Hair removal is a common hygiene and appearance-enhancing practice. Whether you are a rookie or have been removing your hair at home for years, there are a few mistakes you ought to avoid to prevent those nasty razor burns and hair ingrowth. This article will help you achieve smoother, softer, and summer-ready skin. On that note, here are some mistakes to avoid that will make shaving, waxing, or sugaring almost painless:

• Shaving or waxing hair in the wrong direction
  Removing the hair in the wrong direction causes ingrown hairs to appear. While these ingrown hairs are not necessarily dangerous to your health, they can become incredibly challenging to remove later. Also, going against the hair while waxing pulls it out from its root and back toward the skin. This is why, when you shave or wax, you should do so in the direction of hair growth. Essentially, you need to use a waxing strip or razor in that direction so that it comes off smoothly from its follicles and the skin retains its smoothness. Shaving in the right direction is one of first things you should keep in mind when you are removing your hair at home.
• Skipping exfoliation
  Exfoliate the skin right before shaving or waxing. This makes the skin’s surface clear and smooth. More importantly, it makes the skin ready for hair removal. Exfoliating involves gently scrubbing out dead skin cells that accumulate on the surface now and again. Removing them before shaving improves your chances of getting seamless hair removal. You should also do this when using a permanent at-home laser hair removal device. Skin prep before permanent hair removal is vital.
• Using old razors
  Old razors are gunked up with bacteria, dead skin cells, and other microbial particles. Using them for hair removal repeatedly to save on buying new razors is a bad idea. Here’s why: you need to use a clean, sanitized razor with a sharp blade. Using old, worn-out razors more than a few times can lead to infections and trigger flare-ups if you have skin allergy-related issues.