Braun SE7281WD Xpressive Body System Rechargeable Wet & Dry Epilator for Women - Painless Hair Removal for Legs, Underarms & Bikini Area at Home or Travel

I was really really really hesitant to get an epilator...in fact, I had been scared to get one my whole life. IF I had only known then, what I know now!! (the irony of life, right?)I have very pale white skin and very thick black body hair, thanks to some not-so-good luck with the gene pool. :-) Been shaving all my life, and not only would I get razor rash EVERY time, but the regrowth would be evident within a matter of hours. Yuck! So, a few years ago, I started getting waxed, which wasn't horrible, but was very expensive and not something I could afford in the long-run; this lead me to purchase my own at-home wax warmer and I started waxing myself. Things I loved about waxing: regrowth was slower; no razor rash or tiny purple dots at each hair follicle(!!!). The things I hated about waxing: very messy; very time consuming; have to wait until a good portion of hair has grown back AND until hair growth is at least 1/2 inch or so before waxing EVERY time, which is ugly and makes me feel self-conscious. So:I decided I needed to find a longer-term solution. Looked into the No!No!, but it has horrible reviews by just about everyone who doesn't get paid by the infomercial company (certainly a few exceptions, but not enough to make me comfortable dropping nearly $300 on it!). Then I saw epilators... and I decided I may as well try one because it's no more expensive than one round of waxing (less, actually); plus, I've undergone waxing so many times, so it couldn't possibly hurt more than that! Right? I hoped.... Many epilators get great reviews, so I had a hard time deciding on one. I ended up going with this one (Braun SE7281WD) because (1) It had some of the best and most thorough reviews; (2) I wasn't sure if I'd prefer to use it in the shower or dry, so I wanted the wet/dry feature to test all the possibilities; and (3) I liked that this came with several "heads" so I could work my way into it with the massaging head, and use the precision head for special areas, etc. I made the purchase, even though I was still really nervous.It's been about 5 weeks and I don't regret the decision one bit! The first go-round was a little painful and awkward, I must admit (I tried it in the shower first which was way too awkward, so resumed after shower with dry but warm skin and it was still a little painful, but not as awkward). The 2nd time I used it (dry only) was about 1 week later - only a little hair was present and it felt like almost nothing. Same with 3rd week. Last week, I had a little more hair growth than the previous weeks, and I made a leap and decided to not use any of the heads at all, but just the bare epilator (dry as usual). It took the hair off so well, and was nearly painless (honestly, at this point, it feels like the skin is getting "a good scratching"...I can't explain this, but it doesn't hurt...*almost* feels good in a way, but not quite).I love this epilator. I usually charge it up on a Sunday morning when I wake up, and by the time I'm done with my coffee it's ready to go. I use it on my armpits, arms, legs, bikini (need to be careful around the creases - I did knick myself once when the skin was too tight and had a slightly elevated/pinched-up area...ever since, I have used the precision head for the bikini area!), and stomach below the navel. There's always a charge left when I am done. It is pretty fast and easy. Hair regrowth seems to be slowing down and thinning out...since my hair is so thick, I do get a few ingrowns, especially near the thicker skin at the knees, but that's WAY better than the MANY ingrowns I got during waxing; and a deep salt scrub always helps the problem (I make my own: fine sea salt mixed with almond or grapeseed oil and 2 drops of lavendar aromatherapy oil). Oh, last week I also discovered that for some ingrowns (those causing a little bump on the surface of the skin and therefore not deep), I can move the epilator several times over the bump in different directions and it'll remove the excess skin and pull out the hair! Much better option than me trying to dig it out with tweezers and making myself bleed!!Oh, and the best part is: I don't have to wait until most of the hair has regrown before I use it...in a similar fashion as shaving, I can epilate anytime I need to and have soft, smooth skin!! However, different and much better than shaving, the hair won't regrow within a few hours...or days!I know this review is long, but sometimes I think it's really important to share the whole story. I hope it will help someone else out there. :-)I've only ever owned this epilator, but in the 4+ months I've had it, I've been pretty happy with it. The epilator itself is very well built, it's very sturdy, I've never had problems with the tweezing mechanisms, and it has a nice, solid feel. I chose this epilator because it was relatively well-reviewed, though I was worried by some of the negative reviews. I wanted to be able to epilate my legs and underarms, and this product performs pretty well. There are a few notes:The light, this makes all the difference, and I never thought it would. I can see EVERY hair growing out of my legs, even if I'm in a dimly lit room.The trimmer works fairly well, and it's nice to have a device that is so multifunctional (great for traveling).Some have complained about the battery, but I've had no problems. Even when I was just starting and took forever trying to get every hair, it lasted till I was done.The noise is fairly loud and menacing, but it's one of those things you get used to. Roommates may get annoyed though.I don't have any trouble with ingrown hairs, but some people do, so be mindful of that.I really wanted the wet/dry capability, but the wetness makes the tweezers slide off the hair, so the hair ends up getting pulled pretty hard but doesn't come out. This feature didn't help me in the least. Also, it's harder to get a good grip on the device when it's wet.Yes, anything that takes your hair out by the root will hurt, I don't think the best epilator in the world could stop that, so don't ever expect it to feel like a massage. Everyone who is saying the first time is the worst is absolutely right - when I did my underarms the first time, I was seeing spots it hurt so bad. My legs were a little difficult but after awhile it was easy to keep going. I tried the bikini line, but couldn't get more than a few hairs out until it was unbearable. It is a good idea when you're starting to epilate to epilate every few days for a week so that all the 'cycles' of hair can be initially epilated. It got much less painful very quickly each time I'd epilate, though I still can't do the bikini (upsetting because I was planning on completely doing away with razors). Now, legs are no problem, though my underarms still hurt some. Tip: make sure you don't have any deoderant on your underarms when you epilate, it makes the hairs slick and the tweezers don't grip well.I really love having underarms with no stubble shadow, and they feel much smoother. Even when the hairs grow back, they are tapered, so they are much softer than shaving stubble which would irritate my skin. Similarly with the legs, tapered hairs are much less visible than blunt ones, and I do think it is growing back slightly more sparsely (I've heard with routine use, you can stop a lot of growth permanently).I also had the same issues with 1) never getting a just-shaven smoothness 2) the finer hairs do break - these are best to attack with the slower mode, which is easier on the hair 3) the hair grows back faster than I expected. I have a fair complexion with fine hair, and my hair doesn't grow particularly fast. I have to epilate my arms once a week, and my legs every other at best, so 4-6 weeks is a pretty blatant lie.So, I'll give it four stars because it does as good a job as any epilator could, most my complaints have to do with epilating in general. One star penalty for misleading description and useless wet/dry feature.