Waxing is crucial for cross country skiing. For classic skis, you use both kick and glide wax, whereas for skate skis you use only glide wax. There's a wide variety of waxes for different conditions and temperatures. However, one thing that remains constant is that kick wax is for pushing and glide wax is for gliding. 

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      To prepare your classic skis, apply glide wax to the tip and tail of your skis using a waxing iron to melt the wax onto the ski; keeping the area below the binding wax free. Once the wax is evenly applied and cooled, use a wax scraper to scrape off the access wax. To finish, use a brush to clean and polish your ski. As for the middle/ below binding area, you have your kick zone. The kick zone is a wax pocket measured by your weight. To apply your kick wax (if you don't have fish scales), mark the beginning and end of the kick zone with the wax and apply wax evenly in between. The motion is almost like colouring with a crayon. Once finished, use a cork to rub in the wax until you can't see it anymore. You may need multiple layers depending on the temperature, weather or snow conditions. 

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      It's a little bit easier for skate skis. Follow the same directions for glide wax on classic skis: melt wax onto ski with an iron, once cooled, scrape and polish with a brush. The only difference is you're applying glide wax to the whole length of the ski.