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Avoid At-Home Waxing Disasters

Published 12.08.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (10)

Hi Amy,

Even though it’s too late to save myself, I thought maybe you could advise, in your infinite wisdom, so other girls out there won’t suffer the trauma that I’ll be experiencing for the next 4-6 weeks possibly for life.

I’ve always waxed my own eyebrows with no problem however, the last time turned into a serious, epic, herculean (even those adjectives can’t describe the horror) of a disaster.

During the process of applying the wax, and me being a most impatient person, I failed to allow the wax to cool to a thicker consistency. The next thing I knew, a HUGE glob of wax dripped off of the applicator and onto my eyelid and proceeded to slide down into my eyelashes effectively gluing my eye shut. Now the wax wasn’t hot enough to burn and didn’t actually enter my eye but OMG my eyelashes!!! Trying to scrape the stuff off while still warm only spread it to more eyelashes. Holding an ice cube to it in hopes of breaking pieces off didn’t work either. Using wax remover from a bikini wax kit that unfortunately, contained a cooling agent that DID get in my eye, caused pain the likes of which I hope you never experience. However, it did remove some wax. With eyelashes attached.

Needless to say, I’m missing eyelashes. LOTS of eyelashes. Top and bottom eyelashes. Massive expanses of naked eyelid.

I guess what I’m wondering is if there’s a method for removing wax goofs with as little collateral damage as possible. Also, I know that eyelashes fall out naturally and usually grow back within 4-6 weeks. What about those that are yanked out by brute force? Will they grow back or will I be forced wear the false things and look like a perpetual contestant on Dancing With the Stars?

Thanks!
Marie

So...I may have read most of your third paragraph with my own eyes mostly shut tight in sympathy pain and horror, and now I have a fairly vicious eyelid twitch that is hampering my typing, but I think I got the gist of what happened and hopefully any typos I make w1ll git fixxed up befoore this pubblishes.

First, I am 100% confident your eyelashes will grow back. They are resilient little suckers. My confidence actually comes from first-hand experience, when I was stupid enough to attempt gluing on some false eyelashes WITHOUT having any proper eyelash glue remover on hand.

"Oh!" I thought. "That looks kind of crooked. I should pull that off and try again and HOLY EFFING GOD OW OW OW."

300-4.jpgI lost quite a few lashes myself that day, and they all grew back. Eventually. Very slowly. I'm sorry.

Now, for future reference, what should you have done to remove the wax? Baby oil. The end.

There are a ton of specialty (translation: expensive and single-purpose and drawer-cluttering) wax removal lotions and creams and oils, but the majority of them are designed to also soothe your skin and prevent ingrown hairs. All fine and good, but like you unfortunately learned, these are not to be used ANYWHERE near your eyes. Any type of body or massage oil -- from Johnson's & Johnson's to Avon's Skin So Soft -- will work for removing wax, but in my experience, it's the mineral oil-based ones that work the fastest and easiest.

Sugar also works to remove wax, by the way, so if you happen to find yourself caked in excess wax with no baby oil handy, grab one of those sugar scrubs or -- no lie -- some actual sugar (raw sugar works best -- steal some packets next time you buy a latte!) mixed with olive oil. Obviously, this might not be ULTRA-CONVENIENT if, say, you've got hot wax dripping all over your EYELIDS, so...yeah. The do-it-yourself sugar scrub mix might be better for the at-home LEG waxers among us.

(Or for the do-it-yourself gift-y people! Just add some yummy-smelling essential oils to the mixture for a just-as-good-as-the-spa scrub!)

***********
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Comments (10):

Bliz said:

I use the Sally Hansen "natural honey" wax, or whatever it is called, on my bikini line, and I think it is WAY better than the normal waxes I've tried. I think it would serve you well in a case like this because a) it is not full of chemicals that could get in your eye, and b) it really does wash right off with regular soap (and doesn't leave that gross stickiness behind).

Posted on December 8, 2008 10:06

Heather said:

Ouch! Feeling your pain, Marie!
My hair removal horror story? The first time I tried to pluck my eyebrows (maybe grade seven?), decided it was too painful, and tried to shave "around" them instead. Yeaahhh...took off half my eyebrow. Now THAT took a while to grow back!!

