Precision Waxing with Nair

Do you have fuzzy hair above your upper lips or around the corner of the mouth? I do.
They are quite fine, mostly around the corner of my mouth and normally don’t bother me but they do give this grey outline around my mouth when doing lip swatches. Case in point in the photo below and so this fine fuzz must go.

grey casting shadow thanks to the hair around the corner of the mouth

By far the best hair removal method on this small and sensitive area is waxing (compared with tweezing and epilating – both are more painful). I’ve tried two types of waxes the other day to remove the bit of unwanted fuzz on my face that I’ll share with you today and my experiences with them.

Overall I think one does a better job on removing hair around the mouth but I think it could also be due to technique (my lack of) and appropriate area for use that determines which wax is better for the job.

Here’s the first waxing kit I tried.
Nair Precision Facial Wax Kit - RRP A$15.99

This is liquid wax (when you warm it up by dipping the tube into a cup of boiling water for 2 minutes). It comes in a tube and you attach the roll on applicator head for use. The back of the packet contains all the instructions and they were very easy to follow to prepare the wax for use.

Once warmed up, you roll the applicator onto the area with hair you want to remove, press on the pre-cut strips of waxing cloth and rip the hair out!

My results with this wax kit was patchy – some of the hair was removed on the first go – I learnt that this was because I applied the wax too thickly onto skin and caused uneven adhesion to the waxing cloth. It was also hard to hold skin taut when pulling off the wax cloth around the corners of the mouth.

Lesson:  apply a very thin layer to allow better grip with the waxing cloth for better hair removal. The problem was that it was hard to control the roll on stick so that only a thin layer is applied to skin. I found it easier to spread with fingers to thin out the applied wax on skin after the initial roll on to ensure an even layer for better adhesion.

After use, it was easy to rinse off but there was a slight tacky feeling on skin that is best removed with an oil cleanser (eg. Shu Uemura xx oil cleanser). Clean up up was easy and I could see this being used for side burns, chins, straightening the fuzzy hair lines and with practice, on lips.

Overall rating: 6/10 for ease of use and medium effectiveness.

The next waxing kit I tried was the Nair Easiwax Mini Wax Strips - RRP A$9.15

This kit comes in a set of 20 pre-applied wax strips that needs to be warmed up by rubbing between your hands before use.

After warming it up, you apply the wax strip by pressing down on the skin area where you want hair removed and then ripping the wax strip off.

I had a hard time removing the backing plastic from the plastic strip and literally spend 4-5 minutes just trying to rip the thing apart. I almost wanted to take it up with a pair of scissors before I peeled away the backing plastic.

That hurdle aside, it was easy to apply – just press down the wax against skin before holding the skin taut and pulling the strip off against the direction of hair growth.

Results were much more consistent than the roll on wax and I found that I could use each wax strip twice on my face before having to use another strip (this will vary depending on how much hair you pick up on the first removal with the strip).

It also didn’t leave my skin too red after removal as I didn’t have too much hair for it to take off.

This mini wax strip is favoured by me for better hair removal not only for facial hair but also for cleaning up the other small areas as well (eg. underarms, bikini lines). And for larger areas, there are larger strips available to do the job.

Overall rating: 9/10 for effectiveness but hard to peel backing plastic

So now I have fuzz free upper lips and can continue my merry way of lip swatching without fear of hairy corners ruining the picture.

If you have small hair removal jobs and want fuss-free easy options that are fairly painless (the pain was short, not so sharp and subsided very quickly), I’d recommending their precision waxing kits to you unless you have very sensitive skin.

My preference goes to the mini wax strip but I guess if I master the thin layer application of the precision kit, the facial kit will work just as well.

Nair waxing kits are available at supermarkets, selected pharmacies and Priceline stores.

The featured products were provided for consideration.