Braun Face Epilator And Cleansing Brush Review

Braun Face Silk Epil SE810
MSRP
$74.99

CHECK PRICE

Ladies don’t be afraid to admit the truth: we’ve all got facial hair. I know that most of us have tried everything to remove unwanted facial hair. Raise your hand if you have tried bleaching, waxing, threading, shaving, or you have spent hours plucking each and every one of those little guys out.

Braun claims its latest 2 in 1 facial epilator and facial cleansing brush is the answer for smooth glowing skin. You simply switch the interchangeable head depending on what you need. The slender head offers a unique plucking action that gives a superb level of precision when epilating the nooks and crannies of the face. Snap on the cleansing head and viola it instantly transforms into a facial cleansing brush.

The big question is: How well does it remove facial hair? Does it live up to Braun’s claim that the “facial cleansing is 6X better than manual cleansing.” Let’s find out in our hands on review. Before reviewing the Braun Face, we waited a couple of weeks to fully test all of its features.

What’s In The Box

Let’s see what comes packaged inside the box. The Braun facial epilator comes nicely packaged. The packaging is not only attractive, but describes how the product will work as well. The box opens from the top and the little insert with the epilator slides out. What you’ll receive is the epilation head, the facial brush, a protective cap, and a little cleaning brush for brushing away the hairs. Ours came with an extra cleansing brush. The epilator head can be removed and the facial cleansing brush simply snaps on. Oddly, there is no cover to protect the facial cleansing brush.

The instructions are pretty simple though some of the diagrams were a bit hard to understand. It would have been nice if there were clear directions on epilating the different areas of the face.

Design

I love how sleek the Braun Face mini epilator looks. It’s nice to see that Braun really cares about the way its products look. The device is made out of smooth durable plastic and has a tapered handle. While some people don’t care, a lot of women do care. This doesn’t look like any other epilator that I have seen.

It reminds me of a very expensive electrical tooth brush and is about the same size too. The electrical toothbrush design gives it a very natural grip with a solid weight at the bottom, making it easy to navigate around the face.  It is a lot like handling mascara and feels comfortable in the hand. It comes with a little cap that covers the epilator head when it is not in use. The epilator and cleansing attachments can easily be snapped on and off.  One thing that we would have loved to see  is a recharging stand to store it and charge it upright on the counter top. Sadly, there is no charging stand. It does stand up on its base, but we found it was very easy to knock over accidentally.

The extremely compact size of the epilator makes it very easy to carry in a handbag though our version didn’t come with a travel bag. Since it’s a cleanser and epilator, it cuts down on the number of items you need to bring along. Even if you prefer waxing, this is something that you can use for quick touch ups while traveling. It is great for removing the “oops missed a spot” hairs.

One feature that I am completely in love with is the fact that it is waterproof. You can take with you in the shower with the cleansing brush attachment. It is a real time-saver.

While we have used and tested other epilators on the face, the Braun Face is specifically designed for the face. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is. A regular epilator just doesn’t work well on the face. For example, the highly rated Braun Silk Epil 7 comes with different attachments for various areas of the body. One of these attachments is for the face, but we found it cumbersome to reach the hair on the face with the attachment.

Compared to other epilators, the Braun Face has a relatively small and compact head since it is intended specifically for the face. The epilator head reminds me of a personal shaver except that it has no blades. Instead, it has got 10 little slit openings that open and close, plucking hair out. These are the tweezers. The actual tweezers rotate perpendicular to the device. Because of this design choice, the epilator head doesn’t have to be so big.

The actual head of the epilator measures just about 1cm. It is small enough to comfortably fit between my brows. The narrow head gives you the ability epilate on the tighter areas on the face such as the upper lip, chin, or between and around the brows. Since most other epilators aren’t designed specifically for the face, we often found them difficult to use along the tighter contours of the face. Even smaller epilators like the ones from Emjoi, Remington, Epilady are very tricky to use along the upper lip. The Braun Face has been designed to address this, giving you the precision to epilate just about anywhere on the face.

As a precaution you should always pull skin very tightly and use a light touch to minimize the chance of the epilator pinching the skin. If you are not careful with pulling your skin tight, some of the other epilators we tested on the face can pinch the skin. While it may be possible, we haven’t had this happen with the Braun Face.

