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Image: © Briana Blair
Yesterday I said that I was going to be making halaweh body wax for the first time. Well, I did, and it’s been an adventure.
The first batch was a total failure. I didn’t cook it long enough or let it cool enough before I started handling it, and I ended up with massive sticky monster hands. It was a complete mess. Luckily, sugar and lemon juice don’t cost much, so I decided to try a second batch.
 Image: © Briana Blair | Batch two came out much better. I cut out1/8 cup of liquid, cooked it longer and let it cool longer before starting to stretch it. 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and 1/8 cup lemon juice, boiled, then simmered to a dark honey color. Then I poured it on a plate and left it for a while until it thickened, then started working it. Sorry for that pic being blurry, my hands were shaking. It’s a LOT of work to stretch and fold it to the right consistency. |
 Image: © Briana Blair | I broke it into small balls and put it in the fridge. It gets hard as rock, but a few minutes on the counter and it’s workable again. Then came testing it. It really does work, but it’s a trick learning how to do it. You need to really push it hard down onto the skin, then flick it nearly straight back. When you get it right, you have a smooth hairless patch of skin. When you get it wrong, you have to keep trying. The real issue is that I run pretty hot, so I melt the stuff fast. When it starts to melt it doesn’t work anymore. I managed to get most of one leg and part of the other done before it was just too soft. I think I need to have a fan blowing on me to keep the halaweh and my skin cool so it will work right. |
It also works better on longer hair. I hadn’t shaved in about a week, so it took more work on me. Eric is a guy, so longer hair, and it worked much better. Even when you get it right, to a point where you don’t SEE any hair, the peach fuzz stuff is still there and you can feel it. But it looks great, which is nice. It doesn’t hurt as much as waxing either, and the redness was gone really fast, leaving my skin super soft.
I’m going to try it again later tonight with a fan running. Hopefully that will work better. I think we got 5 balls out of the batch we made, so it will last for quite a while. Even though it’s a lot of work to make, if I can get the hang of using it, I will, because it does way less damage to my skin than any other thing I’ve ever used.
