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Surfwax is used to add  traction to the decks of surfboards. I recommend the following procedure to guarantee safety:

First, clean your surfboard.
Scrape off the old surfwax. For this, any surf shop sells or even gives away small plastic scrapers. Any model functions well. It´s convenient to warm the old surfwax a little before scraping. This softens it, making it is easy to scrape off, without having that to put too much pressure with the scraper on deck of the surfboard (excessive pressure can dent or crack the resin of the deck). I generally place the surfboard in the sun for a few minutes before removing the old surfwax, but if there is no sun, a pan of warm water spilled on top of old surfwax also does the job. (Avoid extreme heat, which causes bubbles in the lamination and can yellow the resin)

After scraping off the old surfwax, there will still be a little bit of surfwax left on the deck, mainly inside of any dents in the deck. The best way to remove this residue is to use kerosene and a handful of surfboard blank dust, however, you can also use other petroleum-based solvents (Gasoline, etc) and sawdust or even a cloth. Spill a little kerosene and rub with the dust or cloth. The kerosene melts and takes away the stickiness of the surfwax residue making the complete removal easy. At the end of the cleaning process I like to polish the board with a towel or flannel. (In the workshop we use a polishing machine with a clean muff, fine grain polishing paste, and a bit of kerosene to burnish with.)

Now comes the fun part of the story. Pick up a bar of new surfwax and hold it to your nose. Almost all the brands of surfwax have delicious essences.

Check out the conditions of the water where you intend to surf. Surfwax is very sensitive to temperature changes. Any serious surfwax brand has several different formulas. The hardest formulas are for applying the base-coat, which is an undispensable inicial layer, that must have bumps to supply three-dimensional traction to the surface of deck of the surfboard. This harder surfwax must be rubbed on calmly to get best bumps and will give you a little work to get good results, since you must not apply much pressure with the surfwax tablet against the deck. By rubbing lightly (Preferably in circular or infinity movements) during a long time (10-20 minutes), you will form these bumps with sufficient relief. (Note: Do not try this in the hot sun, unless first you reduce the temperature of both the deck of the surfboard and the surfwax tablet,  dunking both in the water, for the surfwax and the surfboard have to be cool to get bumps). This surfwax base-coat, well applied, is enough to surf with in hot waters, and does not require other softer, stickier layers. It will be just a little little soft and sticky on a summer day with warm seawater. If, however, the water is cold, you will need one or two additional layers of surfwax to be able to surf safely. What happens is that the cold water hardens surfwax in such a way that you start to slip on the surface of the surfboard when performing more radical maneuvers or in situations which call for lateral pressure on the feet. All experienced surfers know the situation: you finally catch a wonderful wave, and suddenly slip during the drop and go over the falls with the lip of the wave crashing down on top of you.