If you are like me and DESPISE shaving, and have the patience for the learning curve of using a new device that hurts, then you will love epilating. I do have several tips after three months, which I'll go over first.
*Read the directions. They're not long. Then follow them. The first recommended epilation is supposed to be in the shower, with shave gel, using the beginner cap. (They recommend this weekly for a while.) It does work better if you pull the skin taut above where the epilator is going (this is tough with shave gel!) Also, clean the epilator after each use, and especially clean and dry it after shower use-- you don't want bacteria building up in it AND you want this thing to last! And there are instructions on whether to have the lock on or off with the electric shaver part, depending on if you use the guard or not. And go slow; it's recommended to take 15 seconds from ankle to knee. I have found the epilator grabs the hair better if you do this!
*Hang in there with the pain. I can safely say this: it hurts the most the first time, especially on the ankle and knee (due to the boniness), underarms, top of the thighs and especially the bikini/private area. Like... HURTS. If you can get past the first time, it will not hurt as much the next time-- and after another time or two, you will feel it but it doesn't really hurt. I remember how much tweezing my eyebrows hurt at first. Now I feel it but it doesn't hurt at all. Epilating is just like that. Even in the bikini area, which I had to do in several different sessions at first due to the pain. Using lotion afterward really does soothe it too.
*Use it in a well-lit area, or even better, sunlight. Or do a follow-up session in it. My bathroom has horrible lighting, and I miss some hairs if I epilate in there. Unfortunately this epilator does not have a light (when this one stops working I'll definitely be getting the one that lights your path!) So I find myself taking it outside with me the next day wearing short shorts so I can grab all the little hairs I missed. Not having a light on the unit is the one regret I have; wish I'd have purchased that version.
*You may have to epilate at different angles. That makes sense in the bikini/private area, but I was surprised to see that the hair on the sides of my upper legs, the back of my lower legs, and especially my armpits grows in many directions. Epilating works best going against the growth, so be patient and learn which direction the hair grows in different spots on your body, and then you can epilate perfectly without thinking too much about it. I have found that epilating with pretty short or somewhat long leg hair doesn't affect my pain level either way, as some have stated.
*The first time I used it, my legs had little tingly lightning-like feelings zipping across my legs an hour or two afterward. It was freaky but nothing came of it. Every once in a while I'll still get it to a much lesser extent after epilating. This seems normal.
Now that the expert tips are out of the way, here are my thoughts.
*I tell all ladies who bemoan shaving, about epilating now. I will never go back. The first time I epilated, I went 33 days before doing it again. I should have done it right at about 30-31 days as that is how long it took the hair to be noticeable. I find I can usually go a month between epilations. I wouldn't say my hair grows super quickly; when I was shaving in summer I'd have to do it twice a week or it was just too much stubble or too noticeable to be okay for work. So if you have a normal hair growth rate you should be able to go almost a month between epilations if you are okay with a tiny bit of growth coming back (to be discussed in the next thought.)
*Your leg hair really will come back finer, softer and paler. I didn't believe this until I witnessed it. I was brushing my expended leg hairs into a light-colored hair catcher over my sink, and the first dry epilation, the hairs were still coarse and thick and dark compared to when I dry epilate now. Now, the hairs are mostly blond, and so wispy when I brush them out of the epilator that it looks like soft fibers shaved from fabric that stuck together. I mention this not only because it's great, but because it can grow back much more without being noticed. Maybe you won't go 30 days without getting regrowth-- but you may not even notice it unless you look closely! I have also found this to be true of the underarm area, which is the best. It is SO nice not to have to shave my underarms every time I shower!
*The battery life is pretty great. I can absolutely do an entire session on one full charge, and my follow-up outside in the sun to grab the ones I missed, plus some. It's nice. The portability is necessary too. I almost bought a corded version of this at first, but didn't want to be chained to an outlet. It was the right choice if you can afford it!
*I did have redness the first time (maybe two) I epilated, so I did it at night at first so I could sleep the redness away. I'm a pale redhead prone to my skin being pink, and would not have wanted to have bare legs the day after the first time I epilated-- so keep that in mind. After that though, I can do it in the morning and be good to go by afternoon.
*Finally, maybe this is a little personal, but when epilating the bikini/private area, it is essential to pull the skin taut as much as you can. Since the hairs are very concentrated across that area, and it's very sensitive anyway, pulling the skin tight is really necessary or it will hurt a lot more. Since it took me a LOT longer to complete this area (I could only bear to do a small section every now & again), I can't speak yet to whether the hair grows back finer or paler, but I hope to have an update on that soon. I do know that when I had a hair or two regrow in that area, it didn't hurt much to grab it with the epilator (I could feel it but it didn't hurt, I could just feel it being grabbed), which was SUCH a relief. But maybe that was just because it wasn't a large concentration of hairs at once.
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