Epilators Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro Wet and Dry epilator
Braun claims its new Silk-épil Xpressive Pro 7681WD epilator can remove hairs ‘as small as a grain of sand.’ We’ve given it a go to see how well it performs.
We found this epilator to be incredibly effective when used on both wet and dry skin. It tweezed hairs at an impressive speed, achieving consistently smooth results, and our tester found that she only had to go over most areas of her legs once to get a hair-free finish. It offers two speed options and was, as promised, especially good at removing even the shortest hairs.
We tried this epilator out at the same time as the Panasonic ES-WD42 Wet and Dry epilator, and found that while the Braun epilator was more effective, it was also more painful – probably because it was plucking out more hairs at once than the Panasonic.
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Silk-épil Xpressive Pro 7681WD epilator
The epilator comes with four caps shaped to suit different body areas and to give varying levels of comfort whilst epilating. The ‘high-frequency massage system’ on the standard cap didn’t seem to reduce pain significantly, compared with the EfficiencyPro cap which is designed to create maximum skin contact for fast epilation.
It also comes with an underarm cap and a precision cap, which epilate smaller areas at a time. The instructions warn that underarms are ‘particularly sensitive to pain’, and our tester can confirm that this is most definitely true.
The epilator doesn’t come with an extra-gentle beginner’s cap. Our tester reported that, on first use, she actually resorted to using the smaller underarm cap on her legs to make the pain more manageable. However, as a smaller area of skin is being tweezed, using this cap to epilate your legs would take quite a long time.
Our tester said that the increasingly loud, high-pitched noise the epilator makes when you first turn it is ‘quite scary’, but she soon got used to it.
Lighting the way to smoother skin
Our favourite feature of the Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro epilator is the ‘smartlight’ which comes on automatically when you turn the epilator on. It lights up the area you’re epilating, making it easier to see your hairs being plucked out (which our tester found quite satisfying) and highlighting any hairs that you’ve missed.
The Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro Wet and Dry epilator also comes with a useful shaving head attachment and trimmer, though you can only use the shaver when dry.
Also included is a packet of 16 Olay-designed pre-epilation wipes, which are designed to ‘relax’ the skin before epilating. Our tester thought these wipes smelt lovely, but reported no perceptible effect on the pain of epilating. The wipes aren’t cheap to replace either, costing around £10 for a packet of 16 from www.shavers.co.uk.
Caring for your Braun epilator
The epilator was easy to clean after we’d used it wet, as we simply ran each part under the tap. However, for best performance Braun recommends cleaning the tweezers with the small cleaning brush that comes with it, dipped in alcohol, and advises that you lubricate the shaving parts with light machine oil or Vaseline every three months, or after each time you clean it with water. So, a bit of effort is required to keep this epilator in tip-top condition.
It’s worth noting that this epilator doesn’t come with a mains plug, just a two-pin shaver plug, so you’ll need to buy a separate adaptor if you don’t have a shaver socket in your home. The Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro epilator typically costs around £129.99, and is available from Boots.
Pros: Very effective, can be used wet or dry, very useful ‘smartlight’, good shaver and trimmer attachment.
Cons: More painful than other epilators we’ve tried, quite noisy, takes time to clean properly, doesn’t come with mains plug.
Want a simpler hair removal system? Read our reviews of women's razors and our first look review of the Wilkinson Sword 2-in-1 Quattro for Women Bikini trimmer.
