I picked up a container of Parissa Strip free Hot Wax a few weeks ago and have used it a few times, and I have to say it’s great stuff. You heat it a little on the stove till it becomes gooey, smear it on with the tongue depressor, wait till it’s mostly dry, and rip it off. I tried it, and all my hair was removed instantaneously. It’s pretty amazing how well it works without using linen strips or anything. I actually wish it would remove less hair — it really, really hurts to have every single hair removed at once. But then I had absolutely no hair whatsoever for weeks. It’s fantastic! And much more effective than the Parissa cold wax strips. Also, the azulene oil it comes with is nice for removing remnants of wax.

Unfortunately, while Parissa wax is not tested on animals and is made from all natural ingredients, it is not certified vegan or organic. This doesn’t bother me, but I know some people only like to buy organic and/or vegan products, so if you’re looking for that, Parissa isn’t for you. (Though I’m a little confused — Parissa claims its products are “made from natural ingredients,” and for the most part they contain natural ingredients like resin or beeswax, but one of the ingredients in this wax is paraffin — isn’t paraffin an oil by-product and therefore not natural? Maybe this is one product of Parissa’s that isn’t all natural?)

I only had a few problems with the wax that were so minor I decided not to remove a star from them. The first minor problem is that heating up wax is always messy and time consuming — it’s much less prep work to just shave. But that’s true of all waxing products. The second minor problem I had with the Parissa wax was that it’s green, so when it drips on something (which of course it does the way all wax products do) it leaves green wax that’s very obvious on the stove, on my tee shirt, etc. The green stain on my tee shirt is never going to come out — luckily I don’t care about that tee shirt, but still, it’s annoying. If I had used nongreen wax, of course that wax wouldn’t come out either, but it wouldn’t be so obvious. The third minor problem I had was that I don’t care for the metal tin you heat up to melt the wax. I don’t have a special wax melting kit, so I ended up having to heat it on low on the stove. I much prefer microwaving little plastic bottles of wax — they don’t drip wax that catches fire and causes flare ups and nasty black burnt wax spills on my stovetop, and it’s easier to control the temperature — sometimes it’s hard to watch the stove to make sure the wax isn’t getting too hot and boiling over or fallen over and spilling wax everywhere because the little metal tin is unstable. However, I’m sure this is perfect for people who hate microwaves or have a special wax melting kit. Plus I had an old surgi-wax plastic bottle that I put the Parissa wax into and microwaved after a few messy wax spills on the stovetop, and that works perfectly.

Parissa Strip Free Hot Wax is available for $5.97 at Amazon.com, and many natural groceries/drugstores.

Ingredients: Wax: Gum Resin, Beeswax, Paraffin, Azulene Oil: IPM, Vitamin E, Azulene (chamomile extract), Menthol

I alternate between shaving my legs and waxing them — I hate shaving because it’s a very short term solution, a lot of razors are made by Proctor & Gamble or Johnson & Johnson — 2 companies that own a lot of companies that test on animals — and I get razor burn. However, it’s a lot quicker, less trouble, and less painful than waxing. Waxing, on the other hand, I also dislike because it’s time-consuming and messy to heat up wax, and wax spills are awful to remove — and then waxing itself is painful. But I have to admit waxing works — no razor burn, no stubble, and I don’t have leg hair for a month! Also, if I rip off the wax really quickly, it’s only painful for half a second, which isn’t too bad.

So I finally broke down and bought some cold wax strips, which I’ve heard don’t work very well but I could not resist because of their promised lack of trouble — no heating! no messy wax spills everywhere! Luckily, I found a cruelty-free company that makes all kinds of waxing products — it’s Parissa. All Parissa formulas are gentle, natural, and available at many natural stores.

So I ordered a box of Parissa Quick and Easy Wax Strips and tried them out. They are amazingly convenient — no heating, just pull apart, press on, rip off. They create no wax spills, and they come with a bottle of oil which really removes any stray wax residue very well — I’d never thought of using oil to remove wax, it makes so much sense! Also, I really like the ingredients — there are no petroleum products — the wax strips appear to be made from pine resin, canola oil, and beeswax.

Unfortunately, the Quick and Easy Wax Strips did not remove much of my hair, which is why I’m giving them 1/5 stars. I think the main problem with the weird sticky consistency (probably from the pine resin?) of the cold wax– if they just made microwaveable normal strips of canola oil and beeswax, those would probably work a lot better, and still be a lot more convenient than microwaving a little bottle of wax. (A lot of people seem to actually like these strips however — check out the product reviews at Parissa.com.)

Parissa Quick and Easy Wax Strips are available from Amazon.com and many natural stores for $8.99 (for 16 strips).

Ingredients:
Wax: Pine Resin, Canola Oil, Beeswax, Azulene Oil: IPM, Vitamin E, Azulene (chamomile extract), Menthol