7 best at-home waxing kits 2025, expert-tested for salon worthy hair removal

A steal at £40 for both soft and hard wax, Rio’s total body kit strips at-home hair removal back to the basics with a simple two-setting heater. I found that the soft wax took away every hair – no matter how fine – from my calves with a single pull of each strip. Around two weeks on, I could only just see the signs of hair regrowth in that area, too.

The process is relatively simple – you just slot the deluxe soft wax pot into the heater, switch the dial to setting two (high heat) and wait, stirring occasionally until the contents are the texture of honey. When waxing calves and knees, I found that one pot contained enough product to use across two sessions, perhaps a third if you were careful about reusing strips. On that note, it’s helpful that you can reuse the strips a second time, using the heat of your hands to warm up the cooled wax on a new area of hair. Though this isn’t as effective as a fresh pull with warm wax from the heater, it does the job in a pinch and is more cost effective if you’re getting through a lot of strips/wax.

The stripless wax warms within a separate heat pan insert which, with its heatproof handle, was useful when manoeuvring the wax nearer to my skin to prevent spills. Compared to Mylee’s wax beads, neither the soft or hard wax had as pleasant a scent. However, both achieved what they set out to, albeit – in the case of the soft wax – being a little messier. This mess comes about when using a spatula to twirl the soft wax out of its tub and, though the equipment cleaner is on-hand for such dribbles, a towel or sheet is a must to protect fluffy carpets and rugs.

Tested by Lucy Smith

If you’re hoping to alleviate the pain from ready-to-use wax strips but can’t be bothered with the faff of an at-home heater and wax beads, then Veet’s hot sugar wax will be the perfect solution. It’s rapid to heat up, taking just 40 seconds in the microwave (it can also be heated in a pan of hot water), and offers the same pore-opening, pain-minimising benefits of hard and soft wax. For me, its key appeal is the ease of clean-up afterwards: whether you’ve spilt it on a carpet or bathroom counter, simply douse the area with hot water and watch as the formula dissolves like a teaspoon of sugar in tea.

I tested the argan-sugar formula on my underarms and remained hair free for around one week afterwards. While this result wasn’t as long-lasting as the Mylee (£57.99, Amazon.co.uk) and Rio (£40, Argos.co.uk) kits above, it certainly beats ready-to-use strips, especially from a sting perspective. Speaking of which, I did have to go back over a few patches of stubborn hair and, after some trial and error, learned that the wax works best if left to cool on the skin before pulling. Even with these multiple pulls, I experienced neither bleeding nor teeth-clenching pain. This can’t be said of the cold strips I’ve used in the past, so I wouldn’t hesitate to use Veet’s sugar wax again. One little bug bear? I wish it came with more than 12 strips.

Tested by Lucy Smith

Possibly the most well known at-home wax kit, Mylee’s complete set up ensures you the best outcome whether you’re subject to spills, sensitivity or inaccurate wax portioning. I tested the coconut and arnica wax on my underarms and thighs and, in both areas, found that the results lasted three weeks before seeing any regrowth.

Getting ready to wax is easy and the heater features a handy dial to speedily melt your beads before turning down the heat to a skin safe temperature. This process is quick and I found I could melt around one inch of wax in less than 10 minutes. I used the included spatula to apply a teaspoon’s worth of product onto my skin, sweeping the wax in the direction of hair growth and using a semi circular motion to create a smooth edge to pull with.

Previously, I’ve found that waxing my underarms can be quite painful, but I was surprised to find that the arnica was quite effective in minimising the sting. I was able to remove around 50 per cent of the hairs under my arm with one pull, but found that the softer hair on my thighs didn’t come away as easily. In fact, I’d seen better results in that area using wax strips. After around four to five pulls, I’d successfully removed the entirety of my underarm hair without too much pain or any bleeding/redness. The aftercare lotion was a great comfort, too.

Clean-up is simple given how the wax hardens in the heater – I didn’t need to remove the excess and instead left it in the pot for future use. My one tip? Place a towel on the floor to catch any drips. Though an equipment cleaner is included, I’m not sure there’s any solution that’s 100 per cent effective at removing wax from fluffy carpet.

Tested by Lucy Smith

This waxing kit has everything you need to bring the salon experience into your home. However, I was a tad confused by the sparse instructions. It wasn’t obvious that the wax pot had to be placed in the heater rather than poured. The dial on the heater doesn’t have any temperature indicators, so there was some guesswork involved when it came to setting the heat level, and the instructions don’t specify how long you need to have the heater on for, which didn’t help. I started on setting seven, but when the wax stayed quite viscous, I turned it up to 10, and the wax was runny enough to use after about three minutes at that temperature.

