TikTok Wants You To Shave Your Legs Like A Tattoo Artist

When your mom taught you how to shave in middle school, she probably gave you a few golden rules: always use shaving cream, never go against the direction of the hair growth, and, for some reason, don't shave above your knees. Short strokes, rinse your razor, and repeat. But TikTok’s latest hack asks you to do the exact opposite.

“Tattoo shaving” trades the usual start-and-stop routine for one continuous motion, gliding the razor up and down all while keeping it pressed against your skin. Despite what the name suggests, there isn’t any ink involved. Rather, it borrows the way tattoo artists shave the skin before a session — a technique people are now recreating at home in hopes of a faster, smoother result.

Surprisingly, dermatologists say the technique isn't as far-fetched as it looks. Ahead, everything to know about the viral tattoo shaving method, straight from an expert.

What Is Tattoo Shaving?

If you've shaved your legs before a beach day, you know the most tedious part isn't actually removing the hair — it's constantly stopping to rinse your razor. Tattoo shaving cuts down on that back-and-forth.

Instead of moving in short, choppy strokes, you keep the razor in contact with your skin as you glide it up and down in quick, continuous motions. The upward stroke removes the hair, while the downward one helps dislodge the hair caught between the blades so you don’t have to rinse as often. “It provides more efficiency,” says Dr. Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, M.D., a New York City-based dermatologist. “It also keeps the razor on the same plane, which can reduce nicks.”

For many people, though, the real selling point isn’t the speed — it’s the smoother shave. “I’ve never had a closer shave, no razor burn, no strawberry skin, no ingrowns for the first time ever,” one TikTok user commented under a video that now has more than 770,000 likes. Others were too busy cringing at the technique itself to care about the results. "I believe you, but my subconscious will not allow me to shave like this," one person wrote. "This hurt me to watch," another person added.

But according to Mudgil, it’s less bizarre than it seems. “It’s actually a good technique, which I’ve tried myself,” he says.

How To Try The Technique

Sky’s out, thighs out — which means the tattoo shaving trend couldn’t have come at a better time. “The technique works best for large surface areas, like your legs, back, and arms,” says Mudgil. In other words, keep the back-and-forth motion to broad, flat areas like your thighs and calves. Around bony spots like your knees and ankles, though, it’s worth slowing down — or even going back to the traditional shaving method.

The razor matters, too. “With fewer blades, there is less resistance, which allows the razor to glide more easily,” says Mudgil. Think a single- or double-blade razor instead of a five-blade one.

With the right tool in tow, there’s no need to muscle your way through the shave. Use light pressure to minimize irritation, and any kind of shaving cream, soap, or conditioner for extra slip. The main thing to remember? The razor only stays against your skin when you're shaving up and down. Before moving sideways to a new section, you should always lift it and reset.

Bottom line: Your middle-school shaving lessons probably still hold up, but this is one rule that might actually be worth breaking.