I have become a fan of epilating. I avoided it for years because I was afraid of the potential pain. However, when I researched it last month, it seemed the technology has improved a lot to minimize pain. I was sold on the Braun 5270 Silk-épil X’elle Body System Epilator due to the reviews that reassured me that it was not going to be a horrible experience.

In my research, I found lots of tips to help prevent too much pain. I’ve put them together for my own setup. I now look forward to my weekly epilation sessions.

Preparation Tips

• before the very first session, shave 1 to 3 days beforehand so that the hair is not too long and yet have something for the epilator tweezers to hold on to
• exfoliate to avoid seeing micro bits of dry skin flying
• take a hot/warm shower/bath to help open the pores
• per instructions, dry legs and do not apply cream/moisturizer

Process

The Braun 5270 comes with a beginner head. It would be a good idea to try using that for the first time. It massages the skin to help distract from the tweezing feeling. Sometimes, it even tickled but it was not uncomfortable. The scariest part of the process was the loud noise. Unfortunately, it meant that it was too loud to have the television on in the background. I played some music to help me relax.

Move the epilator slowly over the legs, going against the direction of hair growth. If you have experience tweezing eyebrows, you would likely know the trick to reducing or preventing pain is to stretch the skin around the hair follicle. This worked while epilating, too.

During the first session, I was able to move on to the advanced epilator head. That’s how practically painfree it ended up being. The results passed the smoothness test where I rubbed my legs together. It never felt that good when I shaved with a razor.

When done, moisturize. Use the included brush to clean the epilator head.

Electric Razor

The Silk-épil came with an electric razer head. It was useful for hair that I was too afraid to try to epilate. The results were better than using a regular razer because I did not get itchy bumps.

Conclusion

Epilating took longer than shaving, but it was more comfortable sitting in the living room instead of standing in a wet bathtub. What I really like about epilating is that it gave me smooth results that would last between weekly sessions. Because I could do it on a more convenient schedule in a more comfortable setting, I now have hairless legs even during the winter when most days I would wear jeans or pants. Then I can wear dresses/skirts without having to plan ahead.

Something to note is that I have fine hair. This could contribute to the lack of pain for me. It is possible that people who have thicker hair might experience more pain, but I do not know. Just a heads-up so readers do not go after me if they do not have as great an experience.