Waxing itself was not too painful, with the strips easily gripping my hair and removing it in one fell swoop. The post-wax lotion with tea tree oil also did a good job of calming my skin and removing leftover wax. While the initial set-up could have been clearer, I’d happily use this kit again – the results have lasted more than three weeks (and counting) – but if you’re new to waxing, you may want to start with something a bit more simple.

Tested by Sabrina Sahota

I found this kit to be foolproof and effective, with simple digital controls and everything you need. That includes a whopping 100 paper waxing strips spatulas, a generously sized pre-wax cleanser, soothing lotion, and equipment cleaner. For my hands, I found that coconut oil was effective at removing excess wax.

I liked being able to adjust the temperature of the wax. This allowed for more control over consistency and temperature as it goes onto the skin. To start, I used the highest setting on the heater before bringing the temperature down a tad, stirring the wax throughout. I had to take care not to spill it over the side of the tub as it’s filled nearly to the brim. The wax had a honey-like consistency after about 20 minutes – longer than some, as there’s a lot of max to melt. That’s a downside of this kit, you can’t decide how much wax you heat. But I liked the minimal clean up – you just slot the tub in, and then out, of the heater.

Once the pre-waxing cleanser had dried, I applied the wax and paper strips (which are big enough for large areas, but easy to cut up). I only have salon waxing to compare this to, but the pull was less painful than I’d expected. In terms of results, the strips removed most of the hair on my legs, but some of my hairs broke. This could have been down to the fact my hairs weren’t super long, or simply my technique. But overall, I was impressed. And the soothing after wax lotion did a great job at calming my skin, too.

Tested by Lois Borny

You can’t get more natural than sugaring when it comes to waxing. This formula from Sugardoh is made up of sugar, water and citric acid. Because of its natural nature, Sugardoh’s wax is vegan, biodegradable and water-soluble – so you can loosen up any mistakes that you make. There are plenty of benefits to using sugaring as a method of hair removal, starting with the fact that it’s typically gentler on the skin, pulling hair from the roots and working with the temperature of your skin to only remove dead skin cells.

But, it would be generous to say that sugaring takes a bit of practice. It’s hard. Sugardoh is open about the fact, and it does take a lot of getting used to. However, once I got the hang of it, it was great – it works well on finer hairs, in all areas, and there was little to no wastage.

It took a little while for my wax to loosen up to a temperature that was usable, and I made a few errors where I didn’t warm it up in my hands enough. Once it’s on the skin, you just need to pull it away confidently, and you will be left with silky soft skin, and it didn’t take me too long to master the flick.

Luckily, the kit comes with a reusable applicator and cloth strips, so you can use it a little more like traditional wax when you’re starting out. If the wax needs a bit of extra help, it can be microwaved at five second increments. Be sure to test it out, and give it a good stir, as I had a few unfortunate accidents where I’d overheated it. It’s also pretty essential to use the pre-sugaring body powder (£8.49, Sugardoh.co), or the paste won’t adhere properly. Although the wax is expensive to buy, one set will last you months.

Tested by Mollie Davies

Despite the negative reviews you’ll see on the Boots website, I found the brand’s smooth care underarm and bikini strips to be a helpful budget option. Admittedly, they don’t compare to hot or warm wax, but the results are significantly longer lasting than shaving. Add to that how quick the process is, given that the strips are ready to go, and you’ve got yourself a good support case for this £4.50 at-home waxing option.

The strips arrive in the box as eight pairs. To prep them for use you simply have to warm each pair between your palms, peel the two apart (gently and slowly, to ensure an even distribution of wax remains on each side) and begin smoothing one of the strips onto the desired waxing area. By gliding your palm in the direction of hair growth along the wax-free side of the strip, you’ll effectively rewarm the wax while the strip is in situe on the skin, ensuring the best adhesion to the hairs. Tugging the skin taught and then pulling the strip up and away from the direction of hair growth, you’d hope to see a large chunk – if not all – of the hairs ripped out at the root.

I’d say around 60 per cent of the hair came off with the first pull but, even then, some of these hairs had been snapped versus being plucked from the root. The pain was manageable because of the small size of each strip and one underarm took me less than three minutes to wax clean. Would I buy them again? Yes. They’re superior for quick waxing and those on a budget. However, I’d sooner look to a wax heater if I had more time and money.

Tested by Lucy Smith