Epilators are one of the modern technologies that are used to remove unwanted hair. Epilators are electrical devices that mechanically rotate, grasping and pulling out hairs at the same time.

Epilators get their name from epilating, which means to remove hair from the roots within the skin, unlike the depilatory methods that only cut the hair on the surface level.

Epilators are often called electronic tweezers, and they were designed to be just that.

Tweezers were able to remove hair from the root, but since they only pulled one or two hairs at a time, they were only meant to be used around small areas.

Epilators were designed to apply the same principle, but for larger and hairier areas, and at a much quicker pace.

This method of hair removal can be used on the legs, arms, underarms, face, and even around your intimate areas. It is also used by both men and women.

The History Of Epilators And The Different Types

Epilators first emerged in the 1980s when a company in Israel released the Epilady, which was the forerunner of the electric hair-removing devices, and a name that remains prominent to this very day.

This early design of an epilator made use of a coil spring that curved so that the coils would be pressed together as the motor rotated.

The flaw in the design was that the springs would continuously bend which would lead to the device failing to operate.

The head or the rotating motor with the coils would then be sold separately for the sake of replacing the ones that no longer functioned.

Remington was the next manufacturer to introduce an epilator, but their design consisted of a series of discs that would rotate, instead of springs.

Due to the similarities in the way that the rotating disk and coil springs operated, Remington faced litigations for idea theft, but they walked away victorious, allowing other manufacturers in the future to use their rotating disc concept for their own epilator design.

Modern epilators make use of the tweezer type of design, where complete discs are no longer used. Instead, the rotating part of the head will consist of a series of paired metal plates.

As the head rotates, their pair of plates will move together and then apart as they rotate, and grasp the hairs the way a tweezer would.

As the device rotated, the plates would separate to allow in the hairs, move together to grip it, pull out the hair as it continued to rotate, then discard the hair as the plates separated again.

When epilators first rose to prominence, they still needed cords to be plugged into an outlet in order to function.

Nowadays, the devices have a built-in rechargeable battery for a cordless experience that offers convenience, allowing you to carry them wherever you feel comfortable enough to sit and remove your unwanted hair.

The cordless design was also added with the intention of using the epilator in the shower. These epilators are known as the wet use type so that they could get wet without electrocuting you.

The idea behind the wet use was so that the soaked skin, and the optional addition of skin cream or gel, would help minimize the painful sensation you feel when the hairs are pulled out from the root.

Wet hairs also offered better results, because epilating dry hairs could result in the hair breaking at the surface level, instead of being pulled out from the root.

How Epilators Works

Epilators offer the same principle as waxing, sugaring and tweezing, in the sense that unwanted hair is removed from the roots.

However, instead of applying a sticky substance or pulling the hairs out manually one at a time, the device with rotate and sort of tweezing several hairs at a time as it is moved across the skin.

No matter which type of epilator you use, the principles on how to use it remain the same.

To start off, hold the device at a 90-degree angle to your skin. Pull your skin taut in order to let the hairs stick out and to minimize a small portion of the pain, then move the epilator slowly in the same direction as the hair growth.

Never move the epilator in the opposite direction of the hair growth, as the quickness of the rotating head and the resistance of the hair in the skin can cause the hair to break and be cut at the surface level, which is the opposite effect of what we desire when using an epilator.

That’s all there is to it. All you need to do is prep the skin, turn on the epilator, and move it slowly in the correct direction.

Moving the epilator too quickly across the skin will result in several hairs being missed and not pulled out. But even slow movements can have the same results.

You may need to run the epilator over the same area a few times to pull out all the hairs.

The DO’S And DON’ts Of Epilators

DO’S:

Like all the other methods of hair removal, you will need to prep your skin first before you go pulling out all the unwanted hairs.

A good exfoliation is highly recommended before you start epilating, maybe a day or two before. Epilators only pull out the hair, they don’t remove any of the dead or living skin cells on the surface.

And once the hair is pulled out, the shaft could be filled with dead skin cells, dirt, and bacteria, which could result in infections. You should, therefore, remove any excess particles on the surface of the skin before epilating.

You may experience some reddening on the areas where the hair was pulled out. For this reason, it would be best to epilate unwanted hair at night, so that your skin can heal overnight and the redness should be gone by the next morning.

Epilators often have different speed settings. If you are using it for the first time, or you know that your tolerance for pain is very low, then you should begin with the slow speed setting.

Once you have grown accustomed to the sensation of hair being pulled from the roots, then you can increase to a faster speed setting.

Post-epilating skincare is very important. Make sure you don’t forget to moisturize your skin to reduce irritation but don’t use oil products that could get trapped in the pores and block them.

