Yesterday, not wanting to shower after just getting my hair colored, I dry-shaved my legs and armpits, just dipping the razor in water every now and then. I had always heard that this is just WRONG, perhaps painful and bad for the skin; however, I ended up with the closest shave and smoothest legs and pits EVAH! I followed up with some lotion and everything felt fine. I plan on doing this every time, now. Has anyone else ever had this experience? Any reason why I shouldn’t do this? Thanks!
You must have wimpy girlie hair. Even when I find a spot that I missed and try to dry-shave it, after a while it ends up feeling like I took it off with sandpaper.
You must have girlie hair. Even when I find a spot that I missed and try to dry-shave it, after a while it ends up feeling like I took it off with sandpaper.
If it works for you then there really isn’t any reason not to do it.
If I do it, I get itchy & dry, and adding lotion on top of that just makes the whole thing sting & turn red. Plus I get bumpy - I think that’s pretty typical, which is why most people don’t recommend shaving dry.
I’ve done it now and then, but usually only to get a stray spot I’ve missed. And for some reason, although the hair on most of my legs has slowed down immensely in its growth in the past few years, since my knee replacement surgery a couple months ago all of a sudden the hair around my incision is growing in at three times the rate of the rest of my legs. :dubious: Instead of a completely dry shave, though, I’ll put a couple drops of hair conditioner on before I shave – it doesn’t clog the razor the way lotion does, but it softens the hair and helps keep my skin soft instead of drying it out like shaving cream does. In fact, I usually use conditioner instead of shaving cream these days for just that reason.
I do it only under my arms in an emergency tank-top situation. I always regret it the next day. Red bumps and itchiness abound.
The very first time I shaved my legs, I was about 11. I didn’t know you were supposed to use water and gel, so I dry-shaved both legs and it hurt like hell! Didn’t help that my mother laughed herself silly when she found out what I did.
I heartily recommend the Intuition razor for this. The blades are surrounded by a little cake of stuff that turns to shaving gel when you wet the razor head and put it against your skin, but it’s not gloppy. It’s more like moisturizer.
My pits I can dry-shave - not my legs - OWEEE
If it works do it.
I do sortof the same as this! i run a wet flannel over my legs then put on conditioner, wet the razor, shave, wipe the excess conditioner off with the wet flanel, run the flanell over my legs again once up and once down (against and with the hair growth as going against it makes it obv. if you have missed something) then pat them dry with a towel, i sometimes itch for a couple minutes after but its completely bare able (do not scratch!!) and its fine again 
What somebody said above – use a bit of hair conditioner on whatever area you’re going to dry shave. You not only avoid the rash afterward, but also the pain of blade against dry skin. And you’re also moisturized to boot!
I always had incredibly fine hair and could dry shave in an emergency if I was just careful about it. But shaving overall sucks, it was a time waster and even under the best circumstances I could cut myself, and on me cuts don’t heal very quickly at all. So I’m very glad I had armpits, legs, and other areas lasered. Four years without a razor touching me, and counting. 
Hey! Tell me about this. It sounds wonderful. Is it expensive?
There are much better web sites out there to talk about it in detail, but I’ll give you a summary.
Laser hair removal uses a portable laser which is run over your skin and pulses with high energy light which is soaked up preferentially by your hair and not your skin. This energy makes your hair heat, and the oil in the hair follicle superheat, which kills the hair at the root. Many of the hairs “explode” out of your follicles halfway, and can be wiped off or plucked with no problem. In especially hairy areas it smells like hot popcorn oil when they do it, I am not kidding.
Not all hairs soak up enough energy the first time, or the second, so multiple treatments are needed to completely clear an area. Typically you need from 6-12 treatments on an area before you can say it’s 99%+ permanently removed.
The two greatest variables in laser are your skin type and hair type. Laser works best if you have thin, pale skin and darker hair. Ruddy-skinned blondes have about the poorest success rate, although they can see benefit if they’re will to tough it out.
Laser generally doesn’t hurt. The laser head is hot but has cooling on it, so provided the technician is careful, you will only feel it as being warm. A primary source of injury from laser treatment is a technician who’s in a hurry and overheats the laser, burning your skin. Cases I’ve read where there were severe burns often have a testimony from the victim of “I knew it was burning but I was too embarrassed to say anything.” 
As soon as I feel it’s too hot, I speak up, and if they don’t listen I grab their hand and say “no, seriously, don’t burn me.”
Laser is expensive, yes. Armpits are $90 per session in this area, and take from 6-12 treatments for permanent removal. Legs are about $200-300 per session. Other areas…market price, I guess. If you’re a frequent customer and concerned about a small patch which is stubborn, they will often do a touch up on an area (sometimes a rather large area) for $20.
Keep in mind that skin and hair type are critical for determining your success. I have ideal skin and hair type, so in truth after about 4 treatments I had 90%+ removal, but went back for a couple more just to get it all. Fierra, who has lighter hair and ruddier skin, has had to have a couple more treatments than me.
One thing which I encourage, however, is deliberately just doing 1-2 treatments and stopping. The first treatment will often remove 30-50% of the hair permanently, which is by far the highest bang for the buck for the process. Women who get just 1 treatment and quit find that shaving is no longer all that bad, due to less hair to remove, and many of the hairs which remain are damaged, and come back thinner or grow slower. It can “beat back the bush”, so to speak. Later on if you want to do more, you just get another treatment and thin things out further.
I was being honest about no razor touching me for more than 4 years, but I will expand on that and say every month or two I might have to pluck a hair or two. You’ll never get to 100%, but plucking a couple of hairs a month is trivial work compared to shaving every few days.
I’ll also add that the expense of laser can compare well with other processes. Waxing and sugaring can not only hurt, but they aren’t permanent and they can take a lot of time. I calculated that one woman I knew who had her legs waxed semi-regularly actually spent more for that in 3 years than she would have for the relatively painless and permanent laser. And razors/shaving gels/etc. can be a stealth cost that adds up over the years.
When I lasered my underarms it was rather painful. My bikini area? No biggie. Underarms? Wow. Just… Wow. It’s like a rubber band snapping.
I bet you didn’t know that hair & fingernails continues to grow on threads even after they die.