Fortunately for many of us crossdressers, our legs are a great asset. Our build accentuates our legs in all the right places, especially when wearing heels. The problem is that you don’t get this great look with legs covered with hair. So you have two choices: cover them up with hosiery (an acceptable solution), or remove the hair. Continue reading to learn about my favorite method of hair removal: epilation for crossdressers.
Epilation: An Effective Method of Hair Removal
I’ve tried some ways to remove my leg hair: shaving, depilatory creams that chemically dissolve the hair, home laser treatment that burns the hair follicles, and epilation, which physically removes the hair. For myself, I have had the best results with epilation.
Since epilation removes each hair from its follicle, it takes a while for its replacement to reappear. You don’t get that result with shaving or depilatory creams, both of which leave the root intact, giving you stubble starting the next day.
Epilation for crossdressers leaves smoother legs for longer than either of those methods. This is because the epilator removes hair by tweezing it. Think of how one uses tweezers to remove hair. You put the tweezers over the hair, close it, pull the hair out, and open the tweezers to let the hair fall. This is the same process an epilator uses, except it has dozens of tweezers working together.
The Pain of Epilation
Hair removal using epilation isn’t without its pain points, namely pain. The device is pulling dozens of hairs out at a time. This is like waxing for hair removal. Waxing removes an entire section of hair at once, where epilation takes longer and is more gradual. The good news is that, over time, the pain becomes less. Your body’s nerves get used to the sensation after a while. The returning hairs also gradually become finer, so the root of the hair becomes easier to tweeze out. This means that if you can overcome the first levels of pain, epilation gets better over time.
Getting Started with Epilation for Crossdressers
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The first step for epilating is to buy an epilator. I do not recommend using someone else’s epilator, just like it isn’t advisable to use someone else’s razor or toothbrush. It’s a hygiene issue.
When I purchased my first epilator, I based it upon other people’s reviews. Amazon.com is a great site to use for searching for highly rated epilators. I eventually settled upon the Braun Silk Epil 7, for which I have written a review.
Once you have an epilator, you want to do as much as possible to cut the amount of pain. Some parts of the body are more painful to epilate. The legs are easier, for example than the bikini area or underarms.
Easier Epilation with Proper Hair Length
In addition to choosing a good first site to epilate, you will want to prep the length of the hair. With the Braun epilator, the ideal hair length is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. When the hair is too short, the tweezers on the epilator cannot reach the hair. On the other hand, long hair is painfully yanked from an awkward angle.
There are several ways to shorten your hair. The quickest is to use hair clippers that have the proper size of the attachment. The Braun epilator comes with such an attachment, or you can use hair clippers such as the many Wahl models. You can also trim hair with scissors, a tedious process. Finally, you can shave the hair and then wait until it regrows to the proper length.
Taking pain pills, such as Tylenol or Aleve, at least half an hour before starting to epilate works well at reducing the pain level.
Now Let’s Get Smooth!
Now that you have done what you can to cut the pain, it is time to get started. The most important piece of advice I have for you is this. If it gets too intense for you, there is nothing wrong with taking a break, whether it is just a couple of minutes or longer. I could handle only a few inches the first time I used an epilator. Just keep in mind your long-term goal as well as the fact that it will get easier over time.
You will want to pull the epilator “against the grain.” This means that when the hair is going down toward the floor, you will be pulling up toward the ceiling. In other words, line up the epilator with the hair, and pull it in the direction opposite of how the hair is pointing.
The reason for doing this is simple. If you were using a pair of tweezers, is it easier to grab a hair if it lines up with the tweezers, rather than across the hair? And by pulling “against the grain,” the tweezers on the epilator will be in contact with the hair longer, increasing the odds that the epilator pulls the hair successfully the first time.
More Hints for Easier Epilation
Some units, including the Braun, have more than one speed. I recommend using a slower speed your first few times. Doing this lessens the intensity.
In addition, the Braun has several attachable heads with different openings. Attachments with a smaller opening tweeze fewer hairs at the same time.
Once you become used to the epilator, you can feel free to use higher speeds and heads with larger openings. This will let you remove hair faster, but it will be more intense.
Self Care After Epilation
My first word of advice is that if the session becomes too intense, there is no shame in stopping and trying again a day or two later.
There are a few negative side effects of epilation. Some of the hair roots are very tight and stubborn. They may bleed a little when pulled. It could be disconcerting the first time it happens. I suggest you turn off the epilator, use a tissue to dab the blood and wipe the epilator, and then try in a different area for a few minutes. It doesn’t take long for the follicle to stop bleeding.
