Why most of us are shaving our legs wrong
Aneira Davies
ContributorShave your legs in the morning? You may want to change your ways, as according to beauty experts, there's a particular time of day that's best for the silkiest legs.
This page contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.
Beauty experts have spoken out on when exactly we should be shaving our legs – and most of us are doing it at the wrong time.
According to dermatologists, there is a correct time to shave our legs (and it’s not in the morning!).
Instead, we’re advised that we should be shaving our legs at night. Yep. And there’s a good reason for this.
Experts say that shaving our legs just before we go to bed, rather than in our morning shower, will help us achieve a better shave with less irritation.
Sounds good, right?
For the ultimate silky smooth feeling, experts say we should be shaving our legs just before bedtime. While we sleep our legs swell slightly, so this can make the hair retreat back into its follicles, making our legs even smoother.
And, while it’s tempting to shave right at the start of our shower, we should instead wait around 15 minutes before we start shaving so that our leg hair has enough time to soften and our follicles have time to open. This makes for a better shave, say the dermatologists at the Good Housekeeping Institute.
Another surprising tip? We should shave down the leg first, rather than upwards (as most of us are prone to do).
While shaving upwards isn’t necessarily a bad thing to do, shaving in the direction your hair grows will minimise the possibility of any irritation. Once your leg hairs have been cut short by shaving down the leg, you can then shave against the grain.
And if you’ve got sensitive skin, you shouldn’t shave upwards at all, say experts.
Other top tips include never shaving ‘dry’ under any circumstances and using a body scrub to prevent razor burn.
By exfoliating with a body wash or scrub twice a week, you’ll help shed the skin that’s trapping any ingrown hairs.
Do you have any more tips to add and what time of day do you shave your legs? Let us know in the chat thread below.
Related stories
Quick fix beauty buys that all mums need
CHAT: What time of day do you shave your legs?
12 beauty buys that can fake a good night's sleep
