Nair Ultra Precision Wax Roll-On

RRP: £5.99

--So what does the promo say?--

"Get salon results…at home! Professionally inspired Ultra Precision Wax glides effortlessly along the contours of your face to effectively remove hair and reveal radiant, smooth skin. With a high precision applicator, it's easy to achieve an expert finish that lasts for weeks! Fragrance free and enriched with moisturising white lily to leave delicate facial skin soft and smooth."

--Packaging--

All fairly simple to use: the squeezy tube shows you exactly how much wax is left at any time, the screw-top lid keeps the tube securely closed until needed and the roller applicator is easy to put onto and remove from the tube as required. It's also easy to wash and store after use. As far as the various accoutrements go, you're provided with a good number of washable, durable strips that can be reused, and an orange stick (supposedly to allow for greater precision when spreading wax over the eyebrow area, but for reasons why this is somewhat redundant, see below).

--Application--

Nair's instructions to users are as follows: "Carefully fill a glass or cup with boiling water. Put the tube of wax, cap downwards, into the water for 3 minutes. Dry the tube well. Remove the cap and screw on the roll-on applicator (keep the cap for storage between uses). Squeeze the tube to get the wax flowing, and roll the applicator over the back of the hand to test the wax temperature. If the wax does not come out easily, replace the cap on the tube and put it back into the hot water for 1 minute. Make sure that water does not get into the tube, as it will make the wax less effective...Cleanse the area from which you wish to remove hair using soap and/or warm water and then dry thoroughly. The hair removal area must be dry and free from any traces of cream or cosmetics. Roll the applicator over the area to be treated, in the direction of hair growth. Place a cloth strip on the wax, pressing well, leaving approx. 1cm at the end to make it easier to remove. Hold the skin taut with the other hand and then pull off rapidly in the opposite direction, parallel to the skin. Each strip can be used several times." 

With the exception of the patch test (whose instructions I have left out here), I followed these instructions to the letter, with no results. Wondering if I were following the procedure incorrectly, I tried leaving the wax to dry a little (e.g. while I dried my hair), but this also had no effect. This leads me to believe that the instructions are either unclear, or missing steps, or that no matter how good the instructions were, the product would still not work.

--Appearance--

A pleasant pink gel which does not leave any visible residue on the skin.

--Scent--

I don't know that I'd go as far as to say it's fragrance free - it perhaps has a slightly bubblegummy scent to it - but on the whole it's inoffensive.

--Texture and consistency--

Very sticky and does not harden enough for any hair removal to be possible. Even if you don't squeeze the tube, and just let the roller applicator do its thing, the layer of wax that comes out is also far too thick, you could argue, to harden within any reasonable length of time. On the upside, despite the stickiness it does wash off easily.

--Does it do what it says it will do?--

In short, no. I wondered if this was down to my inexperience at home waxing (I'm a salon girl all the way), but reviews across the internet seem to echo the fact that you would get better results using sellotape. After being sent this, I must have used it at least 3 times (if I recall correctly - twice on unwanted facial hair, once on eyebrows) only to find that not a single hair could be removed using it.

--Value for money--

It beggars belief that this even got off the drawing board and past initial testing, let alone that people could be charged £6 for the pleasure of using something that doesn't actually work. I'd be interested to try Veet's version to see how it compares, but ultimately would instead recommend the kind of wax that you heat up yourself at home and then rip off - much more effective (see here, here, here, or here for examples of such products).