You might have been familiar to wax used in crayons and candles, but have you ever given paraffin wax treatment a try for your beauty routine? This treatment can be easily found in salons and spas, which provide manicure and pedicure treatments. Paraffin wax is a treatment meant for softening hands, including the cuticles and nails, and feet. Since a lot of manufacturers start to produce paraffin wax bath kits, it is not impossible to do the treatment at home. It is more flexible, affordable, and hygienic. However, you should pay attention to the right techniques in order to get maximized benefits of the treatment.

General steps used in paraffin wax treatments

Melting the wax

Paraffin wax is made from petroleum and has a lower melting temperature compared to hard waxes. Melting the wax to turn it into liquefied wax is important to maximize oil absorption by the skin.

Dipping hands or feet into the melting wax

This is intended to cover any treated body parts with melted soft wax. If you are adding some minerals into the mixture, the wax consistency will be thinner, so that your hands or feet will need to be dipped more than once.

Leaving the paraffin wax on

This is probably the most crucial step, since it has a significant role of nourishing the treated areas. Once paraffin has covered your hand or foot, wrap it with a plastic bag and cover the hand with towel or mitten. In order to get benefits from the treatment, this step needs to be concerned about.

How long to leave paraffin wax on

Paraffin wax machines are available at various beauty stores. Although it is pricey, these machines do have a temperature regulated machine that will maintain the wax temperature. If you cannot afford the machine, a crockpot and a thermometer is an alternative. Once you have the wax melted, dip the hands into the crockpot and cover it with the wax thoroughly. However, it is important to pay attention to how long you should leave the wax on.

• If you have open wounds on the skin, you should never use paraffin wax treatment, no matter how short the time to leave the melted wax on your skin is.
• If you are using the paraffin wax treatment for the hands, you can submerge the fingers, palms, and wrists into the melted wax once or twice until it is thoroughly covered. Afterwards, you will need 5 to 10 minutes covering the dipped hands with plastic bag or towel before you can take the hardened wax off.
• If you are treating your feet, you might need more times to cover the feet with melted wax and thus, longer time to wait for the wax to harden completely.
• if you are treating hand arthritis, for instance, rather than merely doing the preliminary treatment before manicure and pedicure, you can either repeat the treatments twice or three times for each hand, or dip it more than once and wait longer for the wax to harden. Ten to fifteen layers is recommended for paraffin wax bath treating arthritis. These layers will definitely keep the heat longer and thus, promotes better relief and boosts blood circulation.
• If you decide to dip your hands or feet several times, wait until the wax layer loses its shine and turns into dull color before dipping the hands into the wax again. This way, you are creating thicker layers, which keep the heat more properly and longer.
• To retain the heat from melted paraffin wax on your hands or feet, wrap the treated areas with plastic liners and cover it with either towel of hand mitten. Generally, the how long the heat lasts depends on the thickness of the paraffin layers.

Cautions

• If you are diabetic, paraffin wax is not recommended, since your skin can easily burn without you even noticing. This may lead to open wound and infection, which in diabetic patients, may be life-threatening.
• If you are not using a store-bought paraffin bath equipment, it is important to take the temperature of melted paraffin with a thermometer before dipping your body parts into it. Melted paraffin that is too hot will cause skin burn that may lead to skin infection.
• During the treatment, avoid stretching your fingers or toes, as this may break the hardened layers and thus, cause the trapped heat to leak. Always keep your fingers and hands relaxed during the treatment.