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Stephanie asked: How do remove hair removal wax from jeans? I had a hair removal wax kit that accidentally got knocked over in my closet shelf. The wax in the container began spilling out and now is all over my jeans and a little bit on the floor. How can I take this out without throwing out my clothes?
Hair
removal wax is similar to other types of wax and can be removed with the same simple steps. While the methods below are safe for removing wax from clothing, carpeting and hard surfaces like tile, they should NOT be used to remove excess wax from skin. In the case of skin, follow the directions for use on the package instructions.
Wax on Carpet or Fabric
You Will Need:
- A brown paper bag or old towel
- An iron or hair dryer
Steps to Remove the Wax:
- Lay a brown paper bag or an old towel over the wax. It is best to avoid bags that have ink on them as the ink could transfer to the surface, so if you have a bag with ink on it, cut it open and turn it inside-out.
- Heat an iron on low (no steam), then gently rub it over the bag or towel.
- If you don’t have an iron, you can use a hair dryer instead. Put it on high heat and point it at the bag or towel, holding it a few inches away.
- Rotate the bag or towel to a clean area as the wax is transferred to it.
- Repeat the process until no more wax remains.
Wax on Hard Surfaces
You Will Need:
- Ice
- A scraper
- A brown paper bag or towel
- An iron or hair dryer
Steps to Remove the Wax:
- Rub an ice cube over the way to harden it as much as possible.
- Once the wax is hard, use a scraper to chip it off the surface. Be sure to select a scraper that is safe for your specific surface. For example, it is usually best to avoid a metal scraper for tile or wood as it could scratch. A credit card can work well if you don’t have a plastic scraper, but be sure to choose one that can easily be replaced in case you damage it.
- If there is any wax that is stubborn or hard to reach, such as if it has gotten into a grout groove, lay a paper bag or an old towel over the remaining wax.
- Heat an iron on low (no steam), then gently rub it over the bag or towel.
- If you don’t have an iron, you can use a hair dryer instead. Put it on high heat and point it at the bag or towel, holding it a few inches away.
- Rotate the bag or towel to a clean area as the wax is transferred to it.
- Repeat as necessary until no more of the wax remains.
Additional Tips:
- Several people have commented below that they had success using olive oil to remove the wax.
- Never leave the iron sitting on the bag or towel in one spot as it could scorch the area or start a fire.
- If the wax is on something expensive or delicate, like a silk shirt, consider taking it to a dry cleaner first.
- Do not try to use a thin cloth in place of an old towel. If the material is to thin, the wax will soak right through it onto the iron, and then you will have a whole new surface to remove it from.
- Do not use the ice/scraping method on fabric or carpet as it could pull out the fibers and tear/damage the material.
Real hair removal wax has honey in it; it cannot harden. It will not harden (just try to freeze honey) and I have managed to spill a whole canister of it on my freshly folded laundry! It would be great if I could just harden and scrape it off, but that’s not going to happen. Any other ideas?
I spilled ‘hair removal wax’ on my couch and jeans last year. I tried everything.
Freezing did not work at all! I have no idea why people say it works! Maybe freezing works for small spots of wax, but not larger gooey patches of wax.
Finally, after going through the chemicals in our garage, I realized that paint thinner takes it off.
It really smells, because it evaporates fast, so make sure you do it in a well ventilated room.
I read online that paint thinner can contain acetone or white spirit, so potentially they alone could work. There is acetone in most nail polish removers so you can also give that a try.
Also, it is the same stuff that is in “lighter fuel” (eg: Ronsonol).
I would suggest putting some more of the hair removal wax on an old T-Shirt and attempt to remove it from there first, so you don’t ruin your nice sheets or jeans in case the method backfires on you, but for me it came off perfectly.
I just put the paint thinner on the couch and rubbed it off with a towel.
I am sure it will work for you, but like I said, I urge you to experiment first on an old T-shirt to be sure!
Ok, this worked. Olive oil directly on the wax; rub gently. It seems to thin the wax out. Now, hand wash with Dawn or Palmolive dish soap and hot water. Then, wash as normal. Saved one top and silver jeans.
Get your item of clothing and with a paper towel and a hot iron, iron over the waxed area. This works a treat! I just did a bit and checked after a few seconds. Doesn’t need much. I had wax used to remove hair at a salon on my clothes. Annoying, but it can be fixed!
