Hair removal – it’s one of those tricky topics, isn’t it? No one’s quite sure if they want to talk about it, sometimes you’re not sure what the “done thing” is, and, most hotly debated of all about now, whether or not it’s right for you. Not everyone wants to remove body hair, but many people do. Personally, I’ve always been an advocate of shaving since I’m too lazy to take time out of my day to get myself down to a salon for waxes, and hair removal creams have always had a sort of mystery about them. I feel more comfortable if I’m mostly removed of hair, but we know this isn’t for everyone. Recently though, I have been getting lazier (I know, it’s possible!) and a lot less bothered about hair removal – in the past I would have shaved my legs every single day, especially if those legs were to be seen. Nowadays though, meh, once every few weeks…and that’s not because they don’t need doing…
Anyway, we were offered the opportunity to review some products from Nair’s latest Argan Oil Collection so decided to take the chance to give some new things a go. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we’d received a veritable feast (if hair removal products can be described as such!) of products to try, so decided to make an evening of it…although we didn’t manage to test out every single product yet – as Charley exclaimed: “We only have so many bikini lines between us!”. We divided up a few products between us, deciding which we’d like to try and sounded best for us. So up first, Charley’s side of things:
Charley:
I’ve always had trouble using hair removal / waxing products due to having SUPER sensitive skin. For a little bit of a ‘history’: I’ve had eczema since forever, and generally my neck, legs, arms, and eyelids are the most sensitive parts of my body (I know that may read as though EVERY part is sensitive, but there is actually a whole torso in there that’s relatively fine, and that’s a fact I’m proudly clinging on to!) When I was much younger, around 14, the whole ‘hair removal’ palava seemed to get really trendy with girls at school—I’m not sure whether it was just the age, or whether hair removal creams were just starting to be invented (how old does THAT make me feel!) Regardless, like any good teenager should, I trotted along to Boots and demanded that my mum buy me a pot of hair removal cream. Because how on earth was I expected to be any kind of decent human being if I couldn’t follow the trends….Goooooood Muuuuuuum!
Several purchases later, and I had to come to the sad (and sore) conclusion that my body just wasn’t cut out for non-razor blade hair removal. I come up in rashes, my eczema is exacerbated, and in general the whole procedure is rather painful and not particularly worth it. Nowadays I just use a regular razor and plenty of natural remedy goodies to give me my kick of feeling like a pampered lady!
So I was really quire excited to try out the new line from Nair—hair removal for super sensitive skin! I began with a little bit of trepidation; there’s sensitive skin, and then there’s my skin. I’ve used argan oil on my hair many times, and I’ve loved how moisturising it is.
Nair Argan Oil Body Wax Strips
Sian and I both tried a strip apiece on a leg (can you tell how much fun we had trying all of this?!) The procedure is very simple: clean the area to be waxed with a pre-wax wipe, rub the strips in your hands until the logo disappears from the packaging (a pretty cool touch, and made it super simple to use!), then apply the strip, smooth down, and pull away against the direction of hair growth. We were totally braced for the pain—but it never came! This time you can believe the claims: these wax strips are totally painless. They also have quite a nice smell! And although they didn’t remove 100% of the hair, they definitely made a difference. The other touch I loved was the pre- and post-wipes that came with them. I’m not sure what was in the post-wipe, but it felt very oily and smooth, and was a beautiful skin conditioner after the wax.
Nair Argan Oil Washable Roll On Wax
This one had a *slightly* more complicated process, but luckily all the Nair instructions were clear and easy to read. The applicator has to be popped in the microwave for 25 seconds, and then you’re pretty much ready to go (I did say *slightly*!). The applicator itself is a really great design; it fits well in your grip, and the roller works really smoothly. I will be interested to see, though, when I use it next, if it works quite as well after it has already had some usage. I’m hoping the wax doesn’t clog up the roller mechanism!
So with this you simply roller-on the wax (which is warm and feels and smells totally great), smooth down a strip, and then remove. Slightly more sensation than with the strips, but I can’t claim that it hurt at all. I was really trying to feel pain at some point, but there definitely wasn’t any to be had! And this one worked SUPER well; very good coverage. And it’s worth mentioning that it works on hair as short as 1mm! This was probably my favourite product of the bunch—I’ve had no reaction at all, and it was really fun to use. The only thing I’d like is some of those lovely pre-/post-wipes that you get in some of the other products…
Nair Argan Oil Bikini and Underarm Glide-On
Right, so in this test I was reminded how really really really really really important it is to do a skin test! Hilariously, I decided to be guinea-pig on this product because Sian and I both agreed on how gentle it looks. It is definitely gentle, but if your skin decides it doesn’t agree with something, then there are some serious disagreements!
Again, it’s really easy to use, and works pretty much exactly the same as cream deodorants—cranking up the bottom until about 5mm of the product appears, smooth it over the skin, then wait 5-6 minutes. Unfortunately, my armpits started to feel slightly burny after about 2 minutes. I stayed it out (“Oh, it’ll be fine, I’m sure it’s meant to feel like that”) until five minutes, then washed it off as fast as I could. It should have stayed on slightly longer as not all the hair came off, and I’ll probably leave it to Sian to complete the rest of this review, and leave you with the ultimate wisdom I can offer…
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! DO A SKIN TEST!
