Geraden and the Epilator

by Geraden

Those of us who wear tights or pantyhose know how much nicer it is to have smooth hair-free legs. Girls have always known this, it seems, but now guys are catching on too. Not only do your legs feel better; the tights stay up better.

Followers of this blog will remember that Smoov recently changed over from waxing to epilating his legs. He posted a picture of his brand new epilator on the site, and I decided to find out more. I looked up the Braun Silk-Epil 5580 on Amazon, and found the gadget at half price of £27.40. When I mentioned this to Smoov, he said that he had just paid full price for his! However, he then emailed them to complain and he did manage to get a refund from Amazon of half of what he had paid! Smoov convinced me that £27.40 was a bargain, so I went ahead and ordered one.

It took a while to arrive, and I received it at work last Friday. I had the house to myself that evening, so when I got home I tried it out. Following Smoov's comments I did not bother with the trainer head, I plunged straight in with the regular head. I ran the epilator over my lower legs a few times, and though I could feel the pricks it was not too uncomfortable. I think it was good that I had experienced waxing – for a start, a lot of the hairs were out anyway. The discomfort level was about the same, except that with epilating it was less intense but longer drawn out. The Braun Silk-Epil 5580 has a light built into the on-off switch which shines onto the area being epilated. It is supposed to be simulated daylight, but it looked more like fluorescent light to me.

The longer hairs which were growing on the backs of my thighs were more painful to remove. I found it helpful to stretch the skin taut before running the epilator over it. Anywhere near the bikini line was very painful, but I had never waxed there. Like Smoov I got the red dots, which lasted a maximum of 24 hours.

The epilator was much more effective than wax in removing the hairs on my knees, which, because they grew straight out, did not seem to stick to the wax strips. Also their roots seemed more tenacious. Overall I found the epilator more efficient than waxing, less messy and the feel of my legs afterwards was great, not only from the lack of hair, but because the motion of the epilator head seemed to tone and massage the legs. In fact my legs felt as if they had got tights on already!

I am  not going back to shaving or waxing!

Now, does anyone want to buy half a packet of Veet Wax Strips (guaranteed unused) – a bargain at £27.40!

I will mention one thing that I found with both waxing and epilating – I suspect that many of the hairs are not actually pulled out but rather broken off at skin level. I think this because there is some stubble after 24 hours, which there would not be if the hairs had been completely removed. This may be peculiar to myself, and I would welcome comments from readers on this point.