I’ve Been Plucking My Sideburns Every Day for Years—These Easy Wax Strips Finally Made That a Thing of the Past

In the opening scene of the iconic early 2000s film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the main character, Toula Portokalos, laments about growing up a Greek girl in an American suburb. “When I was growing up, I knew I was different,” she explains in a solemn voice over. “The other girls were blonde and delicate, and I was a swarthy six-year-old with sideburns.”

Toula might as well have been reading from my diary because I, too, know what it’s like to have sideburns in a world of (seemingly) dolphin-smooth girls. While my facial hair took a bit longer to grow in, my strong, Mediterranean genes (Italian, not Greek) have caused me to pluck my face every day for years. And no, before you ask, it’s not just the occasional lip whisker or stray black neck hair—I have full-fledged sideburns made up of little black hairs that grow all along my jawlines, along with—if I don’t tend them—a mustache and unibrow. The sides of my face are so furry that, if I let them grow in, I bet I could give my boyfriend’s beard a run for his money.

Yes, I know all body hair is normal and beautiful, but not my sideburns. TBH, I’ve been super self-conscious about them for years, trying everything from laser treatments to threading to get them to go away. Nothing has worked as well as a tweezing them daily from the perch of my bathroom sink once, if not twice, a day. That is, until I got a sample of Billie’s impressive new wax strips which have pared down my plucking routine to a mere five minutes every 10 days or so. They’ve quickly become my new go-to for de-hairifying my face. And I’ve never been so relieved.

Billie, The Wax Kit-Face & Bikini — $9.00

Each kit includes 32 wax strips (12 small, 20 medium), six post-wax serum wipes, and a step-by-step guide to getting your smoothest skin. Also available in the larger Body & Underarm Kit ($10).

Now, I’ve tried wax strips on my sideburns before, but none have worked as well as Billie’s. The other brands, like Sally Hansen and Nad’s, work on finer parts of my body, like my upper lip. But they’ve never been able to grip the thick, dark hairs that sprout the sides of my face, picking up one to two hairs at most when I pull off the strip.

Not Billie, no sir. Billie is the first-ever wax strip I’ve used that successfully (and satisfyingly) rips my sideburns off in a few fell swoops, leaving me baby-bottom soft and silky in seconds. The shape of the strips is similar to Sally and Nad’s (long, rectangular, easy to cut need be), but it’s the formula that stands out. The minty green gel-wax is blended with vegan ingredients that stick to the hair, but not to skin. It’s infused with avocado oil, too, which reportedly softens the individual hairs, while a burst of aloe soothes the skin after you pull it off. It really works—like, really works. Just look at all those tiny black whiskers in the photo below!

And they’re not just for your face. Be it your armpits, bikini line, happy trail, or butt crack, Billie’s wax strips are easy to use and large enough to remove large patches of unwanted hair in a flash. There’s the Face & Bikini Kit ($9), which includes small and medium strips for waxing hard-to-reach places, and the Body & Underarm Kit ($10), which comes with 12 medium and 24 large strips. Both come with the brand’s post-wax serum wipes, which calm your freshly waxed skin in just a few swipes and de-gunk the rare tacky bit of residue that gets left behind.

Take it from me, a hairy girl who just wants to wear a friggin’ ponytail without worrying her sideburns are showing. These things work. So well, in fact, that you might breakup with your tweeze for good just like I did.

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