People on TikTok are using sandpaper to shave their legs, and a doctor’s warned against it

Think I’ll stick to razors thanks

3 years ago

If you choose to remove body hair there are a number of ways to do it, most of which, such as shaving or waxing, you’ll have heard of. But a new trend on TikTok has people removing hair in a slightly less conventional way – sandpaper. Those who have tried it say it is the “lazy girl’s version of shaving” and that they are “utterly bamboozled” by the results.

However, speaking to The Tab a doctor has warned against the TikTok trend, saying that shaving with sandpaper could lead to folliculitis – a condition that causes pus spots to develop on each hair follicle.

In one TikTok, which gained over a million views, a woman known as Jules says: “I was watching one of these girls, and she’s talking about shaving her legs with sandpaper. She used 600 grit sandpaper on her legs”. 600 grit is a super fine grain of sandpaper.

Jules then proceeds to use a square of sandpaper on her legs, rubbing 10 times clockwise then 10 times anticlockwise. Afterwards she exclaims “Oh my god. My skin is so soft. It’s awesome!” before vowing to never buy a razor again.

pic.twitter.com/4guEOgJcwN

— TheTabTikToks (@TikTab) May 10, 2021

In a follow up video she said that her skin felt completely smooth for 24 hours, before feeling a small bit of stubble, similar to shaving.

Many comments joked about how people should quickly invest in sandpaper stocks, and how Amazon was now going to raise the price of sandpaper.

Other comments made references to similarities with Smooth Away, a product made trendy through infomercials in the 2000s.

It used a similar technique, however it soon lost popularity as people say “the process had to be repeated hundreds of times to adequately remove hair from an entire leg. It’s tedious and tricky to get the back of your legs just because of the angle at which the pads must be held.” This led to the product becoming unpopular and eventually fell out of use.

Another TikToker also had a less positive review of the method. She said “I’ve only done half of my leg and already I regret everything. It took half an hour longer than shaving and I used 12 sheets of sandpaper”.

A different user agreed, commenting: “You know how many small paper cuts you are doing to your skin? The chance of getting an infection is high.” Another, who claims to be an esthetician wrote: “This will rub your skin raw, I wouldn’t recommend.”

Dr Krishna, a consultant NHS dermatologist from Skin Doc, warned against the TikTok trend, telling The Tab shaving using sandpaper could lead to a nasty skin condition.

Dr Krishna said: “This is a bad idea on the basis that the rotational effect of shaving your legs in this way can upset and aggravate the hair follicles. This can then lead on to folliculitis, a tricky condition in which individuals develop pus spots on each follicle.”

Hmmm. Maybe I’ll stick to the more traditional methods of hair removal.