People feel very divided about waxing. Some think it’s the best hair-removal option on the market because of how long their skin stays smooth and hair-free. Others fear the pain and can’t imagine doing it.
Some treat it as a special occasion procedure – for weddings and vacations only. Others get their Brazilian wax done religiously every 3 weeks.
If you’re someone who’s curious about waxing at home, but not sure if it’s for you – we’ve put together this guide to go over everything you need to know if you want to start waxing at home.
One of the most important things for you to decide is what kind of tools to use. If you want to mimic the type of waxing that is done at professional salons, you’ll want to use a soft hot wax with special epilating strips.
There are many different strips out there that are designed to be used in the home environment, so we will go over the differences and what you should be looking for if you want to best waxing experience for yourself.
So what are the best epilating strips? Well, it depends on what you’re after. But generally, muslin and non-woven strips are best for hot wax. There are some differences between them that you should be familiar with that we will discuss shortly.
Below, we’ll explain what you should consider before purchasing epilating strips and show you our top favorites available to buy online.
Epilating Strips Buyer’s Guide
To remove unwanted hair at home, we recommend the simple but effective method of using hot wax with epilating strips.
There are many hot waxes on the market – most of them are similar, so just choose one that works for you. Most hot waxes are microwavable and come with great instructions as well as a spatula to spread the wax on your body.
But when it comes to picking epilating strips, a lot of people run into confusion. There are different strips out there, and if you don’t know the difference, it might be hard to choose the right ones for you.
In this guide, we’re going to go over everything you need to know about epilating strips.
What Are Epilating Strips?
Epilating strips are used to quickly and easily remove wax, along with hair, off the body. The strips are made out of different absorbing materials that, when placed over warm wax, allow the wax to attach to them.
As the wax dries, with all your hair “stuck” in the wax, the epilating strips get attached to the wax. When you pull off the strips, you remove everything in one fell swoop – including all your unwanted hairs.
Epilating strips make the waxing process less painful. If you were to just remove the wax by itself by pulling on it, you’d end up with a longer removal process and a lot of painful tugging.
The epilating strips give you a little bit of leverage and a better handle on the wax so that everything can be removed in a matter of seconds.
Epilating strips also make the whole process a lot less messy. Since all the wax gets properly absorbed into the strips, you’ll have no wax left behind to try and clean up (ouch).
Non-Woven Strips Vs Muslin Strips
When looking for epilating strips, you’ll often run into two types: non-woven strips and muslin strips. The main difference between the two is the material.
Non-woven strips are made out of high-quality paper material. It doesn’t leave behind any threads and is cheaper to produce compared to muslin.
Non-woven strips can be a little bit stiffer and harder to bend over the curves of your body. Sometimes that can make them harder to use on small areas with a lot of curves, like your face or bikini line.
Muslin strips are made out of a strong loosely woven cotton fabric. Because of that, they are considered to be more durable and at the same time softer.
They are easier to wrap around curves and bends, and sometimes you can even reuse them with proper washing and bleaching.
Muslin strips have been around longer than non-woven ones, so they are considered the “traditional” waxing strip material. However, they are a little more expensive than non-woven strips.
Some at-home kits come with a waxy substance already on the strips. This is designed as a “shortcut” so that you can stick the strip on and pull it off without having to deal with heating up a jar of wax and spreading it with a spatula.
Although this works in theory, we’ve found that the hair removal effect is not nearly as strong with those pre-waxed strips as it is with traditional hot wax. Because of that, we’ll stick to regular epilating strips for this article.
Different Sizes Of Epilating Strips
Epilating strips come in different sizes to make them more convenient for you to use on different body parts.
For example, a common size for these strips is 3×9 inches. This size is perfect for removing hair from larger areas, such as your legs or arms.
Smaller waxing strips exist for areas like your bikini line or parts of your face: these are usually 1.5×5 inches. Even smaller strips exist for small facial areas like your eyebrows – they’re about 0.5×3 inches.
You can also buy a big roll of the epilating strip material. Most rolls are 3 inches wide and about 100 yards long. You can cut the roll up in whatever size you want.
Depending on what kind of waxing you plan on doing, it helps to pick out the right size. If you’re planning on waxing a variety of different areas of your body requiring different sizes, we recommend just getting a multipack of strips or a big roll that you can cut up yourself.
Costs
Costs are important to consider when shopping for epilating wax strips, but the good news is that you can usually buy a lot of strips for a low price – they are not terribly expensive.
Many packs come with 100s of strips for under $10.
Depending on the strip material, prices can vary. For example, muslin strips tend to be more expensive because of the quality of the material.
But even a large roll of muslin strip won’t usually cost you more than $15.
