I have used it for years…Hair grows very hard -worse than after shaving -and I am full of ingrowns and bumps.I stopped using it for 1.5 year and shaved.I decided to start waxing at a professional.My problem is that hair never grows the same time.So if I wax, after 3 days I am full of hair again…what can I do?it seems impossible for my hair to grow the same time again…what can I do?please help
hi zina,
sorry to hear about the epilator; i had the same problem, stopped using it and went back to waxing and then eventually LHR.
there are hairs in all stages of growth at any one time. i don’t think you can make them all grow at the same time. this is a problem us hairier people have. a week after waxing, we are pretty hairy again.
if you are suitable for it, consider laser hair removal. i can’t recommend it enough for somewhere like the legs. see the last page of my thread!
thank you!about laser… won’t I need multiple treatments because of hair’s different cycle of growth ?
I let them grow to go for wax(I waited almost a month to the point they were very long) but still after a couple of days I was hairy.
I am thinking of shaving and starting laser next year that I will be able to afford it.
Legs are one of the few places where one can do most of the work yourself in electrolysis. You could clear your shins all by yourself with a little reading, practice and cultivated skill. Get a hair removal buddy to trade work with, and for less than one L.A.S.E.R. treatment, you could do both of your legs. You don’t even need better than a 3 diopter circle lamp to do it. In fact, some people do them with no magnification at all.
I am afraid of making scars with electrolysis…
If you did it with galvanic, or blend, you would be unlikely to scar yourself, as you would not likely sit still for a treatment that was strong enough, or long enough to do that. Thermolysis, on the other hand, would be much more likely to have negative results in the hands of a novice.
Great idea if one doesn’t have the money for Laser but has plenty of free time.
James, I am just waiting for an appropriate machine to come up on ebay so I can start work on my sister. I shall use her body to practice in the hope of being good enough to tackle her face one day. I just hope I have the time to practice enough!!
I trust you will be diligent enough to get the job done. Read your books, and take it slow. Start with galvanic, on her legs, and then work up to blend, and if you start to feel cocky, you can move on to try thermolysis… ONE HER LEGS. Later, when you want to go to the face, start over with galvanic only again, and work your way up.
Is waxing better than epilating?
Yes, that’s right. But if the right settings are used and you space treatments properly, it shouldn’t be too many.
My lower legs were mostly done after 3 treatments. In the 4th I just had the upper leg treated plus the top of my shin as there was still a little bit of coarser hair there.
Shaving until then sounds like a good idea. However, about 8 weeks before your first Laser treatment (or however long it takes your legs to look like a “full” growth"), I would recommend you to wax it. This way most of the hair that comes through by the first treatment can be effectively treated.
I really think so. In the beginning epilating seemed fine but over the years my legs got more and more messed up! Even though I wasn’t exclusively epilating; it was for between waxes.
I switched to just waxing (and more often), first just the legs, then the arms. My underarms seemed okay with it so I kept going but then they were the first place I started Laser in July 2008.
I liked to wax often so had my own wax heater but I did know how to wax properly, which is important. You would need to be professionally waxed at least a few times and see how they do it.
I really think so. In the beginning epilating seemed fine but over the years my legs got more and more messed up! Even though I wasn’t exclusively epilating; it was for between waxes.
I switched to just waxing (and more often), first just the legs, then the arms. My underarms seemed okay with it so I kept going but then they were the first place I started Laser in July 2008.
I liked to wax often so had my own wax heater but I did know how to wax properly, which is important. You would need to be professionally waxed at least a few times and see how they do it. [/quote]
When I first epilated it seemed okay. I have only done it a handful of times. In those times twice I had really bad red bumps which hurt and has left marks which I didn’t have before. Is not using wax strips okay?
Yes you can. Personally I don’t like them as even the multiuse ones don’t seem to work for more than one ‘application’, so you would go through a lot. Sometimes it can be hit and miss and lots of hairs get left behind, then you have to use another strip sigh lol
Lol oh okay so you prefer the hot wax then? Shivers. Looks better though.
piping in on the epilator talk - i have a braun silk epil that i use on my lower legs and knees, i had massively coarse hair on my legs, and i had to shave everyday… even two times a day, and this method has really helped my hair to grow back finer, and it doesn’t hurt very much anymore unless i leave it a couple of weeks which i would not have been able to do a couple of years ago… andi find the least painful way to do it is to go in circles so you take more at the smae time, mine also has a’massager’ that helps take the pain away, but its only a scratchy couple of spikes that scratch while i epilate!!!
The hair didn’t get finer. You’re just epilating it before it has a chance to fully go back to what it used to be. Don’t do anything for 3-4 months and you’ll see it all come back just the same. Epilating doesn’t change the structure of the hair.
ah that makes sense, but i still don’t want to wait for it to come back like that! 
Just adding on to this - do any of you know of a ‘silent’ epilator?
Im quite paranoid using mine every 2nd day as i share accommodation and it’s so noisy and obvious. please help!
I really have not heard of such a thing!
Perhaps you could get a cordless model and use it some place else?
Good point. While I know this is true, I often say my hair “is finer” due to epilating just to talk about the appearance as compared to stubble which looks “more thick” - even though it really isn’t.
I think I’m going to start clarifying from now on, though. Thanks! 