Read all the comments above after finding beauticians wax on the back of my new linen dress. Tried to iron it out using brown paper, then tried a paper towel. Next was the nail polish remover; all with no success. Finally, with nothing to lose, I tried Kathy’s suggestion of applying olive oil onto the wax, rubbing it in, then using dish washing detergent (Morning Fresh) and followed by hand washing the dress. Pleased to advise that it worked. Thanks Kathy.
Baby oil! Not too much of it; just a dab. Rub with your fingers and then follow with a little bit of Palmolive and water. Laundry wash, and you’ll be all set! Just got it off my bathrobe. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Guys,
Mine is a delicate crepe fabric which has caught the hair removing wax on it.
I am really scared of an expensive dress being ruined. Just wondering which of these experiments would be least risky.
Please suggest friends??
Thanks in advance! 🙂
I tried it all and none of it worked for me. Guess there was just too much wax on to begin with.
I spilled some of the Gigi’s Self Pro Kit wax onto the carpet… that was hell to clean. I tried the heat method, but revised a bit. I cut the paper towel into small 2×2 squares so that the area of heat would be more specific and concentrated. Then, I used my Conair hair dryer (it’s a baby one, travel size) so that the area of heat would again be more specific. The wax mostly came off. Then, I dabbed some baby oil, which you can substitute with olive oil, and let it dry. Finally, I washed it as usual and it came out smelling good and looking good. 🙂
I dribbled some Brazilian wax on my new recliner; it’s hard wax that you microwave to use. I tried ironing an old towel to it, and most of the wax came up, but it left a stain. I dabbed it with rubbing alcohol and it’s just about gone. Next time I use this type of wax, I will surely cover the surface I’m working at!!
Acetone doesn’t work. I tried acetone nail polish remover, and luckily I tried it on an inconspicuous spot first, because it completely took the color off the leather.
I got hair removal wax on my tan-colored microfiber couch. I am a little afraid of using the remedies listed because I don’t want to further stain or ruin the couch. Any suggestions? Would the iron and paper towel trick work on this?
One of the best ways I know to lift large spills of this type of wax is to use the same muslin or cloth strips that cosmetologists use to remove this wax from the skin. Heat the wax very well with a blow dryer, gently and firmly work the strip into the wax in both directions, and then rip the whole strip very quickly from the surface while staying very close to it (rip ‘down’ the area…not ‘up’ or ‘away’). It may take a few tries to get it all, but you can get strips that are quite large for body waxing from any beauty supply store. Ever notice that they usually fold the used strip after they pull it from your skin and dab it along the area to remove any residue…? Same thing…Those strips are designed to absorb the wax and lift it away from your skin or any other surface it needs to be pulled from. Just remember to reheat the area every time you apply another strip to the spill!
Seriously… Maybe no one here experienced this situation with strip wax; that’s a kind of that doesn’t become hard. I was using a small baggage to store all my waxing materials, and this wax just leaked over all the stuff, but specially the interior of the baggage. I tried pure acetone that I use to clean the wax warmer.
A mess… I got so frustrated and after reading this website, tried the iron (just melted more of the wax) and oil (made it oily). I poured a lot of Vanish (pink version) over this mess of oil and acetone and put it under very hot water, brushing like my life depended on it. The Vanish with water simply liquefied the wax. 🙂 Good luck! PS: Before start, I did wear rubber gloves and an old cleaning brush!
Olive oil will work. However, you then have to deal with the oil stain. Hot water (near boiling should be poured on the cloth to break up the oil stain), then immediately wash them. If it’s on a couch, you can have the same effect; use the olive oil and then call a truck-mounted steam cleaner. I am a hairdresser and made a HUGE mistake putting carpet in our waxing room. Very expensive lesson learned.
Kittens knocked over a full container of Sally Hansen Brazilian Formula wax into bathtub with a textured surface. Ugh. Would not harden (despite ice!).
De-bulked the mess by scraping it off with Popsicle sticks. Poured olive oil over areas with residue (basically 1/2 of the tub). Heated up sections of the tub with a hairdryer and scrubbed with paper towel…
Removed the oil residue with a generic spray & wipe cleaner.
40 minutes later, I have a clean tub.
Thankfully the kittens did not step in wax!!!
