This is pretty rudimentary but for some reason I have a really hard time with it. Let me go over what I do first.

1. I shave every other day. I don't like feeling rough, and my leg hair grows out fast even on HRT. I believe its because I'm also taking a biotin supplement to regrow my scalp hair.
2. I lotion every day
3. I use a exfoliating poof every day.
4. I alternate between using soap lather and shaving gel. Lately I use gel.

I try to shave gently, but if I'm gentle it feels rough afterward and if I make it smooth, its irritated. Worse, I've got a few nicks from where I've scratched at a itch absent mindedly. Still many of my follicles somehow get nicked and show red or even bleed no matter how I shave. I don't have this problem on ANY other part of my body. I really don't get it.

I wish I had some really helpful advice...Unfortunately I do not.  I have the same problems and more.  As my hair starts to come back it itches like crazy in certain areas.  Like the back of my thighs.  That is also the area I get red bumps.  I've tried everything and nothing works totally.  Here's what has helped me a little.  I shave a little less often...twice a week.  Mostly I shave with an electric shaver.  It doesn't shave as close but I have far less problems.  If I'm going to be at work all week and wearing jeans I'm ok if it's not that smooth.  I'll use a razor if I want to do it right.  You probably already know this but I go in the direction of the hair growth first and than back against it the second time to get real close.  This seem to help me a lot....but again not a cure all.  One of these days I'm going to treat myself to an epilator when I have some extra cash.  Sounds like it's painful but might be worth it.

I've heard of this thing called Smooth Away, it's suppose to get rid of hair easily, less painfully, and perfect. I haven't tried it myself, but it's something you can try.

I got sick of the blood and bought an epilator.    I let it grow to about 3-4mm after my last shave and it wasn't as bad as I feared.
First few times after that were a bit painful, but trying to do it weekly so that it was  fairly short helped. Not bad at all now, and as I have started HRT it is a bit sparser too.
Worth the money for sure.

Karen.

Waxing

Just go to a salon and get waxed. They  REALLY DO NOT CARE that you are male female or anything in between.  The ones I go to I have explained about me and suddenly total support.

The hesitation is you, not them.


Cindy

I concur with Cindy.

I've been for a couple of leg, chest and arm waxes at my local salon in a conservative part of Sydney, Australia.

The two young women who work there are aged 26 and 28 and neither of them batted an eyelid, they treated me like I imagine they would treat any other client.

They were both really chatty 'have you had this done before? Your skin feels so smooth afterwards, you'll have to tell us if you like it. It'll feel weird when you put your jeans on' etc

I went presenting as a male and Jess (the owner) brushed past my feat as they were hanging off the edge of the table. I curled them up out of her way as she went back past and she was like 'no, no, don't worry, I can get past'.

Each time she had to swap sides I would curl them up and eventually she remarked very casually 'whenever I tell women not to worry, they don't, they just keep their feet their dangling there. Men always seem to be more polite and keep curling their feet up.' to which I replied with a smile 'I guess I'm just polite'. We both giggled. If only she knew.

The moral of this post is waxing is an effective method of hair removal, though I do still seem to get ingrowns it's nicer than shaving (try it) and going to a beauty salon for a wax as a man can be quite easy and acceptable.

I haven't explained about me (though I intend to) but to reinforce what Cindy said, they're pretty cool wih me as a customer.

Oh and I just noticed that with Cindy and Karen's posts above mine, my post completes an Australian hat-trick (three in a row).

I think between us we have 3 of the 6 states covered too. Go Australia!

Thanks for the replies ^^ unfortunately money is really tight for me so I'll stick with shaving for now. As soon as I can though I'd love to get them waxed.

Cold waxing using strips (like Veet, for example) is a lot cheaper than having someone else do it for you. I don't know how the effectiveness compares, because I've never had someone else wax me, but it's certainly more effective than shaving, and doesn't need doing very often on legs and arms (plus less hairs each time).

If you look online, you can usually find some pharmacy doing a cheap deal (over here, Boots quite often does a 3-for-2 thing which I take advantage of).

A couple years ago, I read that hair conditioner can substitute for shaving cream/gel. I decided to give it a try, and i never looked back. IMHO, conditioner does a better job, feels (and smells!) much better, stores easier, and it's much cheaper to boot. The only downside is that you'll have to be a bit more aggressive about cleaning the razor. For shaving, the cheap stuff works just as well as the premium. I use Suave Tropical Coconut.

I'd point you for coconut scented, especially if it has coconut oil/extract. Just stay away from anything scented with apple or citrus fruit!

Quote from: Cirnobyl on June 02, 2011, 04:44:54 AM
This is pretty rudimentary but for some reason I have a really hard time with it. Let me go over what I do first.

1. I shave every other day. I don't like feeling rough, and my leg hair grows out fast even on HRT. I believe its because I'm also taking a biotin supplement to regrow my scalp hair.
2. I lotion every day
3. I use a exfoliating poof every day.
4. I alternate between using soap lather and shaving gel. Lately I use gel.

I try to shave gently, but if I'm gentle it feels rough afterward and if I make it smooth, its irritated. Worse, I've got a few nicks from where I've scratched at a itch absent mindedly. Still many of my follicles somehow get nicked and show red or even bleed no matter how I shave. I don't have this problem on ANY other part of my body. I really don't get it.

I had the same problem for a while too compounded by ingrown hairs. What I found was that a combination of a different razor and shaving cream really helped. For a razor i use the Mach 4 and make sure it has the little protective wire over the blades. It still gets Really close and you can be a little bit more firm and not draw blood. Also i use Nivia For Men (lol) for sensative skin shaving gel. Best cream out there in my opinion. Also the thing that i found key for ingrown hairs is to exfoliate again after the shave. Yes i know shaving exfoliates. I cant explain why doing it again helps but it does. Then make sure you moisturize after your all done and somewhat dry. Then about 2 hrs later moisturize again. Thats what I do... might help you. Good Luck! 

<3 Teagan

I finally broke down and bough an Emjoi Soft Caress epilator and am pleased with the result. Before when I shaved, I would get red and bleed too-especially the back of my thighs and the crease where my legs meets my bum. Now, I go over my skin twice a week which takes about an hour if I do everywhere-underarms and groin but not my face. Then I go over lightly with a 4 blade razor (only if necessary) and use soft soap for lubricant. My skin feels smooth for at least three days so I can live with that.

Randi

Oh yeah forgot to mention-I ALWAYS use this process which I learned from Kristi-I use a loofa sponge and work it briskly getting off all of the dead skin I can before I do anything else. It really makes a huge amount of difference in the result-Thanks Kristi. She also uses an exfoliant(?spelling?) 'bead' to work with the sponge but I have not tried those yet. The way I do this isn't exactly the same as Kristi's way but she has been doing it much longer than me!

Randi