Product: Olay Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo (Fine to Medium)

To be honest, it’s just kinda nice to see a facial hair removal commercial air pretty regularly on mainstream TV channels.  My guess is that it features models who probably never have to actually use the product, and who are being shot with the perfect lighting and filters to make them look even smoother than the most “hairless” human being would normally look, but...  Eh, I was curious.  And because I was curious, I figured I wouldn’t be the only hirsute girl who was.

Of course, a few weeks after I purchased the box, the version for “medium to coarse hair” began to appear on shelves.  Awesome.  Now I have to shell out another $25.

I was thrilled, though, to go to their website and see they make an effort to educate visitors about hair.  (They state that the saying that hair will grow back thicker and darker after it is removed is myth!  YES!  FINALLY!)


Olay Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo (Fine to Medium Hair)
Skin Guarding Balm - 1.9g
Hair Removal Cream - 19g

Ingredients:

•     Skin Guarding Balm:  Sucrose Polycottoseedate, Brassica Campestris, Ozokerite, Beeswax, Propylparaben, Ethylene Brassylate, Tocopherol, Propyl Gallate, Tocopheryl Acetate.

•     Hair Removal Cream:  Water, Mineral Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Calcium Thioglycolate, Calcium Hydroxide, Ceteareth-20, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice.

Things I liked:

•    When I followed the instructions to spread the balm out farther than where I planning to apply the hair removal cream, and don’t leave it on longer than specified, I did not get the dreaded aura of redness that I’ve had from every other depilatory cream ever.

•      It slaughtered my peach fuzz mustache.

Things I didn't like:

•     My peach fuzz mustache was all it slaughtered.  Like the little green rectangle on the box says, it can’t handle much more than that.

•     It smells like chemical depilitories always smell.  It also tingles like chemical depilitories always tingle.  (Put that balm on first!)

•     You are told not to use it more frequently than every three days.  This is impractical for women who are so hirsute they need to remove dark, secret-telling hair every morning, or every morning and afternoon.

•    The price is not ideal, for what they estimate to be up to twelve uses (probably working off of the area above your lip, which is what they always show in their commercials)

Did it do what it promised?

According to the box:  “Works together to gently remove facial hair for skin that is beautifully soft, smooth and visibly hair-free.”  Well, the Skin Guarding Balm (which feels like you’re rubbing chapstick on your face, by the way) is pretty cool, because it protects your skin from the immediate redness, and though I would have expected this to prevent the hair from behind dissolved away right at the skin’s surface (leaving stubble), I was really impressed by the hairlessness of my upper lip.

But I don’t need a hairless upper lip.  That hair is light and thin and not really a concern.  I need something to remove the dark coarse bristles on my chin and jaw.  So it’s not the product for me, and probably for a lot of you.  But now that I know I can get the “Medium to Coarse Hair” version, that’ll be a more practical product to evaluate.



See what other people thought of Olay Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo (Fine to Medium):

my cosmetic bag 
Olay Customer Reviews 
MakeupAlley
Ulta Beauty 

And a really cute video review by ShawneePoo:

Hee hee, I want to be her friend.  I’m going to go watch more of her reviews now.