Damn I miss my eyebrow - I really look better with two!
Written: Jun 08 '01 (Updated Jun 08 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: a tasty way to remove hair, somewhat pain free, great results
Cons: hard to use, takes a lot of practice, I didn't like losing an eyebrow
The Bottom Line: A complicated product to use successfully - not as easy as shown on TV. With practice/ patience you will come to love NADs and use it all the time.
If you think this can be pain free, have I got bridge to sell you! Yeah, I can rip hair off all parts of my body and it won't hurt one bit. Mmmm hmmm, I'm so sure that would ever happen. If you believed that claim and were stupid enough to order this pain free all natural hair removal system, then you have no right writing a negative Epinion.
I was amazed to see all the negative write-ups for this product. It has always worked well for me - in fact NADs works so well that for five weeks I missed one of my eyebrows (thank god for Prescriptives and their wonderful eyebrow pencils). I don't blame NADs for the loss, I got sloppy and over confident in my ability to NAD.
It is a very hard product to use successfully, it takes much practice and patience and if you expect it to perform "as seen on TV" the first time out, you probably need to get a reality check and stop ordering products off the TV.
So just how did I come to know and use NADS? Well, I have a secret - a deep dark secret - I'm addicted to infomercials. It all started 7 years ago after the birth of my second child. He never slept and I was up many evenings watching late night TV. After him came two more in a three year span.
You can only begin to imagine how much bad TV and how many infomercials I have seen. Well I guess just take a walk through my home - Popeil Pasta Maker (love it but with four kids who has time to use it), Showtime Barbeque (still use it twice a week after a year and a half), Turbie Twist (LOVE it and can't imagine how I lived without them all these years),the Auto Hammer (my son said Daddy has to have it and it works so so) and then there's Nads (we'll get to the review in a minute).
Truth is most of the time I don't order - I just love to watch and wonder what idiot would order that product. Many times though I have become the idiot and lowered myself to become someone who orders products off the TV (every time I do I just get that mental image of some old lady ordering Joan Rivers junk jewelry from QVC - ick! when did my life take this horrible turn for the worse?)
Of course I think I am just a step above the rest - I can't embarrass myself with human contact and saying in a loud voice, "Please send me a tub of that Australian Goo." I wait til I can get it over the web and avoid all embarrassment - that is until it comes to my house in a large box with NAD's printed on the side.
I am also a very cautious shopper - I never believe all claims made about a product. Ron Popeil told me I could set and forget it and the first thing he said on the video is "Don't set and forget because it's hot and things can catch on fire in it." That's fine I never anticipated setting it and leaving it on in my home for two hours while I went out binge drinking.
To keep myself in check, I have a shopping buddy (just as addicted to these stupid commercials as I am). She's lives in upstate New York and we always call one another - "Did you see that? Do you think it is any good? Did you order it?" We usually watch a product for a month or so before one of us orders it.
This time I was the NADs lab rat. I waffled for about four months and finally broke down. I was going on a trip to Disney World and thought wouldn't it be nice if I could be hair free for one week and not have to worry about touch ups and shaving.
I knew shaving wouldn't give me the results I sought. I wasn't in any mood to burn off the hair and first layer of skin with NAIR, so I thought NADs might be just right. It yanks the hair out by the root so it will take longer to grow back.
I watched the commercial and listened to the claims. I laughed out loud when they said pain free. Please, I've done waxing, sugaring and the old Epilady skin remover so I know you can't yank out hair without some pain being involved.
What appealed to me about NADs is that it is a no heat system. It claimed to use your own body heat to activate the ingredients that aid in hair removal. That's why I ordered it - no heat means no more scarred eyebrows, no more burned calves, no more yelling OWWWW as the hot wax/burning sugar melds to my skin.
I knew the pulling part would hurt, but if I could avoid the application pain this might be a product I use all the time. Or at least when I get enough guts to drag it out of my makeup hall of shame drawer.
So what did NADs claim and did it measure up?
NADs claimed to be an all natural no heat hair removal system.
Claim one - NADs is all natural. The ingredients are (in listed order) Honey, Fructose, Vinegar, Molasses, Glucose, Water, Concentrated Lemon Juice, alcohol and food dye. I'm sure there may be a potential for allergic reactions so do as they suggest and test on a small area and wait 24 hours.
It is so natural in fact that it is edible (and pretty tasty I may add). It is very sticky and sometimes it is easier to lick it off a finger than rinse it off (don't try that with NAIR!)
Claim Two - NADs is a heat free system. That is true, it does work with your own body heat. It's a very thick consistency, which you must stir before use. It can get very hard if it sits unused for a long period of time. They suggest that you nuke it for 15 seconds or so to soften it up and make it easier to stir and apply. I found that it works best to always nuke it before each use.
Claim Three - NADs is a pain free hair removal system - GET REAL, it does hurt when you yank it off, but if you keep the skin taught, it hurts a heck of a lot less (and certainly a lot less than wax or sugaring - and you can't burn yourself with it).
It doesn't hurt so bad I would never use it again, but I can only do about one leg per night per I yell uncle. The next night may require a glass of liquid courage before I try again.
Claim Four - well not a claim as much as the way the commercial presents it - NADs is an easy system to use.
NADs is not as easy to use on yourself as they show in the commercial. Step back and take a minute to think - on the commercial someone is applying and using the product on another person. That's much easier to do than trying to apply this to your skin and remember all the rules while you are hanging upside down. "Hmmm is it yank in the direction of hair growth or not?"
As I found out the hard way it's much easier to have someone use this to do your eyebrows than to make the attempt on yourself. The product does tend to spread out and despite thinking I had a section separated off, I ended up yanking out almost all the brow. Pain free it was, but a pain in the butt to grow back.
NADs has a lot of directions:
1. Ensure area is thoroughly clean and dry (and they mean it, this won't work if you put NADs over makeup and try to do an eyebrow). If you don't want to clean your skin first, don't complain it doesn't work.
2. Best used at body/room temperature. We covered this before, nuking it 15 seconds makes it work better.
3. Apply thinly in the direction of hair growth (sometimes not so easy to determine and if done wrong will ensure the product will pull up nothing). Also, too thick will cause problems - it may spread and grab excess hair you want to keep).
4. Place fabric strip on gel and stroke 2 or 3 times in direction of hair growth. Stroke nothing, you need to rub in the direction very hard. I found that the flat end of a brush works very well.
5. Pull skin taught then remove quickly pull strip in the opposite direction of hair growth. (missing instruction - take a sip of wine and hope for the best). I bet every man reading this review is happy they never have to ever do this and are probably wondering why any woman would want to.
Again you have to do this quickly and it can be hard recall what is the opposite direction of the hair growth. NADs is also neat in that once the product is on the strip all you have to do is rub the strip on the next section and yank - (a plus for legs).
6. Remove excess product with water - to avoid a reaction. They also give you soothing gel to put on the affected areas. It does help to reduce redness.
Like I said NADs is a very hard product to use. If you don't want to take the time to practice and work on being successful with the product don't rate it low. If you don't use it exactly as instructed don't blame the product.
I rated it a four - one point off for that false pain free claim. It's a lot more pain free than I thought it would be, but still I felt a certain amount of ouch. After lots of practice I find this is a good way to get rid of unwanted hair and to keep it off me for five weeks.
At first I thought it was the pits and I felt burned by the company, the I realized the mistakes I made and now I love to NAD.
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