Sian:
Nair Argan Oil Salon Divine Body Wax
This box was one of the more interesting and certainly more promising ones, particularly with the tag line: “Bye Bye Pain Formula”. So far, my pile of goodies didn’t have a waxing option, so I snapped this one up, excited at the prospect that the hair would be pulled out at its root but would cause me no pain. Upon opening the box, we were a little confused as to what to do – of course, the handy instructions answered all our queries though! This little kit comes in an orange plastic tub, complete with a spatula and after care wipes. What threw us though was that there was no lid – it seems obvious now, since wax is completely solid when it’s set (otherwise why would they have wax seals, duh), but we were convinced that what you see couldn’t be the top of the wax. Turns out, it is, and we don’t need to be sceptical!
You simply pop the whole thing into the microwave for around 3 minutes (more if your microwave is a cheap Tesco one…), until you’re able to stir it with the spatula. You do this for a minute until the consistency is even. I then (with Charley’s help) applied the wax using the spatula to my left underarm. You leave it for around 20 seconds, or until the wax is no longer sticky to touch, then pull it off (no need for the quick “pull and scream” traditional waxes use!) using a slight roll you’ve created at the end. I’m not going to lie, it was slightly painful. Not as bad as I expected it to be, but still a little sore. It did, however, much to our fascination, pull out a good lot of hair right from the roots. I did note that we hadn’t quite followed the instructions on this one as you’re supposed to apply the wax in two directions for the underarm to get the direction of hair growth, whereas I’d only done it one way. Nevertheless, it still worked.
And for this one, I have to add that it has a pretty amazing smell – it actually smells nice! Add to that the shimmery, silver texture, and it’s a pretty awesome thing of beauty. We’ve spared you the “gory” details of this post (ie. close ups of body hair), but we did have to share this one of the body wax on the body in all its glory:
Nair Argan Oil Bikini and Underarm Glide-On
Due to Charley’s somewhat strange reaction to the hair removal cream, I decided to give this one a go too, especially as I was intrigued by the concept of it being easy to glide onto the skin. One of the issues I’ve had with any hair removal creams I’ve used before is that they smell…kind of weird, hence why I’ve never really bothered with them, but this actually didn’t seem to have a hugely noticeable smell – in fact, what you could smell was slightly perfumed, making it far nicer than any I’ve used in the past.
I applied this to my right underarm (to compare and contrast with the Salon Divine wax) and waited my 5 minutes. It was at this point that we decided that the reaction Charley had to it was simply a personal reaction – I didn’t feel a single bit of burning, stinging or tingling – nothing at all! I removed the cream with a flannel (…actually a stand-in towel as I couldn’t find a flannel) and warm water to discover…it had worked! It was really quite strange to see the hair just being washed away. I think in future, I would stick to the hair removal cream for underarms rather than the wax – while the wax wasn’t hugely painful (and looked pretty too!), the glide-on applicator for this and the fact that I felt no pain whatsoever, plus the finished result, all come together to win me over.
Nair Argan Oil Face and Eyebrow Roll On
Apologies for the slightly terrifying photo, but it was just too hilarious and scary not to share!
Last up for me was another wax – this one aimed at the face. I recently got my eyebrows waxed and shaped at a local salon and declared that I would be doing this monthly from now on. That lasted…one month, ie. I was too lazy to go back (spotting a recurring theme yet?!). I love the fact that eyebrow waxing means a lot less annoying plucking, so I was excited about the prospect of being able to do this at home, but also terrified I would end up with a missing eyebrow for the rest of the month (…or however long eyebrows take to grow back).
To be honest, I had nothing to fear. I already knew the pain wouldn’t be too bad as I’ve already had it done professionally, and when we read the instructions, it put my mind at ease hearing how simple it was to use. The wax for this comes in a handy little tube which you immerse in just boiled water until it’s soft. There’s a roll-on applicator for the top that makes it easy to roll the wax where you need it, and a little wooden stick for more precise areas. I decided I needed help with this one, so Charley got me laid down on the sofa then restrained me as she applied hot wax to my face – that sounds a lot worse than it really was! In fact, by the time we’d finished, Charley declared that she should start thinking about a career change to become a professional eyebrow waxer. It was super easy to use, not at all painful, and did the job well. This is definitely one that I’ll be repurchasing at some point!
Have you tried any different methods of hair removal before? Have you tried any of the new Nair collection? There are a few more pieces we haven’t yet tested out yet and will give a go sometime – we’re actually looking forward to it!
PS: Apologies for the image quality in this post – WordPress has suddenly taken a dislike to our photos! We’ll hopefully have this sorted soon!
Thanks Nair for providing these bits and pieces for us to try – opened our eyes to the world of hair removal!
