Hot Wax on your face: is this a good idea?

A couple of weeks ago I have had a professional hot wax treatment done on my face and I wanted today to share with you my experience. Was it painful and how fast did my hair grow back and was it overall worth it in my opinion?

I am a pretty hairy gal and I can only be lucky that my hair is very fine AND blonde!!! Otherwise I would look like an animal lol. A cute animal of course. 🙈 No kidding: I have literally everywhere hair on my face- except maybe under my eyes. Even on my forehead! I have a lot hair on my chin and on my lower cheeks! I am a real mama BEAR! 🙊;-)

That is why I decided about 4 years ago to start shaving my face (and yes, I was totally afraid the first time- read it here). My first-time shaving was also a disaster! 😱 I got horrible breakouts- those really mean ones, that are deep inside the skin. It was definitely not fun. I was also afraid, my hair would grow back stronger and thicker or that MORE hair would grow back.

Turns out that is a myth. The hair stays the same- it is not getting more or thicker after shaving. Pooh! Relief!

After my first disaster, my skin seemed to get adjusted to the shaving (I shave with this tool on dry skin) and I did not have that many issues. I’d say I shave about every 4-6 weeks- sometimes only on the areas that I feel really need it, which is usually my chin and my lower cheeks.

But I was interested if waxing would be a better solution- if the results last maybe longer and if maybe less hair grows back (due to ripping it out from the root?).

You can get a professional hot wax treatment on your face for around $20. My esthetician decided to use hard wax on my cheeks, chin and forehead but on my upper lips she used soft wax.

What is the difference between Hard wax and Soft wax?

Soft wax is applied with a waxing spatula before being removed using a muslin strip. Soft wax grabs fine hair better, working better on large areas of the body than Hard wax. Unlike Hard wax, Soft wax cannot be applied to the same spot twice because it removes layers of dead skin.

Hard wax is thicker than Soft wax and applied warm with a spatula. Once the wax hardens, it is removed without the use of a strip. Hard wax can only be applied in small areas or it will break, therefor it is not efficient to use on larger areas of the body. Hard wax leaves no sticky residue and is much easier to clean up than Soft wax.

My experience:

My esthetician used Hard Wax on my cheeks, chin and forehead. The Hard wax feels initially warm and nice- almost relaxing- until the part when she rips it off of course. Yes: it did hurt- especially on my cheeks. You could feel the sudden pull and how my skin got lifted for a second or so.

Uncomfortable: yes. Unbearable: no.

It wasn't painful on my forehead at all- not only is the skin probably not as loose as on my cheeks, but my forehead can take more pain and I have also less hair on that area.

On my upper lips – my little ladies mustache- the esthetician put on Soft wax. I was hoping that the reason was: to make it less painful. Soft sounds SOFTER. 🦢

BUT HELL NO! 😱This was freaking painful! Ouch!!! No, no, no! This did hurt so much! 🙅I am not even exaggerating and yes I have delivered a baby to this world too lol. 👶

Wait for it...

No words! LOL!

After the procedure my face looked quite red everywhere- you really can´t go anywhere after this treatment and it took a couple hours for my face to look normal again.

At home I was inspecting my face in the mirror, to see if all the hair was removed. To my big and utter surprise: I saw so much hair still on my cheeks and on my chin! The pain, the redness on my cheeks- all for nothing? This was really not a satisfying result!🙅

On my upper lips though the hair was COMPLETELY gone. But that area felt also numb and irritated. The skin above my lips also got super dry and it took me about a week to get the skin balanced again- I had these awful vertical lip lines as if I am a smoker 🚭(never) because the skin was so dry! I applied multiple times a day for many days Nivea crème – that is how dry my upper lip area was! (You might like to read also: 7 AMAZING USES OF NIVEA)

Therefor my upper lips stayed hair free for many weeks- probably 5-6 weeks until I saw new growth.

My verdict: 

I still rather stick to shaving (with this)! The Hard Wax on my cheeks and chin did almost nothing (for what did I suffer pain?) and the Soft Wax was way to intrusive on my upper lips than shaving ever could be! Unfortunately, Hot wax on my face was not a good experience for me.

I do however believe, that we are not all the same. I wonder if this works better on dark haired women with thicker hair? Maybe my fine blonde hair was too difficult to rip out? Maybe my skin on my upper lips is too thin and sensitive?

Have you waxed your face? I would love to hear your stories below!

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