For you ladies who want to join me in staying REALLY smooth, you need to stop shaving all together and go to an epilator. Best. Purchase. Ever. I would end up prickly minutes after stepping out of the shower, just from goosebumps. Now my legs are smooth for a week at a time, and the minimal regrowth is soft. It also makes legs look better for those of us who have pale skin and dark hair. Shaving doesn't fix the dark roots that show right through the skin.
It is NOT recommended for men's faces, though, as men's beards are rooted differently and you can damage your face.
Isn't this sort of expensive and incredibly painful?
Initially a little and initially a little!
I paid $63.48 for mine in June of 2012, so if it dies at the end of this month (which I doubt) I will be out around $1.41 per month.
Here is the review I put on Amazon back in 2012 of the
Braun SE 5280 [old version].
I've never used any other epilator, so I'm not recommending it over other brands.I bought this a couple months ago (at the time, it was cheaper at BB&B with a 20% off coupon, though BB&B's website claimed they no longer carried it). My first time, I did both legs (including the bikini line) and both arms (not underarms). It took two hours, and I was biting my lip the whole time. The ice glove didn't help much, but it did help to take off the starter cap and just use the efficiency cap for everything. For the next day or two, I had little bumps everywhere. But, the hair was gone!
I started epilating the aforementioned parts once a week. For the second use, things didn't hurt nearly as much, and the bumps only lasted an hour. By the third use, most areas stopped hurting completely. This may be in part because I had sugar-waxed my arms a few times in the past, but they had completely grown out again. At this point, I can get arms, legs, a little past the bikini line, and underarms done in one hour and ten minutes. Compared to the ridiculous time it takes me to shave daily (20 minutes, blah!), this is actually time-saving.
I will note that this does not get my skin perfectly smooth. If I rub against the growth of the hair, I still feel a few tiny hair ends which were too short to be caught. But they don't feel prickly anymore, and rubbing any other direction feels smooth.
This is such an improvement over shaving, which leaves me with horrible razorburn immediately, ingrown hairs because I can't bear to scrub to exfoliate razorburned skin, and super-prickly legs immediately if I get goosebumps for a minute. Also, with epilating I don't get the ugly shadow of dark hair roots under pale skin.
Hints:
1) I think that epilating once a week really cuts down the pain level. You are grabbing fewer hairs from each area, and your skin has less time to lose the tolerance.
2) Exfoliate during every shower. I also scrub my skin with a dry, rough washcloth right before epilating, which gets all the hairs to stand up nicely. If you don't exfoliate, you will get ingrown hairs. I still get a few, but not many. Also, moisturize after each shower. If you don't like scented stuff, a bottle of mineral oil (laxatives section of the pharmacy) will do the trick cheaply and without any odor. Just rub a little on without toweling off first.
3) This thing is noisy. It is often compared to the sound of a lawnmower. I listen to music on headphones while doing this, to pass the time, so it isn't terribly loud.
4) Go SLOWLY when epilating, or the hair is more likely to break. This was an issue on my arms for a while, before I started actually following the instructions.
5) Hold the epilator at the recommended 90-degree angle and don't press it into your skin. This really does make it more effective.
Over the next couple months, my technique or timing improved enough that my epilated parts are smooth in every direction. Also, I now gently exfoliate with a pumice stone on legs and arms in the shower before epilating. Only my underarms and bikini line are somewhat painful (but not much). Make sure skin is dry (dusted with cornstarch, if necessary) before epilating. For legs and arms, I can feel that the hair is coming out, but it doesn't hurt. Also, over time, less hair grows back.
Also, from what I've heard, waxing requires 1/4-inch or more of regrowth to work. For my epilator, if I can feel the hair, it can almost always be epilated.
Seriously, if you can get through the first couple weeks, this is a great tool. Some women mention that they take a couple ibuprofen (or glasses of wine!) before their first time. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, as I don't want to clutter up this shaving thread too much.
