What is Intimate Skin Shaving?
Shaving the skin “down there” is a personal journey. Everyone has their own unique approach and style to grooming the hair around the vulva, or not. Yet the result is the same for everyone — irritation is possible and avoidable.
Interestingly, a recent survey* of women who performed daily intimate skin grooming resulted in the following stats:
If intimate skin grooming is part of your daily or weekly routine, you’ll be glad to know how to continue this personal journey with the least amount of irritation and post traumatic shaving stress as possible. We’re here to help you by sharing Ina’s guide to irritation-free shaving …
–– INTIMATE SKIN SHAVING 101 ––
How to Prevent Post-Shaving Irritation
Follow these 5 Steps to perfect your intimate skin shaving routine. It may take a little extra time and care, yet the results will help to keep your intimate skin happy and irritation a thing of the past.
Step 1. — EXFOLIATE
In addition to cleansing, regular intimate skin exfoliation will help to remove build-up in skin pores and hair follicles that can cause ingrown hairs. Lactic acid is a good sensitive skin ingredient to look for in all of your shaving prep products (i.e. cleanser, serum or shave cream). Lactic acid is a naturally-occurring substance produced during fermentation. It is also an antioxidant, a chemical exfoliant and skin moisturizer. It helps to smooth skin and even skin tone through exfoliation, by loosening the bonds between dead skin cells and stimulating cell turnover.
Step 2. — MOIST HEAT
The warm moisture from a wet, hot cloth applied to intimate skin prior to shaving will help to open pores and allow the hair follicles to be exposed to reduce razor burn.
Step 3. — PROTECT
Use a shave cream that boosts the skin’s moisture barrier in order to protect the skin by providing a cushioned shave. Cushioned skin + ingredients that create slip helps the razor glide and prevents hair from curling back into the pore, causing an ingrown hair.
Step 4. — SHAVE
Use a clean, sharp razor and shave in the direction of hair growth. Be sure to rinse the razor after each stroke to prevent hair from being pulled from a clogged razor, which can cause bumps, irritation and ingrown hairs. Also try to only use one pass of the razor per area, as multiple strokes can also cause ingrown hairs.
Step 5. — SOOTHE
Post shaving, always nourish the skin with an oil or moisturizer that includes ingredients to also calm, such as aloe vera. Shaving is traumatic to skin, so calming ingredients will help to reduce irritation and the oil will help to prevent ingrown hairs.
*https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2529574