I’m as skeptical as the next person when it comes to As Seen on TV products, but the Smooth Away hair removal system caught my eye. After seeing the rather convincing commercial, I’m sure you asked yourself, “Does Smooth Away really work?” and since online reviews were mixed, I thought I would give in and give it a try.
First of all, you can buy Smooth Away at your local CVS drug store instead of purchasing it online or over the phone. I picked it up on sale for $9.99.
Setting up Smooth Away is quite easy. There are two applicators, a large and a tiny one, and both come with replaceable hair removal pads. These pads have a 3M brand coating on the back that sticks them to the applicator, and are easily removed. You can buy boxes of replacement pads at CVS as well.
When I first felt the pad, I did a double take to make sure I didn’t miss a step, because they felt like cheap leather. It was hard to believe that sort of texture could do anything at all.
I made the mistake of just taking the large pad and going back and forth randomly one one small part of my calf. I have fine, blonde leg hair, and two days worth of post-shaving growth. The hair was still there and I immediately felt like trashing the kit. Then I realized I had forgotten to read the instructions.
First it said your legs had to be clean, dry and without lotion. Check; then came the important part. It said to move the applicator in circles – three times clockwise, and three times counter-clockwise, and repeat until the hair is gone. So I tried that and after 2 complete rotations, the hair was 75% gone. I tried it again in the same spot, 2 more times, and it was 99% gone.
I tried this in several areas on my leg – other calf, shin, thigh, and had the same results. The packaging said that your hair should not be more than a quarter inch long, but in my case, hair half of that length on my upper thigh wasn’t removed at all. Maybe it’s because my hair is baby fine. I’m not sure. I assumed it would work better on fine hair than thicker stubble, but I didn’t have anyone to test it on other than myself.
The product exfoliates as is removes the hair, and made my legs pretty dry, and just slightly irritated after the fact. The sensation is hard to explain. While Smooth Away is painless to use, irritation is the best word I can come up with. I didn’t have a rash, broken skin, razor burn, or scratches of any kind, but my skin just wasn’t too thrilled afterwards. It itched a little too before I put lotion on.
All in all, this product might be good for someone who is ill or is unable to bend over to shave in the shower. I can already tell that in a couple hours, stubble will start growing back and it will be more noticeable than if I had just shaved. With the time it takes to remove hair in each spot, it’s not worth my time. You would be better off buying a good electric razor if you are in a situation where you can’t shave otherwise. It would have taken me at least 30-45 minutes to do both of my legs to my satisfaction.
The small applicator would be a cool thing to have in your purse if you have hair on your chinny chin chin like the women in the commercial, but again, you would be better off tweezing something like that because the effect would last longer.
Lastly, I wouldn’t use Smooth Away if you use some sort of a tanning bronzer, as it does do a good job of exfoliating. In fact, it might be a quick way to exfoliate your legs before using a tanning bed or bronzer.
