I stopped shaving for six weeks. Here's what made me start again.

No shaving meant no irritation. My skin calmed down within days and I genuinely thought I'd solved the problem by removing it.

That lasted about eight days.

Long trousers to a barbecue. A cover-up at the pool I didn't take off once. I skipped a spa afternoon with friends and blamed a headache.

That was the moment I realised I hadn't fixed anything. I'd just moved the problem somewhere less visible — and paid for it in things I stopped doing.

Every fix I'd tried was about the tool. A five-blade razor. A "sensitive" one. A trimmer. An expensive one from the pharmacy.

But the irritation never came from the pass of the blade. It came from what happened to my skin in the hours after — the part none of those products touched.

I went back to shaving on a Thursday evening, with Silkyskin, expecting the usual trade-off: smooth tonight, blotchy tomorrow.

Friday morning there was nothing to cover. No dots, no prickle, no urge to scratch. I wore a dress to work and forgot about my legs entirely, which is the actual goal — not perfect skin, just not thinking about it.

It's a real step in my routine now, which means I go through it faster than I expected — the one thing I'd warn you about.

But I've stopped buying concealer for my bikini line, stopped buying soothing cream, and stopped planning outfits around a shave. That maths works out in my favour.