The best product to use after epilating is an aloe vera soothing gel, which doubles as a moisturizer, and its cooling effect can soothe the irritation you feel after pulling out a bunch of hair.

Another important thing you should always practice is cleaning your epilator. After every use, you should clean your device in order to remove all the hairs, and then you should rinse it with alcohol to sterilize it.

A clean epilator is necessary for the next time you use it so that you don’t transfer any bacteria or dirt particles into the pores of your skin when you’re pulling out hair.

DON’TS:

It was mentioned earlier, but I’m going to repeat it for emphasis’ sake – do not move the epilator in the opposite direction of hair growth.

Hair breakage is very likely to happen when you do this, and the whole point of epilating is to pull the hair out from the roots in order to get the long-lasting results that you desire.

Don’t rush the process. This device is going to grip and pull your unwanted hair out a few at a time.

Be patient and do it slowly, making sure to carefully go over every inch of your skin that needs treating. This might be slow and tedious, but it’s worth it. Otherwise, you may leave more hair behind than you intended.

The last thing you should not do is press the epilator hard against your skin. You don’t need to apply any pressure.

In fact, applying pressure can prevent the metal plates from gripping the hairs, because the pressure may push the hairs into the skin. All you need to do is hold it loosely against your skin for it to be effective.

Some Advantages And Disadvantages Of Epilators

One of the biggest advantages of using an epilator is the visible results of a smooth and hairless appearance that lasts for long periods of time. You can expect to enjoy a hair-free life for three to six weeks at a time.

This varies from person to person as everyone’s hair grows at a different rate. But even if the results only last for a couple of weeks, its better than needing to shave daily.

Epilators are one of the few methods of hair removal that do not require a trip to an estheticians office. These devices were designed to easily, effectively, and conveniently help you remove unwanted hair from the comfort of your home.

The constant removal of the hair from the roots will damage the hair follicle over time. This means that every time you epilate, your hair will grow back slower, thinner, and lighter in color each time.

The hairs that are always pulled out during their actively growing stage (anagen stage) will stop growing back eventually, leaving you with a permanent reduction of hair growth in the future.

You can enjoy results that last even longer when you epilate for years.

Unlike other methods of epilation like waxing, epilators can even grip the shortest of hairs.

Short hairs don’t offer enough surface area for the wax to stick to in order to get a firm grip for the pull-out motion, but epilators can grip hairs that are as short as 1/16 of an inch.

You won’t have to wait and grow out your hairs before your next epilating session – you can do it as soon as you see the hairs sticking out of your skin.

Epilators will save you a ton of money in the future. You might need to dig a little deeper into your pocket to buy a good-quality epilator, but that is just a one-time expense.

Your device can last you years where you don’t have to buy wax, and paper strips, and disposable shavers that need replacing on a weekly basis.

The only thing you will need to buy is soap, exfoliants, and moisturizers for the before and after skincare treatment.

That’s it! Since you’re not buying shaving cream or other disposable parts, and it doesn’t need much electricity to function, epilating is considered one of the greenest methods of removing pesky little unwanted hairs.

These electric tweezing devices can be used on any type of hair: thick or thin, coarse or fine, short or…well, preferably short. Longer hair should be trimmed first.

You can use them on any part of your body. The epilator you use on your body is not ideal for facial hair, but there are smaller epilators on the market that are designed specifically for the softer and finer facial hair.

Those devices are even smaller in order to accurately pull out hairs on your face, like when you cant to pull out rogue hairs around your eyebrows and upper lip.

Like every method of epilation, the act of pulling out hair from the root can be a bit painful, but it differs for each person because those with a high tolerance for pain will say that they hardly feel anything at all.

The good news is that the pain will diminish over time, as you will have grown accustomed to the pulling out of your hairs.

Since the hairs grow back thinner, the experience will not be as painful as it was the first time when you pulled out a thick and healthy hair.

However, the area that is being treated can also factor in whether you will feel pain or not.

For example, the area around your most intimate parts is more sensitive, so you can expect to feel a burning sensation when you remove the hair here.

You will most likely experience the typical side effects of any epilation method, which includes more sensitive and irritated skin, as well as some reddening. All this is perfectly normal and should disappear by the next day.

New hairs that grow back after being pulled out have a tendency of growing inwards, resulting in annoying little ingrown hairs. This is a common disadvantage that most epilating methods experience.

One of the ways of treating this is to exfoliate a day or two before and after an epilating session.

Most people claim that the advantages of epilators far outweigh the disadvantages and that the results are worth the side effects.