Summer Lovin': Emjoi Soft Caress Epilator

I never thought that I'd be able to handle epilation. Basically, these handheld battery-operated machines have a tweezing function that remove each individual hair from the root, usually from large areas such as legs, arms, underarms, even bikini lines. I knew logically that it couldn't possibly be much different than waxing or even tweezing, but I'd heard all the horror stories about the different brands, like EpiLady. Remember when you could buy that at Macys? No? I'm probably older than you.

At any rate, I started to notice that my "tan from a can" wasn't holding up well on my lower legs. It stood to reason that the reason why was that I was exfoliating that area every day by shaving, resulting in a rather uneven tan. I really didn't want to let the hair grow out and wax, nor did I want to incur that extra cost and time investment of heading to the salon every two weeks to get that done. So I did what any other product junkie would do and started checking out all the reviews on different epilators. I settled on the one that everyone seemed to like the best, the Emjoi Soft Caress. After much trepidation, I settled in to see just how bad this was going to be.

Are you waiting for my horror story? Well, there isn't one. The first time I used it it was a bit uncomfortable, but certainly nothing alarming. I quickly got used to the pulling sensation, and eventually it stopped bothering me at all. Probably because the areas I was going over were already smooth and didn't have any hair to remove. I did one shin and my bikini line the first time. The next day I went back and cleaned up the leg and did the other one. Uncomfortable, not that painful. Although, I will say, everyone has a different pain tolerance - I have a tattoo on my left calf, and it certainly wasn't anything near what I felt when I got that.

The best part about it is the time it lasts. Because it removes hair from the root and not just the surface growth, I'm getting well over a week with no maintenance, and best of all? An even fake tan. Bonus!

Available at folica.com, emjoi.com, and ulta.com.

Image courtesy folica.com.