Cautionary Tale: Don’t Shave Your Legs
Posted by Cottontimer on 05 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Health
My Skintimate look-alike who clearly does not have razor burn.
On Friday, after weeks of not shaving my legs (only because I’ve been wearing pants and long skirts since summer ended in September), I decided to do it for no particular reason. And when I decided to shave those long feathery hairs off my legs, I went in and scraped those guys off. Once. Twice. Several times. Can’t be too heavyhanded when it comes to so many days of growth!
Welp, I should have been more careful because I’ve now got wide red roadways on my legs that itch madly. I’ve slathered on body lotion, menthol calamine lotion, Eurax anti-itch cream, Vicks Vapo Rub, and lanolin containing cream, so far. It helps but the ants really start crawling at night under the covers.
Here are some tips for women when it comes to razor burn.
- Stop shaving - Yes, that does seem to be the best way to avoid razor burn. Sounds mighty good right now. [scratch]
- Hydrocortisone - Eurax doing the trick right now
- Lubricate skin after shaving - Check.
- Shave after you bathe - I guess at the start wasn’t too good.
- Drop the soap - I was using that razor with the built in soap. Maybe that’s not the greatest after all.
- Shave hair in the direction it grows - Kind of tricky when shaving legs.
- Switch to a hair-dissolver cream/depilatory - Smelly and messy? Not so sure about that.
- Zap bumps with acne preps - What?! You can get bumps from razor burn?!?!
- Replace your razor - Hmmm. Maybe that was the problem as well. @#!
- Go electric - Zap! Electrocution isn’t quite my thing either.
Time to go slather on some more calamine. [scritch]
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I don’t find depilatory cream to be smelly or messy, but I suppose everyone’s different. I would never trust myself without 10 metres of a razor!
if u get razor burn, instead of buying tons of medicines, just go into the bathroom, grab a bath towel (not hand towel) and get it wet in cold water. once youve done that, just set your legs down and put the towel on it. slighty dab the towel on the skin where it burns (dont drag it.) and before you know it, your legs dont burn. =]
I read somewhere it is good habit to wash & scrub the skin before you shave. You get a cleaner shave too.
Go WAX!
I love waxing, I’m desperate to find a place in Taipei that will do me. I can do my legs myself, although it’s long and messy, but I can’t do the rest, so I normally go pay a lady to do it for me. It’s not that expensive, seeing as it lasts so long. If you’re not fussy about having immaculate legs you can get a good month to 6 weeks out of a wax.
i just need to shave every week. but if i postpone for more than a week i always encounter several problems (mostly hurting my skin and bleeding!) I always do shave while taking a bat. i just lather my legs with ordinary bathsoap and use the razor without built-in soap. and then later after i apply lotion. if i do that religiously on a weekly basis i wouldn’t have problems.
i’m fine with that than waxing and using electric razor.
Is it possible that “go electric” might mean an electric razor that doesn’t require water or shaving cream? Those usually don’t cause razor burn. I always have to moisturize my legs after a shave, whether electric or manual.
funny, my friends and i were just talking about shaving. have you tried waxing? maybe that’ll be better coz u won’t get the stubble.
why do women shave anyway? i understand about armpit hair, but leg hair is…not that gross to me. besides, i don’t see men shaving their leg hairs…lol
I just glanced at my hairy ole legs this mornin’and thought, “Hmmm…I should probably do some grooming there.” Then I looked at my razor and really couldn’t remember how old it was. Oh well, maybe next week.
I didn’t know you should shave in the direction of growth. I always went against. Learn something new every day!
Amélie: I might just try that one of these days!
Farah: Hi there!! I shall be sure to clean myself properly.
Rosie: I’ve gotten my eyebrows waxed before but no other body part. I liked the warm wax being put on but not so much the ripping off part! hehee
Gloria: Weekly seems too often for me. If I could go without bathing, I would. HA HA HA!! Aren’t you glad we haven’t met in person yet?
jen: Yes, of course you’re right. I was just feeling cRaZy.
laurina: I suppose it varies from person to person. I’m more hairy than I would like and some women are less hairy than me and some more than. I’m guessing you are not so hairy!!
Kerri: Please don’t shave without proper equipment!! But I’m sure you could write a much more entertaining razor burn story. hehee
kailani: I’m going to try going in the direction next time although I’m not sure I can be bothered to figure out which way that is.
