Olay Facial Hair Removal Duo
You may or may not know that I get my lip waxed every couple of weeks. I have put myself through this torture routine for the last six years. The last eight months I have found that I am more sensitive to the process than usual, in terms of pain tolerance. My lip hair, as I have gotten older, has become darker and more noticeable to me. Especially in certain light conditions:
The Power of Commercials
When Olay came out with their smooth finish Facial Hair Removal Duo (FHRD) commercial I became quite excited. I thought maybe this would be the answer. Here is the video in case you have not seen it.
After a few times watching this commercial I knew I definitely wanted to try it. I headed out for a late night shopping trip to the drug store only to find out it cost $35 a box. I decided I did not want to “try it” that badly. What if it was crap? $35 is a lot to blow, right? Two more painful sessions of lip waxing went by and I knew I had to try something else. So I bit the bullet and committed to buying it — turned out it was $10 off.
What’s in the Box
As the commercial describes the box of FHRD comes with two tubes as well as a little instruction packet.
One of the tubes contains a Skin Guarding Balm which provides a protective layer for the areas to be treated. It gets applied before the hair removal process begins. To me it looks like a firm tube of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. You know the stuff you get in the tub container — except on a finer scale. The balm only takes 20 seconds to massage in.
After the balm is applied, a grape sized amount of the Hair Removal Cream is applied using a fingertip. It sits for 6 to 8 minutes or up to ten if your hair is really course.
Time for Some Hair Removal
The whole process is super easy and definitely pain free. There is a familiar chemical hair remover smell to the lotion. It is very faint, nothing like the horrible smell from the leg products out there.
I wiped off the solution with cotton cosmetic pads and was excited to see the hair on the swab. After rinses with water and patting dry I did the bristle test. I was kind of disappointed that it was not as smooth as the commercial led me to believe. With tweezers in hand, I had to pluck a few difficult hairs at the corners of the mouth. But I’m happy to say, most of the visible hairs were gone from view.
I would have used the product immediately again to see if I could get a smoother finish; but the product instructions said not to use again for 72 hours. I let it go. A few days later, I was left with the feeling that the FHRD was not a permanent solution but a emergency solution i.e. something comes up and you cannot make a wax appointment and recuperate from redness in time.
Pain Free Way of Life
A few days ago I tried the FHRD for the second time and I have to say I think I might be addicted to this pain free way of life. As you can tell from looking at me I am pretty pale but I develop redness easily. After waxing it usually takes me to the next day until the redness subsides completely. And then there are a few days of whitehead type breakouts to deal with. After two applications I have not noticed any sensitivity, skin irritation, and definitely had no unsightly white heads. I think this is in part to the preparation with the skin balm.
The Man Test
No one has better facial hair removal experience than a man. I asked my husband to touch my upper lip with his finger to see if he could feel the stubble I felt. He said he could not. We did the all important smoochy-kiss test and again he said he could not feel the stubble. I think this must be a sensation I need to get used too, after having waxed for so long.
As I mentioned, the FHRD is not cheap for a single purchase item. The package states there is enough product for “up to 12 uses” (2 down and 10 to go). It normally costs me about $12 for a lip wax plus a few dollars for a tip. The two uses I have already had is comparable to one lip wax. I am disappointed about it not being super smooth but at this point it is an OK trade off for less pain and redness that I normally have with waxing.
If you have been battling facial hair removal, get the Olay Hair Removal Duo from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.