A deal site story: If it looks and feels like sandpaper, it probably is!

Deal sites that offer discounted vouchers for restaurants, spas, salons, and even products have been springing up like mushrooms on the Internet. Buyers get anywhere from 25 percent to 80 percent off food, services, and merchandise when buying vouchers from deal sites. Hence, it wasn’t long before I got addicted to checking out the latest deals first thing every morning.

One such morning, I decided to get a hair removal and exfoliation kit that was being offered at more than 50 percent off at a certain deal site. I normally use wax strips to get rid of unwanted hair on my legs but people who know me would know that I’m always one to try something new. It was very interesting and I was very much convinced by the blurb on the deal site. I'm a home TV shopping network's dream come true; whenever I’m in the US, I would always watch those televised shopping ads and end up buying all sorts of stuff to much to my hubby's chagrin.

Anyways, I got the kit. It had a stick-on price tag that said P1,795 as seen on TV. I was like, wow. It was priced at P247 at the deal site. Upon opening the kit, it revealed a big loofah mitt with an oval thingy, pads, and a finger mitt also with matching pads. There was an instruction sheet too. Apparently I could choose to either exfoliate or remove hair. You can only do one procedure at a time. The blue oval thingy on the mitt is where you're supposed to stick the hair removal /exfoliation pads. One side of the pad has an adhesive so you can attach it.

Uh, taking the white backing sheet off the hair removal/exfoliation pad reveals that it's actually a piece of P1500 grade sandpaper. Here's a tip okay, if it looks and feels like sandpaper, it probably is. Well I'm so trusting that I thought oh the manufacturer and the deal site must know what they're doing so I decided to go on to road test the product.

And so I stuck that piece of sandpaper onto the mitt. The instructions said to clean up the area you're removing hair from, wet the whole mitt and pad, and then sort of rub this in circular motions on the skin surface. The instructions also advised to do it while taking a bath. So I did.

I rubbed gently as it specifically stated not to use too much pressure. I did end up removing unwanted hair but it's very hard to be precise so there's still some left over. Also, I had this nagging feeling that I was using sandpaper so I just did it on a small area of skin on my leg. What it does is it kind of makes the hair stick to the wet sandpaper so that when you rub it, the fine strands of hair get crushed by the abrasive surface. They form teeny tiny balls of hair which your loofah mitt removes from your skin. I could already tell while I was wet inside the bathroom that it was not an efficient way to remove hair… or exfoliate your skin for that matter, unless you want to scratch yourself raw.

Okay, so after my bath I decided to Google P1500 sandpaper. Guess what, it's the wet or dry type used to detail cars. My hubby actually laughed at me when he got home he said "Oh I use P2000 sandpaper for our cars and that's actually more fine than what you just used on yourself." I wonder why I didn’t Google BEFORE I tested it.

So how were the results?

I ended with some light abrasions on some of my pores where the hair comes out, hubby said it's kind of like razor burn that he sometimes gets from shaving. There was also a stinging sensation after, I actually poured on bath oil on my legs in order to soothe the skin. It still stung, plus there was still unwanted hair. I was freaked out in the middle of trying the product and so I did not dare experiment on a big area. I mean...  it's sandpaper for crying out loud! I promptly threw out the entire kit my brief trial session.

I guess it’s safe to say that I am never using this thing again. All I can say is whether you’re availing of deals or simply shopping, always trust your instincts. I don’t know why I ignored mine that fateful day. Luckily I didn’t inflict any irreparable damage or anything to my skin since I went about it cautiously.

Oh, and don't try this at home folks.