Compared to my Epilady...
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] the Braun epilator is amazing!
I left my Epilady on the bathroom counter once and my boyfriend, like all boys, was incredibly curious and turned it on. I think I heard a mild shriek, oh, and then something that sounded like terror and it was off. I explained to my slightly mortified boyfriend that epilators are amazing. It takes a little longer than shaving because you have to go over certain spots a few times but there are some serious advantages to not having to shave. I spend substantially less having to buy razors, new blades, and shaving cream. My "shave" lasts longer. And I feel like there isn't a lot of stubble when the hairs start to grow back. I loved my Epilady. Until I met the Braun.
Trying the Braun silk-epil was such a different experience. For starters, it's so much quieter! Even on the highest setting, it's substantially less "grinding" than the Epilady. But that doesn't mean it performs worse, in fact, it's just the opposite! The Braun is able to hug around those annoying to reach places like the kneecaps and behind the knee. Like a man's electric shaver, it just effortlessly glides around and you're left with amazingly smooth skin! So unlike the Epilady...I have to bend and twist and contort to get my skin straight so I can get those areas; and I'm pretty convinced that it's left me with a few ingrown hairs! And it hurts. Epilating is painful the first time, period. My Epilady plucks very efficiently but I can feel it. I could feel tugs with the Braun but it was so much more gentle.
The Braun comes with a selection of seven attachments. The Epilady comes with 2 attachments; one with a guard and one without. I never found much of a difference in either of them, so I hardly every swap them out. The Braun has the tweezer and the shaver and the tweezer has 4 attachments and the shaver one. It took a little of swapping and popping and I looking at some pictures and the manual to figure all of them out, but a couple of them are pretty handy!
The tweezer head comes with "massaging rollers" that I really enjoyed. There are a couple of attachments that minimize the surface area the tweezers can pluck. One said it's for the face and another for sensitive areas like the bikini line. Not going to lie, I used the facial one and per the instructions, you definitely want to put it on the lowest setting or you'll look like a 16 year old girl who just made out with a guy with the world's prickliest beard. What I liked most about these attachments is that there's an arrow so you know which side is which. It's pretty error proof and super easy to detach and swap with a different attachment.
When switching to the shaver attachment, there's a button on the top to eject the tweezer attachment. The shaver attachment comes with a plastic guard I think is meant for longer hair and looks like something my boyfriend uses when he shaves his head. I tried the shaver on a little bit of hair I found on my leg and it works but it was as "instant" as the tweezer head.
There are two other features of the Braun I really appreciated having. One was the built in light. I like shaving in a bright room. Like surgical lighting bright. Never mind that I'm almost blind but I need to see those hairs! The light was nice to see where the hairs are but if you're in a room darker than the light on the epilator, your eyes do some crazy adjusting as you're shaving. The other feature I liked is that at the bottom of the Braun, there's a + and - sign. It's actually a battery indicator. It started flashing red after my hours of experimenting and I realized it needed to be charged. Even though the battery is low, the device doesn't slow down unlike the Epilady. The Epilady just moves slower and sounds like it is dying. The Braun just kept purring at it's same speed but just flashed red at me to let me know that it needed juice.
Braun provides a quality product true to their name. The device is slick, fits nicely in your hand, has multiple attachments to choose from, and provides a smooth shave. It's quiet. It's gentle. And best of all you get a pouch to carry it, and all it's pieces, in.
