Written by Alicia Lartey
Image by @soleneoj
Underarms are truly the bane of my existence, and just like many others I would love to be able to confidently lift up my arms during summer and not worry about any hyperpigmentation or unwanted texture. There are a few things that can be done to ensure you have gorgeous underarms, so let’s go through some tips and tricks that you can add to your beauty regime.
1) Hair removal method
If you choose to remove the hair in your underarms, you want to make sure you are doing it correctly. This means finding the best method (for you) that you can do consistently. Your hair removal method should be one that does not cause any irritation to your underarms or cause ingrown hairs that may lead to pigmentation. The best hair removal method in my opinion is laser hair removal, which is now more affordable than ever (laser clinics uk). Laser hair removal helps to drastically reduce the amount of ingrown hairs or razor burn you would experience which means less pigmentation to try and get rid of.
2) Exfoliation
Exfoliating helps to reduce ingrown hairs, brighten and smooth the skin. No matter what your hair removal is you will want to perform some type of exfoliation using either a physical or chemical exfoliant. If you are in the market for a product that offers both chemical and physical exfoliants, the Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating treatment is your 2-minute facial miracle, that I also recommend using on the underarms. After two uses I found my underarms to be noticeably brighter and a lot smoother. This treatment can be intense so if you have sensitive skin I would only recommend doing this once per week.
3) Hydration
Just like your face, your skin barrier on your body needs love too, especially in an active area such as your underarms. Hydrated skin is happy skin, this means there will be less inflammation when you remove hair in that region and a reduced risk of causing hyperpigmentation.
4) Exfoliating acids as deodorant
Did you know that you can use AHAs to deodorise your underarms? Acids such as glycolic and lactic acid make an area on your skin inhabitable to bacteria that is responsible for causing odour. Which means you can exfoliate your skin and deodorise at the same time. You do not have to use a specific AHA product for your underarms, your favourite face product such as the REN Glow Tonic, Pixi glow tonic or the ordinary glycolic acid toner. If you are adding AHAs to your body routine for the first time, I would recommend doing this 2-3 times a week whilst you build up tolerance.
Whichever tips you choose to implement to get yourself feeling confident with your arms up, just remember that hair removal is at the core and exfoliation in any capacity will help you to achieve the results you desire.
