If there is one beauty gadget that every girl should own, it’s an epilator. For over two years, my trusty epilator has removed my leg and amrpit hair without complaint, saving me the thousands I would have spent on hair removal products or salon leg waxing. I never thought to blog about it before because it’s one of those beauty rituals that I now take for granted. But several months ago, when I Tweeted about how I may have burned my pits when I was carelessly epilating, I got a surprising number of questions about the epilator I use, inspiring me to write this post (which I forgot to publish until today, haha).
Before I gush about how my epilator changed my life, some of you might be wondering what an epilator is. An epilator is a mechanical device that gets rid of hair by grasping several strands and yanking them off their roots. The yanking mechanism is done by a series of metal plates on a rotating plastic head; when the head rotates, the metal plates clamp down and move apart, creating the tweezing effect. In other words, an epilator is the love child of waxing and a pair of randy tweezers; it works just like waxing in that it removes several strands of hair at once, but it does so through the use of several tweezer-like devices.
I wasn’t aware that there are several types of epilators, but apparently there are. There’s one called Smooth Away that works like a loofah. It’s supposed to be covered with “superfine crystals that buff away unwanted hair”, but I honestly don’t see how “buffing” is supposed to get rid of body hair. There’s also the strange, double-ended-dildo-like device called Epistick, which gets rid of femstaches and other unwanted facial hair the same way threading does. I’ve never tried it but I think I’d like to get myself one; I’m tired of manually plucking my femstache out.
My epilator is called the Braun Silk-Epil, an electricity-powered Tweezer-type epilator that I bought from Amazon during my last trip to San Francisco. (Seriously, I’m not being paid to promote this gadget.) The epilator came in a box along with two heads, a power cord (not pictured), a little cleaning brush, and an instruction manual. Epilating, said the manual, is really easy. All you have to do is place the epilator head against your leg at a 90-degree angle, switch it on, and move the device against leg hair growth like you would a razor. It took me two days to work up the guts to use it because I was a little scared of the loud buzzing noise it made; epilators don’t make the most friendly and reassuring sounds in the world. When I finally let it touch my skin, I was surprised to find out that a) the epilator did not tear my skin to shreds, and b) epilating doesn’t hurt any more than waxing does. In fact, I enjoyed the sting of a leg hair getting pulled from its root. I also have fun brushing the hair from between the blades.
Over the next couple of weeks, I found even more reasons to love my epilator. Unlike waxing, which can only do its magic if your hair is half an inch long, an epilator can pull out even the shortest strand of hair. For a girl who dislikes wearing pants and jeans, this was absolutely perfect – I always hated waiting three weeks for my hair to grow so I could have them waxed. What if I wanted to wear a dress or shorts in the meantime? I was never patient enough to let the hair to grow long enough, so I learned how to shave my legs. Unfortunately, razors make my leg hair about as thick and attractive as porcupine needles once they grew back – and they would grow back in a day or so. On the other hand, epilating makes my leg hair significantly thinner and finer when they grow back; no other hair removing technique has ever given me near-invisible leg hair before. After two years of epilating, around half of my leg hair seems to have stopped growing, probably because of all that pulling. Contrary to the product description, the Braun Silk-epil did not make me hairless for a month; I can see leg hair peeking from my skin in about four or five days. This is probably due to my body’s hair regrowth rather than a fault of the product though. And since my leg hair grows back very finely, I can leave them alone for about a week before I feel the need to get rid of them.
I use my epilator to get rid of armpit hair too! In the olden days, I removed my underarm hair using tweezers, which took forever and hurt my eyes. The epilator can remove my armpit hair in less than a minute, but you have to make sure that the head doesn’t touch the skin directly. Otherwise, the skin will get burned. That’s what happened to me and why my armpits had this unsightly black mark for a few months. Fortunately, the marks faded and I made sure to be extremely careful when getting rid of my armpit hair after that.
The only downside to epilating is that it takes longer than shaving. The epilator doesn’t quite remove all the hairs in one sweep, and I have to let the head run past the area two or three times to eliminate the stubborn shorter hairs. This is a very very minor inconvenience that I can forgive though; epilating still wins over shaving because of the fine regrowth quality I mentioned earlier.
