Braun Silk Epil Soft Pefection 3170 Epilator

I was born balbon so I have unwanted hair all over my body. Grr. I learned about epilators about 5 years ago but I just bought one, December of last year. In between those times, I survived by doing DIY waxing or by avoiding wearing shorts and skirts whenever I can't wax. I was already doing okay with waxing but after some time I felt that using an epilator would be more convenient and in the long run would save me money. So I asked my friend's mom to buy one for me in the States. I did some researching and found out that Braun is an affordable and reliable brand so I bought its Soft Perfection 3170 Model.

Silk Epil Soft Perfection 3170 Model includes:

• Massaging rollers clip - makes epilation ultra gentle. Its pulsating movement stimulates and relaxes the skin to offset the pulling sensation.
• Efficiency Pro clip - provides a thorough epilation that is now even faster. Ensuring maximum skin contact and the optimum usage position, it allows removal of even more hairs per stroke
• Epilation Head
• Epilation Body
  
• Cord Connector
• Mini Brush

The product's claim:

"Braun Silk-epil SoftPefection has been designed to make the removal of unwanted hair as efficient, gentle and easy as possible. Its proven epilation system removes hair at the root, leaving your skin smooth for weeks. With the innovative SoftLift tips and the unique arangement of tweezers it provides an exra close epilation for perfectly smooth skin, allowing the removal of hairs as short as 0.5mm as well as flatlying hairs. AS the hair that re-grows is fine and soft, there will be no more stubble.

My Experience: The first time I used it was about 6 months ago but I can still remember it very well. I was about to epilate my lower legs. I cleaned my legs and patted them dry. I got the epilator's body out of the box and attached the Epilation head. It looks like an electric shaver but with mini tweezers on top. It was very handy. Its size and shape fit my hand very well. I attached the cord to the epilator's body. First problem - I was afraid to plug it in. Since it was bought from the States I thought it uses a different voltage but it turns out it is compatible with 220V. Thank God! So I plugged it in and the moment I turned the epilator on, I had second thoughts of using it. Second problem - its loud whirring sound made me feel like it will mow my whole leg rather than just the hair and to think that it was just speed 1. I checked out how speed 2 would be and the sound got louder which is of course very discouraging. It took me a lot of courage before I can finally lay it on my legs and surprisingly it was not as painful as I thought it would be and no blood shed. hehe. Probably my experience in waxing also made me immune to the pain. I can even use it without the massaging rollers clip making epilating faster. I felt a little pulling sensation but it was very bearable. My legs became bumpy and red afterwards but it was all gone the next day and all that was left is smooth and whiter (because no more hair) legs. Yey!

Until now, I only use it on my lower legs. It takes me 15-20 minutes to epilate each of my lower leg. Sometimes one stroke is not enough to get rid of the hair in a particular area, but I can always run over it again to remove everything. I have tried it once on my underarms and I never did it again. The pulling mechanism is kinda brutal for the armpit's thin skin. I have tried it also on the bikini area and unexpectedly it was less painful than on my armpits. haha! But it would leave me weak afterwards and I would feel the discomfort as I wouldgo on. I think the smaller epilation head, which is available in other models, is meant for the sensitive parts of the body.

Recently-made Demo:
2x2 inches area on my thigh
Result: 3 side by side vertical strokes leave about 5-6 hairs. My skin got reddish and bumpy afterwards but that disappeared after a few hours as shown in third picture (with flash).


Why I Love it Over Waxing:

• I can start to epilate once hair regrowth reaches 2-5mm. wow!
• I am able to save money, cause I can use it over and over again anytime. Although initially I spent almost P3000 for this, still in the long run I would save a lot. It is run by electricity so I don't have to spend extra on batteries. With waxing kits like Sally Hansen Cold Wax I would have to spend almost P1,000 and I think I can only do my legs with that.

Wy I Love it Over Shaving: Although I have not shaved my legs, I know the effects of such because I regrettingly do this on other parts of my body.

• Epilating does not make hair regrowth thicker.
• Full hair regrowth is almost a month for me.
• No nasty nicks and cuts.
  

Why I Hate: Not readily available locally so if it gets broken I don't know how I would get it fixed. Epilating can get kinda messy, much like shaving, unlike waxing where the hair is stuck on the paper. Initial expenditure of almost P3,000 kinda hurt my student budget.

Availability: I bought mine at Amazon. I emailed Braun's customer service to ask about their local distributors. Braun epilators are sold at SM The Block Appliance Center but it doesn't include this model.
Price: P4,000-P4,500