Hi
Sorry I have been away for quite a while. Leg shaving still seems good in hot climates where you can wear shorts (thank goodness). I have been in 40 degrees centigrage shade temp (central africa) for 3 weeks and you need all the help you can get! I would like to ask if anyone has experiance in whether epilators or tweezering works for long term hair reduction? Specifically does it reduce hair growth?
All the best
Stuart
Stuart, epilating does not appear to have a significant effect on hair growth in most people. It’s likely that any change observed is due to other factors (such as aging) that would have occurred whether you epilated or not.
Hi All
I have finally tried Veet for leg hair removal. I did it just like their TV ad here, and used it on one leg, while shaving the other with my electric razor to compare. I followed the reccomendations and instructions almost perfectly, except left it on for 2 minutes longer than max, as the maximum is always too little for me with these products. To their credit it did a good job and did not irritate my skin or have a bad smell. However hair regrowth is just the same as shaving. Their claim to softer regrowth is true for me, but the time taken to do just one leg according to the instructions was over an hour. Shaving both legs takes me about 10 minutes a day with my electric razor, so Veet will not be my option for legs in future. I did find Veet was good on the unsightly hairs that grow around the back of the neck and upper arms as the prickly itchy feeling associated with shaving here did not happen.
Regards
Stuart
Thanks for a great report as always, Stuart!
Hi All
Well I finally fell off a new bike. I said this does not happen often before, and it doesn’t, but can. In this case a simple engineering mistake. Bike shops need to fasten the handlebars to the front wheel properly to avoid this sort of thing. Anyway for any guys out there that cycle or do sports where your bare legs can get badly scratched and bruised I suggest shaving. Even my doctor was supprised at how fast the cuts and scratches healed with no hair to interfere. A few antibacterial applications and I was OK again. On cut was 6 mm deep from the rear sprocket and will take time to close, but as long as I do any sport like this I will make sure to shave my legs EVERY DAY!
Regards
Stuart
In addition to making it easier to cleaning wounds, and reducing infection and healing times, it also makes a leg massage feel better. I recommend it to all bikers!
Hi Andrea
Yeah, your right. I haven’t tried leg massages yet, but I’m sure they feel much better.
Thanks
Stuart
I’ve been reading allot about this, and have been thinking of some way to take the hair off my chest, arms and legs for different look and comformt (I lift weighs and do allot of cycling). But I just haven’t gotten the will to do it yet. Thanks to this site I doubt I’ll try any of the “quick fixes”… the only question I have about shaving is, does it pretty much work like facial hair? Does it come back much thicker and longer? In other words, if I shave my chest/arms for a few years and stop, should I expect to have courser, longer and darker hair? I doubt I’m shaving my legs, the hair is strright and not very thick… and I can live with it. But I was thinking of of the upper body for summer maybe… maybe not
Thanks for any info anyone can give me.
maybe I should use a spell check too 
Shaving has no effect on hair growth rates.
Any changes you notice later are because your body hair was changing whether you shaved it or not.
Hi Duglas
Andrea is correct in saying that shaving will not affect hair regrwoth. I have been shaving my legs for cycling for nearly a year now and there is no more than before. At first it is prickly and itchy when you start, but carry on for a while (say 2 months) and you won’t even notice this again. If it really gets irritating try some of the tips I gave above regarding hypoallergenic creams - these will help. I remember in high school, it was always said that once the guys started shaving their facial hair it just “burst” out and got way stronger. These were only kids growing beards anyway for the first time. This is not the case for adult people as your hair regrowth rate is regular. It may feel sharper etc. at first, but if you stop you won’t look like a Gorrila or anything. One thing I can advise is that chest hair might be an irritation to begin with. Shirts and salty sweat cause welts and irritation with this. I have done this twice and it really itched. Maybe trim this first with a razor before fully shaving it off. I personally leave mine and just trim. Arm and leg hairs are better as the skin is less sensitive and short sleeved shirts and shorts make things easier. Give it a go and good luck - I am sure you will be more comfortable in your sports once the hair is gone.
Stuart
Thanks for the shaving report, Stuart!
You can often deal with shaving irritation by using products like Tend Skin and scrubbing the area to get rid of dead skin cells.
I know this topic was originally about longer term methods, but seems to be concentrated on Shaving. Let me relate my experience.
