I’m wrapping up our series on hair removal for women with my thoughts on depilatories (hair removal creams). We’ve already discussed laser hair removal, brazilian wax, bikini wax, and shaving the bikini line.

I want to discuss the most popular over the counter drug store brand depilatory creams: Nair, Veet, Salley Hansen and Bikini Zone.

Generally speaking, I don’t particularly care for hair removal creams. Even if they work as claimed, the process is entirely too messy for me.  The process of applying the cream, waiting X number of minutes, running around naked (or semi-naked) – smearing the cream all over the place…bleh! I dunno, perhaps that only happens to me – but I hate it!

Veet:The Veet brand has both cream, lotion and wax products available over the counter.  They have a gel, In-shower removal cream, blade-less kit, spray on removal cream and products for people with sensitive skin.

Nair: Nair also has an extensive line of products that include a no-strip wax system. They’ve added a wax strip line called Pretty as well. The Nair Pretty system is a line of body and face wax that comes in soothing scents and has glitter in it. Honestly – unless you’re between the ages of 14-17 tops, I can’t imagine why you’d want glitter on your face or body.

Sally Hansen:Sally Hansen is probably one of the most recognizable and well trusted names in drug store products. From nail polish to bleaching creams – Sally Hansen has it! The Sally Hansen hair removal product line is probably the most extensive of the bunch. She has the standard lotions, cremes, gels and waxes – but she also has bleaches and post-hair removal moisturizing products.

Bikini Zone Hair Removal:  The pickings are disappointingly slim with the Bikini Zone product line. They have a grand total of 3 products for womens hair removal – wax strips, microwave wax and a creme hair remover. Though they do have a pretty good after-shave product that prevents/gets rid of bumps.

For the most part, depilatories all work the same. It’s hard to really pick one over the other in that regard. It will come down to a personal preference and skin sensitivities. Some of the products may contain ingredients that don’t really mesh well with your skin type. Although I generally speaking, DO NOT use depilatories – on the occasions that I do, I always go for the Veet brands. They smell better and leave my skin smoother!