Shave, Wax, Epilate, Other?

Having read many blogs and forums about tights for men, it has become clear that the general consensus of opinion is that it is preferable to wear tights with hairless legs; the theory being that tights stay up better/longer and the feeling is more pleasurable. With that advice in mind, I first decided to shave my legs about 18 months ago.

I have quite hairy legs normally, so the first shaving was quite an arduous task. Eventually, however, I had smooth legs and could instantly see for myself that going hair-free was the best way forward; the tights do feel much softer and they really do stay up better.

Ever since that first shaving I have kept my legs hairless by shaving two or three times a week, a process that I have begrudgingly accepted as part of my regular body care regimen. The shaving process does however consume a significant amount of time during my week, whilst the benefits are relatively short lived. So I recently decided to try waxing as I had been led to believe that waxing produced longer lasting results - some claim up to a month. I purchased a pack of Veet For Men wax strips and having read the instructions I left my hair to grow for a few weeks. This is because the wax strips do not work on very short hairs (a minimum of 2mm according to the supplied leaflet). Once the hairs on my legs had reached roughly a centimetre in length, I set to work.

The first thing to note about waxing is that the wax strips have a curious odour to them. Not an unpleasant smell, but definitely a unique smell. I had expected the process of waxing to be quite painful, however whilst there is a sensation, the pain is minor at worst. The process left tiny red dots where the hair has been pulled out, but these disappeared within a day or two. Overall the process proved to be very time consuming - it took me over an hour to do just one leg. It is also a sticky and messy process. The Veet pack contains oil impregnated wipes to remove the sticky residue from your skin, though this in turn needs to be washed off. Disappointingly, waxing did not remove all of the hair. The remaining hairs were duly removed with a razor.

A week later and the hairs that had been cut with the razor really needed to be cut again, so I shaved my legs. A further week passed and I could see hair regrowing where it had been waxed away. This was disappointing, as I had expected to have a longer hairless period before having to either shave or wax again.

With the cost of a pack of wax strips running close to £6.00 here in the UK, I don't know that I will be bothering to do it again; the process is too messy and takes up too much time. Worst of all, in my case at least, the hair grows back too quickly to be economical. For the time being, it is back to shaving for me.

I may one day decide to buy an epilator, as I have read that some men find this process more beneficial than either waxing or shaving.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences. Do you wax, shave epilate or do you control your leg hair by some other means? What do you find works best?