Following is a transcript of the video.
[gasps] [grunts] [squeals]
Caroline Aghajanian: Ooh! Oh, God! Thank you so much for coming on here and teaching me how to wax today. [grunts] Wow! Can you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Eryssa Fisher: Yeah. So, I'm an esthetician here in Los Angeles. I work at Stark Studios, and I've been doing it for about six years now.
Caroline: I've been growing my leg hairs and my arm hairs. And I was like, I know I have makeup on, but I was like, let me just do the stache too in the end if we have time. So, I ordered this blue wax from Amazon. It had, like, pretty good reviews. Do you know anything about Cirépil, or do you guys use it? Have you used it?
Eryssa: Yeah, it's a really good wax, and it's a great brand. It's a nonprofessional brand, so anyone from the public can buy it. And it works really great with most body hair, and it's easy to use.
Caroline: I'm lucky enough to have this, like, warmer. And I think they sell it on Amazon. But if someone doesn't have a warmer, can they microwave this?
Eryssa: Unfortunately, no. Because it does set so quickly, I would not recommend microwaving. Because you want to keep the pot on when you're working. So you want to keep it on that lower temperature setting so that it stays melted. I would even maybe turn it down a little bit. Typically you want to turn it on about 30 minutes prior and then let that melt down. And you wanna look for a brownie-batter-type consistency. If it's too runny, it means it's gonna be too hot. And if it's too thick, it's gonna be too cold to spread onto your skin. I always, always, always do a test patch. And I usually do it right on the inside of my wrist because that's where it's gonna be a little bit more tender.
Caroline: I tried wax before. I tried, like, blue hard wax, and I tried just, like, the regular strip wax. And I preferred blue a little more, like, without the strips, which is why I bought this one. But what is the main difference between the two?
Eryssa: The main differences between the two are hard wax is gonna be geared more towards, like, sensitive skin areas as well as hair that's a little bit coarser. So it works really great for upper lip, underarm, bikini areas. It's gonna be a lot more gentle and work super efficiently. Whereas with soft wax, it can be a little bit more painful because it's adhering more to the skin than just the hair. So, first things first, you wanna make sure your hair is long enough. Typically we recommend three to four weeks of growth. You wanna make sure that that hair is at least a quarter of an inch so that the wax can take hold. Another thing that's really important is exfoliation beforehand. We all have dead skin cells on our skin. We also can have, like, lotions or makeups, oils. So we wanna remove all of that prior to waxing so that the wax properly adheres. Have you prepped your skin? Are you ready to go?
Caroline: Yeah. So, I showered and exfoliated last night, and I didn't put, like, any lotions or anything on my skin today. So.
Eryssa: Perfect, yeah, that's great. So, when you're laying the wax, you want to make sure that you're starting at the top and then going with the direction of the hair. And then you're gonna pull the opposite direction.
Caroline: Oh, I see.
Eryssa: So, like, down and then just, like....
Caroline: Oh, OK. Eryssa: Just create, you create a lip at the bottom to, like, pull. And I'm gonna suggest for starting, do a small strip and start at the ankle, so start down, and then we'll work our way up. Perfect. Yep. Twirl, twirl, twirl.
Caroline: Twirl, twirl.
Eryssa: Keep it moving. And the other good thing about this is, like, when you're twirling, you're kind of cooling the wax down. So it's getting ready to go to your skin. So now bring it over to where your hand is. Yep.
Caroline: And then go down.
Eryssa: Go down. Yep.
Caroline: Here it goes! OK.
Eryssa: You're going! Keep going, keep going. Yeah, and now swoop.
Caroline: Ooh, sorry!
Eryssa: And then just go back over it. Pressure.
Caroline: Down from here?
Eryssa: Down from there, exactly. Pressure, pressure. You wanna make sure that the wax is, like, a fairly even color. So, you see there's some darker, some lighter?
Caroline: Yeah, so I just keep going over that?
Eryssa: Just go over one more time.
Caroline: Oh, my gosh, this is harder than it looks.
Eryssa: Go in and tap the wax, feel it, how tacky it feels.
Caroline: Ah, yeah.
Eryssa: So go to the bottom now, and you're gonna just flick a little bit to start. Hold with the opposite hand your skin. Yeah. Perfect. And then you're gonna do it like, kind of a medium-quick pull. Not super fast, not super slow.
Caroline: OK, here it goes. Three, two, and...one! [screams] [gasps] It came off!
Eryssa: [clapping] Good job!
Caroline: Wow. I mean, there's, like, one, two, three pieces of hair. But, like, the majority of it came off. Can you see?
Eryssa: Yeah, I can see that. Oh, I love it. That's my favorite part. Perfect, beautiful. That is a good strip.
Caroline: Yeah, that was a pretty good one.
Eryssa: So, yeah, I think that one you can probably already pull. So, pull the skin taut. Get to that bottom bit.
Caroline: One, two, and... oh! Well, that was....
Eryssa: That can happen when it dries too much. OK, I would add a little bit more. Just strip the bottom.
