Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro 7681 Epilator Review

I have been using an epilator for many years now. I have never gone back to shaving since I bought my first Philips Ice Epilator about 6 years go. It had a detachable part which sat in the freezer. I had to attach it before epilating and it gave a lovely cooling effect. Eventually however I got used to epilating so much that I didn't use the part at all. After many years of use the epilator itself was still going strong but the wire snapped and that was the end of it's life.

I did some research and went for Braun Silk-epil. This is much of an upgrade from my good old Philips. It's chargeable, it can be used dry or wet and it has quite a few different heads and caps. It has two different speeds but I always use faster speed as I am used to it. It has a bright light which comes very handy when epilating.

I have read some opinions saying this is the least painful epilator out there. Perhaps that's true but I didn't really experience massive difference from my Philips one (that's without the frozen cap). It have always felt little pinching but nothing that I would call a pain. Hair have to be fairly short thou, the longer they are the more you're going to feel it.
Althou I'm all tough when it comes to legs I can't work up my courage to epilate my underarms. I just can't do it... maybe one day... There is a cap with a lot smaller epilating surface provided for that purpose.

My epilating advice:

• Don't epilate long hair
• Pull the skin taught. It will be less painful but it will also help the epilator to grab the hair
• Exfoliate your skin regularly to avoid in-grown hair
• You could use it while in the shower but I find that it doesn't slide on as easily as on dry skin
• If your hair grow fast, epilate approximately once a week. Thanks to this you will catch hair that grow at different stages

I also use Braun Silk-Epil for shaving my underarms. I have to admit it is not my favourite way of shaving. I do prefer good old razor. But it is convenient and it saves me some pennies. The only razor that doesn't irritate my underarm skin is Wilkinson Intuition with soap attached to it. But replacement pads are quite expensive and the razor tends to get rusty pretty quick if not dried properly (can't really wipe it cause it has soap around it :/). So I switched to the Braun electric shaver. There is one thing that frustrates me about this method of shaving. It is only possible to do a good job if underarms are fully dry. Even drying them very well after shower isn't good enough. It's hard to explain but if there is any kind of moisture on the skin it just won't slide/glide on the skin and won't shave. Other than that I have no problems with it.

Another handy tool Silk -Epil has is a trimmer. It is attached to the shaving cap and has lock/unlock button. I like to use it on my bikini area. As we know skin around there can be very delicate and sensitive. Therefore I avoid shaving or epilating it altogether as those horrible red rash looking like spots come out after. Trimming is a great alternative. Trimmed hairs are so tiny that they're practically invisible. Skin is happy and not irritated.

One last thing to add is that Silk-Epil comes with those wipes that are supposed to be used before epilating. I have never used them so can't say much but I need to check them out to see if they help/make any difference.

Sylwia x