The Best Epilating Strips
We’ve compiled the list of best epilating strips based on their quality, ability to remove hair, and customer reviews. We separated the list into two categories: non-woven epilating strips and muslin epilating strips.
| Rank | Product | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tifara Beauty Non-Woven Body And Facial Strips | Good value pack of pre-cut non-woven strips |
| 2. | Tifara Beauty Non Woven Body and Facial Wax Strip Roll | Best bang for your buck - large roll of high-quality non-woven material |
| 3. | Satin Smooth Non-Woven Waxing Cloth Roll | Non-woven roll that is perfect for sensitive skin and pain reduction |
| 4. | Parissa Epilation (Waxing) Non-Woven Cloth Strips | Cotton-based non-woven roll, very durable and leaves no mess |
| 5. | Mudder Waxing Strip | Good price for a kit that includes wooden wax sticks |
| 6. | GIGI Natural Muslin Roll | Big roll of shred-resistant and durable muslin |
| 7. | Maitys Muslin Wax Strips Kit | Muslin kit that includes multiple sizes of strips and sticks for a good price |
| 8. | Spa Slender Unbleached Cotton Muslin Wax Roll | Unbleached muslin roll, perfect for sensitive areas |
| 9. | Satin Smooth Large Muslin Epilating Strips | Muslin strips made with high-thread cotton to provide a smooth and pain-free experience |
1. Tifara Beauty Non-Woven Body And Facial Strips
If you’re looking for a multipack of non-woven epilating strips that you could use for your whole body and face, this pack of 200 provides a lot of value on a budget!
These professional-grade waxing strips are perfect to use with hot wax (sold separately) and they are made with anti-tear technology to ensure that they are extra durable despite being disposable.
Many reviewers compare them to muslin strips because of how strong and durable these are, with one user saying she prefers these over muslin. They are easy to remove and cause minimal pain during epilation.
2. Tifara Beauty Non Woven Body and Facial Wax Strip Roll
If you’re looking for more value, Tifara Beauty also has this 100-yard roll of their non-woven epilating strips.
The roll is 3 inches wide, making it easy to cut off strips for legs and arms. You can cut them down further to any size you like if you are targeting smaller areas.
We love the versatility of the roll combined with the quality of the non-woven material. A lot salon owners choose to buy this for their salons because of how much material you get for the price.
3. Satin Smooth Non-Woven Waxing Cloth Roll
A slightly more expensive product, the Satin Smooth non-woven roll is half the size of the Tifara Beauty roll at only 55 yards long.
However, the Satin Smooth roll is a god-send for those with sensitive skin. The roll itself has a very smooth and silky surface, which leads to less risk of abrasion and irritation of the skin.
Another thing we love about the Satin Smooth non-woven cloth is that it makes cleanup very easy. Every last bit of hot wax tends to stick to it, leaving nothing behind after removal.
If you have sensitive skin and are looking for a smoother removal – try the Sating Smooth epilating strip roll.
4. Parissa Epilation (Waxing) Non-Woven Cloth Strips
These non-woven waxing strips are pre-cut to 3×9 inches and are made out of a thick and durable non-woven cloth, which prevents the wax from soaking through and leaving you with sticky fingers.
Unlike many other non-woven strips, these are made out of pressed cotton so the material is breathable as if you were using muslin strips.
These strips are very durable, you could even wash and reuse them, although we don’t recommend doing that with resin-based waxes, only with sugar waxes.
5. Mudder Waxing Strip
This kit comes with 200 non-woven waxing strips by Madden, as well as 200 pieces of wooden wax applicator strips and 100 mini-sticks.
This kit supplies you with everything you need to wax your body hair, minus the wax itself for a great price. The wax strips are pre-cut into sizes for large areas as well as small areas on the face to suit all your needs.
What we love about the Mudder strips is how durable they are. Although they’re not as thick at muslin cloth, they are made with reinforced material to prevent tears and rips during the waxing process.
6. GIGI Natural Muslin Roll
The GIGI Natural Muslin Roll is a great choice for those who are looking for genuine muslin wax rolls.
It’s 40 yards long and just over 3 inches wide, making it perfect for cutting into strips for waxing the body and face.
GIGI uses a shred-resistant muslin, which is as strong as it gets! The muslin absorbs hot wax deeply and removes every single hair in one go.
This wax roll can be safely used on legs, arms, underarms, bikini line, and anywhere on the face, because it’s gentle and won’t pull the skin.
7. Maitys Muslin Wax Strips Kit
This multipack kit from Maitys has everything you need (besides the wax) to start waxing at home.
It comes with 100 pre-cut high-quality muslin strips and 250 wooden wax applicator sticks in varying sizes.
The muslin strips are all pre-cut to 3×8 inches for larger body parts, but could easily be cut down to smaller pieces with scissors.
The material of the muslin is strong enough to absorb any hot wax and remove hair easily.
8. Spa Slender Unbleached Cotton Muslin Wax Roll Kit
This kit comes with an unbleached muslin wax roll of 40 inches and 100 petitie unbleached muslin wax strips (perfect for facial waxing), along with wooden wax sticks.
Some people prefer unbleached muslin for waxing because it has a rougher texture and absorbs wax better without leaving any of it on the skin.
Unbleached muslin is also free from some irritants and chemicals used in bleaching, so people with sensitive skin or aversion to certain ingredients prefer unbleached muslin.
This is a great kit to start with if you want to use muslin and have sensitive skin.
9. Satin Smooth Large Muslin Epilating Strips
These Satin Smooth muslin epilating strips are made with special tight-weave texture strips that are smooth and strong.
This kit comes with 200 individual pre-cut pieces that are perfectly sized for legs and arms, and can be cut into smaller pieces if desired.
The muslin has a high thread count and removes the unsightly body hair with maximum efficiency and a minimum of pulling or resistance.
We love that it’s strong enough to resist tearing but smooth enough to reduce pain. The only downside is that this brand is more expensive than others.
However, it’s worth the cost if you are someone who has sensitive skin and struggle with the pain of waxing (or if you’re a beginner).
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