True Beauty

Silky Smooth Skin for Spring

By Sheena Shaw

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, its just beautiful a day. It's time to whip out your cute little dress, rock some heels or sandals and do your thing. Watch out world, here you come. Oh no, what's that? Is that a porcupine on your legs?

Spring is officially here and you need to be prepared to wear those shorts and bathing suit without those hairy legs. You have to shave! You not only need to shave, you need to know the proper way to go about it. If you do not shave correctly, you can have stubble, infection, nicks, cuts, or razor rash. Understanding the basic rules of shaving, waxing, and even using hair removal products is essential.

Shaving is fairly inexpensive, and you can do it yourself. All you need is some warm water, a razor, and if you choose, shaving gel or cream. When shaving your legs, be sure to use a new razor during this procedure. Using a dull razor could result in irritation or infected skin. After you shave, remember to wash your legs to avoid build up of dead skin cells. Most important, apply body lotion once or twice a day. This can help skin stay moisturize and less likely to cause legs to flake.

            Waxing is another method to get those legs under control. Now, don't expect waxing yourself to be as easy as it looks, but with a little time and effort you can get smooth legs without the high professional price tag. First, you must clean your legs. Use any sort of pre-wax cleanser to thoroughly clean your skin. Second, apply wax evenly in the direction of hair has been growing using a wooden stick on a large area of hair. Put on enough wax to cover hair, but not too much that it will be hard to remove.

Third, you must cover the wax with the strip.

Remember when you apply the strip leave some leftover strip at the end like a tab. Press and firmly smooth hand over strip in the direction of hair growth a couple times, to ensure wax is attaching to hair and has slightly cooled. Fourth, grab onto the end of strip that's like a tab and remove strip in opposite direction of hair growth in one quick pull, all the way to the other side. Do not pull up. You can press your hand down on your skin to help relieve some of the pain, after strip is removed. Last but not least, keep repeating steps to areas that are needed.

Some other hair removal options are depilatories, which are creams or liquids that removes hair from the skin's surface. They work by reacting with the protein structure of the hair, so the hair dissolves and can be washed or wiped away. Depilatories work quickly and are inexpensive. Applying depilatories can be messy and many people dislike the odor.

Electrolysis is when a professional electrologist inserts a needle into the follicle and sends an electric current through the hair root, killing it. This is a method of having permanent hair removal all together. This takes a lot of money and time. Many people describe the process as painful and you can get an infection. Or you can simply pluck the hair out with tweezers and it's cheaper. Good on your journey to smooth and silky legs.