9 best home waxing kits good enough to save you a trip to the salon

Veet is one of the most famous hair removal brands on the market. For many of us, it was probably the first foray into home waxing, and there’s a good reason why. These waxing strips were incredibly easy to use – we simply warmed each strip between the palm of our hands, then separated, placed on the skin, rubbed down and pulled off in the opposite direction to the hair growth, and out those pesky hairs popped. We were particularly impressed with the results on shorter leg hair.

While we were left with some redness, that soon went away, while any residue was removed with the handy post-wax wipes included. But the big plus was that by using only the heat from your hands, there’s zero risk of burning the skin, so great if you’re a waxing newbie.

These wax strips are a great first buy into facial waxing. And, working on both thin and thicker hairs, they can also be used on underarm or bikini-line tufts too.

Handily, the strips are small enough to keep in your purse should you want ultra-smooth skin on the go – you never know when a rogue lip hair’s going to pop up. But bear in mind that after waxing, we were left a bit red for around two hours, which although normal, isn’t ideal if you’re heading out.

The instructions say these strips are heatless, but we found that giving them a quick rub in the palm of our hands yielded better results. And be sure to pull these strips off quickly or some wax will be left on the skin. If that does happen, we found wiping baby oil over the area left us wax-free (and smelling quite lovely).

The face can be one of the scariest body parts to wax, but it shouldn’t be. These wax strips, like the Flamingo body kit (scroll down), are incredibly safe and easy to use, with very little risk of it going wrong (unless you’re allergic to the wax, so always do a small test patch first). No heat is used – just place the strip where you want the hair removed and pull in the opposite direction to hair growth.

Maybe we developed a newfound pain tolerance after weeks of testing wax kits, but these were some of the most pain-free ones on the list, making the experience (dare we say it?) almost enjoyable. The strips are a great size for the eyebrows, upper lip and even smaller areas. We were delighted to strip off some particularly stubborn chin hairs – a huge win.

This pack comes with a thorough list of instructions, along with post-wax wipes and a rollerball of calming serum to soothe away any redness.

Made from just sugar and water, this wax is 100 per cent natural and has many benefits over regular waxing. It’s vegan, water-soluble and with little to no wastage, sugaring (as it’s known) is gentler on the skin than regular wax, pulls all types of hair from the roots and smells divine. Unfortunately, it’s also the most difficult to use, so unless you’ve nailed the home hot waxing kits, it may be best to leave this one to the professionals.

This wax kit says to heat it up in the microwave for four minutes at 900W, but after just two minutes in there, we had a volcanic eruption, which was less than ideal (though it did make our kitchen smell lovely), so do heat up with caution. Even without lava-type results, the sugar can get incredibly hot, so please take extra care to test the heat on your fingertips before going anywhere near your more sensitive bits.

This wax was well worth the odd explosion, though, as it left us with the best results. Not only was there no red spotting (just a slight redness over the whole area, which quickly went down), but skin was incredibly smooth, as even the finest hairs were whisked away. It can just come with a risky application, so please proceed with caution.

Hot wax kits may seem a bit scary to new home waxers, but they’re worth braving if you’re after a salon-quality finish. They can be cheaper in the long run and are quite easy to get the hang of after just one go. This option from Mylee may be the most expensive in the round-up but it really is the full package. With the wax heater, beads, spatulas, pre-wax, post-wax and cleaning gels all included, you don’t have to worry about anything else. However, with all this kit, we would recommend taking a good 10 minutes to set yourself up on a flat surface, reading through the instructions, and maybe watching a YouTube video or two to get comfortable before starting.

One of the trickiest things about hot wax is making sure the temperature isn’t too hot (or it will burn) or too cool (or it won’t melt across the skin properly). Handily Mylee’s temperature control gauges take all the guesswork out of this. A very useful feature.

Another common problem with stripless waxing is controlling how much you spread on your skin. We ended up using a lot more wax beads than we needed, but these can easily be heated up and used again. As the melted pearl beads harden quickly once on the skin, we found this kit one of the least-messy options of the lot, with not so much as a spec of sticky residue left on the body. Plus, if you do spot a few rogue hairs still there, it’s easy to go back over them to get them out.

Yes, it takes some getting used to, but after one treatment, we felt like waxing pros, and the result was a bump-free, smooth finish.

These heatless pre-made wax strips don’t even need you to rub them in your palms first. Simply peel, stick and pull in the direction against the hair growth and – voila! – hair is removed from the root within seconds.

We have to admit that the ‘no pain, no gain’ saying held true with these strips, resulting in a few more “ouches” (and red spotting) than some of the others on test. But that’s all to be expected when waxing larger areas, and the pain subsides within seconds, just like ripping off a plaster. Post-wax cloths are included to remove excess residue and soothe the skin.

The easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions in this pack are what makes it best for beginners, guiding you through the whole process. And, with 96 per cent of the ingredients from natural origin – without the use of ​fragrance, parabens, artificial colours, mineral oil or petrochemicals – they’re also kinder on the skin and left a softer, more hydrated result.

The ‘expert’ in this wax strip name should be changed to ‘extreme’, as we promise it will whip out any and every hair you have on your face. If you’re after some real heavy duty pulling to make that moustache or monobrow go away, trust us when we say this will do the trick. Just be sure to proceed with caution, as it can get a little too sticky.

Although the bikini line may be one of the least comfortable areas to wax, many people prefer taking care of this area in the privacy of their own homes rather than whipping off their knickers for a professional to see to. But, with thicker, wiry and often longer hair down there, it can take some heavy-duty stuff to get the job done properly.

Enter Flamingo. First up, it comes with a detailed instruction booklet (including some very detailed drawings), three different-sized heatless waxing strips and post-wax cloths. Although it isn’t recommended to be used for a fully bald Brazilian wax, you can tailor the hair removal to suit your needs, thanks to the different wax strips.

We found the strips were easily strong enough to take all the hairs out from the root in one go, leaving hardly any red spots and – believe it or not – was relatively pain-free. Result!

Another hot waxing kit, this Rio option stands out, thanks to its two wax types – soft and hard. Soft wax is best used for larger areas (arms and legs), while hard wax is better suited for more intimate areas (bikini line, underarms and facial hair).

With a wax heater, hard wax tablets, heating pan, soft wax, spatulas, removal strips, wax remover and full instructions included in the set, you get a lot of kit for your buck. But, again, you do need to take extra precautions when using this product, both in terms of temperature on the skin, and how you use and maintain the equipment.

The wax does take quite a long time to heat up, but slow and steady wins the race. And the wax remover was a great addition for removing residue and catching mistakes before they happened. We did find this to be one of the most painful options of the round-up, but the results spoke for themselves, with every single hair removed right from the root. And, when it came to cleaning the kit, you simply wait for the wax to fully cool and then pull it from the heating pan, which we found pleasantly therapeutic.