Poetic Wax by Bliss

Poetic Wax for Hair Removal

I hate making time for waxing appointments. Typically, I hate making time for any appointments if they aren't for massages or pedicures. Or lunch. But waxing is the worst. It is the least fun girly maintenance type of thing to do. It yields the best results as far as hair removal goes, but it has its reasons why it sucks. First of all, it hurts! Plain and simple, it hurts, and it is very hard to keep from kicking your waxer. (One time, I had one lady who laughed at me during a bikini wax. I was in so much pain, and she actually chuckled. I thought, “Really? You find this amusing? Here I am, in such a compromising position, exposed on your table, clutching my skin taut as you rip my hairs out while I writhe in pain, and you are humored by it. Go ahead and rub the salt in, bitch!”) Secondly, you have to wait until your hair is long enough. Usually, I just get bikini waxes. Once I did decide to do a leg waxing, only I didn't have enough hair. I had to “save up” for weeks, and I was downright furry. And then there's the cost. $30 bucks each time. And did I mention it's painful? Thus, I put it off for as long as possible.

Then I was introduced to Poetic Waxing by Bliss. It is a home waxing kit. It comes in a little enamel mug. You melt it, spread it over a hairy area, and pull it off. My favorite thing about it is that no strips are required. It's pretty simple. That said, there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to use it. Hopefully, if you read this before trying Poetic wax, then you will be forewarned about the woes of self waxing. If I can prevent just one person from damn near mutilating their bikini area, then my job is done. There are a few rules one should keep in mind while waxing at home:

• Don't overheat your wax. I use a candle warmer for mine. One time, halfway through, I stirred the wax. The wax toward the bottom of the cup was the hottest. It was a little too hot- ouch!
• Don't sit on a good towel while waxing. The wax is dark blue, and it doesn't come out. Also, make sure you clean up thoroughly after waxing, looking for all traces of wax that may be surrounding your area. I thought I had gotten all the wax cleaned up the first time I used it, but apparently not. For days, I continued to find blue wax everywhere: in the carpet, in my husband's t-shirt, and even on the mattress. Go figure.
• Very important- Trim first! More on this later.
• Very, muy, ultra, super important- Leave the big jobs to the pros! This is probably the single most important lesson Poetic wax has taught me.

Let me share with you a little story:

The first time I used the wax, I just did my bikini line. It was fine. The second time, I decided I was going to do the whole enchilada. That was not fine. I was beyond due for a wax, and I didn't trim first. After all the times I'd been to the salon for a waxing and they've told me that my hair wasn't long enough, I'm thinking that the more hair there is, the better! The outer edges were done easily, but as I worked my way inward I became distressed. Here's what you get when you do not trim first: not a clean strip of wax that you can easily pull off, but a mixture of wax and hair that is a tangled mess. Think if you melted some wax, threw a bunch of hair in, stirred it up, sculpted it into a small animal, and then let it harden. Good luck pulling that off. See, as we all know, the secret to waxing is that the strip needs to be pulled off in one swift, fluid motion. There was no room for swiftness or fluidity in this mess I had gotten myself into. I may as well have been plucking each hair one by one. The pain was unbearable. I was sweating, and quite close to panicking. There was no way out of this except to take that knot of wax and yank. And I just couldn't do that to myself! I had to enlist help. My dear husband, bless his heart... I won't get too graphic here; you get the point. Which is, LEAVE THE BIG JOBS TO THE PROS! Don't try to go Brazilian on your own. Some things are better left up to professional help, and well worth the money. But for bikini lines and upper lips, knock yourself out with Poetic Waxing home wax kit.

xoxo

nkechi

Poetic Wax

Poetic Wax for Hair Removal

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Poetic Wax! First of all, I am a hairy beast and as mentioned, I have mutant hair. Hair sprouts all over me. I remove it, two days later it’s growing back. Needless to say, I do not have time to run to get a wax every two days. Even if I did have the time, I just wouldn’t want to. The bikini wax is the most popular method for hair removal, and I agree 100%. For the upper lip, I know people that pluck, but I’m not a moustache plucker. I also know people that bleach, which I never understood. The hair is still there, it’s just lighter… and really, to be honest, it annoys me when I see that. It reminds me of a 70’s used car salesman for some reason. So, I prefer wax. I want every little hair gone. So…. Nair sorts of things are unbearable. The scent is terrible, and then right under your nose, ugh!! Plus, I tried it once and I had this weird red stripe which looked like I had a fever blister that stretched from one end of my lip to the other. Horrific! I have no coordination to thread, so I sought out an at-home wax kit. First and last stop, Bliss catalog. I ordered the Poetic wax kit and anticipated its arrival.

