I had no intention of sharing this on the blog, but after the last few weeks, I am completely in awe of not having to shave every day!! That’s every girl’s dream, am I right? Here’s the backstory….
Before going to Dallas for the RewardStyle conference, I did a ton of self care. Being in Nurse Practitioner School, working part time as a nurse and trying to keep up with the blog and Instagram I didn’t have all the time in the world to keep up with self care over the last two years-I’m not talking everyday showering and shaving haha I’m talking finally dying my hair to get rid of the whites, getting a manicure and pedicure, finally trimming my split ends that should’ve been cut 6 months ago, etc. I took my Nurse Practitioner Boards exam about a month before going to Dallas, so for me it was an excuse to say goodbye to school and get myself together haha! With all this “prep” I had self tanner on the list. I self tanned about every week even throughout school because it just helped me feel somewhat human haha! Everything is better with a tan BUT every time I self tanned, not matter how well I shaved my legs, I always always always had tiny spots on my lower legs for a day or two in every hair follicle. I always hated it, but I knew I exfoliated and shaved and there was nothing else I could do….well except wax and I wasn’t ready to commit to that-until Dallas.
I’ve never waxed my legs before and never wanted to because I just couldn’t imagine having to grow out hairy legs for weeks at a time in order to get a wax. That and because who has hundreds of dollars to drop every few weeks? Sure there are package deals but when you add that up to a whole year, yikes!! I shaved just about every night and by the morning, I could already see hair popping up-and no it wasn’t because my $20 razor didn’t do a good job. My hairs just grow so fast and there was nothing I could do about it.
Anyways, long story short, I decided to grow out my leg hairs and get a wax. I planned on doing it once for Dallas to have nice, smooth, self tanned legs and not have to shave every night I was there and then go back to shaving– But then this happened….
One week passed, two weeks passed and nearly three weeks passed before I finally noticed some hairs start to pop up! I couldn’t believe it! To get this smooth of legs I literally had to shave TWICE a day and I haven’t touched a razor for nearly three weeks!
Here’s the thing with waxing-at least for salon wax. I do them in other areas, but you DO have to grow your hair out. I was on cloud nine with not having to shave my legs for almost three weeks, but then what… let my hair grow out again for 2-3 weeks aka wear long pants/maxi dresses in the middle of May? No thanks! So then I tried THIS EPILATOR (I have the older version of this exact one) on my legs and it has been a complete game changer!
I laugh at ladies that do my wax because I alway bring up an epilator and 90% of them don’t even know what it is! Growing up I remember seeing my mom use one for as long as I can remember. I have been using one for my underarms in the shower for years and it’s the only thing I will use because I can swipe my underarms in the shower for 2 minutes and call it a day for a week or two. I tried a wax under my arms one time and it was the biggest waste of money-I had to grow it out, they didn’t even get all my hairs because some were too short and it grew back in less than a week. An epilator can pull out the shortest of hairs so as soon as I see hairs pop up, I can epilate it right away.
So basically, an epilator is a machine that rotates a ton of tweezers and pulls out your hair. Sounds painful, I know, and it is especially if you are going straight from fresh shaved hair to doing this, but once your hair grows back post epilating or waxing, it is almost painless! I tried it on my legs in the years past and it was complete torture!!!! It was so painful! BUT after a wax, your hair grows back sparse-almost in patches and thinner than before because it’s coming in at the tip and not growing from the middle if that makes sense. So when it was time to shave again, I was like, hmm let me try this and you guys! I can’t tell you how painless and easy it was. Sure it took me a good 20 minutes to “shave” compared to a quick 2-3 minutes with a razor, but I only have to do it every one to two weeks. Also, there are areas that are more sensitive than others, and you have to have somewhat of a pain tolerance, but if you’re used to waxing this is nothing! I promise! Best part! My hair still grows back patchy so even if I have hairs long enough to see, you can’t even notice them unless you get super close because it’s only a few here and there and not everywhere.
So now, on hair wash days, I just lather my legs in conditioner and swipe away with the epilator. I find it much less painful using it wet than dry. I don’t want you to think it doesn’t hurt because you do have to have somewhat of a pain tolerance, but to me that full leg wax was horrible and compared to that this doesn’t hurt. I can only say it maybe “hurts” at my ankles and outer knees and even then I’m not sure if I could call it pain- it’s more uncomfortable but you just kind of get used it and just blast some music and get the job done. I always epilate my underarms under running water with conditioner and can quickly swipe through in less than a minute on both sides- the very first time I did it full grown after shaving it was torture, but once it grows back and you do it a few times, it gets a whole lot easier- just don’t ever touch a razor on there again or you’ll be back to square one! Same with your legs! I have only shaved once since the mid March when I started growing out my hair for the wax and thankfully it’s still growing back pretty patchy but I could definitely tell a difference in how much thicker it grew back.
Despite it “hurting,” here’s why I never want to go back to shaving my legs again or even wax them for that matter:
-I don’t have to shave every day anymore
-I don’t have to spend $100+ every month or so for a wax to get the same smooth feel
-If I don’t epilate for a while, my hair is now so sparse and patchy that you can’t even tell unless you’re super close up especially with a tan-I couldn’t even do that one day post shave
-It gets easier and less painful with time
–An epilator can pull out the shortest of hairs so there is no in between growing time.
-Last, if I do want a perfect silky smooth feel, I can epilate and then shave on top to get any super tiny hairs that may have been missed or if I don’t have time to epilate absolutely every hair, I’ll run through really quick to get the majority of hairs then shave that way it still grows back patchy and can epilate the shaved hairs in a few days when they grow back and then epilate the epilated hairs in a few weeks when they grow back. I love this razor and its totally worth the hype!
***TIPS*** I must mention, soaking your hair in water can weaken the follicle and increase your chance for breakage, so when I epilate in the shower, I try to do it first thing so my hair isn’t super weak because if you do or swipe up and down too fast, you’ll have more broken hairs than pulled hairs. Also! Don’t forget to exfoliate! This helps prevent ingrown hairs and really help those small hairs stick out. My biggest tip is to try to do it weekly. This will save you time in the long run because you’ll catch hairs that are growing out and won’t get stuck doing every single hair which can be very time consuming.
I hope this was helpful in getting you silky smooth legs just in time for summer! I’m also curious if this is your first time hearing about an epilator and if you use it, do you love or hate it?
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HERE IS THE EPILATOR I USE (this is the newer version, I’ve had mine for 5+ years). I was also reading around reviews and noticed THIS one. I haven’t tried it but seems to have good reviews as well!
Lol yes girl! I still have the same epilator from at least 10 yrs ago and still always whip it out! Love it and I cant believe it's still working. Mine isnt waterproof tho so I might need an upgrade finally
I hate shaving and I swear I do it, step out of the shower and have stubble! I’m going to try this thing out!!