Waxing or Shaving?

[Zanzibarz]

I'm 35 and I've never waxed my legs before. But I'm so tired of shaving them all the time that I'm thinking of giving waxing a try.
Whenever I shave, my legs never remain smooth for long, and the prickliness returns within a day.

During our last holiday with friends in Cancun, my daughter noticed the stubble on my legs and made an embarrassing comment about it.

I hate feeling like I have to wear pants to cover up. I'm going on another vacation in 10 weeks and I'm wondering if I should wax now and again right before I leave.
How often should I wax, and how far apart should the sessions be?

Should I stick to shaving or go for waxing as a long-term solution?

Waxing is much better - lasts longer, and you don't get the prickly feeling when the hairs grow back.

Why not just grow it out? Then it's not prickly, as the hair is soft.

It’s totally your choice, but waxing is my preference.

It lasts longer, isn’t very painful and saves the hassle of shaving.

Laser. You'll never look back!

Go to a salon for it. Expensive initially but you'll never have to worry about it again. Got mine done 20 years ago so the technology is probably even better now!

You need to tell your daughter it’s fine to have stubbly legs and laugh it off! How rude of her.

Personally I just shave when I can be bothered, which isn’t that often anymore. I don’t think anyone really looks that closely at anyone’s legs - and dh has got used to me feeling like a cactus.

The effort and pain involved in waxing puts me right off.

In the long term, id vote for laser too. It's absolutely brilliant. I finished my sessions well over 18 months ago and I've not even needed to have a top up.

In your situation, you should wax just before you go away (a few days before). In my case, it always took 2 weeks to start growing back and then I'd go for another session another few weeks later.

I wax my legs and armpits every 3 weeks and that keeps them looking smooth and relatively hair free. You do need a little regrowth to wax again but as hair grows in different cycles once you have had a couple of waxes the regrowth will be quite light and barely noticeable. Though I am fair so dark hair regrowth might be more obvious

During our last holiday with friends in Cancun, my daughter noticed the stubble on my legs and made an embarrassing comment about it

teach your daughter not to be rude and not to comment about other people’s bodies, and that hair is completely normal and natural.

you are changing yourself because you were embarrassed at someone else’s comment. Do what you are comfortable with.

I epilate my legs and under arms. When on holiday I shave the odd
hairs that regrow.
I find it easy to maintain. I have dark hair, but sparse.

Wax. But it does get expensive!
I have mine done once a month.
Ideally you'd not shave for a few weeks in advance, so the hair is longer. Then once you start waxing regularly the hair softens and comes out easier and gets more sparse.

It is much better than shaving however only stays smooth for about 10-14 days. Luckily the hair is less so you can kind of get away with another week on top. But you do have to go through a hairy couple of weeks!

Once you've got the hang of it, doing your own waxing with wax strips is very easy.

I do IPL at home with a thing similar to Philips Lumea. I had very dark, thick hair on my underarms and after about 6 weeks of using IPL consistently, there's not much hair left, and what there is is fine, soft and paler, so much less noticeable. Can't speak to the experience with leg hair though because I don't have any 😬

I agrees with PPs though, I think it's important to teach children that commenting on other peoples' physical appearance can be hurtful. Mine are 6 and 10 now and they know if they want to say something or ask a question about the way someone looks, to wait till we are in private.

I have a Hollywood and underarm wax but waxing my legs is pointless. It just grows so fast and I end up shaving them so I’ve stopped having a leg wax when I go. The hollywood and under arm wax last for ages

Epilator is fantastic . I've had mine for years. 10 min job every few weeks at most. Used to wax - what a faff. Having to wait for them to grow etc. Epilator so cheap and convenient and sane effect as waxing

Laser treatment was the only way to go for me. I had double hair follicles, so waxing lasted all of 24 hours!

Laser treatment has changed my life. I haven't had to shave my legs for over 10 years now. Best money I ever spent.

Depending on the age of the child she may not have even known she was being rude.

I remember my 3-4 yo Dd asking in public why my legs were jaggy. It was an innocent question, she was genuinely curious and didn't know why as they felt different from usual. At that age she had no idea of shaving/etiquette. She wouldn't even have known some people get hair and some choose to shave it.

I was mortified at the time but explained to her in a nice way. We both laugh about it now

Try a Phipps Luema - I’ve done mine twice - and haven’t shaved for a few weeks (It’s winter!)

Pic of Ankle taken yesterday

🙄I used to wax every four weeks. I now don't have time so shave as and when, but will always wax a few days before a holiday... toes too!

I wouldn’t wax for the first time a few days before a holiday - the first time I waxed my legs came up in an awful rash for days. They’re pretty sensitive to shaving as well.

Thanks for your comments and advice. I tried using an epilator a couple of years ago but to be honest, it was quite a painful experience. I could only manage to do one leg, and I had to stop because it was too uncomfortable. To make matters worse, I ended up with red marks on my skin.

I have been thinking about trying laser , but I'm not sure how many sessions I would need to have done for my legs and underarms. I was also wondering would I need to repeat sessions after a few years?

@Whatisthisanyidea Thank you for taking the time to comment and share a picture. That's really impressive! I believe the Philips Lumia works differently than an epilator. Do you experience any pain with the Lumia? Sorry I am really a wimp 😣

@Zanzibarz

i have thick dark hair and light olive skin. And pcos.

waxed and epilated - took time and never gave the results as hairs grew back at different rates.

got the lumea - omg game changer. I have no upper lip hair at all now (I used to bleach but ended up always with a platinum blonde tash). Leg hair (I wax hairier than my hubby) all gone. I zap the odd one every other month.

but it only works if your hair is much darker than your skin.

your daughter is rude.

I am not seeking advice regarding my daughter's behavior here. Thank you for your comment nonetheless.

Waxing is definitely better as it lasts much longer and doesn't grow back prickly. The only downside is you do have to wait for the hairs to grow a bit before you can wax. I would recommend an epilator as you can use it to pick up the hairs as they come, rather than waiting for all the hairs to grow before you wax.

If you can afford it, I'd recommend laser hair removal. I've nearly finished my sessions and the results so far are worth every penny.