I hate shaving. Chances are, I’m not alone on this. It’s a daily (or weekly, depending on the temperature) ritual that everyone hates. I could definitely do without it!
That’s why my interest was piqued when I saw a commercial for Smooth Away. This product guarantees smooth legs with minimal effort and no pain. When my friend Mary Beth came back from Thanksgiving break with a pack of them, I knew I had to try them for myself!
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Smooth Away: My Experience
The kit comes with two sizes: A body-sized applicator that’s three inches long and two inches wide, and a smaller applicator for facial hair that’s two inches long and half an inch wide. Along with the Smooth Away applicators, the kit also comes with four refill pads. All of this conveniently comes in a small travel pouch.
After a day of growth, I was ready to finally try this “miracle” product. The instructions say to buff three times clockwise, and three times counterclockwise. Using the body-sized applicator, I did this for about five minutes, or the time it would take me to shave my entire leg. To my horror, I looked down to find my entire leg covered in what looked like white chalk.
Smooth Away Results
I really, really, really wanted to like this product. Honestly, it seemed like the answer to all of my problems: I’d stop wasting all that money on razor blades (site note: why are they so expensive?!) and I would save my skin from the nicks I still sometimes get.
I expected my skin to be 100% smooth after this product, but instead my legs felt as if I’d shaved 12 hours ago. Smooth-ish, but with a little growth. The more delicate areas of my legs, like my ankles, were especially hard to work. At one point, I had to rub so hard that I got something that resembled razor burn on my shins that burned for hours. A male friend of mine tried it on his chest, and experienced the same kind of pain that I did. Not only was it painful, but the “crystals” seem to dull after a few uses!
Smooth Away – My Overall Review:
The fact that Smooth Away turned my legs to chalk, caused me the pain of shaving with a dull razor, took a much longer time and didn’t even give me smooth legs prompts me to tell you guys not to buy this! The only reason I can think of that you’d need this product is if you’d need to be clean-shaven as you’re getting off an airplane. Save your $10 and buy some mascara instead!
What do you guys think?
Have you ever used this product? What was your experience? Do you know of any other as-seen-on-TV products that didn’t live up to your expectations? Tell me in the comments!
Thank you for the detailed review! I’ll save my money.
I tried it and it was okay. It’s actually not bad if you need to shave but don’t have time to take a shower. It works a little better than an electric razor. I also like the exfoliative effects. It takes awhile to do your legs though.
They used to have a product kind of like this called Hair Off. I think you can still get it on the internet. The sandpaper sheets for this one curl into a sort of mitt. This allowed it to fit your contours a little better. I think they had a coarser grit too, which made it go a little faster.
I have a theory that the smooth away is just fine grit sandpaper.
One lonely day around this time of year I was watching infomercials because it seemed to be the only thing on and I actually purchased both Smooth Away and the In-Styler. The Smooth Away gave me the same results as you described and it took me about 30 minutes to do just my lower leg. I was highly disappointed. However the In-styler did give me the results I wanted. I have naturally thick, curly hair and it’s very hard to manage. Whenever I straighten it I usually get it professionally done because I never get the results I want when I do it myself, but once I used the In-styler it really worked and made straightening my hair much easier. The only downfal is the annoying sound the revolver makes but other than that I love it.
a friend gave me a few bra clips (called Strap Perfect) that were an As Seen On TV product. these figure-eight-ish shaped clips are meant to hide your bra straps and make your ladies look more perky and full. well, to secure the clips, you either need an arm extension or a friend! it’s very hard to clip these in alone without completely loosening your bra straps, which will also reduce any perk-factor. they also will only hide your straps with limited shirt styles; they work best if you have thicker straps, which is also pretty accommodating for a REGULAR bra!
overall, this product will probably be helpful with only limited outfits, but when it does work, it meets it’s claim and hides your straps. just don’t expect to be sexy stripping off your bra later. it make take multiple people and the jaws of life to unhook that sucker. my recommendation would be to buy this only if a bunch of friends were splitting it. when it’s only a dollar or two per person, it’s probably worth it to hide those straps!