Second, nearly all the follicles will become irritated. The irritation appears with a small amount of redness surrounding each follicle. This gives your skin a dotted appearance. It goes away after a few hours. The lesson to learn from this is to do your epilation a few hours before going out so that you look your best as the irritation will have largely disappeared.
Finally, some hairs can become ingrown when they return. A hair is ingrown when it gets stuck under the top layer of skin. This is mostly of no concern because it eventually pushes out from under the skin. However, sometimes ingrown hairs can become infected. They will look like a pimple with a hair in the middle of it. When this happens, treat it as you would a pimple.
Game Plan for Epilation for Crossdressers
The key is to start slowly, focusing on the areas that are easier. In my experience, this is the order I suggest, from easiest to hardest:
- Legs from knees down, starting at the bottom and working to the top
- Front of upper legs, not including the bikini area
- Arms, up to the shoulder.
- Back of legs, including most of the butt
- Back, with help, of course
- Chest, from neck to boobs
- Bikini area, not including pubic hair
- Belly
- Armpits
- Pubic hair
- The face is not recommended because it will look scuffed afterward
With this plan, I hope you enjoy the amazing results!
Is Epilation for Crossdressers Worth It?
I have to agree with the skeptics. Epilation for crossdressers sounds like a lot of work and trouble. Is it worth the effort?
If you have ever shaved, you already know the feel of the fabric swishing against your bare skin. You also know how much better you blend in while dressed en femme.
Shaving has a problem, though. Stubble quickly replaces the short-lived smoothness. Compare my legs a week after epilating.
Although epilation for crossdressers is not permanent hair removal, it does have the advantage of keeping your legs smoother longer than any other method you can do at home. If having smoother legs is something you want for yourself, I suggest you consider it. Do your own research on epilators, or take the easy route and get yourself a Braun Silk Epil 7. I think you’ll be amazed at the results!
xoxoxo Sami
p.s., Here are some of my other popular How-To Guides. Enjoy!
- Finding Crossdresser Shoes: Your Guide to the Perfect Fit
- Walking Safely in High Heels while Crossdressing
- How to Wear a Corset for Crossdressing – The Crossdresser Report
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Hi Sammi,
I was just curious how the epilator works on the pubic and bikini areas. Do you use it are you bare there? Sorry if that is too personal, you can tell me if it is. Thank you for your blog, it is a wonderful resource.
Hugs,
Kitty
An epilator can be used in the bikini area. Since it is one of the more sensitive areas of the body, though, you can expect it to be pretty painful the first few times you do it. I suggest you try doing easier areas first, for example, your legs. This will help you develop your technique and become more used to how the epilator works.
Once you are ready to try doing it “down there,” here are a few things to consider:
Once you are finished and the irritation goes away, you can expect the area to be nice and smooth. It will stay that way much longer than shaving alone.
Good luck, Kitty!
xoxoxo Sami
Thank you so much Sammi, I have been debating the epilator purchase. You may have made up my mind.
I want to try it! Sounds soooo painful though. No one said beauty was going to be easy though!
I agree that it is painful at first, but I found it gets much better over time. In fact, it really doesn’t bother me at all now! The key is to try the easier places first, to ease yourself into epilation.
Not a CD personally though fully support it and against gender norms in style, clothing, look and expression, i.e I don’t consider heels, let alone boots feminine in themselves and neither makeup or nail polish. It really depends on how we wear that. Shaving body hair is like cutting hair short/ shaved or long hair for a woman or men. Body hair with a typically feminine distribution is feminine, instead, imho, of course some might like it more, some less, aesthetically as for everything :).
I prefer shaving for me because of how painless and quick it is, so I don’t mind having to maintain it often, but then I mostly only regularly shave the first hint of stubble if that zone of the body is showing and exposed, otherwise I tend not to and not feel like undressing only to shave, if not in some occasions where it would show.
If hair grows a bit more because of that, well I’m already shaving that same hair. If you wanna regrow hair and find it grows too much or too long you might keep it trimmed once in a while :). But if you wanna run a chance of thinning your hair and hate the very idea of stubble, it’s better to wax, if you can get past the first time pain and I read that it might be a bit more painful on zones shaved for a long time, though that’s all over after the first waxes. If you don’t want that, you can simply not shave regularly for a long period of time, but don’t worry as that’s a myth hair texture changes shaving just once or a few times :D.
Happy smooth skin, people :).
As a rule of thumb, you will want to steer clear of hair products and treatments that use chemicals like parabens, DEA and sulfates.