Unfortunately, I don’t think mechanical epilators are locally available, but you can grab one for around $40 at Amazon and have it sent to the Philippines via Johnny Air. Mine cost $44, which isn’t a bad amount if you consider that epilating is much cheaper than waxing in the long run. The average salon charges around P500 or more for a full leg wax, which is only good for about three weeks to a month (or less if your hair grows back quickly). Hair removal products cost almost as much, and I use about 80% of a tube in just one sitting. I pretty much recovered the money I paid for my epilator after two months of weekly use.
Have you ever tried using an epilator? What’s your preferred method of body hair removal?
This is one of my favorite posts of yours so far. :) I always have this problem with ‘pit hair. Almost twice a week I gotta tweeze them out cos I am just too OC that I dont wanna see and feel them. Haha. Thanks for the info about Braun epilator.
Anyways, havent you considered removing armpit hair through laser light? Results are supposed to be permanent I heard.
I thought about laser armpit removal but IDK, it’s kind of scary. Plus they don’t disappear in one go. If I remember correctly, it’ll take several sessions for that to happen.
i’ve beeen using the epilator for a few years now and like you i also think it is the better choice for the removal of unwanted hair as compared to waxing or shaving. i got my Braun epilator the other year at rustan’s shangrila. before that they sold the emjoi brand. lately, i saw one, made by Philips, at the appliance department of SM megamall.
Yay, we are civilized! We have epilators!
I’ve been using a Braun epilator for quite some time now. It’s great, but I think you may have a better pain threshold than I do. :p
I bought mine yearsss ago from the Duty Free in Manila. I’d be surprised if department stores like Rustan’s or something still don’t carry them.
Well apparently, we do now! :D I tried looking for one locally two years ago and salesladies just kept staring at me blankly when I asked if they had an epilator.
Oh wow, how come I’ve never heard of this before??? How much dyou think the locally sold ones would be? I should get one.
This post is gold, Lauren. :))
Hehe, thanks Chen! Hmm I don’t really know how much the local ones cost but I’m guessing they should be close to the US price. So maybe around the 2k range? Ask Ken if Anson’s has, haha!
Ooh, my sister has an epilator. And um…yeah, one of my straight male colleagues. I need to get myself one, too. I think this is better than waxing, yes?
Yup! At the very least it’s more cost-effective than waxing. Best beauty investment I ever made. :D
I use mine for emergency bikini line trims and stomach hair when I need to dash to the beach!
Got a generic one from Watson’s around 4 years ago, 300 pesos and was on sale. Its still working.
Holy crap, really? That’s a great deal! Do you know if Watsons still has epilators?
ow, i haven’t heard of that epilators. i will check it in Watsons and buy here in Singapore. i will let u know the price.
I had laser hair removal for the underarms done at House of Obagi in Greenbelt, and it was definitely one of the best things I ever did for myself.
As for epilators, I remember seeing an infomercial for Emjoi on those home TV shopping shows and I’ve always wanted one for my legs. Thanks to this entry, I’ll certainly get myself one once I have a little extra money.
this is the first time i’ve heard of an epilator. i used to prefer waxing to remove body hair, but now, i’m seriously thinking of getting one of these! thanks lauren!
They sell this in Rustan’s. Saw one in Rustan’s Alabang.
I am the girl who spends so much money just to remove the unwanted hair. I am too lazy to do it myself so I always end up going to clinics and have it removed. But there are just times when you are too busy to do that and i hate it!! Reading this post gave me knowledge about epilator! and Good thing they have it in rustans alabang. But for how much? How much did you spend for the shipping fee?
I picked mine up from my aunt’s house in the States. It says so in my post. :) I don’t know how much epilators cost locally.
what?! you’re manually plucking your femstache out?! ang sakit nun! :(
I use the Epistick for my femstache. I know it looks weird but it’s very effective and I guess it’s better than plucking. That must have hurt so bad. :|
Can I use epilator for underarms? :)
Plucking my femstache doesn’t actually hurt all that much – getting it threaded feels much worse.
