Epilady- bravely used mine after being scared of it for 6 months. Brilliant

[JustWonderingAbout]

... but I'm slightly nervous of getting ingrown hairs. Anyone have any tips or experiences of how to avoid this? Is it a common problem with epiladies?

Unless you are lucky, you will almost certainly get ingrowing hairs. To help prevent, exfoliate your legs regularly and use moisturiser every day. Also a good idea to use something to close the pores right after you've epilated otherwise they can become infected - someone on here recommended using Boots Cucumber Toner which I've found to be brilliant (and cheap).

Tailsin do / did you used to use an epilady? Have you given up?

I have an epilator (not an Epilady though, it's a cheapie one from QVC (Rio I think)

I love it for my legs and TBH I have never had ingrown hairs. But the leghairs are now really fine and even when they are long, they aren't very obvious.

I did a hot wax yesterday because I was doing my armpits - what a pain in the tonsils to wax my legs, epilating is much easier.

Ooh, tips

Exfoliate - before , a few days before if you can and a few days after.

Not a gritty heavy one, something fairly gentle but not an oil scrub, it leaves a 'coating' on your skin.

I've got some Eco Tan scrub (it's part of a fake tan set) and some L'Occitane Almond scrub. Both are best applied on dry skin, rub, then wash off, I used in the shower t'other day and it tends to foam up too quickly.

I use a Braun Silk-epil and had a Philips one before that. All of them will cause ingrowing hairs if your skin is that way inclined although the Braun seems to work better in that respect. I use a microfibre cloth in the bath/shower most days for exfoliation and that works for me but probably depends on skin type and sensitivity.

I've used an epilady for the last 20 years and have hardly every got ingrowing hairs. I don't bother to exfoliate either. Maybe some people are more prone to it than others? I think they are brilliant. Don't know why everyone doesn't use them.

I've used one (Philips) for the last couple of years and don't exfoliate or anything - not a single in growing hair. I think neolara might be right that some people are just prone to them (I never got them from waxing either).
If you don't usually get them, don't worry about it I would say.

I too can't understand why everyone doesn't use them, they're ace!

I definitely get worse ingrown hairs from my epilator :(
However I am lazy/forgetful about exfoliating and moisturising.

Mine is the Braun Silk Epil 7
If that makes any difference. Been hiding from it for months, too scared to use it for fear of the sheer pain! Far less painful than I remember it to have been when I first tried it - perhaps because the hair is shorter. Means I dint need to wait, hairy-legged for the next waxing appointment.