Epilators - am I expecting too much?

[fizzyroselemonade]

Hi, after years of shaving my legs I bought an epilator in April. I had tried one years ago and it was exceptionally painful so I gave up. I decided to be brave and actually found it tolerable - I wouldn’t even describe it as painful - and even managed to do my underarms!

the trouble is, I find I am having to use it really often (every 3-4 days). I had expected the regrowth to be slower but it isn’t at all. Am I expecting too much or is this normal?

Sounds normal, i hated mine so replaced it with a braun laser thingy, i rarely have to shave anywhere now which id freedom in itself.

You need to let it all grow out for a couple of weeks and get it all in one go, otherwise the hair follicles are all in different growth cycles so will keep popping up.

I did wonder if that would be better but I think isn’t as effective on blonder hair (like mine). Will do some research…

Oh right. I’ll hang on then and leave bigger gaps between goes. Good job shorts weather is nearly over!

Agree with this, and the same with waxing. I left mine for about 3 weeks when I first started to try and make sure as much of it had grown as possible. Now I only have to do it once every 2 or 3 weeks, if that

Agree with this. I think mine had something in the instruction manual about how often you need to do it to start with, then once all the hair is at the same growth stage you don't need to do it so often.

I never had much success with one. I also found they often broke off the hairs which rather defeats the point

I’m blonde and I thought the same after buying a Braun IPL a couple of years ago and used it according to the instructions. It didn’t work.

There was a thread on here a few months ago about IPL and somebody said it did work on their blonde hair eventually. I decided to give it another go but this time ignoring the instructions and doing it twice a week rather than once a fortnight. It has been a few weeks now and it has definitely made a difference so I’m going to carry on until it’s gone.

This is all so helpful thanks everyone! If only I’d read the actual instructions instead of just piling in 😬
I’ll leave it longer between uses and see if that improves things.
helpful to know that about IPL @330ml The machines are Christmas / birthday present prices so I’ll see nearer the time how it’s going

I use mine every week. Have done for about 15 years and the hairs aren't that noticeable after a week. I don't leave them all to grow out as it hurts a lot more. It takes about 20 minutes to do both legs top and bottom. I only do legs with it, not brave enough for anywhere else!

I never thought for a minute I would be able to do my underarms @RosieHosie but it wasn’t that different from my legs. I use baby powder to make sure the skin is bone dry first.

They are still not cheap cheap but you can get them on Ebay secondhand for considerlably less than new.

Look for "Used once but didn't like it" or "Unwanted gift" in the listings and study the pictures carefully. That's what I got and it was as new.

You have to go quite slowly with an epilator otherwise it misses some of the hairs.

I use one on my legs and bikini line but I've never been brave enough to try it on my armpits! I wish you could get a really small one for eyebrows as it is so tedious to pluck them with tweezers - I react badly to waxing and the only threading place that is any good is right over the other side of town.

I have a small one which I use on my chin. It's fab, but not small enough for eyebrows.