Reddit Body-Care Guide: Exfoliation, Shaving, Feet & Hair

Editor's note. This post is a curated and lightly edited compilation of routines originally written by Reddit creator u/Jimins_little_minx, reposted here with her permission. Her work focuses on practical, affordable body-care that complements a serious facial anti-aging routine — the parts of the body most readers neglect for decades. Where her recommendations align with the dermatology literature we already cover on this site, we've added internal links. Where her advice goes further than the published evidence, we've flagged it so you can make your own call.

This is the hub round-up. For deeper standalone guides on each of her routines, see:

Body exfoliation: physical vs chemical, by skin type

The bikini shave routine that prevents ingrowns

Smooth feet weekly routine (callus + fungus care)

Hair wash routine matched to your hair type

Daily feminine intimate hygiene routine

Most anti-aging content stops at the jawline. The skin on your shins, bikini line, scalp, heels and the back of your hands is doing the same thing as your face — losing barrier integrity, accumulating sun damage, building up dead keratinocytes, and reacting badly to whatever you put on it — but almost nobody treats it with the same care. Reddit creator u/Jimins_little_minx has built a small following on r/hygiene, r/SkincareAddiction, r/HairRemoval, r/beauty and r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide by writing detailed, opinionated body-care routines for exactly that gap. Her top post on shaving has 297 upvotes and 83 comments, and her exfoliation breakdown has been cross-posted across four subreddits. We've condensed her core routines into one place.

For our existing dermatologist-written take on the same body areas, see anti-aging for hands and feet, how often should you exfoliate aging skin, and physical exfoliation debate.

1. Exfoliation 101 — physical vs chemical, picked by skin type

Adapted from her cross-posts in r/hygiene, r/SkincareAddiction and r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide.

Her framing is the right one to start with: exfoliation and moisturisation are the two non-negotiables of body skin care. Everything else — actives, serums, in-clinic treatments — sits on top of those two foundations. Neither chemical nor physical exfoliation is "better" than the other; they target different things and most people benefit from a combination used at sane frequencies.

Physical exfoliants — her ranked picks

1. African net sponge. Her daily-driver recommendation, on the grounds that it's far more hygienic than a loofah (which traps water and bacteria between uses), works with any liquid or bar soap, and is gentle enough for everyday use. If it feels too rough out of the bag, she suggests boiling it briefly to soften the weave.

2. Sugar scrubs. Affordable and gentle on the surface, but with two caveats she's right about: sugar dissolves in water before you've finished scrubbing, and the granules are too large for the bikini line, underarms, or anywhere you're about to shave (micro-tears + a razor = ingrowns and folliculitis). She rates the Dove body scrubs as the most moisturising and Tree Hut / Dr. Teal's / Equate as more aggressive.

3. Salt scrubs. Her position: skip them. The crystals are too abrasive for most body skin and the most common complaint is stinging, micro-cuts, and irritation. The one place she allows them is the heels.

4. Pumice-particle scrubs. Her favourite category, because the granules are small enough for the bikini line and bumpy upper arms (keratosis pilaris) without tearing the skin. She specifically recommends the First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser — pumice plus 10% glycolic acid — used twice a week on sensitive skin, three times max if your skin tolerates it. (We're not affiliated; she isn't either.)

5. Moroccan-style exfoliation. A weekly gommage with a kessa-style glove after softening the skin, rolling off visible dead skin in tubes. Good for dull, congested or KP-prone body skin if done once a week, not more.

Chemical exfoliants — when to reach for them

"These are most effective at blackhead removal, ingrown hair prevention, clogged pores, and body acne." — Jimins_little_minx, r/SkincareAddiction

AHAs (alpha-hydroxy acids — glycolic, lactic, mandelic): water-soluble, work at the surface, also lighten old marks and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Her sweet spot is 7–10% for daily-ish use; the 20% versions are for body peels and short contact. Her cheap recommendation is The Ordinary 7% Glycolic Acid Toner as both an all-over body acid and an aftershave for ingrown prevention.

BHAs (salicylic acid, 2%): oil-soluble, penetrate the pore, dissolve sebum. Her honest disclosure is that she doesn't use BHA personally (dry skin, no body acne) but it's the right choice for back/chest acne, ingrowns and clogged body pores. Expect a brief "purge" phase the first 2–4 weeks.

Editor's note on frequency

Her caps (2–3x weekly for physical, daily for low-percentage AHA) are reasonable for most people but on the upper end of what most board-certified dermatologists recommend for skin over 40 or anyone using a retinoid on the same areas. For an age-tuned schedule, see how often should you exfoliate aging skin. The single biggest mistake she calls out repeatedly — and we agree — is exfoliating without re-moisturising afterwards.

2. The flawless, ingrown-free bikini shave

Adapted from her cross-posts in r/hygiene, r/HairRemoval and r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide.

