HELP! My legs are so hairy I'm scared of them!

[NigellasGuest]

I normally get my legs waxed but have somehow managed to let it go this time for so long that my lower legs now look like they belong to a gorilla. Somehow, above knee and upward is never half as bad. This is because I have in the past shaved my lower legs, but never above the knee.

Anyway I am ill with flu and don't envisage going to get them waxed for a while. Would it be a really really bad move to just shave them? I'm sorely tempted - WWYD???

I would hang on until you feel better and get them waxed.
I've been growing mine for 8 weeks and can't wait to get them done for Christmas.
I'd be gutted if I had to shave them and waste all my growing time!
Or, you could leave them alone and pretend they're 80 denier tights!

Ooh ask SP's ghost to pop round it's got some Veet.

I shave in between, but I use Braun Silkepil instead of wax. A week aftr shaving I can use teh Braun already, best combo- method IMO as you never have to " grow" your leg hair for more than a week or so!

I agree that if you have / can get an epilator, it's easier than waxing and you can shave in between without too much guilt, since epilators actually work better on short hair regrowth.

Don't feel guilty about shaving in the past - lower legs are naturally hairier than thighs.

I'm pretty sure too that shaving doesn't make hair grow faster and that waxing doesn't reduce regrowth - I've been waxing / epilating for many years and if I leave it for a few weeks, the bastards return as thick, dark and luxuriant as ever

You should try the Philips lumea, I bought one at the start of this year and I can't remember the last time I have needed to shave my legs!

HouseofTinsel saying that in her experience shaving doesn't make hair grow faster and waxing doesnt reduce regrowth is music to my ears - I've been plugging away with the waxing on my legs for I don;t know how many years, in the vain hope that the regrowth will eventually start to be finer (that's what the waxers always tell me). No such luck. Although above the knee, on thighs in particular, has definitely become less hairy.

Perhaps now is the moment to shave, and when it's grown back a bit, try an epilator....

I have been having my legs waxed for nearly 20 years and they have actually got hairier. Almost as if they have seen it as a challenge! (my navel which only had light hair is now like a blokes - this could either be thru age or waxing, i am unsure)

The only thing i find is if i go longer than a month (sometimes 3!) after waxing i still have short hairs coming thru which are not long enough for the wax to pick up. This is due to the cycles of hair growth apparently. So the second growth is coming thru before the first growth has been removed. They say you get this when you shave in between waxings too.

I don't see how shaving could make any difference to hair growth - ie speeding it up - as hair is dead and shaving only cuts off the part of it which is poking out. Therapists always say it, but when i ask them to explain how that could be possible they can't, so i think its an old wives tale because it seems thicker due to the ends of the hair being blunt cut from the razor rather than tapering if it was waxed.

No advice but yeah mine are the same and I am holding off removing anything till spring. Not sure if I will make it, they are seriously orang utang like.

Spuddybean - yes it's def a myth that shaving makes it grow faster.

It's just that all the ones in the cycle are there at the same time because you haven't yanked any out recently. If you didn't ever wax or shave, the same hairs would be there, only longer.

Yes I'm not sure that mine aren't actually hairier too

What does happen with waxing is that the hair root can get distorted, so the buggers poke out at an unnatural angle, which doesn't help the overall leg grooming.

just had a google of the Philips Lumea and at the price - it better be good if it costs that amount of £££!!!

Braun Silkepil is less expensive but is it a case of you get what you pay for?
Do these epilator thingies rip the hair out from the root (in which case it's effectively waxing) or do something with light pulses?

The Silkepil is an epilator, so yes effectively like waxing as they pull the hair out. Advantages over waxing are that it's cheaper in the long run, and you don't get those annoying sticky bits. Personally I think it's a bit more painful than waxing, and it does take a bit longer as you have to keep going over areas to make sure you've got all the hairs.

Google epilators, and look on ebay too, they vary quite a lot in price.

The light pulse devices like the Lumea are fiendishly expensive, but are supposed to result in permanent (ish) hair removal. You have to have quite high contrast hair and skin for it to work though I believe, so works best on pale skin with dark hair. No good for blondes and redheads, or darker skin.

I am ultra hairy for a female. In the past I have fannied about with waxing, sugaring, epilating, veet... Nowadays my preferred method is a quick once over with a razor daily. Because I do it daily it takes less than two minutes and I never have to have hairy legs (apart from the 5 o'clock shadow). I might not actually be less hairy now, but I feel it because I never have hairy legs. Unlike when I used to wax and used to loathe the sight and feel of my legs between waxing.

The silk epil pulls hair out at root, so like waxing.

I find it does not hurt. At all. I feel it, but don't wince. best done on dry skin (ie NO body lotion on forehand! That makes it painful).

the Braun are Top Notch, I am only on my second one and have done this for 22 years ! (ie average life span 11 years), they are bloody marvelous IMO.

I shave in between to make the hair a bit stronger, as they have got so weak and thin over the years they are harder to pull out otherwise.

Still, 100% hair removal, and you can do it every week or every month, as you like.

this is my most recent one, which is simple and great (had it for 5 yrs already)

www.shavers.co.uk/product.php?product_id=1242

£40

Chandon - Can you explain how shaving makes your hair stronger? Genuine question, not narky, i just don't understand how what you do to the end of a dead hair can make a difference to it. i understand how waxing could change it because it affects the living root, but not shaving.

It does not make it stronger, but shaving means the ends are cut of bluntly, so the end of the hair is " thicker" than it would be if just growing from root without shaving.

It is like cutting your hair, it seems thicker as thehair always thins at the tips.

It is not actually thicker though, not sure if I am doing a good job explaining this! I need to draw it for you really, visual aids needed here.

that makes sense to me. all very interesting

update: I shaved my legs this morning!! it took ages because of the length of the hair but i'm glad I've done it now, and I plan to buy an epilator as soon as funds allow. Thank you all for the links to various devices! I'm even thinking of getting one for DD1 for Christmas (she's 16) because Im sick to death of all the blunt razors she leaves around the bathroom not to mention the bits of hair in the bath.

Thinking about it, after waxing I always get quite a bit of irritation. Perhaps my new methods will knock this on the head! I like the idea too of not having to wait so long between hair removal sessions. Waxing was all well and good, but after a few weeks I always had that "in between" time when the hair was too short to be re-waxed, but too long to be able to go bare legged in Summer. (not such an issue in Winter of course, which is why I ended up like a cavewoman).

I am tempted by the pricey light-pulse method for sometime in the future. I have actually had IPL for skin pigmentation on my face. Would have thought that having that would have got rid of the hair on my face as well? (I'm not that hairy of face - just the normal amount BTW)! Or do they use a different kind of pulsed light for pigmentation? Just curious!

Cheers Chandon, that was what i thought too, but when people keep saying it is thicker rather than it seems thicker i just thought i was missing something. :)

The effectiveness of IPL depends on your skin and hair type. It works on me because i have very dark hair and very pale skin. I have had it done on my forearms and am now having it done on my underarms.

I cannot epilate because, bizarrely, despite being able to fall asleep during a bikini wax, i find them excruciating. that niggling one hair at a time is torturous. OP i would try before you spend loads on one, just in case you are a wuss like me.

One thing about the silk epil,

Your skin will look like a plucked chicken's skin with raised red dots for a few hours after, so do not do it just before you go out! I like doing it at night, and then in the mornng the bumps have gone and your legs look good.