Are all epilators as crap as the Philips 8000?

[SuperABunDance]

I have the BRE735/00 from the 8000 series and it's useless. Of the ones it tries to remove, it mainly breaks off the hairs rather than pulling them out and ignores the majority of them anyway.

Is it worth going for a different brand like silk épil or are they all equally useless?

I don't know if it's just my body but they don't seem to work on me anymore, they just break the hairs as you say and/or skate over the skin grazing it along the way. I've complained and changed models a few times much to the annoyance of boots assistants but same thing. had IPL now.

I have a Braun one (Silk Epil 5) that is really good - it has a shaver head too. I don't actually have much hair to remove so that might be why but it certainly seems to work.

@tallsmallmum which have you tried?

I’ve never had one that worked- I think they have to be the worst form of hair removal (painful, ineffective and increase the risk of ingrown hairs.
I bought the Philips Lumea IPL machine and I’ve been so impressed. Especially on my bikini line and underarms where the hair is thicker and darker- I can’t shave it as frequently as I’d like to because if the hairs aren’t long enough it turns into a total mess. It requires a bit of time and commitment at the beginning, and only works well if you have fairly light skin and dark hair. But it is effective and I’d 100% recommend it over trying more epilators.

I have both an ancient and a newer silk epil and they're both pretty similar and work well. Certainly no snapping hairs. In fact they're so effective that I have a wimp technique which is to have one last shave and then start epilating daily one or two days later until it's all out. That way I never have to experience epilating all the hairs in one go!

Do you shave first or is it better done with stubble?

You shave first, if you don’t it’s more painful and smells like burning hair- if you’ve shaved then it doesn’t hurt at all. It takes a few weeks before you see results (I was really disappointed at first) but once it starts working the results are great.

I mostly just do my bikini line and underarms- you can only do small sections at a time so it’s quite time consuming to do larger areas. Although mine is now 6 years old so there might be bigger options available now.

I’ve got a silk epil and it’s great. Have been epilating for donkey’s years (pits and legs), which helps as follicles are weak / hair fine. Was brutal when I started, but I also waxed before which I think helped as hairs weren’t too thick

I use them Braun Silk Epil and think it’s great. I don’t use the attachment heads tho as more effective without.