How to Reduce Epilator Pain

Using an epilator can be incredibly painful especially if you have a sensitive skin. However, with a good planning, you can reduce or eliminate epilator pain altogether.

Even though there is no such thing as a pain-free epilator, when you pay attention to minor things and follow precautionary tips, you can reduce the pain or make it bearable.

Also, since tolerance to pain varies from one person to another, you will have to find out what works for you by researching and experimenting. Here are some tips on how to reduce epilator pain:

1. Shower before epilating

Taking a shower or a bath in warm water opens up the skin pores thus making it easy and less painful to epilate. In addition, it will remove any oils on your skin, make your skin tender and leave your skin and hair clean prior to epilating. Remember, the easier the hair is to remove, the more comfortable the epilation process will be.

2. Exfoliate

Just like waxing, you are required to exfoliate the skin a day before. Exfoliating is important because it helps remove dead skin cells and ingrown hairs which might cause pain when epilating. You can use a loofah, a body scrub, exfoliating chemicals or even aloe vera if you don’t like using chemicals.

You also need to exfoliate a few days after epilation to keep your skin in its perfect condition and minimize ingrown hairs. However, if your skin is too sensitive, it is advisable not to exfoliate because you may end up experiencing a lot of pain.

3. Consider shaving

If you don’t like exfoliating, you can shave a few days before epilating. This is an indirect way of exfoliating because it will reduce the number of hairs to epilate making it less painful.

However, you may have to epilate after a few days as the hair grow back if you clean shaved. Alternatively, you can wax your hair and then wait until the hair has grown to the shortest possible length before epilating.

How do you know the right length of the hair?

Usually, your epilator manufacturer recommends the length of the hair you should epilate. Therefore, you should read the instructions manual to understand the basics, how to use the epilator and the right length of hair to epilate. If you fail to follow these directions, you may never epilate again!

4. Use a wet/dry epilator

Wet/dry epilators can be used in a bath or a shower in addition to dry situations because they are waterproof. If you have a wet/dry epilator, you can epilate while taking a shower/bathing to reduce the pain because your skin will be soft.

However, wet epilators are less efficient when compared to dry epilators because you need multiple passes over a single area to remove the hair completely. In addition, the process may take a longer period of time because you are bathing while still epilating.

Therefore, if you don’t prefer using a wet epilator, you can use a dry epilator instead. If you use a dry epilator, make sure you lather with a lot of shaving cream to reduce the pain and make the process of epilating fast.

5. Keep your skin taut

When epilating, you should keep the skin taut at all times to give the tweezers easy access to the hairs and protect you from accidental pinches. Epilating works best on flat surfaces, therefore, use your free hand to stretch the skin when epilating sensitive areas like underarms, upper thighs and bikini line where the skin is not flat.

6. Start on the lowest setting

In most cases, epilators come with two-speed settings i.e. a low speed and a high speed. You are advised to start epilating on the lower setting because it will give your body time to adapt to the plucking sensation and you will not feel a lot of pain. As you get used to the feeling, you can adjust to the high-speed setting to work on larger areas e.g. your legs.

When epilating, always start with your lower legs because they are less sensitive and easy to epilate. This means that you will spend less time epilating your lower legs and you won’t feel any pain. After a few minutes, your body will get used to this sensation enabling you to proceed to more sensitive areas such as your ankles and knees.

7. Use a numbing cream

This option is recommended to people who are extra sensitive because they are prone to experiencing a lot of pain. With a numbing cream, your skin will be numb for a period of time and you won’t feel any pain. However, if you experience pain after epilating, you can press a cold compress or use an ice pack to numb the skin again. Alternatively, you can use witch hazel or an antiseptic lotion to reduce the pain, keep the epilated area clean and prevent ingrown hairs.

8. Consider a painkiller

As a beginner, you should do this only once or twice to help you reduce the pain to avoid making it a habit. After getting used to epilating, you will not be feeling any pain and taking painkillers will not be necessary. Over the counter painkillers such as Ibuprofen and Aspirin can help you minimize pain and inflammation during and after epilating.

9. Distract yourself

If you experience pain when epilating, you can minimize it by distracting yourself. You just need to find an activity or something that will help you not focus on how you are feeling. This means you can listen to your favourite music, watch a movie or even talk to someone while still epilating. This will keep your mind from focusing on the pain until you are done.

10. Avoid coffee or soda

Caffeine is a stimulant and it will make your body more sensitive to pain. Therefore, if you are planning to epilate, you should not drink coffee or soda on the day you are epilating. If you’ve already had any, you can wait for 6 to 8 hours for caffeine to exit your system.

11. Bonus Tip - Epilate right after your period

For women, their bodies are more sensitive during their menstrual bleeding. Therefore, if you have a regular cycle and you can keep track, you should consider epilating 3 or 4 days right after. On the other hand, some women tend to have low sensitivity during ovulation due to the increase in hormones. Hence, since there is a variation, you can keep track of your sensitivity over the month to find out when your body is less sensitive.

It is evident that there are tips that can help you minimize pain when epilating. For beginners, epilating every day for the first two weeks is recommended because it helps build up your tolerance to pain.

In addition, it will remove any hairs that were missed or that are growing in a different cycle. By doing this, your hair regrowth will be softer and less dense making your next epilating easy and less painful.

Finally, make sure you have chosen a good quality epilator by doing a thorough research. You can also read our best epilator reviews before purchasing one for yourself.