Why does waxing just not work for me?!

Hair Removal Methods Waxing and Sugaring
#1

Hi, I’m new to this forum, I desperately wanted an answer to my question and this seems like an excellent forum :).

I got fed up of shaving my legs because the result only lasted a day or so. So I started buying waxing strips, (Veet ones, because I believed them to be the best quality on the market and presumed they’d give me the best result).

On all of the packets and all the information on the web says that waxing should last a couple of weeks, up to 3 weeks it says. However, when I wax, the hair grows back within about 2 DAYS! This is almost as bad as when I shave!

I don’t have particularly coarse, thick hair, but I am really upset that I still have to remove hair as often. I didn’t expect the results with waxing to last 3 weeks, but 2 DAYS? COME ON! I must be doing something wrong?

At first I thought maybe I was just snapping the hairs, not removing them at the root, and so this would be why it was like shaving, but it stings unlike shaving! (not meaning to put people off, I have a very low pain tollerance and even I can stand it), AND when I look at the strips after I have waxed, if I looke closeley, the hairs stuck to it appear very much longer than they do when theyre sticking out of the skin on my legs, and the bottom half of the strands look floppier. This indicates to me that I am ripping them out at the root because the portion that I can’t normally see is coming out on the strip!

Does anyone have any advice or ideas? Am I doing something wrong? Is it to do with something else like hair cycles? Do I just need to do it every day until eventually the hair growth slows? (heard that waxing eventually does this).

Thanks so much, all I want is smooth legs! x

#2

It sounds like the problem is that you’re not pulling the hair out with the root, i.e. they’re breaking off on the way when you’re pulling. There is a skill to proper waxing.

#3

But as I said when I look at the strips the hairs stuck to it have a root attatched to them. :frowning:

If I really am pulling the hairs out at the root, would it be impossible for the hairs to grow back in 2 days then?

#4

What do those hairs look like? …the ones that grow in within 2 days of waxing…

If they are growing in with a stubble feel - then you might be breaking the hairs off, or it is the previously shaved hairs growing in. (As it sounds like you do very well!)

Hair grows in cycles - cycles that we really have no clue as to how long they last. I suspect that with just starting your waxing, you are experiencing the very slow shedding of previously shaved hairs. Those shedding hairs have a drier root sheath and are more resistant to coming out.

Perhaps waxing every few days (to begin with) would get you cleared to the point that you would not have to continue THAT schedule…

#5

Do ALL the hairs you see have roots? If only some do, the rest are broken off. It’s not possible for the hair to develop in 2 days to show above the skin’s surface. So that hair was already present and somehow not removed. Do the roots have white ends? Those hairs were already dead. Hair in anagen would have juicy black bulbs on the ends.

#6

Hmm! The hairs that are growing back feel thin, not stubbly like when I shave… However…when they grow back, they aren’t coming from every folicle, theyre spaced out but still look like new hair growth. Some folicles seem to have no hair growing out of them for a week or so.

Yes all the hairs on the strip seem to have black circles on the end.

If I just leave my legs and don’t remove hair at all, the hair is never one legnth, it always seems to have some full length and some really thin starting to grow. I’m thinking it’s more to do with cycles now.

I will try waxing every few days like you suggested.

#7

Have you ever waxed with proper hot wax? I would try that as well and see if there is a difference.

#8

Impossible. When a hair is ripped out a new one starts to grow immediately regardless of what phase it was in when it was pulled out. They all revert to anagen. They are all synchronized, however, the depth determines how long it takes before it reaches the surface… The papilla has to reorganize itself and start sending up new hairs. Hair grows at the rate of 1/3 of a mm per day. Since the follicles are staggered as to how deep they are… they will not all reach the surface on the same day.

They do not have a root attached to them. It is referred to as a root, however, roots grow down from the bulb and this does not happen with hair. They get nutrition from the papilla while they are in it and stop getting nutrition when the are ejected from the papilla.

#9

You did not read enough of this forum because your question is asked over and over.

The fact that you see the hairs on the strip after pulling if off and you had the PAIN that comes with beauty means you did the right thing. You do not understand why you see hair so soon after waxing because the hair you see was not waxed. It was below the surface and was not removed because wax can not grab any hair that is not visible. Hair grows at the rate of 1/3 mm per day when it is in the growing phase. They are not synchronized so when they start growing again a few show up followed by some more the next day etc.

If you did nothing …CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MANY THERE ARE? Some fall out with chafing, rubbing with a towel, scratching etc. You want them removed PERMANENTLY ? SEE ONE OF US.

#10

IIVeXXII - I can totally relate to your frustration. I waxed my legs & bikini line for 17 YEARS and never got good results. I would notice new hair growth within a week after my wax, I just figured this was the next stage of hairs growing in… my hair grew fast, lucky me. Then after all that time of waxing, it seemed my hairs grew back weaker and I became more & more prone to ingrowns (it seemed like the hair was so weak it didn’t push through the surface as it should) - Oh and I had hundreds of people try to explain to me about the benefits of exfoliating, I just needed to exfoliate more and more! Little did they know every single shower I took (which was daily) I was exfoliating every possible area I could… and it never helped. It was also a big time waster too, taking 25 minute showers became annoying. I think the final straw for me was when my waxer (she always used hot wax) looked closely at a strip and noticed my leg hairs looked frayed, weak… and they were breaking off at the surface, there was no root attached. I said that’s it – and started doing laser hair removal instead.

That’s just my experience – I think some of us aren’t good waxing candidates. However, I have a friend who waxed her legs for 3 years and now claims she barely has to wax them anymore… go figure. 17 years compared to 3 years — life is not fair.

It sounds like you just started your waxing journey – so maybe things will start improving as you get more into it? I never considered waxing every couple of days at the onset, I always thought I shouldn’t have to… but maybe my experience would have turned out better if I had.