I picked up a box of plastic wax strips that set me back a princely $7.99. There were 18 double-sided strips in the packet; 12 that were approximately one inch wide and 6 in a two inch width. The instructions in the box mentioned that, among the strips' many virtues, they were easy to reuse. That's true, you only have to jam the two halves back together. However, they lose a little bit of stickiness each time. And also, they start looking really nasty after two or three successful deployments.

The strips were slightly easier to manage than the self-hardening stuff, but still not entirely effective. I noticed that a large number of hairs broke off close to the surface of the skin rather than getting a proper pulling. When I tried to hit these areas again, the hair got glued down in all the waxy residue. The shape of the strips also wasn't ideal for a lot of leggy bits. I found the strips more or less useless around my knees, upper calves and ankles. After another two hours of targeted yanking, I still noticed a number of stray hairs. At this point my legs seemed waxy enough, so I tweezed the stragglers and called it a day.

Speaking of the waxy residue, the packet of strips came with a small of something called “finishing oil.” This magic substance is meant to soften and smooth your legs, while also removing most of the gummy grossness. It made my legs bizarrely shiny in the process. I still had to spot-varnish myself with a little nail polish remover to be sure I was 100% untacky.
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