boots and Supedrug websites do not sell them. The website www.blushingbuyer.co.uk sells a pack for £2.75 plus p+p.

In conclusion, I would definitely not recommend these waxing strips to someone with a similar problem to mine. Yes, they are cheap, but not effective. My next move in the quest for the perfect hair removal is hot wax… I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you for reading x x 

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