Review: Olay Smooth Finish Facial Hair Remover Duo

A lot of packaging for such little tubes

I hate facial hair. If all of mine fell out tomorrow, never to return, I'd happily draw my eyebrows on for the rest of eternity. Alas, that is not my fate. So, I have to find other ways to rid myself of the fuzzy menace. Once a month, I get my moustache and my eyebrows waxed. My skin is used to it, but it took a long time to get to the point where my skin didn't break out for the week following a waxing. I really wanted to remove the fuzz on the sides of my jaw without the adjustment period.

I've tried a few different products in the past. Depilatories seem to work best for me. The only thing I absolutely loathe about them is the smell: old lotion, nail polish remover, and rotten eggs...left in the trunk of a car in August. Eww. Not to mention the irritation they caused skin. I don't know about you, but I don't really enjoy chemical burns.

I saw a review on another site for the Olay hair remover. I figured "what the hell, I like their soap well enough" and ordered some from Amazon (hooray Prime!). I did the allergy patch test and survived. 48 hours later (because I follow directions, dammit) I tried it on my face. It has a much lighter smell than most depilatories, which is important if you are going to be putting this shit right under your nose. It works as well as any depilatory. It has this "skin guarding balm" that you rub on before you apply the cream. I've never used anything that has a balm to use before-hand. I suppose it worked, because my face wasn't as irritated as it usually is after I use products like these. I do wish it also had a post-removal treatment like the other products I have tried. In fact, afterwards, I went and grabbed the bottle of after-treatment lotion from my Sally Hansen kit and used that. That soothed whatever irritation was there.

Overall, I recommend it. But FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I think that proper application of that funny balm stick is the key to avoiding the rashes and burns that other people have experienced.