To think epilating shouldn't be this bad?

[CrohnicallyExhausted]

I was inspired by someone on here, and bought myself a brand new epilator. I used to epilate my legs years ago, but went back to shaving, and now epilators are much fancier than the basic one I bought all those years ago, with different heads for different areas etc. I got an eBay bargain, waited excitedly for it to arrive, and finally set to work last night.

Legs- no problem, just a smidgeon uncomfortable in places.

Armpits- I put the 'sensitive' head on, set the epilator to 'slow' (for sensitive areas) and gingerly applied it to my underarm hair. Well, to say it was painful would be an understatement. And after I finally managed to pluck (sorry) up the courage to apply it for long enough for it to actually do something, I realised I was bleeding. In several places.

So am I just being a wimp, and I need to brave it and it will get better in time as the book suggests, or am I doing something wrong? The blood was particularly worrying, I think it was coming out of the hair follicle (or whatever you call the hole where the hair was) rather than the skin having been damaged.

It's hellish. I can only use it on legs. Tried arm
Pit hair and it was awful.

I found epilating my armpits akin to childbirth and I thought I had a high pain threshold.

You're no wimp < offers a comforting pat on arm>

Oooh, no, armpits HURT! I epilate my legs and bikini area, and even my toes, but I shave my armpits.

I've only ever managed to do my legs well upto the knees

I can happily sit there and tweezer my underarms, but absolutely cannot epilate them. Too much pain than its worth!

Tube of Nair at £1 works but you have to sit with your arms in the air for 10 mins before wiping it and the hair bits off. No pain whatsoever. Otherwise shave arm pits and legs

You managed your bikini area? I tried that too, and found it too painful to do much (just took the very corners off). But at least that didn't bleed!

Is there anything I can try to reduce the pain? Would an ice pack before hand help? Topical anaesthetic? (when DD had to have a blood test they put some cream on her hand first to numb it. Would teething gel do the same thing?) Dihydrocodeine?

Nair and similar doesn't do much for me unfortunately. Even if I leave it longer than the recommended 10 minutes. My favourite was the bladeless razor and cream but even that didn't get all the hair and I'd have to shave after.

I shave at the moment, but as I have dark hair I always seem to have 5 o'clock shadow- even when freshly done- so I was hoping as epilating gets the root it would look better.

Armpit hair hurts like a bastard.

It's great if you can manage the first agonising epilation though. I do my pits, the first time was hell on earth but after that keeping ontop of the regrowth is fine (do mine every week).

Maybe try some numbing cream.

Epilators are evil. My fanny flap has never recovered from the caught in the roller incident

Fanny flaps? Caught in the roller? you win!

My fanny flap has never recovered from the caught in the roller incident

Thanks armani - I don't think my cream sofa is going to recover after reading your post with a mouthful of red wine

Agree - epilating and waxing is vile. I end up with awful red chicken legs bits and find it agony. I had a 36 hour first labour and a purely natural second delivery thanks for not pressing the button on the Remifentinal, DH!

I'd rather have both, back to back, than epilate. Seriously.

I do my pits sometimes. It does get better with practice, but not exactly easy even then. If you try again my tips would be - make sure you only do it on shortish hair, so you aren't 'tweaking' lots of them without getting the full effect; and make sure the skin is taut - I get my elbow up in the air and my hand at the back of my neck to straighten out the skin. And I only go forward and back on a small section at a time, rather than trying to run right across in one go.

I find it I do my legs an then move to armpits I've been through the hot/cold sweating, the feeling sick and Thr wanting to cry and basically gone a little numb.

Why do we do this again?

You see, I used home wax kits before and was waxed professionally before my wedding and didn't think it was that bad. So I wasn't prepared for how much epilating would hurt.

I'd rather epilate than labour with a breech baby again though. Only made it to 2cm while waiting for theatre and I had had enough, never mind 10cm! (Maybe an epidural is the answer, for bikini line at least)

My tip would be get very drunk and take some morphine!

Oh fuck I did my pits once.

This was about 15 years ago and I still feel ill thinking about it.

The plus side was that the pit hair tool about a decade to recover.

*took not tool

I posted about the philips lumea thingy the other day on a similar thread. It uses light pulses (?) and isn't permanent but keeps the hair at bay for ages. I've had mine a few months and now have no hair on my legs. There are no ingrown hairs. I think it's amazing. You can read up on them on amazon. I got mine from boots.

AMum thanks for the tips. I will bear them in mind if I ever dare give it another go.

rhonda at least I have a good reason for putting myself through this- I sweat an awful lot and feel cleaner if I have no arm pit hair. If it were purely for DH's benefit I'd have told him to sod by now!

Legs easy.
Armpits fucking hurt
Bikini line fucking hurts and bleeds.

My tip would be get very drunk and take some morphine!

No! Do not operate dangerous machinery when drunk

banjo how much do they cost!? Maybe one day, but they are way out of my price range now.

I tried home electrolysis for a while, but it took so long to do and after several months I could barely see a difference.

gobbolino tempting, tempting!

armani is that how the fanny flap incident occurred?

The secret to almost painfree armpit epilating is dryness.

If the skin is at all damp or clammy, it will hurt and pull. So - wash and dry well with a towel, then apply a dusting (just a tiny amount with your hand) of talcum powder.

Then pull the skin taut and epilate away (using the 'gentle' head if necessary).

It will nip a bit but it gives a really good result with no shadow whatsoever. And the more you do it the less it hurts.

Crohnically try two paracetamol an hour before epilating.

I always epilate my underarms. I found it very painful to start with, but I hardly feel it now. I just do a quick run over every morning before I shower.