And yes to epilator-for-underarms question. See the first paragraph of my post!
Hey Lauren,
I tried everything to get rid of unwanted hair on my body: shaving, waxing, tweezing, depilatory creams, and even my brother’s electronic rotary shaver, which actually worked very well until I could not find the charger.
Thank you for sharing this post! I never heard of an epilator–I will get one since I do not like waxing and tweezing.
Your post made me decide that an epilator is a great purchase! I hate having nicks and cuts from shaving and waxing maybe great but i’m so laazy! wonderful blog you have here! xxoo
Can eyebrows be epilated in da same method…. or will it make make more thicker….i am really very scared of shaping my eyebrow..but i really need to cuz i have very thick eyebrows….please help…
Umm, I think you’re better off getting your eyebrows done in a salon. Epilators are for large areas, and not ideal for shaping brows.
I’ve been using an epilator for around 5 years now. I have the Emjoi portable one (battery-op) which I bought from Rustan’s 5 years ago. We do have it here locally and mine was only around P2,000 plus back then. I also use it for the little facial hair I have. I’ve had IPL done on my underarms 3 years ago though so I just use my Emjoi for my leg hair and facial hair. Such a good investment right?
how much did your IPL cost you?:)
Another interesting read! This is the first time I’ve read about epilators. I hope they have one in Watson’s. Does anybody here know where one can purchase locally? Please include the price.
I use sugar waxing. Costs P200 for a medium size tub which i can use for 2-3months for my legs and pits, i think its sulit na. but i think epilator is something i can also look forward to in purchasing :)
I bought braun x’elle at ebay. It costs 2,800php. For my first few uses, i always burned my pits, and then it turned dark. I almost got frustrated because i thought i wasted my money. But then, after few researches, i learned that you can apply talcum powder prior epilating. This minimizes the contact between the epilator’s head and the skin. And it worked! No more redness! And then i put oleia oil after epilating for moisturizing. Now my problem is how to lighten my underarms due to frequent shaving, plucking (before i discovered epilator) and burned pits because of improper use of my epilator :( But i think epilator is a good investment. Anson’s, rustan’s and sm appliance center (las pinas) sells epilator.
Oh wow, thanks for the talcum powder tip! I use the white head when I epilate my armpits because it keeps the tweezers a little farther from the skin. For whitening – try getting one of those crystal deodorant sticks from Healthy Options. My pits got horribly burned from the last time I had it waxed at a salon, but the deodorant worked like a charm and it was gone in a few weeks.
Hi ms. Lauren! I’m using vmv illuminants+ axillight. It’s pricey but i hope it’s worth it. But i’ll check that one out! Thanks!
Oh my gosh, this post is godly!
My father must have been a gorilla and left me with his hairy genes. :T
So I’ve been shaving forever and it doesn’t really make my skin pretty either :T and like what you said about the hair being hard like needles after growing back!
Definitely investing in one of these in the nearest future! Thaaaank you so much !
can i use it in removing the hair in upper lip and chin as well???
I bought my epilator from a local seller here in Manila. Brand is Panasonic and it has 3 interchangeable heads. Multipurpose epilator na siya. It indeed is a girl’s best friends (other than diamonds LOL).
Wet and dry epilator na yun. You can use it when showering too :)
In case anyone would be interested, just text them – 0908 7568889 – because I might not be able to reply. I’m just blog hopping now and I’m a fan of your blog. More power to you!
Sheena
I was astonished to how epiltor works well. I will definitly buy one soon. :)
your post was very helpful. :)
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I never realized until now that the piece of equipment my father had was an epilator. I thought it looked weird. When I first saw it I thought it would cut your skin. 4 days ago I burnt my underarms coz I skipped my regular waxing regimen with a professional to try the Veet wax strips. Now that it’s a bit healed, my UA turned dark. I will definitley make sure I have one of those epilators in my possession in the next few days! It’s gonna save me some money minus the dark UA due to home waxing!