Reddit reviews Veet Leg & Body Hair Removal Kit- Sensitive Formula, Ready-to-use Cold Wax Strips, Shea Butter & Acai Fragrance, 40 Count (Pack of 1)

I wrote a version of this comment a couple of months ago, so here is a slightly updated version (still the same amount of cursing tho):

Okay, this is a novel but it's my journey with epilating and some things I've learned along the way. I am a total baby when it comes to pain but I managed to overcome it.

My friend epilates and convinced me to try it. I bought a cheap one on Amazon, tried it, hated it, sent it back, and bought the mack daddy Braun Silk Epil 9, and I have to tell you it was rough going at first but now I love it.

It really did hurt like everloving FUCK the first time. I have a lot of hair. A lot. Friend said it would hurt less as I go on, on which I called bullshit. It was so so so bad that I couldn't even do a full leg in one go. And forget above the knees, Jesus tap dancing Christ Almighty.

Why I love it now: friend was right, damn her. It really truly gets better the more you do it, and I mean almost immediately. The second time is like night and day compared to the first. The reason for this is that hair grows in cycles. All the hair on your legs didn't all start growing at the same time, so when you rip all that hair out, every hair isn't growing back at the same rate. I would say it's about 1/2 to 1/3 of the amount of hair that grows back long enough to epilate in about a week's time. The lower density of hair makes for a MUCH less painful experience, and for me to say that, well, you saw how much of a little bitch I was in the previous paragraph. It seriously doesn't even phase me now.

Also why I love it: when you shave hair you leave a blunt edge which can feel like the hair is thicker and makes stubble feel stubblier. When the hair is plucked, it grows back nice and tapered and is softer to the touch. Because the hairs are growing back in less density, it's less noticeable. I can go for a week without giving a fuck about the hair on my legs.

Also, shaving just fucking sucks for me. It tears up my skin, I get itchy, and then it grows back in like a day. Epilating 4 lyfe, man.

But it took some trial and error to get there, which wisdom I will now bestow upon you. Here is my routine:

1. Exfoliate. For the love of God, before and after. Exfoliating means less dead skin means less chance for ingrown hairs. My preferred way to so this is with a hammam glove like this one. Look up the Baiden Mitten, then buy a hammam mitt on amazon because they're way cheaper. But it basically sloughs off the dead skin in rolls and is super gross and super satisfying. I did this right before the last time I epilated and my legs are soooooo smoooooth I can't even.
   
   
2. Nothing on your skin, no lotion or whatever. The epilator tweezers might slip on the hair and break it. This leads to subparly smooth legs and ingrown hairs. So I wash in the shower with a soap that won't leave any residue, hammam it up, and then dry off and epilate.
   
   
3. Epilate! If you have a wet/dry epilator you can do it in the shower with really hot water. This truly does alleviate the pain, and this was how I did it every time when I first started. I have found though that when I do this, the time it takes me to do my lower legs means that the water has made the hair on my upper legs much softer and prone to breakage, so the epilating isn't as effective. I usually suck it up and do it dry now.
   
   
4. Exfoliate again! This time I do chemical exfoliation. I use Stridex pads, the kind that come in the red box. Red box is important because it's at the right pH to actually exfoliate.
   
   
5. Soothe and/or moisturize. I slap on some aloe gel for this. Then I take care to moisturize daily afterwards.
   
   Rinse and repeat! I find that going more than a week in between hair ripping sessions means the growth is just enough to start to be painful again. I do this about every 5 days because my hair grows fast, but I'm hoping to extend it to a week eventually (which coincidentally is the recommended time to go in between exfoliating seshes).
   
   With this routine, which takes less and less time every time I do it, I don't get any bumps and only the occasional ingrown hair, usually on my upper thighs. Your legs will be kind of red and splotches after, and there may even be angry red dots where the hair was ripped out, but this goes away very quickly, and by the next day they look completely normal. It's never going to be completely smooth like with shaving, but honestly the tradeoff to me is worth it because when I shave, my legs are never perfectly smooth anyway because of the damage the razor does to my skin. Epilating is way gentler on my skin and I love the results I get.
   
   My final piece of advice: if you can stand it, wax everything first. Then the first growth cycle you epilate will be much less painful than if you'd started with the epilator. I used these Veet wax strips and yes it hurt like a bitch but ripping a giant bandaid off your legs is way better than slowly moving an epilator up your legs knowing that the pain just isn't going to stop. I have also done this again when I waited too long in between epilating and I just couldn't face the pain again.
   
   If you don't want to wax, what I've also done (I told you this was an arduous journey) is shave first with the shaver attachment on my epilator, then epilate. There are very few hairs left behind that are long enough for it to grab, so you can get used to the sensation.
   
   I haven't been brave enough to do my underarms yet, because the couple times I tried I was actually yelping from the pain. I may try waxing those first which I'm sure will also be an experience....
   
   Good luck! And remember that Amazon had a generous return policy. ;)
   
   PS I should mention that I have sensitive skin in general and I'm prone to things like eczema, ingrown hairs and body acne, but epilating with this routine does not exacerbate this at all.

These are amazing well for me atleast

You can try pre-waxed strips like those which are available in large supermarkets in the hair removal/razor section. Many different brands make them.

You rub the strips between your hands to warm them up so you don't have to microwave anything in the kitchen.

I bought the Veet self-waxing strips for my chest and legs.
http://www.amazon.com/Veet-Body-Remover-Strips-Count/dp/B004MKFY3W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419634793&sr=8-1

Took some getting used to, but works well! :)