I started shaving my legs incredibly early in life.
Picture this: It’s 2005. You are a fourth grader at a new school attending the “popular” girl’s birthday sleepover party. After tie dying some pillow cases and having pizza and cotton candy it’s time to get into your super cute ‘Limited Too’ pink silky jammies with princess frogs printed on them while the birthday girl’s mom gets the Mean Girls DVD booted up. Life is going really well until you hear… “OMG your legs are so hairy. Don’t you shave yet?!”. Mortifying.
This is how my leg shaving and subsequent hatred of how my legs look began.
My hairy leg problem has been solved for nearly 20 years, but in place of that a new one arose. Strawberry legs. What are strawberry legs? They are little red or black dots that appear on your legs after shaving. It’s not razor burn- in fact it happens when your pores and leg hair follicles are clogged with dead skin and dirt. You, like me, might have thought this was just par for the course and have been hiding away your legs like I have. I have only just learned the term strawberry legs about a year ago, I had no clue I could correct this issue by only changing a few small habits to my shaving routine!
I will be sharing with you how I cured my strawberry legs! These are the methods that have worked best for me, any products or tips I have can easily be modified and tweaked to fit your routine and budget. Nothing I am suggesting is concrete and I highly encourage you to use what you already have before going out and buying anything. That said- if you do choose to purchase any of the products I mention in this blog post through the links I include, I will make a very small commission from it.
A quick disclaimer: You are not any more or less beautiful with or without strawberry legs. I am writing about this because my strawberry legs bothered me. I did not address my insecurities for anyone other than myself and I did what would make me feel the most beautiful. I would urge you to do the same with any beauty routine you decide on!
Step 1- Exfoliate in the shower
Exfoliation is such a simple way to remove dirt, oil, and dry skin from your body which is quite literally what causes strawberry legs. You won’t need to exfoliate every day- in fact that can be quite rough on your skin. In my experience every second or third shower is key to getting a good exfoliation that will heal your skin rather than damage it.
I use two different methods to exfoliate on a rotating schedule.
The first method is by using a scrub.
My current favorite is a sugar scrub by the brand Tree Hut. Lavender is my favorite but honestly any of their scents are lovely (aside from cotton candy, that’s just nasty).
I have also tried salt scrubs which work just as nicely, however, to me they feel less like a spa. If you are someone who prefers unscented Himalayan salt scrubs would be perfect for you!
Scrubs I Love:
https://amzn.to/3C0znVu – Sugar Scrub
https://amzn.to/3Qgz6BZ – Salt Scrub
https://amzn.to/3AbSOJA – Coffee Scrub
The other method I use is exfoliating gloves! I personally love using the gloves because I feel like it is a much deeper exfoliation. I only like to use this method every other time I exfoliate, though, because I do not want to overdo it and damage my skin at all. So while this is my favorite way to scrub, I do prefer to use it sparingly.
Gloves I Love:
I personally get the 3 pack of gloves because they come in three different levels. I will use the lightest one when my skin is most sensitive (when I am on my period), the medium when I just need a little refresh, and the heavy when I am doing a deep scrub! These gloves are great, too, because you can clean and reuse them forever!!
Tip 2- Don’t shave in the shower
Trust me, I know how annoying it is to not get everything done in one swoop. When you shave in the shower you can miss spots, go too quickly causing razor burn and knicks, or my most dreaded shower experience: run out of hot water.
When you shave after your shower you will not be saving time, but you will be saving your skin and combating strawberry legs.
I will sit on the edge of my tub on either a towel or my bathrobe, wet one leg, and shave it slowly and with care (and then obviously repeat on the other leg). I have seen such an improvement on the health of my skin by just switching one small part of my routine. (Added bonus is saving more water!!)
Tip 3- Avoid shaving cream
Did you know shaving cream can actually contribute to drying out your skin? Dry skin flakes and turns into dead skin, clogging your pores and follicles, in turn giving you dreaded strawberry legs.
What I use instead is Rosehip oil! It has wonderful benefits for your skin to hydrate, moisturize, and brighten your skin to name a few. I personally only use about half of a full dropper for each leg section (upper is one half and lower is one half). This way not only am I able to get moisture on my freshly exfoliated legs, but I can actually see my skin and where my razor is going. This oil is very light and doesn’t leave your skin feeling oily afterwards.
I have used a few other oils which I will link for you, but for me personally Rosehip has worked the best!
Rosehip Oil I Love:
Other Oils I Have Tried and Liked:
https://amzn.to/3vS37Qr – Jojoba
https://amzn.to/3SL1E8r – Sweet Almond
Jojoba and sweet almond are great options as well however, my skin personally prefers the rosehip.
Tip 4- Get a new razor
Traditional razors with the disposable heads have about 5-6 blades in them giving you an insanely close shave. The problem with this, though, is that many blades can cause skin dryness, irritation, and in my case both razor burn and strawberry legs.
A quick side note is that I, along with one of my sisters, are very big into sustainability. She had been urging me for years to try out the leaf razor (not sponsored). The thought of a safety razor really freaked me out so I put it off and I really wish I would have taken her advice sooner. My husband shaves his head nearly every other day and was sick of paying around $50 for new disposable razor heads. Individual blades that you swap out and recycle are much cheaper, so when he asked if I was interested in trying the leaf razor I reluctantly said yes.
The cool thing about the leaf razor is that the blades come split in half, and you can choose how many blades you load into the head. As I mentioned before, more blades = closer shave but it could also irritate your skin. I have found loading only one blade into the lowest part of the head still gives me a smooth and silky shave while putting less strain on my skin! Less irritation is less razor burn and significantly less strawberry legs.
Leaf Razor:
It is pricey, but one leaf razor is about the price of two razor head refills so it does pay for itself rather quickly. The reason I recommend the leaf over the smaller twig version is that the leaf still offers the pivoting head while the twig is stabilized. I personally have the rose gold version! A word of caution, for your first few uses please use care. You do not need to use pressure like a standard razor, you can just glide it gently across the skin for a close shave.
Tip 5- Moisturize
We already discussed the importance of moisturizing earlier, but since it is so integral to combating strawberry legs I thought I would mention it once more. After your shave is complete it is a great idea to immediately moisturize your legs. This again prevents dry skin which is a huge contributor or strawberry legs.
I love using the same rosehip oil, just 2-3 drops followed by body butter. Tree Hut also offers body butters, so I like to match that scent to the scrub I use to keep everything cohesive. Lotion works just as well! Honestly, whatever your skin prefers is what you should go with but I will share my favorites below!
My Favorite Moisturizers:
https://amzn.to/3p7UfT3 – Tree Hut
https://amzn.to/3bKE4rx – Lotion
https://amzn.to/3dr0UVu – Shea Butter
If you are like me and didn’t even realize this was a problem that could be solved, I genuinely hope this advice helps you like it did for me! It does seem like a lot of additional work, but once you get into the routine of it all it really becomes second nature.
Thank you so much for reading and I will catch you next time!
-Sophia
The Working Homemaker 