Combine sea salt and EVOO and what do you get? Sexier legs, that’s what!

My friend Vikki has done it again! Last time I stole a blog post of hers, it was in honor of her awesome powder laundry detergent recipe. (By the way, I’ve now washed like five loads of laundry in it, and I am in absolute love with it!) This time, though, I am leeching off of Vikki to share a sneaky little trick of the kitchen that leads to a delicious joy in the shower. And…the title of this blog is misleading. I’m not about to talk about sexier legs. Ahem.

If I have any gentle male readers…now might be the right time to avert thine eyes and leave the ladies to their gossip. Trust me. Uhm, same goes for my more innocent female readers. If you’d like to retain your innocence, I’ll understand if you just leave it at this. See you tomorrow.

Okay, are the boys gone?

Good.

Ladies: we all know that it’s starting to warm up these days. In my neck of the woods, we’ve already made the conversion to summertime concepts of hot and cold. Yesterday the high was in the mid-70s, and I was shivering all day long. With warmer weather comes shorter shorts and bathing suits of varying degrees of skimpiness. Yours truly does not feel comfortable in a suit, so she prefers to spend her summers languishing on the land. However…that doesn’t mean that she continues to hibernate through the summer. Winter is delightful because shaving literally only occurs when I’m afraid the sight of underarm hair will offend Robert. Legs are shaved even less frequently, and often he and I will laugh over how long my leg hair can get when left to its own devices. During the summer months, though, this wooly beast realizes that she must at least make some effort and for whatever reason feels compelled to tidy business up.

Enter Vikki’s impromptu salt scrub.

Yesterday, I read Vik’s post and decided I wanted to give it a shot. I’m a pretty lucky girl–my legs have never experienced razor burn, even on my very first day with a blade. Neither have my underarms. My bikini zone, however, is another story entirely. When shaving that area (however little or much), I inevitably break out into damn-near hive-sized bumps of horror and pain. The word “burn” hardly seems to fit the feeling my “upper thigh” experiences. In response to this and frankly preferring a trimmed “area,” I purchased every product with the label “bikini” on it, to include funky-looking razors and creams, oils, and gels that promised they’d rid me of embarrassing and painful rashes. And guess what? They lied. So, despite what I prefer for my own personal taste (I have never shaved for a man–my preferences are my own), I would resort to letting it go and taking out cuticle scissors when absolutely necessary.

So Vikki’s post intrigued me. I did exactly as she recommended: I took a wide-mouthed Ziplock small plastic container (just because I happened to have the same kind she uses, not because it’s required), filled it about 1/3 of the way up with sea salt, and then poured in extra virgin olive oil almost to the top. I grabbed a small measuring spoon that I could care to part with, and took my mixture to the bathroom. Robert was duly surprised and confused. “That’s going to hurt like hell,” he warned, clearly imagining salt in open wounds. I reminded him that salt dissolves in hot water and excused myself to the shower.

Dear, sweet, amazing, beautiful, and intelligent Vikki saved the day!

This scrub did the trick for me perfectly–not only did the salt exfoliate and the olive oil soften the skin, but the entire concoction in general left me utterly free of bumpies and a true feeling of fire crotch. (Sorry, LiLo, but a person with red pubic hair does not a fire crotch make. Crappy bikini zone shaving does.) It is nearly 24 hours since I shaved (the true testament to the success of this stuff), and I am still just as happy and comfortable as I was after immediately shaving.

When in the shower, here’s what you’ll want to do:

1. Assemble the tools. Make sure that you have a razor with a fresh blade on it. There’s nothing more horrible than the feeling of scraping a dull blade across your sensitive skin. I’ve done it before. It’s the worst self-inflicted pain in the world and almost always promises a blossoming of little blood beads in its wake. Once the razor blade has been changed, be sure your scrub and scoop are within easy reach. No need to drip all over the bathroom running to grab the most important piece of this equation!

2. Prep the area. It does not matter to me how much or how little you intend to groom your bikini zone. You could be cleaning up the edges or excavating the entire area, you still need to prep. This includes trimming back any particularly lengthy hairs with small cuticle clippers before shaving (believe me–it makes the whole operation easier). Once you’re trimmed and ready to use the blade, make sure that you have bathed first. Soap dries out the skin, even the “moisture-rich” ones. Go ahead and get yourself good and clean.

3. Apply the salt scrub. As I said, I used a little measuring spoon to act as my scoop. I found it less messy than dipping my fingers in the little container–I could just see EVOO pouring from all sides in order to accommodate the extra mass. Apply the scrub by gently rubbing (please don’t actually scrub) the area you intend to shave. If you are using sea salt, please be advised that these are large granules. You may find them intolerable or delightful. It wholly depends on you. Vikki used kosher salt in her scrub because it has smaller (but still coarse) granules and dissolves easier in water. Rub until the salt dissolves. Make sure that you have plenty of olive oil rubbed into your skin–it should feel slick.

4. Get to gettin’! I don’t think I need to tell you how to shave…if I do, then use this bit of advice: go in the same direction as you go for your legs. As you get down to the skin, you may find that you will need to adjust the direction of the blade. Going against the grain should be okay–if you’re nervous, just add oil (not salt at this stage). Never ever shave backwards. You will regret it immediately.

5. Finish the job with some more oil. Now that you have achieved your desired results, you will want to rinse off any excess “old” scrub. Do not apply soap at this stage, though. Leaving some oil on your skin will not be harmful, as far as I know. Take another small scoop of olive oil from the top of your scrub container and rub it into the freshly shaved area. Shave your armpits and legs while you allow the oil to soak into your skin a moment before rinsing off.

And that’s it! If you try this, I will be interested in hearing your thoughts on how well it works for you! 🙂