This is a post about using epilators to remove unwanted body hair. I wanted to make this, since I literally just did it, and also my friend Teagan (@introskeptic@lemmy.blahaj.zone) just ordered hers, so I thought I’d make a small guide on how to do it.

Please note that this is just my experience with epilators and your mileage may vary.
With that said…

Epilating is by far the best hair removal method I’ve found. It has its upsides and downsides, but the result is always worth it, in my opinion.

The pros of epilating are:

• It rips out the hair shaft completely, including the roots. This means that:
  • The result is smoother than just shaving, the hair shaft is just gone and also:
  • The result lasts for longer, because the entire shaft has to grow back
• It’s relatively easy to do, once you have an epilator and get the hang of it
• You can do it at home!
• As the result lasts for longer, you don’t have to do it as often as you would have to shave
• At least in my experience, especially combined with HRT, epilated hair grows back thinner, lighter and slower
• I don’t get almost any ingrown hairs when epilating, but I don’t get those even when shaving tbh

HOWEVER! With that said, there are some pretty nasty downsides to epilating as well:

• There’s no sugarcoating it: epilating fucking HURTS
• You need an epilator, which can be pricey
• You don’t have to do it as often, but it can take a while to do
• You might need help reaching some hard-to-reach spots (like your butt)
• Skin irritation, red dots, bleeding and skin damage (more on that later)
• It is possible to injure yourself, but it shouldn’t happen when being careful
• Risk of infection, but that’s why we have aftercare!

So, with those out of the way, how do you start epilating yourself?

Well, first of course, you need an epilator! I use a Philips 8000 series. It’s around 80$ IIRC and it’s amazing. I’ve had and used it for years now and it still works super well! My bf even dropped it from our apartment on the fourth floor (because of course he did 🤦‍♀️) and it still works exactly the same. Great machine ❤️

Once you have your epilator, you’re gonna want to choose a spot to epilate. I epilate my boobs, belly, what little chest hair I have, all of my pubic hair, my butt and my lower back. Oh and also my armpits.
I shave my arms and legs with a Venus razor and my face with a razor too, ofc. I find this combination to work really well, as although epilating arms and legs works well, it takes a reeeeeally long time. This combo works for me, but you should experiment! Your body isn’t my body and YMMV.

So, before epilating anything, you’re gonna want to shorten the hair a bit. Long hair gets tangled and that fucking HURTS. It also damages your skin quite a bit, so you want to avoid that as much as possible.
I recommend trimming hair to about 5mm in length, so that it doesn’t get tangled, but it still gets caught by the epilator. If it’s too short, you’re probably gonna struggle to get it all, which again, damages your skin and hurts. So keep the length in mind!

You’re also wanna get something for the pain. Trust me, don’t rawdog it!
In my experience, regular painkillers don’t work well for this. This pain is the acute, sharp and intense type, which is like the opposite of what painkillers treat. I personally use kratom (sue me) and it works really, really well for this. Tbh I haven’t been able to find a better alternative yet, but maybe you’ll find something that works for you that’s less…habit-forming :P

There’s one extremely important thing you have to do before actually epilating tho! Tie your hair up.
Getting it caught in an epilator is NOT fun. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’ve read people’s experiences and apparently it’s hell. Just tie it up to avoid this problem.

After that, take a hot shower. As hot as you can handle, so that your pores open up. This will help with the pain a bit, as there won’t be as much resistance. Plus, it’s just relaxing!

Okay, so for the actual epilating part: turn on the machine and (I recommend) set it to the lowest setting first. All tutorials say to gently glide the thing over your skin, but in my experience, you can put a little bit of pressure on it. Still, be gentle and be careful!
I go back and forth, applying slight pressure when I need it. Since body hair (or at least my body hair) doesn’t all grow in one direction, I usually try all the different directions. The key part is, you want to go against the direction the hair is growing in. That means, going from the tip towards the root basically. That helps tear it out as easily as possible.
What helps a lot is pulling the skin taut, stretching it out. That way, the hairs aren’t that close to each other and they also “let go” more easily. Idk, it just works.

It’s quite possible that you won’t get all the hair in one go. That’s completely fine! When the majority is gone, I usually switch my epilator to the faster speed and go over the area again. If you’re still unable to get all of the hair, don’t force it! Don’t push too hard. Just grab the leftover hair with a pair of tweezers, it’s fine!

If you’re epilating pubic hair, be extremely careful! You will bleed and that’s okay. Pubic hair is just sensitive like that. No matter what tho, always try to hold the skin taut. With thinner skin like that, the epilator sometime catches on a piece of it and slides to other places…and that really hurts, damages your skin and it’s just overall unpleasant. It’s hard to describe and it will probably happen to you a couple of times, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually. Just be careful with areas with thinner and more sensitive skin.
Try to hold everything in one place. I imagine that being post-OP would make this much easier as there aren’t any loose parts, but it is what it is. Try to hold everything in one place, prevent the epilator from catching and sliding away and just…be careful please!

When you’re done epilating, then comes aftercare, which is equally as important as the epilating part. I recommend showering the area with cold water, to calm down the irritation and to wash away any loose hair (and blood, sometimes :P). After showering, use some after shave! DON’T use the one that’s literally just alcohol tho! That is…unpleasant, to say the least. In my experience, “men’s” after shave is almost exclusively this alcohol type. I use an after shave “balm”, which looks like a sort of white cream. It contains no alcohol, doesn’t smell awful, doesn’t burn nearly as much, rubs really well and it works! If you can find that, I recommend it.

Regarding skin irritation and bleeding…it will happen, especially the first couple of times. However, once you learn how to epilate even better and you get more and more careful, you’ll learn to avoid it. Sometimes I get these red bumps after epilating, but those usually disappear after a day or two, leaving only smooth skin behind. Bleeding is almost guaranteed with pubic hair, but it’s really not a huge problem. Just be sure to follow aftercare practices and you’ll be just fine.

My epilated parts usually last two weeks plus before I have to do it again. Hair doesn’t start appearing until like five days plus. It really is so much better than shaving.

And, that’s about it…don’t know if this will help anyone, but that’s what epilating has been for me so far.
Is it worth it? For me, absolutely yes.
Is it scary? Yeah…
Does it hurt? Fuck yes.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

If this helps even just one person, I’ll be happy. If not, oh well.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

And Teag? This is for you, girlie. I hope all goes well on your hair removal journey 🩷

Edit: Regarding facial hair, which I completely forgot to mention: yes, epilating would theoretically give a much better result than just shaving, but I personally don’t do it. At least for me, the pain is actually worse than epilating my pubic hair, which is…weird. You can try it either way, it’s just really painful for me, so I neither recommend it nor do I do it myself.