Review: Braun Silk Epil 9 Epilator SkinSpa

One of the irritating things about being female is that most of us don’t particularly want to be strolling about with hairy armpits, legs and everything else. Yes, societal norms dictate that we remove it, although obviously it’s down to personal choice, but I do prefer to remove it. I’ve had one not very pleasant experience of waxing (I bled – not sure what went wrong!) and found it messy and time consuming for results that were not that great. Since then I’ve used razors, either disposable ones or a hand held electric one, which do the job but I need to do it every other day in the summer to keep on top of regrowth, which is frustrating. Until now I’d not tried an epilator before, and if i’m honest I wasn’t really sure how the differed from a razor. But for the past month or so I’ve been using the Braun silk epil SkinSpa Sensosmart. Here’s how it works and how I got on with it:

What is it & why should you use it?

An epliator is like a whole set of tweezers (40!) on a roller that spins incredibly fast and whips out your hairs. It can be used on your legs, underarms, bikini area and even face. An epilator is a really efficient way to remove hair from the root, of up to 0.5mm in length, which in turn means it takes longer to grow back. This Epliator, the first ‘smart epilator’ uses senso-smart tech to give an intuitive experience. The 4-in-1 Skinspa collection gives a shaver, epilator and two exfoliation brushes.

Epilating is a good idea because it reduces hair growth over time, and means you can go longer between hair-removal sessions. This model can be used in the bath or shower too to help reduce the (inevitable) pain.

What’s in the box?

You get a white and rose gold, two speed rechargeable Epilator, with interchangeable heads: a wide shaver, two body-brushes that rotate when attached and a separate razor for the bikini line with two different trimmer attachments. You also get a manual and a drawstring carry/storage pouch, cleaning brush plus a charger. Basically everything you need to remove hair from wherever you choose to! You will need a two-pin plug adaptor though, we have one for our electric tooth brush so can use the same one.

How do you use it

If you’ve used an electric shaver in the past then it’s pretty much the same, but (I won’t lie) with added pain. However the more you use it the more you get used to the pain, and if you use it on shorter hairs (ie after shaving a couple of days before) it is less painful than longer hair. Start by prepping the area you’re going to work on with the body exfoliation brushes (you can add a body scrub or exfoliating shower gel at this point too if you like) to remove dry skin and help any ingrown hairs, which will give you a better, cleaner epilation. Using the epilator in the shower or bath in warm water can help with the pain too. I used an Aloe lotion after each shave to cool the area which helps I think but even after a month of using it the pain is a lot less than the first time! Unlike with a razor I find you only need to go over each area once, and as the head is 40% wider than previous models you cover a wider area with each stroke.

There are two speed settings (bite the bullet and go for the fastest one, honestly!) as well as a light so you can see the area you’re working on. The head pivots to contour to your curves, and has tiny little pinwheels to stimulate your skin as you use it, keeping a 90 degree angle you run it up the area (against the way the hair grows) and the forty little tweezers work their magic to whip your hairs out, even ones as small as a grain of sand!

What are the results?

Smooth, hair free legslaser hair removal

I’ve not tried the Epilator anywhere but my legs yet, though I do plan to use it on my underarms before I have to start wearing strappy tops in the spring but for now it’s working brilliantly for my legs, and the shaver attachments are perfect for my bikini line. Using the two body brushes has really helped other areas of my body too, this time of year can mean really dry skin and I’ve been using the finer brush on my upper arms, shoulders and chest to gently exfoliate, and the denser brush on my legs.

It’s an expensive option vs a battery operated razor, for example, but you get a super-fast epilator, a shaver, bikini-line shaver and two body rotating body brushes the cost per use comes right down… plus you won’t need to use it as much so it will last a lot longer!