Smooth Away Review

After receiving Smooth Away as a Christmas gift, I immediately thought of the commercials on TV advertising an easy way to get incredibly smooth skin without shaving nicks or irritation. Excitedly, I opened the package. The package contains five large crystal buffing pads, and five small ones. In addition, there are two applicator pads, one small, and one large. Everything comes in a green carrying case. The instructions say to use the buffers on clean, dry skin. It's best if the hair to be removed is not too long.

I began using one of the smaller Smooth Away pads. It stuck easily to the applicator. Pressing firmly onto the skin, I moved the crystal buffer in a circular motion over the unwanted hair. To my surprise, hair immediately started to disappear. After a few short seconds however, the pad seemed to stop working. The crystals had worn out. When I replaced the buffer with a new one, the new one worked well, and then had to be replaced just like the first one. To get more hair removal from the Smooth Away buffers after the initial few seconds, I had to apply more pressure. After I was done with the small area on my leg, my skin felt like it had been burned, like a rug or rope burn. The area was red, but smooth. Smooth Away does "smooth" away hair, but the crystal pads do not last long, and the process is slow. Only the crystals under the area of pressure from the hands wear out, the rest of the pad's crystals are intact. But, because the applicators are designed to fit like a mitten, the crystals on the sides of the pads never get used. The results are better than shaving however, if enough time is allotted, and there are plenty of new replacement pads for the Smooth Away applicators.

Overall, I would rate this product a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It does remove hair surprisingly well, but a lot of crystal buffers are needed-many more than are given in the Smooth Away package. The buffing process is much slower than shaving, but does not cause nicks. Since one package of the As-Seen-On-TV Smooth Away costs ten dollars, it may not be worth buying to use on a large area of skin, such as the legs, back, or arms. It's probably best used for the armpits or bikini line, as those are smaller areas. Smooth Away also works better on fine hair. Coarse hair requires more pressure on the crystal pads, which leads to the burning sensation on the skin.