Wednesday 16 September 2015

Braun Silk-épil 5 Epilator 5280 Review

I cannot stress upon the love I have for epilators! I took the opportunity to discard my old epilator when I moved from the Land Down Under - it was around five years old and the hair-plucking efficiency was lacking. 

Unfortunately, it took me about three months to order a new one as I decided to shave my pits (had some disposable razors). This was by far the worst decision I made in a long time. Why?

  1. Well, razors are expensive. Whether you purchase a disposable or "non-disposable/refillable" razors, at the end of the day,  it's going to end up in the bin. 
  2. Shaved hair grows back at a stupidly ridiculous rate - I don't know about you, but stubbles appear the day after shaving. 
  3. Additional shaving products needed - shaving cream. Doesn't last forever and again, goes in the bin after a while.
I hate shaving. Shaving sucks. Those unsightly, hideous stubbles return with a vengeance in less than two days. I am lazy and I do not enjoy having to repeat this process every alternate day. 

I also had a very, very, very bad experience in my early teenage years. I think I had a disposable razor with minute rust, ended up with a micro-cut (which I was completely unaware of), which turned into an abscess. Thinking it was a horrifically large pimple/boil, I waited a week to see if it will pop. Nope.  
The surface of the skin started showing hues of black and my mother took me to a skin specialist the very next day. The doctor said that he had to operate immediately. This involved a local anesthetic, a small incision, squeezing and A LOT of pus. 

Have you ever had someone pinch your underarm? It's one of the most sensitive areas with a lot of nerve endings. This is where the abscess was located. FML

Took my mother and the nurse to pin me down whilst the squeezing took place. I thought it was over when the doctor stop squeezing, but noo.... the nurse had a very long piece of gauze, dipped into an antiseptic (based on the colour, it could have been iodine) AND STUFFED IT INTO THE WOUND!! Had to return everyday for 3 days to get that damn gauze changed. 

Anyways, long story short, I was really unlucky. Might not have had it happen to you, but who knows?

Back to the original purpose of this post... I did a quick research for a new epilator candidate and decided on Braun

The website then directed me to a list of online shops which sold the product. I decided on Well.ca as it had a good deal at the time (I paid $77.95CAD with taxes included and free shipping). My purchase qualified for some free samples too! The best part? 1-3 business days free shipping for orders over $25CAD!!

So, it didn't take long before I received my parcel.


 Free samples! I love samples! Gimme more!

I love online shopping - every order delivered makes me feel like a child again during birthdays and Christmas!


 So sleek :D Definitely an upgrade from my old epilator


 Pivoting head attachment with pink massaging rollers


Efficiency cap 


Shaver head attachment


Shaver head attachment with the trimmer cap on.


 The cute, small cleaning brush.


 Cooling glove

It also comes with a white storage bag, which is big enough to store the epilator and its attachments, but not big enough for the cooling glove.

The Attempt:

The attachments were easy to swap around; no trying-to-break-your-fingernails in swapping attempts.

As of the writing of this review, I have yet to try out the efficiency cap, shaver/trimmer attachments, and the cooling glove, so I'm basing this purely on the performance of the epilator itself with the massaging rollers.

As aforementioned, as I had been shaving for a while, so my armpit hairs were course. I thought going back to epilating would be a breeze, but no....
After having the epilator hiatus, it felt like it was my very first time - it was painful!

I had to bite down on my lips to stop myself from yelping every time it yanked out those stubborn hairs.

To put this into perspective, my hairs were so course that after the torturous epilating session, I noticed a few small specks of blood. I did not take that as a bad sign, as with a good epilator, you want it to yank those little bastards out fully by the roots. This ensures a longer hair-free period.

The one thing I didn't like so much about this epilator is the bright light which is on the entire time that it was on. It is a very bright, white light, blinding at times. So bright, in fact, I think I might just be able to epilate in the dark. This feature would be very handy if you in a low-light environment, but I wish Braun would have an "OFF/ON" function for this light.

The massaging rollers... hmm. I didn't feel much of the "massaging", but I do like the rollers and the design of it. Makes it feel like it is "gliding" on my skin.

I forgot to mention that it has dual setting for speed. I tried mine out on the first setting for "extra gentle epilation". Gentle? Not really! I would probably recommend the second speed setting instead: the faster it plucks, the better. Efficiently get it over and done with.

Another good feature about this epilator is that you can wash this. I cleaned mine out with the brush only though (who has the time and effort to wash it each time?? Clean freaks) but I enjoy having the option to wash).

UPDATE:
I recently tried out the shaver head attachment and it works well. I used it on the bikini area, and was quite happy with the way it shaved. Mind you, it's more of a trimmer shaver rather than a clean-skin shave. Didn't use it with the trimmer cover.

The Results:

With any epilator, there is no 100% guarantee of plucking all of the hair by the roots - there will always be a few hair strands which breaks off. So, two days after the initial session, I did a very quick round to clean-up any missed hairs.

Flash forward a week and a half later (right now), I have like 30% of hair which has grown back. Most of them are fine hairs, with a few odd thick ones which survived the pulling of the roots.

I am so happy right now with my new epilator :)

Yes, it may hurt like a bitch initially, but with the reduction in hair growth and how fine is grows back, it won't be long before getting used to epilating. The best part is that I can expect a good several years of usage until it goes kaput/experience an electronic malfunction. Save your money and happy plucking days!

Pros:

  • Experience slower hair-growth (with finer hair as a result); longer hair-free period
  • Save a lot of money in the long-run - no additional products to worry about. Buy once, enjoy for years to come.
  • Comes with a variety of attachments and tools. [Update: shaver attachment is definitely a bonus!]
  • Yanks out the majority of hair by the roots - great tweezer hair grip.
  • Completely washable device
  • Has a guide light
  • Has a pivoting head
Cons:
  • There is some level of pain involved until your skin is used to it.
  • Initial out-of-pocket is quite high.

I'd give this product a 4.5 / 5 (the lack of 0.5 for the bright, blinding constant light feature), and highly recommend this to anyone. 



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