What is wax crystallization?

"My wax is not mixing or spreading well, and it cracks easily."

Scenario

Let’s say you have been using a wax type for some time, you know it is a good quality one and you like it. One morning you come to work and start a new bag of wax. You pour it in the warmer and wait impatiently for it to melt. However, after 40 min it seems the wax is not melting normally, it has bits that are not melting inside, and it is not smooth as usual. The customer is coming and during treatment you notice the wax cracks more often and the general performance is lower.

After the customer leaves, you are worried and the first thing you do is call the wax company and asking them if it is any change in the formula because the last wax you received is not the same as the ones you received for some time.

What happened?

You just opened a wax bag that had crystallized parts of rosin in it. To make it clear, only the wax based on natural pine resin (also known as rosin or colophony) can be affected by crystallization. So please read your wax ingredients and if this ingredient is not among the first ones this article probably will not be of interest to you.

What is crystallization?

It is the phase change of a material from a smooth emulsion to a solid crystalline state. A well-known and widespread example of crystallization is solidified (crystalized) honey.

Why does crystallization happen?

Most “crystallization” complaints appear in the winter. Exposure to extreme cold or storage in cold, temperature cycles and other factors may induce crystal growth over time (1-2 years). This usually affects isolate parts in a wax batch so not all the batch will be affected.

Crystallization is difficult to predict or eliminate entirely. It happens without warning and may only affect part of a given lot of material.  Rosin crystallization occurs similarly to other crystal growth.  The presence of a “seed” (a tiny part of a previously crystalized rosin) often initiates the crystallization process. Understanding the causes of crystallization and methods of fixing it can turn this major problem into a minor inconvenience.

What to do & Solution

If crystallization happen to you, please consider the following:

• -Warm the wax for 30 min to 1 hour to a higher temperature while stirring in it from time to time then lower the temperature to normal / work one. This will melt the crystals. The process is like warming crystalized honey to revert it to emulsion state.
  Please give it time as the crystals are harder to melt but they will slowly disappear if the wax is sufficiently warmed.
• -Often when the cold season is coming estheticians need to consider the wax temperature is lower therefore, they need to increase the warming temperature and give it more time to melt.
• -Empty your wax warmer and fill it with fresh wax. Often only 1 -2 bags are affected by crystallization.
• -Take a pic with of the serial / lot number and send it to the us. This will help identify batches with higher crystallization rate and dispose of them.
• -If the wax is bought from us, we will change it at no cost.
• -If you think rare occasional crystallization problem is unacceptable for you, consider switching to synthetic resin wax that does not have this problem. Ask us for the best options. However, please keep in mind the “crystallization” issue is very rare, fixable, and natural resin may have certain advantages upon synthetic resin, such as:
• -More affordable and economical specially for high traffic salons
• -Natural
• -Faster hardening
• -Strong grip on very coarse hair