I hate itchy hairy legs, but I hate having to rush when I shave because then I usually am guaranteed some razor burn. My solution is to save the leg shaving for the days I have time for a long hot shower, and shave them near the end using some shower gel (never soap). Works for me, unless I forget to switch the razor when it gets dull. LOL
I’ve tried some of the other methods, and I won’t do them again. A. I don’t like pain, especially pain I can easily avoid and B. I don’t like the thought of my skin absorbing nasty chemicals. If I wanted my legs to be hair-free for several days in a row, without shaving, I’d consider waxing. It would have to be a very compelling reason to do that though.
[...] hair removal tasks on a regular basis especially during the [...]
For blokes, shaving is an absolute pain in the neck…literally. Razor burn, nicks, ingrowing hairs, pimples…etc etc. A truly nasty business…until you discover WonderShave(TM) from Sciencebase.com the invisible shaving gel that lets your razor glide and slide. ($9.99 + shipping). Oh, actually, no, sorry, just a joke.
The real clue to a safer, smoother shave, whether it’s legs, chins, armpits, or any other bits, is to go with the flow, shave in the direction of hair growth, not against it. It’s the way professional shavers shave in the barbershop.
Try it and if that fails, drop me a line and I’ll send you a tub of WonderShave…or maybe not…
db
I have red bumps from dry shaving that is driving me nuts.It itches like crazy.I put on gold bond medicated lotion.(Say’s it anti-itch formula relieves itching).Well I am still going crazy itching.HELP PLEASE….how long does this last?
Rose, Sorry to hear that you’re itching! The itching lasted about a week for me just make sure you’re lotioning up good. You don’t even need a spacial lotion unless it’s itching real bad. I did hydrocortisone for the really bad itches then just made sure I had plenty of lotion on.
Do you shave your legs with the direction of hair growth? That seems to be the key to avoid red bumps for those of us shaving our chins.
Meanwhile, I’d be very careful of using hydrocortisone creams, they can exacerbate fungal skin infections. Nasty…
db
Well we’re assuming Rose doesn’t have a fungal infection on her legs!!! Pretty unlikely….
Thanks everyone for the support.I feel stupid for DRY shaving in the first place.I was in a hurry.(boy am I paying for it now).And I hope I don’t have fungal infection.I just itch and Its nerve racking.How would I know if I have it?I shave from the bottom (at my feet)upward.
I hope not. But, you never know, it is very easy to pick up fungal skin infections, in fact the spores are all around us all the time. Slapping cortisone on to superficial lesions of the kind produced by shaving can provide those opportunistic spores with a foothold, as it were.
db
I still think this is probably only a concern for people who are immunocompromised. Hydrocortisone use on an as-needed basis using over-the-counter doses of .5% to 2% tops should be safe on the whole.
Okay, fair enough. I brought it up only because it underpinned a problem my mother had after she grazed her leg and cortisone was prescribed to help clear up the subsequent infection. It took a pharmacist to spot that it was fungal in original not bacterial.
db
Oh dear. Poor mom!! And good on the pharmacist.
It’s probably unlikely that you have a fungal infection unless the cortisone cream made the itching and rash worse, if so, head along to your pharmacist and get some topical antifungal cream/powder. Miconazole nitrate is one of the most common active ingredients and very effective.
db
Thanks again guys.I dont think have the infection,I feel a little better today.Also I think A person can shave ANYTHING they want.(Especially if it makes things go faster)hee hee.
I can’t believe how active I’ve become in this thread about shaving one’s legs. People will talk. So, I must stress, I’ve shaved my chin only, ever, honest, no truly, really, honestly…….
Nothing wrong with shaving other parts of your body. Olympic athletes do it all the time! You should try it. Maybe it would help you get your writing done faster.
I could shave the back of my hands I guess…that might make typing faster by reducing drag.
d
*chokes on her morning coffee*
LOL!!!
Still… it is an interesting theory. I wonder if it would help with needlework stitching speeds too…
“honey, why’d you shave your ENTIRE BODY?” “So I’d be faster at everything!!”
Well, you ARE pretty fast, Deb! hehee
Also I love having you guys to talk to durning my time of need.When I thought I might itch myself to death.Do we talk about anything else here?
I’m sure other subjects are raisable…
How about the recent questions about whether or not a “mommy gene” exists. Researchers at Queen’s University in Canada suggest that Basic principles of biology rather than women’s newfound economic independence can explain why fewer of them are getting married and having children, and why the trend may only be temporary…
db
I think this is a boring subject.Lets talk about something else.How is everyone?