Hair removal is a more or less aggressive act for the skin. Indeed, once past the pain of the gesture itself (especially when using an electric epilator or wax), it sometimes remains an unpleasant sensation on the skin: tugging, itching, redness, hairs incarnated ...

Sophie Thirion, research and development project manager at Acorelle, gives us her advice for a calming skin after hair removal.

Prepare your skin well to avoid hurting

The first advice Sophie Thirion gives us? Make sure you prepare your skin before waxing. "The day before, a scrub should be done, it's the ideal tip to prepare your skin at best," she says.

To limit the unpleasant sensations of hair removal, it is also possible to numb the area. How? By the cold! "Apply extended ice cubes in a fine towel", advises Sophie Thirion. However, it recognizes that this method is more suitable for small areas, such as eyebrows, bikini and underarms, and impractical for whole legs.

Before hair removal, it is also essential to dry the area well, and why not apply a little talc. "The skin must also be clean, dry and healthy, to avoid some inconvenience related to hair removal: persistent redness, pimples during regrowth ...", insists our expert on hair removal.

Adopt simple actions during hair removal

For a relieved skin, it is necessary to make the good gestures at the time of the epilation.

When waxing, for example, whether it is hot or cold, it is advisable to press the area with your hand just after removing the tape. The pressure exerted to soothe the skin. Often, hair removal products - especially hot waxes - are sold with post-hair removal care, but present in very small quantities. They allow for example to remove wax residues. "If you're short on post-waxing, you'll have oils in your kitchen," says Sophie Thirion, "they can be a great substitute for this care, and in addition to removing the residue, some have perfect skin properties. ".

After hair removal, the essential gesture is hydration . The skin is hydrated at the end of hair removal, and this beauty gesture is continued between sessions. "It's the basis for your skin," insists Sophie Thirion.

And continue with a grandmother's recipe: "Cut a potato in half and apply it to the side to be soothed Potato starch has a real soothing effect."

Prepare regrowth to avoid ingrown hairs

For a regrowth without discomfort of the ingrown hairs type, we put again on the scrub, to apply once a week on the areas concerned. If small pimples or ingrown hairs appear, there are purifying products, which contain active "chemical" scrubs such as AHA, which can help make them disappear, says Sophie Thirion.

And to slow the regrowth ? "There is no miracle care: only a few anti-regrowth treatments will be effective if they are used with great regularity (every day or twice a day)", explains our expert. A restrictive routine, especially as the natural comes back very quickly: "as soon as the use stops, the normal growth rate of the hair returns".

For hair removal that lasts 2 to 3 weeks, we prefer a method of hair removal that pulls the hair in full, like waxing, because the hair grows by the root. And to get rid of the hair (almost) for good, we rely on radical methods such as laser or pulsed light .