Ok, so we very briefly touched on waxing, but who here shaves their arms or knows anyone who does? I'm wondering if it might help because shaving is a form of exfoliation.

My concern is that the hair will grow back stubbly, or be darker. Does anyone have any personal experience to share?

I shaved my arms a long time ago and it did not help my KP at all. I think it made it even redder and much more noticeable and when the hair started to grow back it was stubbily and felt spiky. I wouldn't do it if I were you!

I thought that waxing my arms would help my KP, but it was useless. and on top of that, I developed an ingrown hair that I had to get surgically removed. I've tried shaving too, but no luck.

Well, I've been doing it, and as long as I use a fresh razor, it seems to be fine. No adverse reactions, and the other day my arms looked really good. I think the extra exfoliation might help the appearance some.

I shaved my arms once as a teenager (one of those thoughtless impulses that seem happen an awful lot during those years) and now 15 yrs later I am still suffering the consequences...

My arm hair grew back in crazy directions! Instead of laying down, it sticks up in several directions!!! Thank goodness it is blond (don't know why since I have almost black hair on head & legs...)

Just my two cents!

I suffer from KP since junoir high. One time when i was 15 i decided to shave my outer arm in the shower! i thought it was a good solution at the time. sadly it didn't work! instead i shaved some of my bumps and it became all scabby and gross... i'd rather not elaborate on it. To make a long story short, shaving does not help at all!

I shave my arms all the time. I just like it when there's less hair on them, because my arm hair is black. I don't take off every single hair, just enough so it looks like peach fuzz. It takes weeks to grow back and I don't get ingrowns, but my Keratosis doesn't go away. Actually the KP on my arms is only on the back of my elbow area and no hair grows there anyway.

i'm a swimmer, so whenever i have a big meet, i have to shave my arms...

unfortunately, it does nothing for my KP

I have "hairy" arms and used to pull the hair with an epilator. I had terrible ingrowns. Shaving DOES create a *****ly stubble but NOTHING you can do on the outside can make hair darker or heavier.

I do one of two things on my arms. (It depends on how much time the 3 little boys in my life make room for) When time is limited, I use a beard/mustach "trimmer" to shorten the hair. Not TOO much because then it's like stubble anyway. I also keep a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in my bathroom and stroke it on my arms after showering. It bleaches the hair very slowly but since I use it every day, it's perfect. That unfortunately doesn't do anything for the Keratosis Pilaris.

The other is a "hair buffing" mitt. I've also used the disks. They have a texture like superfine sandpaper and you use them on clean dry skin. There are two very distinct pluses for Keratosis Pilaris sufferers to using this method. 1.) The mitt also acts as an exfoliator and leaves the skin quite smooth initially, and 2.) Becasue you rub in small circles and the hair is literally "sanded away" at the skin surface, the "stubble" that growns in is not so sharp. The process rounds off the new end of the emerging hair. It takes a bit longer to use the buffing method which is why I don't always use it. I like to use it directly out of the shower after drying off. but I also apply Neo-Stratta afterward and I'm loathe to skip the lotion in favor of using the buffer later. The plus side is, you can use one almost anywhere. I keep a small disk in my purse. There's one in the med-cab in both of my bathrooms. They can be grabbed for a quick touch up.

I realize this is an older thread but I hope my reply helps in some way. -Laura

Yeah i've been shaving my arms for a while. I actually expected it to be a lot coarser and darker- it's not that bad. If you are going out somewhere and you shave before you'll be fine. I actually did notice that the KP on my forearms did seem to get a little better after shaving- i'm not sure if it was because of that. As for my upper arms, maybe it does help a little i'm not quite sure. But it does feel smoother. But if you're going to shave, don't do it just once. Stick to it.

LauraAnn, the buffing mit you use, is that the same as 'Silkymit'? I wanted to try it for my legs because i'm not that pleased with shaving anymore. Is it better than shaving?

i freakin waxed my arms twice, hoping it might do something about the KP but nope

oh well... feels hella smooth now haha

Yes Quidditch,

It's just like that. Is it better than shaving? That's hard to say. It's very much better than shaving on my arms. But I've found the process to be very time consuming on my legs, AND my KP is worst on the backs of my thighs where its difficult to get a good circular motion going.

I actually once made my own power-buffer from a Black & Decker "Scum Buster" by adhering a disc of superfine sandpaper (which is all the mitts really are) to the scouring pad attachement. It worked well at first but it was difficult to change the paper and it was also very easy to over-do it on the skin with a power-tool.)

Now I use a dry electric shaver on the KP areas of my legs because it doesn't leave as sharp an edge on the hair as a blade and because it doesn't cut quite as close. (Using the wet/dry electrics in the shower isn't quite as effective at preventing irritation because first, the hair lengthens a bit when it's wet, then it's cut close with the shaver, and finally it shrinks back to just barely below the skin's surface when it's dry, where it can irritate the opening of the follicle.)

As far as hair removal on the arms goes? Shaving is just awful. People touch your arms so often and even when the 'appearance' of the stubble isn't bad, the feel of it is present within hours of shaving. I really like the discs/mitts. The skin is left very smooth, it can be done just about anywhere and since it's done on dry skin, just about any time. And if I suddenly notice a rough spot, I grab the one I carry in my purse and buff it away in seconds. Hope this helps. -Laura

So much for silkymit if it's made from sandpaper! LOL!
No I wouldn't shave my arms either I'm sure it would just cause ingrown hairs and aggravate the KP. I waxed my arms once, although they did feel smoother it didn't help the KP at all (but it didn't make it worse).

I wouldn't recommend it, I used to shave my arms as a teenager because my friend did...I have no idea if there is any coincidence in what I'm about to say but I never had KP until after I shaved my arms, I always used to think that I had caused my KP by shaving my arms as i could see loads of ingrowing underneath the bumps, turns out that's unlikely but I dont think I helped matters