I haven’t tried the product myself, but a relative of mine did. Well here’s the story:
We were at a mall in another state on vacation and this vendor just wouldn’t let us leave without trying his “Smooooth Away” product. I think it even had like 4 o’s in it…so it’s possible this was even a knock off of the real thing! Anyway, the guy was extremely pushy, offering to try it on her legs, until she agreed to just let him try one patch on her arm. It was a few gentle and circular rubs on her arm and her hair was gone! It was amazing. It was so smooth to touch and very clean looking. We didn’t buy it (thank goodness) but we were pretty amazed and thought about coming back later or buying it off online.
It didn’t bother us that the claim of the product “getting down into the root” was a lie. We were okay with doing it regularly as long as it was as quick, easy, and painless! However, an hour or more after walking around the mall, my cousin’s arm grew a little red and it looked like it was going to be a razor burn. She said it tingled and kind of hurt. We didn’t think much of it, but I did my research after we got home from our vacation.
Apparently if you’re really unlucky (very sensitive skin) or you rub with this “smooth away” product too hard or too much, your skin will BLEED. It’ll ooze blood from the little pores. It was gross and painful reading about this happening to other women. Ugh. I called up my cousin and told her about it and luckily she said nothing like that happened to her, but the hair grew back instantly and thicker as we had feared. So basically this product is like shaving (in terms of just whacking off the surface of the hair, and growing back faster and looking thicker), BUT with its sandpaper-like texture it could cause more damage than it’s worth.
They claim that the “chalky” residue left on your skin is from exfoliation…psh…um yeah, you’re basically sandpapering your skin off. This product would have been amazing…like you I tried soo hard to like it. It would have been the solution to one of the problems all women are hoping for. Sigh.
About a month ago my friend and I also tried smooth away and it was terrible! I didn’t have high expectations for me because my leg hair is rather thin so I would have understood if it didn’t work out for me. I broke out in a rash after using it and it wouldn’t go away for about a week.
D:
I love infomercials and all but I’m reluctant to buy as seen-on-tv products now.
all smooth away is, are several pads of 3M sand paper. they are fine sand paper but nevertheless still sand paper. if you flip the replacement pads around you’ll see the shameless 3M logos on the back. so basically if you really want this just go to home depot, buy a pack of fine sandpaper and sand away your leg flesh!
it’s cheaper at home depot too lol
hmmm…my mom liked it and it worked for her
to each his own…
Ouch! Sorry about your legs, but thanks for suffering for the greater good!
I agree that this product kinda sucks, but I use a similar thing from a different brand and I love it.
Obviously your legs will look chalky because that’s all your dead skin! All you need to do is get a damp cloth and wipe your legs down then moisturise.
The brand I use is a lot cheaper so it doesn’t matter if they dull quickly because they are cheap to replace.
I wouldn’t completely disregard this method because I love the way my legs feel, you just need to use a different brand. I don’t know if the one I use is only available in England but I’m sure you can find other ones.
I tried this last year with the same expectations as you and I had the same reaction as well…why does it look like a pound of chalk dust spilled all over my legs? “As seen on tv” stuff always lures me in but it’s never as good as it looks on tv (except maybe the snuggie…you can’t really mess up a blanket)
I have some tummy hair, so i bought a smooth away before last summer started…it works really well on the fine hairs there, but on legs and whatnot it sucks. but it’s still better than having to nair/shave my tummy hair, which gives me stubble.
I had a friend & sorority sister try this product, and I asked her what she thought, too. She said it works well if you’ve got “peach fuzz” like on your face or something it works well for that, but other than that it is not worth it.
Glad to hear another review, really wish it was the miracle solution to no shaving! lol oh well maybe some day!
Just a comment on Strap Perfect:
I use Strap Perfect on a regular basis (and have loaned some of them to friends and haven’t gotten them back, so they’re probably using them too) and I find it quite easy to use.
I would highly recommend this product; it has never not worked for me and is so customizable! You can get way more variations of the back of your bra than with a simple racerback bra.
I tried this product myself, couldn’t be more disappointed. When I saw the commercial I thought that it was the solution to my problems (my bikini area is highly sensitive and it get irritated very easily). However, it took forever to remove the hair from part of my hair, and it irritated my skin. I don’t recommend this product, is a waist of money.