Strawberry legs are tiny rough spots that form on your skin as a result of improper shaving, folliculitis, clogged pores, and even ingrown hair on your skin. They, themselves, are not problematic but their appearance can be.
You cannot wear your favorite dresses outside, everyone will point them out making you lose your confidence, and you will look a little messy. The weird looks of people on your strawberry legs also make you feel uncomfortable. So, we have provided some effective tips and techniques about how to get rid of the strawberry legs and make your skin smoother than ever. Let’s begin.
Table of Contents:
- Part 1: What Are Strawberry Legs?
- Part 2: What Causes Strawberry Legs?
- Part 3: How to Remove Strawberry Legs?
- Part 4: How to Get Rid of Strawberry Legs Naturally?
Part 1: What Are Strawberry Legs?
The appearance of dark brown or black pitted spots on your skin that are typically more visible after shaving is called Strawberry legs. They are also known by the name strawberry skin legs due to their resemblance with the outer skin of a strawberry.
These tiny red pits result from the clogging of your pores or hair follicles with dust particles, dead skin cells, and microbes, particularly bacteria and even oil. Fortunately, they are not painful and can be treated or prevented by bringing some changes into your skincare and hair removal routines.
Part 2: What Causes Strawberry Legs?
Let’s see how strawberry legs are associated with wrong hair removal techniques and improper skin care.
Shaving
Improper shaving technique that includes dry shaving, shaving using a dull, or dirty razor, shaving against the grain, and applying more pressure than required while shaving can lead to strawberry legs.
It is most common in people with coarse hair as shaving can make your blunt hair edges appear like little strawberry seeds.
Folliculitis
Folliculitis is the inflammatory condition of your hair follicles that occurs due to the invasion of bacteria into your hair follicles. It leads to red, tiny bumps on your skin that later may form blisters and cause scabbing.
This usually occurs as a result of excessive sweating and using a hot tub without proper regulation of pH and chemicals.
Clogged Pores
Another reason for strawberry kegs is the clogging of your pores by oil, dirt, dead cells, and bacteria. As you remove hair from your legs, the oil present in these clogged pores undergoes an oxidation reaction and turns into dark spots that resemble strawberry legs.
Individuals with thick hair, coarse body hair, and fair skin tone are more prone to this.
Dry Skin
Dry skin itself does not cause strawberry legs but it comes with several skin conditions that ultimately lead to strawberry legs. For example, when the skin is dry, it is more sensitive and gets irritated easily after shaving.
Moreover, dry sensitive skin is more at risk of getting infected eventually causing folliculitis and thus strawberry legs.
Ingrown Hair
Ingrown hairs are tiny painful bumps that are formed due to curling the back of your shaved hair into the skin. The hair can curl into the skin as a result of wearing tight clothes after hair removal, or breaking your hair instead of being pulled completely off the roots.
Keratosis Pilaris
Keratosis pilaris is a skin condition in which keratin or dead skin cells clog your hair follicles. This clogging causes the formation of red tiny bumps and you might mistake these bumps for strawberry legs.
Part 3: How to Remove Strawberry Legs?
Strawberry legs are common and you can get rid of them just by following these simple techniques.
Exfoliation
Proper exfoliation is a solution to clogged pores which is one of the main reasons for strawberry legs. It gets rid of dead cells, dirt, oil, and bacteria entrapped in your pores or hair follicles making your skin clean and free of pitted appearance.
You can use homemade body scrubs, exfoliating gloves, or loofas for this purpose. Want a recommendation? Click 10 Best Exfoliating Gloves for Body
Proper Shaving
As mentioned earlier, improper shaving techniques can be your culprit for strawberry legs. So, learning the right technique can help you solve the issue.
Start by softening your hair with warm water, then apply shaving cream to moisturize the skin, shave in the direction of hair growth using a sharp and clean razor, and use a gentle moisturizer at last.
To know more, Click How to Properly Shave Body Hair to Prevent Injury?
Moisturizing and Hydrating the Skin
The treatment of strawberry skin lies in treating the root cause. Since dry skin is one of the main reasons for increased friction during shaving, ingrown hair, and folliculitis, using a moisturizer can help your skin stay smooth and hydrated.
To know our top picks, click Best Body Lotions for Dry Skin.
Treating Ingrown Hairs
You can treat your ingrown hair by cleaning the area first using warm water and exfoliating the skin gently to remove the dead layer of skin and release the ingrown hair.
Once the ingrown hair is visible, disinfect the area using rubbing alcohol and then pull out the hair using a sterile tweezer or needle.
Laser Hair Treatment
While tweezing, and shaving can increase the chances of strawberry legs, laser hair treatment can prevent them. Instead of pulling your hair, or causing folliculitis or ingrown hair, lasers use heat to destroy hair follicles and make your skin hair-free.
Electrolysis
Since wrong hair removal techniques are the major cause of ingrown hair, you can just eliminate the root cause by long-lastingly getting rid of every unwanted hair on the body.
It can be done by undergoing electrolysis which is an FDA-cleared long-lasting hair removal method. It uses a thin needle to destroy the hair follicles and people with all skin types can undergo the procedure.
Waxing
Replacing your hair removal method with waxing can help you treat the strawberry legs. Wax not only pulls your hair by the root but also helps in exfoliating your skin and getting rid of dead skin cells.
This unclogs your pores and minimizes the mini dark spots of your skin.
Part 4: How to Get Rid of Strawberry Legs Naturally?
Honey and Sugar Scrub
A sugar scrub when mixed with natural oils can help exfoliate the skin and moisturize to skin leading to skin rejuvenation and helping the strawberry legs. Additionally, honey kills germs and repairs your skin.
Mix half a cup of brown sugar with a quarter cup of coconut oil and add 2 tablespoons of honey. Then apply it on the skin twice a week and see the results.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera can help solve most of the causes like dry skin, infection, and rough shaving thus helping you get rid of strawberry legs. It is rich in antioxidants, can aid skin healing, and moisturizes your skin enough to make it look smooth and plump.
What do you need? Just extract fresh aloe vera leaf and then apply it every day on your skin for 10 minutes. You will see how your skin becomes soft gradually and the shaving experience goes as smoothly as it can.
Sea Salt
Sea salt is a major source of all the essential minerals like calcium, potassium, sodium, or magnesium that can help improve the health of your malnourished skin. It also maintains the pH balance of your skin and removes dead layers of skin cells.
What to do? Make a paste of sea salt and coconut oil by mixing a quarter cup of sea salt with half a cup of coconut oil. Scrub this on your body for a minute once every week and you will notice how good the results are!
Rose Water and Cucumber Paste
Rose water has always been our favorite partner to hydrate the skin and mixing it with cucumber can be your solution to strawberry legs. Cucumber has anti-inflammatory properties and its high mineral and water content can soothe your skin while rose water unclogs your pores.
Now, let’s see how to make a paste. Take one cucumber and blend it well. Now add some rose water drops in it and apply it to your skin every day. Keep the paste on the legs for 10 minutes and then rinse.
Conclusion
To treat your strawberry legs, you just need to learn the right shaving technique, keep your skin moisturized, exfoliate regularly, and treat ingrown hair if you have any.
Switching the hair removal to waxing, laser, and electrolysis can also be helpful. To further speed up the process, you can try some at-home remedies using honey, sugar, aloe vera, sea salt, rose water, and cucumber.
But, remember, due to different skin types, the solutions can vary from person to person so do not be anxious and keep experimenting till you find your answer. Lastly, these methods will be timetaking but trust yourself and keep going to see results.