Just one additional piece of information regarding removing hair removal wax from terrycloth (cotton). Don’t use the “freezer/ice & scraping” method. When I tried to remove a wax stain (left from wax strip that I had picked up at the sleeve of my bathrobe), I literally took off part of the fabric when trying to scrape the hardened (not so hard, btw, still very sticky) wax with the back of a butter knife. It didn’t go anywhere.
What did work was a brown bag & iron. At least for removing the ‘bulk’ of the wax. However, when that left a residue that did no longer respond to that method, I soaked the spot in nail polish remover (with a towel underneath). Now, everything goes into the washing machine. Wouldn’t say it looks like new (it’s a long-time fave), but the wax is gone. Yeah!
I tried brake cleaner, WD-40, and finally 91% isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol softened it enough to scrape most of the wax up. Lots of elbow grease helped. Always test patch first.
Followed Kathy’s advice with olive oil. I didn’t want to use heat because it was sticky enough. The olive oil worked great! I used small amounts, wiped it off, and repeated until all the wax was gone.
My daughter is a beautician and in the process of moving her trolley with her hot wax tub on it just after seeing a client, it tipped and the hot wax went down her trousers, on the floor and over her shoes. I now have the problem of getting it off the trousers. I have tried to freeze it, but it has stayed soft. They were in the deep freeze for 36 hours. I will now try some of the suggestions above and will let you know how I do. Thanks.
My hair removal wax spilled all over underneath my kitchen sink. It was a big, BIG mess!! I removed the most I could with a spudger, then I used one ice cube at a time to harden the wax and with the same tool, I was able to scrape off most of it. After that I used olive oil (which is magical when it comes to removing wax!) and my finger nails to remove the leftovers. Finally I cleaned it with Dawn dish soap. I’m glad to say it almost looks like nothing happened! – To remove it off your hands or skin, rub olive oil to break the wax down and wash with Dawn dish detergent. I would also say to remove it from smooth surfaces, use ice to harden and then scrape (it works better if done in small portions). Good luck!
Hi. My daughter has stuck them to my acrylic shower cubicle doors. Any suggestions?
I used 100% acetone nail polish remover from Walmart, some Popsicle sticks, a old tee shirt, and some paper towels to remove the wax.
I took a piece of the shirt and let it sit on the wax while I was at work. Came home and started scraping as much of the wax off as I could. Then, after I removed the shirt from the area I poured some of the acetone onto the wax. Let it sit for a minute and then wiped/rubbed the wax off with some paper towels.
It took me about 40 minutes to remove an entire container of wax from underneath my sink that spilled from my waxing kit. So sad this happened. At least it is all gone now. I would definitely recommend that you have a window open or the vent fan running while you do this.
Hope this helps. 🙂
I spilled some body wax onto my carpet and I’m pleased to say that I used olive oil (small amounts on fingers) until it broke up the body wax. It worked great and was a surprise. Then I followed up with Dawn dish soap and clean water, and it turned out great.
Benzine will take off body wax from clothes. Put a small amount on a piece of cotton wool and rub gently.
Jessica,
Continue with the steps in the article you were reading. Both articles start with the ice method, then go into the iron method. It is the iron method that seems to work best for hair removal wax. Good luck!
We tried ice and it worked on rayon pants; flaked right off.
Hi. I was cleaning and accidentally knocked a burning candle off from behind the TV. The wax was on the wall and the cords. I used eucalyptus oil and it came off very quickly; I was shocked that it worked and enjoy the bonus smell. ?
First, have your hair dryer and some newspaper ready. Turn your hair dryer to the hottest setting, and point the dryer to the sticky furniture or wood floor. As the sticky wax melts, use newspaper to remove as much as possible. Then, use HOT HOT WATER and old rag to clean whatever is left. (I use this method, successfully removing facial hair wax for my wood floor and table.)
You will need a wax solvent. They sell pleasant-smelling solvents for manicure/waxing professionals. Miracle Citrus wax solvent works well. It has citrus oils to provide a pleasant smell. The solvent is in the alkane group. This is used in spas to remove wax residue from the wax heaters and does not harm fabrics, but please test before using. Do no use on your skin.
My hair removing wax melted in the electric oven along with its plastic container. How to clean the oven as the wax has stuck to the surface of oven?
Aqsa,
You can use the method for hard surfaces, however, only use either ice or a hair dryer – do not use an iron because that would cause the plastic to re-melt and melting plastic is never a good idea. When you have removed as much as possible with that method, clean off any remaining residue with some oven cleaner. Good luck!