Poetic arrives and I pull out all the contents, read the directions and get to work. Over time, here is what I learned about using Poetic:

- The instructions tell you to use some fancy French word for a skillet of hot water. Use a candle warmer. I waited FOREVER for the wax to melt in the hot water. The wax also cooled very quickly. A candle warmer is much more effective. Plus it’s weird to go back and forth from kitchen to bathroom with a skillet of water. I got looks.

- It is a bad idea to put Poetic on the candle warmer before you leave for work and decide to wax when you come home.

- The pre and post wax stuff really does help. Especially if you are waxing your bikini area. More on the bikini area later.

- Relatively speaking, Poetic doesn’t hurt. This is important to know when and if you decide to tackle your bikini line. ‘

- Never use Poetic for shaping the eyebrow area. Never. Very undesirable results.

-   Poetic says “four weeks” but I find myself pulling it out two days later. This may not be your experience, I am sure this has something to do with my mutant hair.

Over time, this is what I have learned about Poetic specific to the bikini area:

- Poetic is not extremely painful. Why do I keep mentioning this? Because if you do brave waxing the bikini line, you need to know this so you aren’t afraid to pull the wax off. Hesitation to pull the wax leads to pain. Don’t think twice about it. Just pull. Pull quickly.

- Never, ever, ever, ever do a rush bikini wax. Never. I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say little pieces of blue wax will accompany you to your destination.

- Keep it simple. There is a reason you are not employed as a waxer. Know and understand this. Repeat this to yourself of this when you decide to give yourself a Brazillian.

- If you take the winter off from waxing, cut before the first wax of Spring.

Poetic Wax can be found at Bliss and Sephora.

xoxo

din

Smooth Away for Hair Removal

Smooth Away for Hair Removal

As an alternative to shaving and waxing, I decided to give Smooth Away a try. I have a battle with hair removal. Actually, it's an all out never ending war. I have mutant hair. The kind that grows back the very next day after shaving. Waxing, which normally keeps you in the clear for 2 weeks lasts a mere 3-4 days and brings hellacious ingrown hairs. Cream removals get the job done with minimal ingrown hairs, but the hair grows back quickly and standing around in the bathroom inhaling the scent while it “works” is not the least bit sexy. Try using Nair for hair removal before getting dressed up in lingerie for your man and see how that goes. I heard about Smooth Away from my six year old daughter. She asked me to buy it for her. Yes. She is six. Why she is concerned about hair removal or smooth away is beyond me. She saw an infomercial for it. I told her it probably didn’t work and she didn’t need to remove any hair. Secretly though, I got online after she went to bed to look for Smooth Away. I ended up not ordering it online, but went to Target the next day and it was there in the checkout lane. Smooth Away. $9.99. I picked it up.

The directions were pretty simple. The pads look like a pumice scour pad. You just peel the backing and apply it on the applicator. There are two sizes of applicators. I go with the larger one. I have mutant hair to tackle. I decide to try it on my bikini line. The directions stated clockwise 3 times, counterclockwise 3 times, repeat until hair is removed. I had to do about 30 clockwise/counterclockwise sets. Slight irritation and dusty gray all over, but the hair was gone. But where did it go? I still haven’t figured that out yet. I applied lotion, and the dusty gray went away. Smooth Away calls this dusty gray stuff a result of exfoliation. I call it gray dust. The red irritation also went away after awhile. I used Smooth Away about four days after using Nair. My hair had already sprouted like weeds by then. Smooth Away got rid of the hair pretty quickly. I haven’t mustered up the courage to try it on my face, the other hair patch that causes me grief. I’m afraid it will be too irritating.

A few days after using Smooth Away, like most other methods, I was left with ingrown hairs. This is normal to me as many other hair removal methods cause ingrown hairs. Of course, my hair had already returned. I used Smooth Away again and gone! I think I really like this product.  I don’t know if I would substitute it completely for wax or for standing around 10 minutes with Nair, but Smooth Away is good for in between.

xoxo

din