Admit it – we’ve all watched the infomercials and wondered to ourselves “does it really work?” Well, dear readers, I’ve tried two of these “As Seen On TV”  products recently, and here are my unbiased, unpaid reviews…

First up, the Pedi-Egg. I bought this during my period of unemployment when I was forced to make major cutbacks in my pedicure lifestyle. I figured paying $10 once was better than paying $30 a month.

The premise is simple – it quickly and painlessly removes the rough callused skin from your feet with a mini-cheese grater wrapped in ergonomic pink plastic. Why I don’t think of these things is beyond me.

Boy, does it ever remove skin. I decided to try it out one evening while watching a movie. That was mistake number one. You have to pay attention and periodically check your progress. I mindlessly grated away on my unsuspecting feet and before I knew it they were baby-butt smooth. I was impressed and amazed, and then I started to walk. I can’t repeat what I said but it was along the lines of “ouch, ow, oh no, this isn’t good.” And that was just on carpet. I had revealed brand new tender pink skin that wasn’t used to being walked on and that strongly objected to my treatment. Lesson learned.

I have used it since my initial attempt, and this time I stopped just shy of being completely callus-free. That was much less painful and embarrassing. After entertaining my professional pedicurist with my tale of woe, she told me that a little callus is a good thing. They are there to protect your feet.

So I deem it a 4-Star Good Buy Girl Good Buy for effectiveness, ease of use and cost. Just be careful and don’t get ambitious like I did.

Next we have Smooth Away. For $10, this product claims to remove hair quickly and painlessly without shaving, waxing, plucking or harsh chemicals. This product uses sandpaper “super-fine crystals” to gently smooth away unwanted hair and exfoliate at the same time – bonus! You receive two buffing mitts– a small mitt for your face, and a large mitt for the rest of your body. You also receive five buffing pads, in two degrees of coarseness – one for fine hair and one for coarse hair.

In the past, we have defuzzed my daughter test subject with Nair or Veet. It’s fast and effective, but generally leaves my test subject standing in my bathtub whining that she has to go to the bathroom because she didn’t have to go when I told her to 30 seconds ago. Or that she itches. Or that she’s tired of standing.

When we saw this at our local Walgreen’s recently, we decided to give it a try. No chemicals, no standing, and she could stop and attend to her bathroom needs if necessary. (And seriously, I’d gladly pay $10 for no whining. Don’t judge.)

Not wanting to have another Pedi-Egg incident, my test subject and I read and re-read the instructions. They seemed simple enough – work on one area at a time by gently rubbing your skin using a clockwise motion for three rotations, then a counter-clockwise rotation for another three rotations.

We started with the fine pad and did a small area. Amazingly, it did work, but we had to repeat the “wax on wax off” motion more than a few times, and ended up using a little more pressure than the instructions recommend. Granted, my test subject was using it on her legs, so there was a lot of hair and a lot of skin to cover. The fine hair pad seemed to lose its effectiveness pretty quickly, so we switched to the one for coarse hair. This one did remove the hair a little faster, but again, it wore out pretty fast. We ended up using all five coarse hair pads that came with the product. But the end result was smooth hairless skin, albeit not as fast as advertised. Ironically, my test subject decided to pass the time by watching a movie. When I reminded her to pay attention lest she repeat my Pedi-Egg mistakes, she said “duh Mom, I don’t walk on my legs.” Huh?

I will be getting some replacement pads and we will try to maintain the test subject’s legs to see if shorter hair is removed any faster. I haven’t tried it on my face yet, as you are supposed to use it on bare skin and I had on my makeup when we bought it.

Until further review, we deem the Smooth Away a Two-Star Good Buy Girl Good Buy. It was reasonably priced and did remove the hair, but not as quickly as advertised, and if we’re going to have to buy new pads every time, it’s not going to be very cost-effective.

So call now, this is a limited time offer! We’ll even throw in the steak knives!

Kim is the Fashion and Beauty Editor for Girls Guide. You can check out her personal blog, Parachuting Without A Net, where she talks about just about everything under the sun from being a Mom to whipping up quick dinners. You can contact Kim by Emailing her – kim [at] girlsguidetothegalaxy [dot] com, and you can follow her on Twitter – @parachuting.