Originally Posted by
elcruxio
Modern water based drip waxes aren't actually true chemical emulsions, ie. They don't use surfactants. The wax is somehow formed into tiny microscopic droplets which solidify in the carrier to form a kind of wax "dust". After application the water evaporates and the wax is held together by its own stickiness. After pressure is applied the wax squishes into a more solid form.
You can’t take something that is water insoluble and mix it with water and expect it to hold in any kind of homogenous mixture. With wax, you can’t really even expect a heterogenous mixture. Pound the wax into particles at the atomic level and it still won’t mix with water. The wax will just float on the water. The water based waxes use emulsifiers (
Squirt says <5%) to hold the totally incompatible materials together. An emulsifier is just a specialized surfactant. And, while the water will evaporate, the emulsifier will not. Waxes are not reactive so the emulsifier is still there ready to become active if exposed to water.
Organic solvent based waxes don’t use emulsifiers and, when the solvent evaporates, only wax remains.
It's not ideal, which is why heating the chain briefly after the drip wax has had time to dry could be a good idea. It'd make the drip wax almost as good as immersion wax.
A hair drier or a heat gun is not something I carry while on tour. With solvent based wax lubricant, no heat is needed.