Summer Preparation....

Now that summer seems just around the corner and there has been a delightful change in the weather it seems about the right time to start getting my legs and feet back into shape for shorts and skirt season. It isn't that through the winter I don't remove the hair or look after my legs it is just that in summer time I take a little more care.

The first step is a change in hair removal, throughout winter I will remove hair with a razor, it is quick and easy to do in the shower. But in summer I like the effects to be longer lasting, with summer holidays and the festival season it is always nice to not worry about hair growth especially if you are dark haired like me! So out comes my epilator...

Mine is a Philips Satin Ice (I think) HP6513 epilator, it can be purchased for £39.99 on amazon.co.uk at the moment. I have had this one for a number of years now and it is by far the best I have tried. There are a few key things that you need to remember if you are going to buy and epilator:

1. It needs to be rechargeable and have a long battery life, firstly it is unlikely that most people will have power sockets in your bathroom hence it is good if it is cordless. However it is pointless to use a cordless one if the battery is going to run out when you have only done half a leg, and as the power runs out the whole process gets more painful as there is not enough energy to rip the hairs out.
2. The wider the head the more hair it will remove in one go!
3. In my experience you get two main types of head, metal or ceramic, by this I mean the little discs that spin around ripping your hairs out. I prefer the ceramic type as I find the metal type simply breaks the hairs rather than ripping out from the root and the results don't last long this way.

OK so those are the critical things to remember when buying and epilator but how about when you use it?? I really hate that period of having to grow your hair to be able to wax, which is why I like the epilator and why I start my preparations in spring. So the key is not to grow all your hair out but start using the epilator in place of a razor before you have a shower, ideally with it running and the bathroom nice and steamy to open your pores. This way you are building up the hair removal a little at a time and don't have that horrible growing out period. After a couple of weeks you will notice that you won't need to epilate for a week then 2 and so on...

The next part of the routine is to exfoliate and moisturise, I would exfoliate twice a week with a product from Champney's called citrus glow....

It leaves your skin feeling soft and moisturised and doesn't require additional moisturiser to be applied after you get out of the shower. I think the last tub I bought was in Sainsbury's for about £9 but that was at the end of last summer. One tub will last you all summer long! Only problem I find is that when rinsed off it has a tendency to block the plug hole after a while.

On the days when I don't exfoliate I like to use a body oil from Sanctuary (available on boots for about £6)..

It is in a really large spray container, 250ml and will last forever!! it sinks in really quickly and doesn't sting freshly epilated legs as it doesn't contain any alcohol, which is handy to reduce any rash you might have on your legs.

Finally in the evening just because I am not perfect I like to use a little bit of firming cream/gel.. at the moment the potion of choice is Soap and Glory's Firminator... not noticing the results to much but then i don't like to spend too much time staring at my thighs and butt!

Once you have been using the epilator for a while and are confident with its abilities you can then start using it on the more delicate areas like bikini line and more significantly underarms! This is probably one of the greatest things, it hurts terribly at first but after a while you become accustomed to the pain and the benefits are incredible, I can go up to 6 weeks without having to remove hair from under my arms and it also doesn't leave any stubble shadow! Having dark hair that is always a hindrance to me exposing my arm pits but not if I epilate!

I hope this routine was helpful to some people who wanted to explore the world of epilation!

xoxo