Tend Skin

I've tried a million different products that are supposed to reduce ingrown hairs and razor burn, but Tend Skin is by far the best! Available at Sephora, you can buy it in either a bottle or in a handy little rolly applicator that applies the product right where you want it.

Before I found this, I had the worst ingrown hair problem ever. Bumps everywhere, some that were so bad they would plague me for months.
Tend Skin has gotten rid of 95% of these, and I almost never get razor burn!
Used after epilating, it leaves me completely smooth. After shaving, it leaves me mostly smooth.

You need to apply it immediately after hair removal, or it isn't effective. Just a warning, it burns like hell!

Braun Silk Epil Xelle Epilator

I have a new love.
Her name is Braun.

I'm sure if you are a woman you, too, have experienced the hardships of body hair removal. We've tried the Nair, only to get rashes. Razors give us razor burn. Wax works, but it takes forever for the hair to grow long enough.

I was feeling pretty hopeless at this point. I had resorted to waxing my bikini area and armpits, and shaving everything else. Until I heard about the Braun Silk-Epil Xelle.
I read countless positive reviews online and finally went down to Ulta to see if
they carried it. They do! I picked mine up for $69.99 plus tax. (Make sure you keep your reciept for anything you buy at Ulta, btw. You can return ANYTHING you buy there as long as you have your reciept and if its a bottle of something it has to be more than half full.)

I came straight home, took it out of the box, hastily read the directions, and plugged it in. I was using it on my bikini area, on more of those pesky little strays that always seem to grow back too soon after you wax.

It's pretty easy to use, no batteries required. You just plug it into an outlet, choose which head you want to use and switch it on. It comes with a shaver head, and two epilator heads. (One with "soothing rollers" and one without) I chose the head without the rollers, snapped it on, and switched on the epilator.
It has two settings, and a neat light on it so you can see the hairs better. I turned it on high and rolled it across my skin. You are supposed to roll it against the grain of the hair, and at a 90 degree angle.

Ten minutes later, I was hair free! This thing was incredible. It stung a bit, in some places more than others, but any girl who has ever waxed before can handle the pain. Since I wax bi-weekly and tweeze strays already, the pain of the epilator was definately tolerable. You do have to hold your skin tight, though, because it will try to suck in loose skin on occasion.
I even tried it on my leg, and it worked like a charm. It hurt like hell, though, so I don't see myself doing legs anytime soon. I'm a weenie about leg waxing, too.

Long story short, I LOVE this thing! It is so efficient, so quick, it even removes tiny little stubble, and the pain isn't even that bad, especially compared to waxing. I definately recommend it!

UPDATE:
7/7/10
I thought I would update on this one. I sucked it up and did my legs after writing this review. It HURTS. BAD. I cried like a little girl.
HOWEVER, it is totally worth it. I do my legs once a week or so, and the hair is noticably thinner and easier to remove every time. It is much less painful after a few times, as the hair is not all growing back at once, and now I have smooth legs almost all the time! I shave with EVOO if I have any stubble in between epilating sessions, and it makes a HUGE difference.

Dove Visibly Smooth Deoderant

I saw a commercial for this Dove deodorant about six months ago. It promises to help decrease underarm hair after repeated use.
Sounded great to me! I made sure to grab some the next time I was at the store. I've been using it for months, now, every night before bed (as directed by the label). I still haven't noticed any difference in my armpit hair growth. It IS very good for applying after I shave my bikini area. Seems to cut down on razor burn and ingrown hairs.

It's very disappointing, but I am going to have to give this deodorant a thumbs down in the hair reduction department.

1/5/10: Update
Still using this deoderant, and it sure didn't eliminate any hair growth. It does really help with ingrown hairs, though, if applied immediately after shaving!

Olive Oil

I have been using Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of shaving cream on my legs and underarms, lately.

It's working like a charm. You only need a teeny tiny bit, and it helps to rinse the razor out very well every few strokes (or it gets kind of gummy from the oil). I shaved every day for a week, and my legs were completely soft and smooth every single day. Usually, shaving every day causes bumps and irritation, but I had none of that, and no problem eliminating stubble!

I have let the hair grow for a few days, and it seems softer and more sparse, also. I may be crazy, but I really think the EVOO is making a difference!

I probably wouldn't recommend this if you are prone to breakouts or anything, and certainly using oil on the face seems like a bad idea, but so far it seems to be working for my legs.

Smooth Away

In my long quest for efficient hair removal products, I found myself making a spur of the moment purchase of Smooth Away while at Sally's. A friend of mine told me that it worked for her, so I figured why the hell not?

Well, it's pretty much really fine sandpaper in a fancy package.
The directions told me to gently rub the hair away in small circles. The first thing I noticed was that it was rubbing off my tan, exposing pale spots on my leg. Ok, so it's good at exfoliating at least. (Even though now I had to apply more self tanner after this)

The hair was just NOT disappearing. I tried and tried and it was not removing any hair. I tried it on my boyfriend, though, and it did remove some of his really long leg hair. It left stubble behind.

So, all in all, totally not worth it. Apparently, you have to have hair like an ape or man in order for it to remove anything and it still leaves stubble. It's still easier to shave.

Two thumbs down.

Sally Hansen's Spray on Shower off hair remover

I bought this stuff after hearing my sister rave about it. She said it worked really well for her, and her legs stayed smooth for awhile.
It's about $9 a bottle, and I found mine at Walgreens. I went ahead and bought the extra strength formula, since I am plagued with super thick hair.

I got it home and decided that I didn't want to be the guinea pig. My boyfriend willingly let me spray some onto his pubic hair to try it out. It came out of the bottle pretty evenly, and didn't smell too terrible at first. You are supposed to let it sit on the area for 3 minutes, then check and see if it is doing anything.
It wasn't.

We left it on a little longer. The label advises that you not leave it on longer than 10 minutes, so he washed it off after maybe 6 minutes. The smell was getting worse as time went on, but still not as bad as Nair.
In the end, some of his long hair came out, but it was sort of patchy, and didn't work very well.

I tried it myself on my legs a few weeks later, and left it on for the full 10 minutes. I didn't have any burning or anything, no discomfort at all. When I washed it off, none of my stubble was gone. It smelled pretty bad, and was a waste of time.

I would not recommed this stuff. It's way too expensive, and it would take longer than just shaving, anyhow. It didn't seem to work all that well, and now I am stuck with half a bottle of the stuff.