Mistress Sidonia's Femdom Blog

Wax Play Pt 1

An Essential Guide to Everything you ever Wanted & Needed to know about Wax Play

Wax play is a great way to inflict slow sensuous pain, each drop imparting a momentary hot searing sensation onto the skin. Erotic hot fingers caressing and penetrating your body in an entirely unique way. Wax is visual, it’s dramatic, it has an intimacy and a punch – enough to get the endorphins flowing. Applied correctly wax should leave no marks nor do any damage to the skin, it most definitely should not cause scalds or burns. Yes, it may slightly redden the skin but this should pass after an hour or so. This is one of wax play’s major advantages – pain without lasting marks.

Types of Candle Wax

It’s essential to choose the correct type of wax for BDSM play, ones with a low melting point.
a) Firstly and most importantly, so it will not burn the skin;
b) But also because to use wax effectively you need it to be fast dripping or pourable.
So you need a soft wax that melts quickly while you are using it.

Candles are made from different types of wax, these melt at different temperatures. Most come from a derivative of petroleum, though there is also beeswax; tallow (animal fat wax); and natural waxes made from soy (beans) or plants. Generally, the higher the quality and cost, the harder the wax, the slower they burn. Like church pillar candles which are designed to burn for many hours as they are made from beeswax which has a very high melting point. So, this is one of the few areas of life where cheaper is better, as cheap candles burn quickly as the wax is softer and the softer the wax the lower the melting point.

Other factors may also increase the temperature of the hot wax – scented candles are made from essential  oils and oil has a high burning temp. Most candle sticks contain hardeners (sterin or steric acid,) which increases the melt temperature to makes them burn longer with less drips. The dyes used for colours can make a candle burn hotter, this is especially true for richly pigmented candles. However, it’s best to use coloured candles, muted ones, as white, the most common candle colour is not ideal for candle wax play as it doesn’t show up well against the skin, thought it can work on darker skins.

Do Not Use
Beeswax candles
Long burning or very hard candles (including church pillar)
Metallic, richly pigmented or oil scented/perfumed candles

All have high melting points or contain hot oils and can seriously burn the skin. It’s best to buy specialist BDSM play candles or pouring wax with low melting points they come in fabulous colours and are easy to use. More about these later.

The Wax Test

A good rule is to always test wax on yourself first, an idea place is the back of your arm. Though, you must still remember that everyone feels wax differently and has a different tolerance to heat, even at the same wax temperatures. Dehydration, alcohol, some medications and skin conditions will play a role in a body’s reaction. Body moisturisers and perfumes on the skin can also make the wax hotter. While some people are allergic to paraffin used in most candles. So check and communicate with your play partners.

Other Factors Influencing Temperature

1.    First drops   Wax dripped onto wax is an entirely different sensation to wax dropped onto skin! So when you start dropping the wax on the skin it will be much hotter than later on.

2.    Distance   I’d suggest dropping the wax from at least 18 inches above the skin, this gives the drips time to cool. At the beginning start the drops high, once you have coverage you will need to lower the wax for the effect to still be felt through the layers.

3.    Amount   The amount of wax being poured will effect its temperature. Wax dripped slowly from above has time to air cool, however, wax poured from a jar from the same height and same temperature will not be able to do this. So more wax = more heat = risk of burning. While the wax is still ‘wet’ on the body it’s still hot so don’t use it too quickly, it’s a slow pleasure savour it! Also be aware it will naturally pool in depressions on the body taking longer to cool and harden so dropping more wax onto these areas will increase the heat.

4.    Skin Sensitivity   Wax on harder skin like the bottom or legs will feel less hot than wax dripped onto more sensitive places like the genitals.

Where To Drop

For BDSM hot wax dripped onto breasts, nipples, genitals, thighs can be very erotic, but wax can be used anywhere on the body. I think, however, it’s best to avoid the face, eyes obviously can’t be waxed and it is a nightmare if you get it in your hair (especially longhair) so take care. If used on the genitals, as the skin there is thinner and more sensitive remember this will make the wax feel hotter. I have known people who like to wax the tongue/mouth, I don’t think this will cause harm but care should be taken so that it does not block the air passage and given most wax is a derivative of petroleum it really isn’t a good idea to eat any of it. This is also an issue if wax is dripped into a vagina or anus, it’s not something I’d recommend but if this is something you are determined to try, make sure you get it all out afterwards.

To be continued in Pt2
Read Part 2 Here