I have a Braun silk-epil and it hurts WAY too much. It feels like it’s ripping the skin apart.
I don’t know whether it’s the brand of epilator, or my technique/preperation, but fuck, i just can’t bring myself to it. When i bought my epilator i asked for the most effective epilator, with pain not being a factor. I thought i could handle it. But i can’t.
What i’m asking for is this:
What is the most painless brand epilator? I will exchange it for another. Or are they all the same, pain-wise?
What is the most painless technique. Against the hair? With the hair? Coldest possible room tempreture? Hottest possible room tempreture? ANYTHING
Can you refer me to any place this has been discussed before.
Well the only place i have used it has been my upper arms (both arms). It took about 2 or 3 hours and it hurt sooo much. I could only get 1 and a half arms done.
That was about a month ago. I tried to re-epilate my arms again last night because the hair has grown back, but i couldn’t bring myself to do it because of the pain.
I also plan to epilate my stomach, back, butt, and thighs. But it’s going to be too painful!!
Also, would using a “starter head” greatly reduce pain? Or is it too useless.
Also, does the cooling glove actually reduce pain? I tried it initially, but it just made my skin wet which made it harder to epilate because the epilator would grip to the skin more. I also couldn’t tell if it were less painful or not.
The first thing you need to do is either trim or shave the hair down to a short stubble. Trying to epilate on fully grown, long curly hair is like you said, murder. But if you just start with the recommended 5mm or shorter hair then it shouldn’t hurt so much.
And then once you do it, especially on the arms, immediately apply rubbing alcohol on it. The alcohol will relax or tighten your pores (don’t know which) and it cuts down on the red spots/irritations real good.
As for what type you got, I recommended a Braun 5270 and it seems that you got an earlier model. That may be one of the problems.
Mine didn’t come with a cooling glove, although some 5270s apparently do.
As for the least painful technique, against or with the grain? Well, neither. That’s not the issue. You’re always gonna feel the slight pull no matter what you do. But the most effective way to remove the hair is whatever way it works best for that particualr hair. Sometimes against the grain, as you would for shaving works best. Other times, it’s perpendicular to the hair. In other words, from the side of the direction of growth. Why? I’m not sure. I just find that certain hair gets grabbed better from the side. Upper arms maybe one area for that case.
I just can’t stress enough that you should epilate shorter hair. Although I’m not exactly a good candidate to talk about the pain level as being a spinal injury patient, I don’t have 100% feeling all over my body. But I do feel it in most if not all areas, just not as intense as a normal person.
On the contrary. Probably the upper arms are the most painful. The hair on the outer portion on the upper arm grows in so many different directions that it’s hard to get that area, for one. So you’re probably grabbing several hairs at different angles and that’s where the pain comes in.
The legs are probably the least painful. At least when you’re doing short stubble. Stomach ain’t so bad either. Chest is probably a bit more sensitive as there ain’t much mean between the skin and the rib cage. Unless of course you have some decent pecs.
I don’t mean to be blunt, but haven’t you said before that you had an accident that affected your spine and now you’re in a wheelchair? If so, wouldn’t you be more likely to feel pain on the higher half of your body (i.e. upper arms as opposed to stomach).
I only ask because i hope you are right. I have only ever epilated my upper arms, and if they’re the most painful, then that’s great news for me.
I don’t mean to be blunt, but haven’t you said before that you had an accident that affected your spine and now you’re in a wheelchair? If so, wouldn’t you be more likely to feel pain on the higher half of your body (i.e. upper arms as opposed to stomach).[/quote]
Well, partially true. I did have a spinal injury in an auto accident back in Oct. '98, but it wasn’t a “complete” injury (sever), just severe bruising and inflamation. However, it did leave me a quadropallegic in the basic sense of the word. But if an injury isn’t a complete sever, then as the spinal cord heals and contracts back down, the patient can regain some if not all functionality back.
I, for example, have suffered some permanent damage. My left hand is severely handicapped. My left thumb doesn’t hardly work, and the nerve that controls the wrist and the ability to open your fingers was apparently cut. So you may ask how I can type. The ol’ hunting and picking method…however, I had decent typing skills prior to my accident, and I can hunt and peck without looking at the keyboard. I use spacial memorization basically. I remember approximately where each key is on the keyboard and I just move my left arm and my right middle finger around to the correct key. Do I have a lot of typos? Yes, but that’s what the backspace key is for.
I’m also not in a wheelchair. I was up in parallel bars within 6 months of my accident. Started using a walker within 8 months, and then went to fore-arm crutches within 2 years. So I’ve been out of the wheelchair for over 8 years now.
My point though about epilating on my skin is just this. Because the spinal injury affected my skin’s sense of sensibility, I probably don’t feel the full effect (pain) of a normal person. But I can’t imagine it being that much worse for a normal person.
In fact, after further thought, probably the most painful area to epilate is the scrotum. Honestly, I don’t know why you’re having so much problem with your upper arms. Even with what I said earlier, it still shouldn’t be that bad.
Basically the most pain comes in when you’re doing loose skin, like the scrotum, or around tendon areas. I stratched the hell out of my outer armpit when I first epilated, as it was digging into the soft web of skin there where the tendon is. I have never done that again.
I only ask because i hope you are right. I have only ever epilated my upper arms, and if they’re the most painful, then that’s great news for me.
Well, I think in your case, you just need to buck up…cowboy up as they say. Epilation works best on hair that is just stubble up to about 5-8mm I would say. Any longer, and the hair is just too long for the tweezers to grab without ripping the hell out of you. I notice this when I try to do an area that I haven’t done in some time. The easiest solution there, is to just shave it first, and then as the stubble grows back, epilate then.
Ross, i would be very interested to see your compared results.
@lagirl. I can answer that with one magical little symbol: $!
I am going away on april 5th. i think what i might do is epilate my stomach, lower back and maybe some chest a week or 2 before i leave. i am self concios about those areas.
one last question, does epilating the thighs and butt hurt more than arms/stomach? My thighs are just as hairy as my legs. Which is very hairy.
just a thought. if you can save up $300-400 every 6 months, you can get a treatment done once every 6 months. You do have the right skin and hair type for it.
Wow, fantastic post ross. thanks very much for that. VERY contributive.
What’s also cool is you’re probably about as hairy as i am. Though i probably have more chest hair in the middle part of the chest (though i’ve never epilated my chest or shaved or anything.)
And what are you talking about fat?? You’re not fat LOL.
It’s good to know stomach and thigh epilating won’t hurt as much as i think it will.
I have only ever epilated my upper arms, and if they’re the most painful, then that’s great news for me.