Braun 7681 SILK-EPIL Xpressive EASY Start Body&face /623397 > Reviews (15)

I bought this product to replace an older version from a different manufacturer that I have had for about five years. I moved from North America to the UK and my old epilator wasn't dual voltage, so buying a new one was easier than the variety of adaptors and step down devices I would have had to find to keep using the old one.

Because I've been epilating so long, its hard for me to comment on the pain level of the Braun vs any other epilator as I really don't get much pain from the process anymore. At first it does hurt when you use it, but in my experience your skin gets accustomed, your hair roots get weaker, and the whole process gets quicker and easier. Quite a few of my hairs on my legs just don't grow in anymore.

I do find my Braun to be much more efficent than my previous model, which I believe was a Remington. The Braun gets most of the hairs in its path of travel in one pass, which my old one did not.

This series of the Braun epilator also has a light on the body to illuminate the skin its about to pass over. As the hairs on your body get finer due to the epilating, they get harder to see from certain angles without good light. The LED on the Braun shows up the fine hairs that would be easy to miss without a close up light.

It also comes with two epilating heads, the standard and the precision, as well as three caps, two for the standard and one for the precision. The two for the standard provide massaging rollers while one covers some of the revolving tweezers on the head so less hairs are removed in one pass. This is useful for those just starting out, so they can gradually accustom to the sensation. The other cap just provides the massaging rollers while exposing the entire epilating head. The one for the precision head just exposes the whole head as well. You cannot opporate the device without a cap on the head. It covers the moving parts so nothing gets tangled up, and catches some of the removed hairs, so you can clean them out into whatever you're going to use to dispose of them.

Also with this particular model you get an electric razor attatchement and an attatchment to adjust the length from close shave to more of a clipper style. I've never had occasion to use this personally, as due to my high pain tolerance and experience with epilating, I can use the appliance everywhere I wish to remove the hair from. I can see some areas where some women would rather clip or shave than epilate and I imagine the fact you could do both shave/clip and epilate with one appliance would be very convient for them. Also, as your hairs do have to be less than a certain length, the clipper will be helpful to anyone who has let their hair grow in to make the switch from razors to epilating, and has to shorten the hair some for maxium efficency.

This model of the Xpressive also comes with the option of running on it's rechargable battery or off mains power. It will run for almost an hour on full charge, which makes it great to toss in your bag for quick touchups on a trip away.

I prefer to use it on mains at home, as I find it works better. I have no actual proof to base that on, however. Also, I find that 45-60 minutes isn't enough time to fully do two legs and under arms. Many will find it hard to do their underarms with an epilator, as it does sting quite a lot, but I personally got used to it.

The main final option that came in the package was a nice silver coloured mesh bag to store everything in and a cleaning brush. Important to note is also that this applance is fully cleanible. The heads totally detach from the body, and can be cleaned using water or alcohol. My previous model could only be brushed clean, not washed, so from a higene point of view, the Braun is excellent, as it can be sanitized in alcohol after any number of uses you like, then left to dry in it's mesh bag.

I will never go back to shaving again. I hate the sensation of stubble, and with epilating, even if you do get too busy to take care of the touch ups for a week or two, the hair that grows back in is so fine and soft, you can hardly tell its there until you get a chance to get caught back up anyway. As someone who has used more than one model, I can safely say the Braun is an excellent choice.

I got mine on special at Argos, and the price was excellent as well. So if you shop around you should be able to get this top of the line model for the price of a much lesser one, which is always a great plus. :)

Epilating itself does have some drawbacks. Don't do it right before a hot date if you don't know how your skin will react. Even after 6 years or so of doing it, my skin still gets little red bumps for up to several hours after. It used to be a lot worse, but generally goes away over night in everyone. It does sting, but no worse than waxing, and without the mess. I find a nice moisturizer after your finished helps sooth the skin. And of course not everyone is going to be able to use this method of hair removal everywhere, so if you don't opt for the model with the shaver head, you'll have to deal with the areas you can't epilate in another way.

Overall, I think this is an efficent process that beats shaving daily hands down and this model ups the efficency even more with all it's excellent features.