Razor burn, ingrowns and post-shave hyperpigmentation aren't a fact of life — they're nearly always a fixable sequencing problem. Her four-step protocol:

Step 1 — Exfoliate first, not after

A pumice-particle scrub (her First Aid Beauty pick from the section above) or an African net sponge worked over the bikini line for ~45 seconds gives you the smoothest possible base for the blade. Sugar scrubs are out here for the reason already covered — granules too large, micro-tears, infection risk.

Step 2 — Pick a shaving lubricant intentionally

This is where most people lose. Her ranking, distilled:

Shave oil — closest, most moisturised shave, lowest irritation. Her top pick.
Cream — protective and soothing, but slightly less close.
Mousse / gel — closest shave but strips moisture; most likely to cause irritation.
Plain baby oil — cheap, low-irritation, very moisturising. Watch for shower slipperiness and razor clogging.

The "skin-feel" rule of thumb: if your skin is tight, stinging or visibly red 10 minutes after the shave, your lubricant is too stripping for you.

Step 3 — Single-blade razor, correct direction

"Please stop using cheap-ass multi-blade razors. They are causing your hairs to snag and form ingrowns." — Jimins_little_minx, r/HairRemoval

Single-blade razors cut the hair at or just above the skin surface; multi-blades lift and slice below it, which is exactly the geometry that produces ingrown hairs. Trim long hair first with scissors or a trimmer, shave with the grain, then carefully against it for closeness. Her one allowed multi-blade is the Schick Intuition (built-in moisture bar) for people who refuse to switch.

Step 4 — Aftercare = the whole point

Skip aftercare and you've wasted the prep. Her stack:

Immediate (0–10 min): aloe vera gel, baby oil, or a fragrance-free moisturiser.
10–30 minutes later: a low-percentage AHA toner or pad to discourage ingrowns and even out post-inflammatory pigmentation. Yes, it may sting briefly. No, you should not apply it instantly after the blade.
Daily after that: moisturise the whole area until the next shave.

For an evidence-based comparison with the long-term hair-removal alternatives, see does laser hair removal affect skin aging.

3. Smooth, callus-free feet — a weekly ritual

Adapted from her cross-posts in r/hygiene, r/beauty and r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide.

Feet age in two visible ways: thickening callused skin on the load-bearing surfaces, and dryness/cracking on the heels. Both respond extremely well to a once-weekly routine if you actually do it.

What you need

A foot soak basin and a few drops of pure tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) essential oil
A coarse foot file (not a microplane-style cheese grater — those remove too much skin at once)
A peeling foot spray such as Freeman Flirty Feet (≈ $5 on Amazon), or any urea/lactic acid foot peel
A nail file
A very thick occlusive cream — she suggests a urea foot stick (10–25%) or Nivea Creme, plus a pair of cotton socks
Optional: a fine-grain sugar scrub for the tops of the feet

The routine

Soak 10–20 minutes in hot water with a few drops of tea tree. Heavily callused feet benefit from the full 20; lightly callused feet can skip to 7–10 minutes.
File the calluses in a back-and-forth motion with moderate pressure on heels, the ball of the foot, the side of the big toe, and any other thickened areas. If a spot hurts, soak longer and file more gently — pain is over-filing and you will regret it tomorrow.
Spray a foot peel (Freeman Flirty Feet or similar) on the filed areas. Rub gently as the spray lifts the remaining dead skin into visible clumps. Rinse.
Optional sugar scrub on the tops of the feet (skip the soles — already exfoliated).
Tidy the toenails: trim, shape, clean the nail folds.
Spot-treat fungus/odour with a few drops of undiluted tea tree oil on the toes only — never the whole foot. (See note below.)
Drown them in thick cream — a generous layer of urea cream or Nivea — then cotton socks overnight. You'll wake up with feet that feel like a different body part.

Run this once a week and the difference within a month is dramatic.

Editor's note on tea tree oil

Tea tree has real in vitro and limited in vivo antifungal activity against the dermatophytes that cause athlete's foot. The catch she doesn't mention: a non-trivial minority of people are sensitised to tea tree, especially oxidised bottles, and reactions can be miserable. Patch test on the inner forearm for 24 hours before applying anywhere else, use a fresh bottle stored away from light, and if you have confirmed onychomycosis (nail fungus) please see a podiatrist — topical essential oils underperform prescription antifungals for that.

For the dermatology view on these same areas, see anti-aging for hands and feet.

4. Stop copying influencers' hair routines

Adapted from r/hygiene.

The shortest of her posts and arguably the most important. Hair-wash frequency is not a universal constant; it depends on your scalp's sebum production, your hair density, your hair porosity, and how your styling habits load up the strands.

"I was washing my hair once a week and following her expensive-ass aftercare routine and gawd damn was I messing up my scalp. It was not often enough, so shit was just building up and weighing down my hair." — Jimins_little_minx, r/hygiene

Her own data point: dark, thick, wavy, waist-length, dry-leaning hair. The TikTok routine she copied was built for 3c coily hair with very different sebum behaviour. Once-weekly washing left product and sebum buildup that flattened her hair and irritated her scalp; switching to twice-weekly washes with a deep mask each time fixed it within a couple of cycles.

