Beauty Test Drive: Smooth Away Hair Removal Pads
Posted by: Leonora Epstein
Filed in:
style
10:50AM, Monday August 31st 2009
I really hate shaving my legs. Then again, does anyone actually enjoy this activity? No matter what, I end up with a few nicks and bleeds. As for Nair? No way I would put up with the smell. And waxing? Forget it. Ouchy. So these doo-dads piqued my interest while I was in the drugstore the other day. (And weirdly, I realized that Smooth Away has been doing a ton of advertising in my neighborhood with posters at bus stops. Guess I was swayed.) But really, who isn’t interested in whether these things really work or not? The verdict, after the jump!
They’re a bit like sandpaper for your legs. You take the buffer to dry skin, and rub it around in a circular direction. It did work, but my leg hair is extremely thin and wimpy, so I wonder if it would be so great on coarser hairs, especially because I felt like the pads wore down quickly. They also didn’t leave that great feeling of super silky smooth skin that you do (admittedly) get from shaving.
The one use for Smooth Away I’d be interested to try out would be on the bikini area. I’ve been told that to get rid of bumps and ingrown hairs on the bikini line, you should be exfoliating, so this could potentially be a two-in-one. If you try that out, let us know! [$9.99, CVS.com]
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GreenAura
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 09:59 am: [report]
Smooth Away did not work in the bikini area AT ALL!! I think the hair is too think and coarse there. And I agree about the pads wearing down too easily. After doing one full leg I had to change the pad to do the other leg. And BTW, it took me 15 minutes to get one leg completely hairless. I can shave much faster than that! I can’t wait until I can afford laser hair removal, because I, too, loathe shaving.
kw1223
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 10:56 am: [report]
These things didn’t work for me at all. I threw them away before I even had half of one leg done.
Laurel
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 10:59 am: [report]
Hair removal *is* a time wasting, money consuming, infantilizing habit, regardless of what method you choose. Why not let it grow? Your legs won’t be barbie-smooth anymore, but they probably won’t be as hairy as you think either. I think it’s nuts that women spend sometimes as much as an hour or more a week (not to mention the $$$ that goes into) removing body hair that is completely natural, sexy and not hurting anybody.
*sam*
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:12 am: [report]
@Laurel: that’s great that the natural thing works for you, but, body hair (on me) grosses me out. I can’t go more than 2 days without shaving. I don’t care how much money I’ve spent replacing my expensive blades (yeah, I use a man’s razor because I think it does a better job) to me it’s worth it.
...Plus, I’ve known too many guys (my bf included) that can’t seem to stomach a ‘natural’ woman. Sad? yes. but that’s the way our society’s set up (for the most part) and I’m not ashamed to admit that I buy and feed into it.
Humble Bee
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:24 am: [report]
@Sam,
I use a man’s razor too! they work much better. I use the Schick Quatro.
One day I’ll move to France, where people think it’s sexy to be hairy…
ootie
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:41 am: [report]
I’m surprised those worked at all for you. A few of my friends have tried them and said it didn’t do anything.
I didn’t mind shaving at all until I moved into an apartment with a super tiny shower. Now its a pain, but I’d rather do that than anything that involves a separate process that I can’t do when I’m already bathing.
sparklestar
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:13 pm: [report]
I’ve been removing hair since I was 10 or 11. This is our culture and I feel better about myself when I am as hairless as possible.
I just shave in the shower - is that bad or wrong? Oh well. I also use a man’s razor occasionally.
bogart4017
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:24 pm: [report]
There is something a slightly sexy about a little leg hair.
Alison Wonderland
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:53 pm: [report]
I use the Smooth Away on my arms and sparingly on my face (or you end up with a rash). It works for those areas; but legs, underarms, bikini line- forget it.
Linz
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 02:10 pm: [report]
I kinda like shaving my legs. It makes me feel sexy and feminine. It takes very little time and has great results! As for the tons of $$$ I waste, I really don’t think changing blades every once in awhile and getting my huge shaving gel four-pack at Costco is really putting me out that much.
peacock
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 03:09 pm: [report]
@Laurel: Growing up as a competitive swimmer, I had to go months without being able to shave. I can tell you right now, there was always WAY more hair on my legs than one would expect. Some girls didn’t have it so bad, and some of us bleached our leg hair.
LostInStars
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 07:52 pm: [report]
I won’t lie, I don’t shave my legs that often or my armpits. In the Winter time I’ve been known to grow my own leg warmers. I shave my legs when they will be seen and the same with my armpits.
christianay
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 08:04 pm: [report]
i used these for my face and i rubbed too hard or something on my upper lip and it got like, burnt. somehow. it was there for a few days. ew. it did remove the hair though. and i didn’t get the burn on my chin.
melissaann
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 08:28 pm: [report]
@laurel, you go girl. Girls like you pave the way for the rest of us schmucks.
Sofjna
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 10:04 pm: [report]
I have to agree with *sam* on this- I have to shave regularly or it grosses me out. Maybe because I went to private school my whole life and wore skirts all year long, but I still shave year round just because I like how it feels.
raqueleza
wrote on September 1 2009 @ 12:06 am: [report]
I tried Smooth Away on my upper lip, arms, legs and belly fuzz (guess I’m a hairy gal…) and it didn’t do a damn thing. My hair isn’t even particularly coarse.
*sam*: I can’t even stomach myself as a “natural woman.” Promoting infantilization or not, body hair is the bane of my existence. Not to mention the freshly-waxed/shaven feeling is awesome!
Isabela Laval
wrote on September 1 2009 @ 04:20 pm: [report]
@Peacock: Am I missing something, or don’t swimmers generally want to be hairLESS? I don’t understand… Please enlighten me!
abbylyn
wrote on September 1 2009 @ 04:48 pm: [report]
@Isabela - swimmers will often let body hair grow, especially coming up to a big event, because it adds resistance in the water, and then shave it off right before the race. With the resistance of the hair gone, they can pick up a little speed.