Originally Posted by lucklust
Depilatories work by breaking down hair with a high pH substance such as sodium thioglycolate or calcium thioglycolate - which reacts with the protein structure of hair. Oven cleaners and drain cleaners are typically ~1.5% sodium thioglycolate by mass.
Nope, the active ingredient in oven cleaner is sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, lye. That's the active ingredient.
You're correct about the Nair, but oven cleaner doesn't contain thioglycolates (or if it does, it's not the primary mechanism by which it works). Nair *does* contain calcium hydroxide, but that will be substantially less reactive than sodium hydroxide and is also present in much lower concentrations than the sodium hydroxide in oven cleaner.
Bottom line: the mechanism by which they work maybe similar, but just as using a 2.4GHz phone or WiFi card is not the same as sticking a microwave oven over your head, Nair is not the same as oven cleaner. Don't mix and match kids.