The transferable principle: match wash frequency, conditioner weight and mask use to your hair type, not to whoever is currently viral. A quick rubric:

Fine, oily, straight hair: every 1–2 days; lightweight conditioner mid-lengths to ends; protein masks rarely.
Medium thickness, wavy, normal scalp: every 2–3 days; medium-weight conditioner; weekly hydrating mask.
Thick, wavy/curly, dry: 2x weekly; heavy conditioner; mask every wash if dry, every other wash if balanced.
Coily, very dry: weekly or co-wash routines; heavy leave-ins and oils; deep masks every wash.

Scalp aging is an underrated piece of the anti-aging puzzle — follicles miniaturise, sebum chemistry changes, and chronic build-up correlates with itch, flaking and accelerated thinning. See our deeper dive: scalp aging and hair health.

5. The fragrance question

One of her most-discussed posts on r/hygiene argued for cutting fragranced products from intimate skincare entirely. That specific post was removed by moderators but the underlying point — that the fragrance compounds in many body washes, lotions and intimate cleansers are a common cause of contact dermatitis and barrier disruption — is well supported by patch-test data. The North American Contact Dermatitis Group consistently lists fragrance mix I and balsam of Peru among the top ten contact allergens year after year.

What the dermatology literature does not support is the stronger version of her claim (that fragrance "causes cancer"). The more accurate framing for body care is:

Fragrance is one of the most common drivers of contact dermatitis and post-shave irritation.
It is genuinely a good idea to use unscented or low-fragrance products on freshly shaved or exfoliated skin, on the bikini line, on broken skin, and on the underarms.
Phthalates, sulfates and parabens are less villainous than internet wellness culture suggests, but if you're trying to minimise irritation on body skin you've just exfoliated or shaved, fewer ingredients = fewer chances of a reaction.

Her practical product picks for low-irritation body wash (unscented Dove sensitive-skin formulas, plain hypoallergenic baby washes) are reasonable defaults for the bikini line, post-shave, and freshly exfoliated skin.

How this fits into an anti-aging routine

The reason her body-care routines belong on an anti-aging site at all is that the slow background of body-skin care — barrier-respecting cleansing, intentional exfoliation, intentional shaving, weekly foot recovery, hair-type-matched scalp care — is exactly what determines how the skin from your jawline down looks 10 and 20 years from now. None of this replaces SPF, a retinoid and a vitamin C serum on the face. But you can do the entire face protocol perfectly and still have crepey shins, hyperpigmented ingrowns, cracked heels and a chronically inflamed scalp if the rest of the body gets neglected.

A minimal weekly body-care add-on, drawing from her routines:

Daily: non-fragranced body wash with an African net sponge; fragrance-free body moisturiser within 3 minutes of the shower.
2–3x weekly: pumice-particle scrub or low-percentage AHA on the bikini line, underarms, knees, elbows, upper arms.
Weekly: the foot routine, end-to-end.
As needed: the four-step shave protocol every time you shave — never freehand.
Whenever you wash your hair: the cadence and product weight that actually fits your hair, not whoever's in your feed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I exfoliate my body if I'm in my 30s or 40s?

Most board-certified dermatologists recommend 1–2 times weekly with a pumice-particle or low-percentage AHA exfoliant on most body skin, and once weekly or less on the bikini line/underarms. The Reddit creator's twice-a-week frequency is reasonable for younger, less-dry skin; reduce it if you're using a body retinoid or have sensitive/menopausal skin. The biggest mistake is exfoliating without immediately re-moisturising.

Are single-blade razors actually better than multi-blade?

For preventing ingrown hairs on the bikini line and underarms, yes — the mechanism is straightforward: multi-blade razors lift the hair and slice it below the skin surface, where it can curl back into the follicle. Single-blade safety razors cut at or just above the skin. The cost saving is also real. Trade-off: single-blade requires a slightly more careful technique to avoid nicks.

Is tea tree oil safe to use on feet?

For most people, yes — but a meaningful minority develops contact dermatitis to tea tree, especially oxidised bottles. Patch-test on the inner forearm for 24 hours first, use a fresh bottle stored in a dark cabinet, and never apply to broken skin without diluting. For confirmed nail fungus (onychomycosis), prescription topical or oral antifungals significantly outperform tea tree in clinical trials.

Should I cut fragrance out of my body-care routine?

Cut it on the bikini line, immediately post-shave, on freshly exfoliated skin, and on any area that itches or breaks out. Fragrance is the single most common cause of contact dermatitis on body skin. For the rest of your body, scented products are a personal preference call — they're not inherently dangerous, but they're never the safest choice.

Where can I read the original posts?

All five core routines are on her Reddit profile: u/Jimins_little_minx. She answers DMs and post comments individually.

Credits

This post is a curated, lightly edited compilation reposted with permission from Reddit creator u/Jimins_little_minx. The original posts:

Editorial notes, the "How this fits into an anti-aging routine" section, the FAQ, and the fragrance-claim moderation were added by the Anti Aging Care editorial team. Product mentions are not affiliate links and neither the creator nor this site received compensation for them.