I live in a hot climate, Queensland in Australia. I remove body hair for a number of reasons - coolness, the cleaner look, but basically because I hate body hair… LOL
I do recommend waxing - I know to some it seems painful, but with the right ‘operator’ and the correct application, you can get weeks of smoothness… I wax almost my entire body, (face and pubic region excluded) and find that the hair will regrow after about 3 or 4 weeks, but is not noticeable until about 5 or 6 weeks. If you use a loofah in the first week, then the ingrowns are much reduced, and the price I have for entire body (legs, buttock, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders, neck, fingers and toes is AU$85 (about US$50) I reckon I would spend more on razors in that month than I spend on waxing… It takes 2 girls about an hour and a half, and that is it for the next 4 or 6 weeks. Plus it is so easy to get someone else to do it, esp. the bits that are hard to reach… After the first couple of sessions, the hairs really do come out much easier… The worst part if the back of the neck… but grit your teeth and it is over in a minute, and the pain doesn’t linger…
Try waxing, it will give you longer between sessions, perhaps you can do a ‘top-up’ shave if you feel it is getting noticeable… or have a body building show on between waxing sessions…
I too would like to find a permanent solution, or have the money (and a place locally) to get lasered or electrolysis.
Happy to post a picture of 4 weeks growth if needed. BTW, I think a lot of people who have particularly athletic or muscular physiques have a positive body image, and hair just gets in the way or showing that off…
HTH,
David
I’m sure a lot of people would find the photo very helpful, IHH!
[ January 14, 2003, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: Andrea ]
Hi IHH and Andrea
Medical school would be good for IHH, because I took some time to decipher all the abbreviations. Doctors love this sort of stuff (I’m not a doctor, but 2 of my friends are, so I am used to medical and other abbreviations). But more too the point, I agree with IHH that body hair gets in the way of a good youthfull athlectic look. For cycling I use “Blue Steel” wax strips on my hands and the regrowth is slower and much softer. For legs etc. shaving still works best. Trimming is the best for chest hairs in my experiance.
Regards
Stuart
Stuart,
Do you mean LOL and BTW? those are common abbreviations - LOL means Laugh out loud, and BTW means By The Way…
If you wnat the full rundown on geekspeak, visit:
HTH (hope that helps… LOL)
David
Hi
Thanks IHH, I’ll check out that site for sure.
Stuart
Hi
First thanks to IHH for the website. I have nearly laughed my head off over some of the stuff people actually have come up with.
I tried again with Veet to remove leg hair. This time I bought 2 tubes of the cream and basically “nuked” my legs with this to avoid doing things slowly. Again it works well but only in some areas. I didn’t exceed the maximum time, and followed all the reccomendations. Results were very good on lower legs and there was no prickly regrowth for 2 days. Upper legs were a different story. As has happened before the skin here developed red bumps and welts that are still here after 3 days. I tried hypoallergenic cream which helped a bit, but ultimatly only time worked the best. I seems my skin is very different on the upper legs to that of the lower parts. Last night after a shower and drying off well I ran my electric razor over the red bumps and welts on my upper legs and used the hypoallergenic cream again. Things are much better there this morning and almost all the welts and bumps are gone. I think the softer skin on the upper legs is not well suited to depilatories and the bumps and welts are really just ingrown hairs. I would be interested to hear if this is the case with other people as well.
One other issue is home waxing. Exactly the same happened when I tried this. I also use a product called “Blue Steel Sports Wax” which is manufactured in Australia and South Africa. It’s no good for legs and large areas, but for things like coarse hairs on the upper arms / shoulders and, for cyclists, the top of the hands, in case of a bad scrape, it really works well. My upper hands are nearly completly hair free with much finer hair regrowth since using this once a month. I am not sure if this is because it actually retards hair regrowth (claimed with regular use) or if simply effectivly pulling out the hairs by waxing reduces or retards hair regrowth. It tends to stick to the skin and is VERY difficult to clean off. Ingrediants are listed as - Natural Rosins, Lanolin, Vegetable Oils, Soybean Oil (and) Chamomile Extract (and) Bisabolol. It is also not reccomended for Diabetics. I would be interested to hear any opinions about this product and the various ingrediants from any other users.
Regards
Stuart
Hi All
Sorry for being away so long. I see the forum has improved quite a bit - good work Andrea. I am still shaving my legs and have noticed a slight decrease in hair on my lower legs, but nothing on the upper parts. I have been shaving for over 2 years now and I want to ask if anybody else has seen a slight decrease in hair with prolonged shaving. I can’t explain why this might happen, as I have not used any other form of hair removal since my last post. I am often outdoors in the sun, so maybe the skin adapts to the temperature and conditions, plus being without hair, and therefore grows less. Hopefully this is possible to get rid of the stuff permanently! Anyway I would be interested to hear if anyone else has encountered the same sort of thing.
Regards
Stuart
The amount of hair men have changes over time, usually topping out in mid-20s. You may be observing that general effect, which can be affected by a wide range of factors (diet, weight, hormone levels, stress, clothes, etc. etc.).