Smooth Away? But it was on TV!

Admit it, you’ve been up late at night or early in the morning and found yourself watching an infomercial. It’s okay, we all do it from time to time. Heck, my 7 year old would rather watch infomercials than cartoons, and he’s constantly telling me about the latest thing I just have to have. One of those things is Smooth Away.

You’ve seen them on TV and in stores, “flex crystal” pads which stick to an applicator and effortlessly buff away body hair. “Removes hair instantly & pain free” the box boasts. “Discovered in Europe!”, “No chemicals”, “No razor burn”, throw in the coupon I found and you’ve got a perfect storm for some beauty experimenting my friend. At about $9.99 at big box and drugstores everywhere, the dollar off coupon made it seem like a worthwhile risk, so I snatched it up and headed home.

The premise is fairly simple, stick one of those pads on the applicator and rub it in alternating clockwise and counter clockwise circles until the hair is miraculously smoothed away. In practice, uh, not so much. It takes far more rubbing than you’ve been led to believe and it takes much longer than you’d hope for. Not only that, the results are so shortlived (a day, two tops) that the time investment compared to shaving is just ridiculous. Once you compare the price to a good razor or hair removal cream, or even a decent at home waxing kit, $10 for 20-30 minutes of your time just doesn’t seem worth it.

But wait, there’s more. My biggest issue with these pads is that they could hurt you. The continual rubbing needed to remove hair can easily remove extra skin as well with no warning. Everything feels fine and your legs are smooth, but hours later or the next day you have a raw painful, dry area that could take a while to heal. There’s a reason this product isn’t recommended for diabetics, and a reason all those warnings are inside the box where you won’t see them until you’ve gotten home and opened it.

This won’t hurt you if it’s used within very specific parameters, however, it probably won’t remove anywhere near the amount of hair you were hoping for. If you  use Smooth Away long enough to remove the amount of hair you want to then you really could end up doing some damage to  your skin. Ultimately, I think you should save your time and money and opt for a quick shave in the shower.