Caroline: OK. Oh, sorry, I did it wrong.
Eryssa: No, that's great. Just...yeah. That's totally fine. The other way you can test, like I was saying, is once you feel the tackiness is gone, or, not gone, but, like, it's not sticking to your fingers, you can pull it off.
Caroline: OK. So, I think -
Eryssa: So, perfect. So I would do it now. Maybe just try one-handed.
Caroline: One, two, three. Oh, jeez. [grunts]
Eryssa: Oh, yeah. I know, the shin hurts, girl. [laughs]
[Caroline groans]
Usually, we'll do a cleanup strip, is what I call it. So, I do one going down, and then I'll do a cleanup strip going opposite way. So, once the majority of the hair is gone, I go in and I go the opposite direction. And that will usually pick up a lot of those little missed hairs. But you cannot do that with soft wax, only hard wax.
Caroline: OK.
Eryssa: It won't hurt as much, I promise.
Caroline: Yeah, definitely not as much. But, oh, it's so much smoother. Does that method, like, prevent ingrown hairs or anything? Like, what's the benefit of that?
Eryssa: Yeah, so, going with the growth is gonna, again, prevent ingrown hairs, it's gonna prevent irritation, and also prevent it from growing back in kind of unruly.
Eryssa: So, for the arms, what we're gonna do is more, like, small, so, like, a strip more like this size.
Caroline: OK.
Eryssa: Very small. And we call them, like, tiger stripes. Perfect. And then keep the stick upright, as upright as you can. Yep. This is honestly really challenging.
Caroline: Yeah. Ooh. Ooh! [Eryssa laughs] OK, that's good. I think I can do the arms, yeah. That was nice.
Eryssa: They're not as painful, but the angles are a little bit more challenging.
Caroline: Right. Oof!
Eryssa: Oh, yeah. This bit I usually will take my stick down, like so. And then, again, on the inside, you're gonna go down. Just with the growth of the hair. One bit you wanna really be careful of for arm waxing is the inner elbow. I think people call it the ditch. This is a very, very sensitive area, so I always apply extra oil in this area and make sure that I'm holding taut and it's not loose. Because you can hickey yourself right there.
Caroline: What areas should people avoid waxing themselves?
Eryssa: I mean, I guess I would probably say don't attempt doing your bikini line or your Brazilian if you've never done that before. And your brows. I would not recommend waxing your brows yourself. It's really hard to tell on yourself, like, if you're doing too much, and brows can really shape the face, as we all know. So, the first thing is you're gonna wanna remove all your makeup.
Caroline: Oh, OK.
Eryssa: In that area. Because if you don't, it's just gonna roll right off. So, the facial skin is obviously a bit more sensitive, and it also is super important that you're not using any retinol products, that you're not on any over-the-counter acne medications or even antibiotics, because all of those can thin the skin and cause lifting of that area. So I what I do is I usually go down for the first time, and then remove.
Caroline: And then remove?
Eryssa: And then once you get that majority off, you're gonna go back, because there's always, like, I find there's always a few hairs right in the corner here that like to stick around. Basically you're gonna wanna hold the skin taut and then go the opposite way.
Caroline: Here it goes! Ooh! Oh, God! Oh, God. And, ooh! OK. Right now, my legs are a little bit red. What do I do after? Like, what's a good aftercare regimen?
Eryssa: So, a little bit of redness, bumpiness, even sometimes people can get hives afterwards due to the heat and the wax and just a reaction. I like to use a witch hazel or, like, a soothing oil for afterwards. And then you really wanna avoid the sun. So, tanning for 24 hours, hot tubs, pools, or any sweating or vigorous activity, just for a couple of hours to the next day after waxing. Because waxing is exfoliating, you don't have to exfoliate for a couple of days. But then, once you're a couple of days in to a week in, you're gonna wanna exfoliate two to three times a week so that you help prevent the ingrown hairs. You're gonna remove the dead skin cells, and it's gonna help everything to come up smoothly.
Caroline: So, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna continue and finish off any of the missing pieces I didn't get to, and then apply witch hazel after.
Eryssa: I think you're gonna be totally fine. You have picked it up super well today. Just remember going with the grain of the hair, going over once, maybe twice for a backwards strip. And, if you get stuck, you can use oil to remove any excess wax.
Caroline: Amazing, that's super helpful. Thank you so much!
Eryssa: You're so welcome.
Caroline: Awesome.
Eryssa: I'm so happy to be here and help you out.
Caroline: Thank you. I really, really appreciate it. I would be lost without you and rip my skin off. It's been three, or, it's been four hours actually since I got off the Skype call and tried to do the rest of the wax myself. [squeals] [gasps] [groans] Wow! Sister: Did you have to do the whole thing? Caroline: Well, I have to get a before and after. Sister: Can't you just shave it off? Caroline: No, that's called cheating. [grunts] [laughs] My three weeks of hair is right here, ladies and gentlemen. One, two, and... oh. OK. Wow. Look, it just wanted, it wanted to bring me misery, it wanted to break, but it didn't. I broke it.
Show more
