Epilators Panasonic ES-WD42 Wet and Dry epilator
Panasonic claims its new Gentle range of epilators offers ‘a pain-free and gentle epilation experience’. We’ve had a go with the ES-WD42 Wet and Dry epilator, to see how these claims hold up.
We tried out this epilator at the same time as the Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro Wet and Dry epilator. Our tester found that the Panasonic epilator was pretty effective, although not as effective as the Braun epilator, and she said she had to go over the same part of her leg several times to get a smooth finish.
She reported that the Panasonic epilator was less painful than the Braun epilator, most likely because it was plucking out fewer hairs at once. It did not however, offer the ‘pain-free’ epilation experience promised by Panasonic, by any stretch of the imagination.
Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro epilator
Using the ‘beginners cap’ greatly reduced the pain and our tester thought this would make it much more manageable for those new to epilating. Using the ‘gentle cap’ for sensitive skin also reduced the pain and didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the speed of epilation, which was good.
We like that you can use this epilator wet as well as dry. Our tester preferred using this epilator in the shower as it felt less painful. She also felt it would be easier to fit into her existing routine, and required less effort as she did not need to worry about vacuuming up plucked hairs afterwards.
Foot care file
The Panasonic ES-WD42 epilator comes with an attachable foot care file, which you can use to remove hard skin on your heels and the underside of your foot. Our tester tried this out within 30 minutes of getting out of the bath, as recommended by the instructions, and found it to be a very useful tool, if a little messy.
The epilator was easy to clean, and the small cleaning brush it comes with helps. The controls are very intuitive and we liked the ‘quick user card’ that came with the instructions. We also liked the fact that it comes with a standard three-prong mains plug, as this means you can charge it anywhere.
The Panasonic ES-WD42 epilator typically costs £79 and is available from www.shavers.co.uk.
Pros: Less painful than other epilators we’ve tried, good gentle cap, can use wet or dry, useful foot care file, easy to clean, comes with standard three-prong mains plug.
Cons: Not as effective as the Braun Silk-épil Xpressive Pro7681, not actually ‘pain-free’
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.
