Braun Silk-épil Xelle 5180 Solo Epilator

I was scared when I ordered this, what have I done. But when it arrived it looked so swiz and I had a go.pleasant surprise to find a gel icepack included - must have missed this when ordering.I followed the instructions and guidelines (length of hair, moisturize etc etc) it was more effective than I had hoped for. My first couple of epilator-strokes left a few hairs but I soon learned how to hold it to get maximum effect and then it left none. It was such a satisfying feeling going over the legs a second time without pain - because all the hairs were gone! Of course its painful, but you pluck your eyebrows right? you wouldn't shave them, so why shave your legs? After a while I was so focused on what I was doing and fascinated by the effectiveness of the thing that I felt little pain. waxing is not my thing - one massive ouch that you know is coming in 1, 2....3! This epilator (I've tried other less powerful ones in the past NOT a nice experience) does it as quick as waxing but constant so you you don't risk chicken out as is tempting during the in between-pulls of waxing.I love this machine, quick, effective and no mess. you don't have the anticipation of pain and the mess caused by waxing.A massive plus was the light that shines on the skin surface. great touch.I'm now a happy plucked chicken, its been a couple of hours and the legs are starting to look less red and are back to normal temperature. Braun silk-epil is SO worth the money.Oh an BTW, for those of you complaining of ingrown hairs and redness - this is common but is not the fault of a particular epilator. It is a reaction you skin has from having hair ripped out, which in time, and with caring for your skin such as exfoliating, keeping up with the epilating etc moisturizing and so on, will get better and better.

I have to say that using epilators is a form of self-harm. Outch. .. it hurts so much. You've got to be in the right frame of mind.... this epilator is great on arms. However on my legs they didn't feel smooth afterwards... but they looked ok. I will persevere in the quest for smooth legs with this epilator.

I bought this to replace my Philips Satinelle epilator which has packed up after 10 months. This epilator is far superior in terms of results and build quality than the Philips. It pulls out more hair more quickly, due to the 40 tweezers I suspect, and the light on it is such a useful feature! It's not easy to see all the hair on your legs due to their fine texture and because of the bathroom light shining at a certain angle. So with the Philips I would always miss quite a few hairs. With the Braun this problem is no longer. My legs feel and look so smooth. I also use this epilator on my armpits and the results are better there too. There is less breakage, so more hair is pulled out by the follicle giving longer lasting results and as it is able to pull out more hair at once it's a lot quicker to use. Again my armpits look smoother.It does come with a massaging attachment to put on top of the epilator, which is designed to ease the pain. I tried it but it reduced the efficiency of the epilator quite a lot so I won't bother using it again. The pain is something you get used to quite quickly and if you use the epilator regularly it's not that painful as you don't have as much hair to epilate. It comes with an ice pack but as I won't be using it as I don't need it, I can not comment on it. But it will probably help with discomfort.It does not come with a shaver attachment but I don't use these anyway so this didn't bother me. I believe you can get a Braun epilator with a shaver attachment though. It seems easy enough to clean with the brush that is provided. NOTE: The cable is for shaver sockets (not European as some have suggested). This is fine for me as I have a shaver socket in my bathroom but some of you may need to buy an adaptor.The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because no product is perfect, especially epilators due to the nature of the job they have to do. But the results of this epilator are the best I've had, it makes epilating so much quicker and leaves your legs and armpits nice and smooth all over. Highly recommend.

What happens to Braun, used to have really nice epilators???? I decided to go for this one since it has 40 tweezers and expect it to be a better buy but guess what, I still have to go over the leg again and again and seems is taking ages before epilating just one leg. My advice, is not worth it!!

I've been using epilators for nearly thirty years so I thought this one would be handy as my hair is now fine enough for me not to need all the pain reducing extras. I couldn't afford my preferred model (a cordless one you can use wet or dry) so I thought this one would be cheap and cheerful. Unfortunately I found that it's not really very effective. It snapped most of my hairs off without pulling them out so I've got quite stubbly legs now, and it took me ~ages~ to epilate (about an hour and a half for both legs - I've never known an epilator take so long).To add insult to injury Amazon are now offering a reduced price Philips model that costs even less than this one.A total waste of money.