Ingrown hair hell: I had to cave and shave

I'm still having a love affair with epilators. But... the ingrown hairs are causing me absolute misery. It's as well this is such a crap summer, because there's no way I could show these legs in public. They're covered in bumps and lumps... ugh.

Epilators are notorious for causing ingrown hairs. Whipping out the hair from the roots in the way they do can cause hair to grow back up the wrong way - growing sideways through the skin, growing back on itself. You get the drift.

Anyway when I started using the epilator I knew none of this. Innocently I epilated and was delighted with the results. No more waxing! This would save me a fortune. No more shaving! This would save loads of time.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch is there?

No, you've got to be much more aware with the epilator. I've tried various things, some of which worked, some of which didn't. But until I've gotten rid of all the bumps on my legs I've gone back to shaving. Boo hoo!

Then I'm starting again - and doing all these things to make sure there's no more disfiguring lumps. I'm reduced to tweezing them out at the moment. So learn from my mistakes!

• Exfoliate before you epilate
• Lash on the body lotion afterwards
• Exfoliate your legs regularly
• The products to prevent ingrown hairs do actually work. You just need to rub them over any epilated areas and they'll let the hair grow back up straight. The one I really like is Bliss Ingrown Hair Eliminating Peeling Pads.