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3 Women Try Instagram’s Favorite Wax Kit

Photo: Courtesy of the Retailer

Hair removal is a personal choice — but just try telling Instagram that. For whatever reason, several Cut staffers have found that the app won’t stop showing them ads for Flamingo wax kits, a millennial-branded hair-removal company that somehow makes wax look kind of cute. We decided not to read into it too much, and instead to give the kits a try. Here’s what three people thought of experience in reality as opposed to on Instagram.

Erica Smith, Beauty Writer

I kept getting ads for the face wax kit, so I guess my self-facing camera is trying to tell me something. It’s as satisfying to use this on your own upper lip as it is watching influencers do it on Stories.

Setting everything up is super easy; the hardest part is bracing yourself for the first rip. Once I made it through the initial pull, the rest was a breeze, and I was filled with a new sense of power that I’m assuming my bikini wax lady has every day. I got quite a few uses out of a single strip and much appreciated the post-wax cloth and serum to calm things down. Afterward, everything was left nice and hairless.

Unfortunately, I ended up breaking out a bit in the area the following day, so I think the skin on my face had a problem with either the wax, the wipe, the post-treatment gel, or the part where I violently ripped my hair out. Who can say? I may hold off on the face strips going forward, but the process was pleasant enough that I’ll gladly give the body kit a go since my body skin tends to be more resilient.

Kathleen Hou, Beauty Director

A popular girl in middle school once told me, “Nobody shaves their arms.” I never quite figured out why. But her words stuck with me long enough that this very morning, I Slacked everyone to double-check whether there was something actually wrong with removing your arm hair.

It turns out waxing your arm hair is totally fine. And I know because I did it in an open office plan about two hours ago. No one even noticed. Each body wax kit comes with double-faced wax strips which you press onto your hairy body. After a few minutes, you yank it off. I expected at least a jolt of pain, but it didn’t hurt much worse than yanking off a band-aid. The hair removed clearly and easily, and I was able to reuse the strip to do my entire arm.

The process does leave a bit of wax on you, which I tried to remove using water. Don’t do this! That’s what the thoughtfully provided After Care towlette is for. Using some kind of soothing oil, it dissolved all of the sticky residue. And then I went to a meeting, where I kept stroking my newly smooth arm.

Aude White, Senior Communications Manager

I’ll say right off the bat that I’m biased against these wax strips. They keep advertising to me on Instagram and they’re for sale at Urban Outfitters, making them feel a little too much like millennial bait for my personal comfort. They’re wax strips! Let them be uncool! But in terms of how they work, I’d say they’re no better or worse than my go-to Sally Hansen strips.

I used these on my face and they got almost all the hair I was looking to upend out in one pull. If you really want a clean slate you have to do two rounds, but that’s pretty standard for wax strips.

My one big issue with these is that they only come with six “post-wax cloths,” whereas my girl Sally gives you a whole bottle of post-wax oil. What am I supposed to do when I have used all the post-wax cloths and still have 18 wax strips left? Waxing leaves a sticky, post-wax residue — some sort of after-treatment is a necessity! For that reason alone, I’ll pick Sally over Flamingo any day.

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3 Women Try Instagram’s Favorite Wax Kit