The squat & shave technique

It might sound scary, but in practice it really isn’t. I might not recommend it on your first attempt at using a safety razor, but once you have mastered the art of the single blade razor (there isn’t much art to it except to let the weight of the razor do the work) it’s really easy.

A safety razor works well whether you’re a french bikini kinda girl or like to go fully bare down there. If it’s the latter, we recommend squatting to get at the hard to reach areas rather than yogi-like acrobatics that involve propping your leg higher than your head on the shower wall.

So, why do we recommend ‘squatting and shaving’?

When shaving, you want the skin to be pulled taught so the razor can pass smoothly across the skin and provide a close shave. While our labia’s offer many a fold and can be hard to maneuver a razor around, when we squat down this pulls all the folds taught, allowing the razor to glide more easily across the skin.

If you don’t have room to fully ‘squat it out’, and you have somewhere to elevate your leg, you can get the same ‘taughtness’ by putting your leg up on the bathtub ledge and slightly squatting. Lift the right leg and do that side of the labia and then lift your left leg and shave that side.

Definitely don’t use a blade that has been sitting in your razor for months. This will be dull and cause more tugging on the hair, tempting you to push harder and cause more irritation. While I might not recommend grabbing a brand-new blade and shaving your lady bits right away with it, I would recommend changing your blade, shaving your legs first and then moving on to the more sensitive areas. This will ensure you are using a fresh blade, to provide a close shave, but will have reduced the sharpness slightly.

As always, use an oil or soap, whichever you are most comfortable with. I tend to use a shave oil on my bikini line so it keeps the skin hydrated and protects against irritation from my underwear. But, on my actual lady bits, while squatting, I use a soap – I think because it’s such a sensitive area I don’t want any oil on my hands. But again, everyone is different and choose what feels best for your skin. 

Go in very small strokes. There is only so much room while squatting and there will still be some folds and curves to work around, so make careful small strokes to get each hair. 

Shave in the direction of the hair growth. This reduces any tugging on hairs, thus reducing irritation. Shaving against the grain also encourages the hair to be cut below the skin making it far more likely to curl in on itself when growing back and cause ingrown hairs.

Avoid rubbing the recently shaven area with a towel and, instead, gently pat the area dry and avoid tight fitting clothing for as long as possible post shave. 

And keep those lips moisturized! Using ingrown oil not only immediately after shaving, but daily, will continue to protect and soothe the skin.

Have I ever nicked my labia? In truth, yes, but this was when I was 7 months pregnant and couldn’t actually bend over properly or see what I was doing, and clearly had no business shaving my hooha anyway… Otherwise, I have never had any nick while squatting and shaving!

As for the male counterparts, I can’t say I have personally done this, but I can assume that the same theory of pulling the skin taught to shave would apply here as well.

As always – you do you, if you don’t want to shave, don’t bother! Do whatever feels best for you. All types of hair styles exist. 

More on shaving your bikini line and shaving EVERYWHERE with a safety razor.