It’s bathing suit season. Which means we ladies are spending far more time than we’d like trying to get that stubborn hair on the top half of our legs to come off. But how to know which — if any — of the myriad hair-removal products to try? Here are three we’d consider using again.
Epil-Stop Silky Creme hair remover
$7.99 FOR 5.3 OUNCES
The claim: that it will work in three minutes and smell good
Messiness factor: high
What we liked: It had a light, fruity scent. It also didn’t make our legs burn, unlike a couple of the others.
What we didn’t like: The metal container kept slipping out of our hands once we got some goop on them, and the pump was difficult to operate.
Results: The tops of our legs were silky smooth, but the bottoms still felt rough, even though hair wasn’t visible. We had to shave with a razor the next day but then didn’t need to again for 48 hours, which we attribute to the product.
Carefree Totally Smooth leg creme
$7.49 FOR 5.1 OUNCES
The claim: long-lasting smoothness
Messiness factor: medium
What we liked: The thick lotion clung to our legs.
What we didn’t like: The bottle said the application was hands-free. It wasn’t. Also, we had to exfoliate heavily after using it.
Results: It gave our normally unsensitive skin a mild breakout that was gone by morning. The hair on the top of our legs stayed gone for about four days, but we needed to shave the bottom parts of our legs the next morning.
Veet Rasera
$6.94 FOR 5.1 OUNCES
The claim: smooth legs in as little as three minutes
Messiness factor: medium
More Top Picks Fl 41 Glasses For Migraine What The Research Shows
What we liked: The bladeless razor made removing the cream easy. Veet also makes a version for sensitive skin.
What we didn’t like: Our legs itched afterward, until we exfoliated.
Results: It kept the tops of our legs smooth for about four days, the bottoms for almost 48 hours.
A FEW CAVEATS
– For a measurable effect, we found you had to leave the remover on for the maximum time suggested by the directions.
– We used them normally, and tried to stand still for eight to 10 minutes.
– How we took the remover off didn’t seem to make any difference.