Braun 5270 Silk-épil X'elle Body System Epilator

Comment: This is my first experienece with epilating and I must say it is a bit painful for me even after three times of usage. This despite the fact that I have been getting my body professionaly waxed every month so it's not like I have a low pain threshold. I love the fact that that this device has a light that makes you see hairs that you would otherwise miss, and yes, the pain is getting better with each use but I have two problems with it:
I don't know if it's just me, but I have been having more ingrown hair on my legs after using this machine than I ever have.
Second, Although the manual advices against using it on very short hair (I mean hair that's not even reached it's mid length), I like to use it on very short hair or medium length as it eases the pain. Anybody else had a similar experience? Is there any problem with doing this?

I can't say if the machine is better than others, but definetely worth your money as it saves you the money you'll spend on waxing.

Comment: I just got this today and tried it right away because my old epilator broke. I still feel a little pain although I have been using them for a long time. It is not really bad, just a little pain. What I liked the most was the ease of use on my underarms. Even though the hair was small, it took all of the hair off. I also used it lightly on my legs and worked really good. Keep in mind I was just trying it so I did not do the whole job on my legs. I will finish tomorrow. I really like the light because it points to the hair that I would not otherwise seen. This is also not as noisy as my old epilator so that is a plus.
I think I am going to like it very much. It has a great grip and I like the plug because is not too big and I can have something else plugged in the bathroom. I have not used the shaver yet but I will update this review as time goes by. I thought the price was reasonable since I had paid about the same amount for my last epilator about 4 years ago.

Comment: I only recently tried using an epilator for the first time. I borrowed a friend's emjoi while on vacation and I liked it. I decided to get my own and purchased this instead because it had a lot more reviews than the emjoi epilators with a good average rating. I was disappointed in this. It doesn't do as good of a job removing the hair. It seems to have some trouble removing some hairs and also cuts them instead of pulling from the root. Also, corded is more of a burden than I thought it would be. The epilator is harder to clean. With the emjoi, all I had to do was knock the head on the sink a couple times and it would be completely clean. I didn't want to return someone's epilator with my hairs stuck on it! The Braun on the other hand is a pain to clean even when I use the cleaning brush it's still never clean. The hairs get trapped in the "tweezers" and you'd have to pull hair out of each slot one by one to get it totally clean... Not only that, but this somehow pulled at my skin when I did my armpits and I ended up getting blisters!

I'm returning this one and getting the Emjoi. I should have stuck with what worked for me but I thought this would be better. The only thing that makes this Braun better than Emjoi is that Braun is made in Germany and Emjoi is made in China.

Comment: I love my epilator (bought in 8/08). This was my first one and I bought this one on a recommendation from another mom. I HATED shaving and that every time I would within 12 hours I would be all prickly again. So someone suggested the Bruan Silk-epil for all its perks.

Pros:
The light is the best thing! It helps me find the hair and even the ones that are ingrown so I can get them out first. Even with the 3 lights on in my LR, I can't get enough light to match what the light gives me.

The multiple heads. There is the roller one for the newbies. It does help with the lessening the pain in the beginning (especially if you pull the skin taut). But after the first few uses (6 or so) I graduated to the other one. I still use it for underarms & bikini. The "scraping" one I use now to help pick up the hair so it can be pulled. I only have to do it once a week (when I get around to it).

Pain. IT DOES GET BETTER!!! It does hurt if you don't use it correctly. But I found with the roller head and the lower setting, it helps. I never waxed my legs but did pull my hair out with tweezers. It does sting a bit (like getting the eyebrows waxed) but gets better over time. The more you use it, the less it hurts. The back of the legs around the knees and upper thigh do hurt the worst. But not as much as it did before. Also I burned my legs when I was younger and still have some residual scarring that gives me a bit more pain.

Shaving? I don't shave anymore. I can't stand what happens after I shave and it makes the hair coarser for the next time I do epilate. I stopped doing it for awhile on the underarms & bikini but I think I am going to get back into it. Just make sure you pull the skin taut!



Cons:
Noise. It is a bit noisy but as I have nothing to compare it to, I am not sure how it compares to others. I just use it at night when everyone is asleep.

Over-heat? I do feel that if I use it too long (been awhile for me using it) that it gets hot. So I found that if I watch TV & turn it off during the commercials, it cools down enough so that it will last through the entire session.

Must dos!
-Put a towel under you. It is the best way to catch the hair
-Switch legs if the pain gets too much
-Do it over several days if need be so that there isn't too much pain all at once
-About 4-5 days after finishing the legs, use a scrubbie on your legs depending on when new hair starts to grow back). It helps to stop the ingrown hairs.
-Distract yourself with something; TV, movie, music. It will make the pain lessen as you mind is focused on the TV than on the pain.

I did buy this in the summer of 2008 (2 years ago) but I have not used it on a regular basis (every 1-2 weeks). So I cannot tell you how long it lasts. I am hoping I can get at least one more year out of it. Even if I used it every 2 weeks for 1 year, it still pays for itself with the cost of razors nowadays.

Comment: Product Usage:
Some reviews say that it didn't hurt much at all. Other reviews say it hurt a fair bit during the first use. My first time use was very painful and it took quite a while for me to finish the first session. My second session was MUCH quicker and far less painful. Most of the time, I felt a mild plucking sensation as opposed to the "OW!" feeling I had during the first use. If you wax semi-often, it shouldn't hurt much at all. This thing is basically controlled waxing. Sensitive areas of the body included ankles, wrists, elbows, and knees. If you're one of those who find epilation painful on the first use, try setting it to the "slow" mode and twisting your wrist left and right as if you were making paint brush strokes. This will get hairs bit by bit while pulling the epilator back after it grabs a few, reducing the first-time pain from "constant" to "semi-constant".

Women with smaller hands may find the unit a little akward to use, especially when getting the hard to reach spots like the back of a leg or arm. Also, I've never felt a pinching feeling when the epilator is pressed too close to the skin. Finally, redness will occur from use so I advise using it a full 24-48 hours BEFORE going somewhere important or when doing something in which you feel looks matter. Two days after use and still smooth skinned! I have seen many people suggest using a mild moisturizer though after epilation to soothe your skin.


The Smartlite:
Ingenious idea! It helps highlight the hairs in the area you've got the light near and can show you hair in places you might not have expected to see it in. Without this, I would never know if I had gotten all the hairs or not.


Product came with:
The epilator came with a "beginner" head that's supposed to sooth the skin and lessen the feeling of pain through vibrations but I haven't noticed a difference between either the beginner head or the precision head. It also came with a shaving head for the men afraid to try it on a particularly long haired area. The shaver also came with an attachment that combs the longer hair is "certain areas" into the trimmer, making for easy shaving/trimming. The trimmed hair doesn't feel prickly or stabby-sharp like hair does a day after shaving.


Storage:
The product came with a durable feeling, draw-string pouch large enough to contain everything. Everything being the shaver head, various attachments, power cord, cleaner brush, and the epilator itself without feeling as if I were cramming the pouch overly full of things. So, storage is fairly easy.


Cons:
Occasionally, I had to turn the machine off to let the motor cool off in fear of it otherwise burning out during my first-time area use session because it was taking so long due to me being a wimp with pain. Second time use, I didn't encounter this problem. Secondly, it is a bit noisy so I avoid using it late at night or before the average household bed time.


Overall, this is a good product and worth the money but I would still suggest people shop around for the best price. $50 USD+ is a LOT of money to pay for anything these days so make sure you get the best damned deal you can!