Posted on December 8, 2008 10:42

Amy M said:

I make my own sugar wax, which is terrific and super inexpensive. It's sticky without being hard on the skin and if you get it anywhere you don't want it, it dissolves in water. And it even tastes good!
I use:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
Put it all in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until it all dissolves and turns a light golden brown. Pour into a container with a tight lid and let cool. To use, I dust the area to be waxed with a light coat of cornstarch and then spread the sugar wax with popsicle sticks in the direction of hair growth. I use muslin strips cut from plain cotton muslin from the fabric store. The strips can be washed and reused, too, which is nice.

Posted on December 8, 2008 10:58

jonniker said:

I will never, and I mean NEVER, wax myself for any reason after an issue with Sweet Simplicity in college wherein I spent six (SIX) hours waxing my legs, only to find it picked up only half the hair. I later thought I'd try the bikini line -- A BRAZILIAN, AT HOME -- which resulted in getting the wax jammed in my ... well, in my butt, I'm sorry, there's no other way to say it. I needed HELP. HELP. TO GET IT OUT. IN COLLEGE. IN A DORM BATHROOM.

I have seen many e-mails and urban legends about this, but no no, it really did happen to me. No at-home wax. Ever. I don't care how many people had great experiences and can wax their way to follicular freedom themselves. NO. NO. NO.

Posted on December 8, 2008 11:13

umi said:

You know, in high school I stupidly cut my lashes off in some attempt at solidarity with a girlfriend. I had pretty long lashes for an Asian woman, but heard that cutting them would cause them to grow back thicker. Needless to say when they first grow back they seem thicker, because you spent so long without any lashes.

I don't think they grew back to full length for a full two years. ; p Uhg.

Posted on December 9, 2008 11:52

Karen said:

I think I will continue to pay $10 every six weeks to have someone else wax my eyebrows, because I could totally see myself doing something like that. I can barely put mascara on without getting it all over my eyelid, cheek, hair, or once, in my eyeball.

Posted on December 9, 2008 23:00

Shan M said:

They will grow back, if forcibly removed. Like, even if you pull them out with tweezers kind of foribly.
Meanwhile, eyeliner helps so so much.

Posted on December 10, 2008 14:51

Hilary said:

@Jonniker: OMG! That story is SO intense! I COMPLETELY understand and might have to post my own Waxing Trauma Story. Moral? Worth shelling out cash for a professional to do the deed.

Posted on December 10, 2008 19:40

Sara said:

I am here to reassure you on the lashes-growing-back front, and also on the covering-up-the-bald-spots front.

You see, I have trichotillomania. Specifically, I pull out my eyelashes. Um, a lot. I've been working on and fighting against this for almost 20 years, but it's... well, I backslide quite often, which means I have bald spots on my eyelids quite often. I am a pro at hiding the spots until the lashes grow back. (Which they will, I promise! In about three weeks you'll have wee little half-lashes, easily enhanced with mascare. In about five weeks, you'll have real lashes again.)

While you're still lashless, you should be very unhygienic and use the tip of your mascara brush to sort of dot mascara on the bald spots, right where your lashes would otherwise be. Brush the mascara over your remaining lashes afterward, clean up any smudges gently with a Q-tip and warm water, and nobody who isn't right up in your face will ever notice. You'll want to use an eyelash curler on your remaining lashes, and make sure to apply mascara most thickly on the roots of your lashes -- only use a very light flick on the ends. This is because the mascara on your naked lid will look very black, and you want that very black look to appear over your whole lid -- consistency is key to this illusion.

Resist the temptation to use thick or dark eyeliner. It seems like it would camouflage the problem; it doesn't. Instead, use neutral colors and rely on slightly darker shadow in the crease of your lid. Don't use mascara on your bottom lashes or lids at all. Just curl lashes, dot mascara on the bald spots (upper lids only), apply mascara to the roots of your surviving upper lashes, and stand a couple of feet back from the mirror to judge the effect.

It doesn't look exactly like eyelashes, of course, but it gives the same EFFECT as having lashes would (a dark rim around your eyes), and that's the whole point. All done!

Posted on December 11, 2008 12:55

Anne said:

As someone whose eye is literally still stinging, may I suggest what NOT to do. Don't try using warm/hot water with a compress over your sticky eye. It just makes the wax harden and does virtually nothing to remove the wax. I just tried the baby oil. It helped, but I had to ultimately sacrifice a chunk of eyelashes. I'm thinking that maybe I'll let my bangs grow for a long, long, while.

Posted on May 27, 2009 13:21

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Amalah is a pseudonym of Amy Corbett Storch. A Washington D.C.-based freelance writer. The Smackdown is published on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. You can follow Amy's daily mothering adventures at www.amalah.com. Also, it's pronounced AIM-ah-lah.

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