Epilator question

[Sondra Marie]

Hi everyone!

I'm gonna guess some of you have used an epilator. I bought one the other day and I think I'll be able to survive the pain if I keep using it and I'm really exited to thin out the hair on my legs.

From what I understand, red bumps are normal for a while after because of the bodies reaction to the hair, literally, being ripped out BUT... and this is the big but (that I wish I had), the majority of the bumps I'm experiencing, a day later, have spawned from hairs that weren't removed. The bumps and redness on my legs doesn't seem to be from the hairs that got pulled out but from the hairs that didn't get pulled out.

Has anyone had this issue? Does it stop after a coupe of sessions? I let my hair grow to ~1/8", as recommended; should I epilate with shorter hair so it doesn't just get tugged and snap off? I have pretty sensitive, reddish, skin so the bumps are really obvious and depressing as hell. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
-Ondi

[Nicole]

I've used one for years.

The trick I found was I went and got my legs waxed first, a few days later I started to use the epilator, after a few days there should be some growth.

I haven't had a hair on my legs that was noticeable in about 10 years. A few of my friends have turned to them now.

Every couple of days you should be going over your legs, after about 10 weeks you'll see the results, always hair free.

[Alyssa UK]

Well I have a similar issue, the epilating itself is fine but I get hairs growing back but under the skin. Now this isn't just normal ingrown hairs as these go along under the skin.
I would recommend exfoliating often ( I do mine in the shower but only cos it's convenient and means I don't have to spend money on special exfoliating creams and lotions).
Also moisturise often too as this might help, certainly does for me.
The biggest thing for me was getting a good set of tweezers from tweezerman, not too expensive but really helpful for freeing hairs without destroying your legs.
I am gonna start IPL after/ if I can get on hormones which will hopefully help.

[Martine A.]

Hi. I am still in the first round of epilating my legs.

I actually noticed the problem you talk about. There are big red bumps and in the middle of them it is a hair. My assumption is this is hair I only started to pull but didn't pull out. So, the advice is -- don't miss. Always finish what is started.

In this first round I also noticed a few preexisting ingrown hairs. What I can do about them is use scissors to reach to them through the thinest first layer of the skin and cut them in two. Then they should be rolled out slowly, and finally I pull out both ends. For those I might look into buying a surgical scalpel. Easier to use than scissors. I don't recommend to those with unstill hands though.

[Sondra Marie]

^.^ yay! Thank you girls for the quick responses! I think I'll probably set up a waxing session here in the next week or two. I've heard in a couple of places that it's a good idea to do before you epilate anyway, but I didn't take the advice like a dumb dumb. At this point I don't even care about the awkwardness. Lol I'm going makeup shopping with a girlfriend tomorrow so I've gotten to that point where I really just don't care what anyone thinks. I totally understand making sure you get EVERYTHING in the first pass though. I definitely didn't. Rookie mistake. And the result was pain and still hairy gross legs. And I try to exfoliate everyday since I only recently started shaving my legs.

Also, Nicole, your tag is awesome. Hahah

[Martine A.]

I totally understand making sure you get EVERYTHING in the first pass though.

Let me add to this. I am a lazy girl and I like wearing pants. So, my idea of it is not to try to take out everything in one go, but to just finish the hairs that were started. Iow, to leave no half-done ones.

It is impossible for me to take it all out in one go, because first time hairs are so much pain. It looks like I should have hired a pro to do those but now I am at 85%+ of first timers gone so I'll keep rolling on my own.

[amoeba]

Others have mentioned exfoliating already, and that really does help. The other thing I found useful was to liberally apply witch hazel after epilating. The first pass, where you go from full hairy to hairless is always going to be the toughest, it took me a few hours and a lot of pain to get through that. Maintenance afterwards is relatively quick, as you'll just be pulling out new growth. I do it once a week and it seems enough.

I haven't built up the courage to go for a waxing just yet :p