When you turn on the epilator, the “on” button can slide either left or right. One of the most unique things about this epilator is that the “on” button can reverse the direction of the epilation simply by sliding the button in the corresponding direction. This not only makes it easier to epilate in awkward areas but is also a great feature for lefties.

At 55 decibels, the Braun Face is one of the quietest facial epilators that we have tested. It is about as loud as an electrical toothbrush. Still ,it is not 100% discreet, but the sound can easily be masked with running water. It is normal for the epilator to get a bit warm while it is in use

The Braun Facial Epilator

I recommend that you use the Braun facial hair remover at the end of the day as it is normal to experience a bit of irritation for a few hours after using it. Do it after a warm shower since it relaxes the follicles and softens the hair. This helps the hair slip out easier.

Be sure your face is clean. Makeup expert, Joy Randall, says that “cleansing the skin is the key to prepping your face” for hair removal. She advises using a “gentle astringent such as witch hazel.” Before any epilation, I like to blot my face with medicated witch hazel to keep bacteria from penetrating my pores and causing white heads. After epilating, again blot your face with witch hazel to minimize the chance of a breakout. I like to dip the epilator head in alcohol to ensure that the head is germ free.

Anybody who has ever tweezed the hair on their face knows that it takes forever to pluck those little guys out. Braun claims that this face epilator is 200X faster than manually plucking as it has 10 tweezers that rotate around at about 20 times per second. Maybe it was not 200X faster, but it was so much faster to remove hair with this than a tweezer or the Bellabe facial hair remover. The only thing we found ourselves missing is having multiple speed settings. There is only one speed setting, but for the most part it works well.

You do have to make a number of passes over the same area to achieve good results. Like any type of mass plucking method, you still have to go back over with a tweezer to pick up stragglers. Still, you save so much time and money.

To use it, all you do is pull the skin very tightly and gently guide the epilator to the place you are removing hair. There is a bit of a learning curve as the Braun Face operates a little bit differently than any other epilator. The “on” switch of the epilator can slide either left or right. It decides which direction the head will spin. Always choose the direction in the opposite direction of hair growth. Gently place the spinning head on the skin and move it slowly in the opposite direction of growth. Every time a hair is plucked, you should feel a slight sting.

In the beginning, I found it a bit difficult to figure out which way to make the epilator head spin since I was looking in the mirror. If you are familiar with waxing, it’s the direction you would want to pull the wax strip away. You have to position and orient the epilator in such a way that you are plucking in the opposite direction of growth.

For example, here is how I removed hair above my left brow. Hair above the left brow grows to the left so we epilate to the right. I turned the epilator so it was upside down. Flip the switch on the epilator so that it points to the right as this is the correct direction of epilation. Slowly glide the epilator across the skin toward the right against the hair growth as it plucks out the hairs.

Always pay attention to the direction that hair grows on your face and orient the epilator correctly. Doris Day, a NYC Dermatologist, explains: “In general, hair grows downward on the cheeks, chin, and sideburns, and at an angle above the lip.”

Therefore, on the sideburns, chin, and cheeks, use an upward direction. For the upper lip, it is best to divide the lip into three sections. For the right part of the lip, use a diagonal upward left direction. For the left part of the lip, use a diagonal upward right direction. Then use an upward stroke on middle portion. For my upper lip I found it helpful to press my tongue against my upper lip in the area I was epilating to make a blowfish look. This stretches out the area. Then gently guide the epilator across the skin in the correct direction.

I highly recommend starting at your chin or unibrow since these areas will give you a lot of space to practice. Then once you get the hang of it, you can move on to more sensitive areas.

I was able to remove about 90% of my unwanted facial hair with this alone. It worked in different areas as well on different hair thicknesses. When I looked at the plucked hair I could literally see the root for almost all the hairs. Braun claims that the precision head allows this epilator to pluck hair as small as 0.5mm. This is about 4 times shorter than waxing. Unlike waxing, you can epilate just as the hair is starting to grow out. While it was able to get some incredibly short hair, it did miss some of the baby fine hairs. Still, it removes hair that you would normally miss with just a tweezer. It was able to get most of the peach fuzz, fine hair, as well as courser hair. With finer hair, multiple passes were required.

The long and slender head made it work great on my uni-brow and on the stray hair above the brows on the forehead. It is great for small touch ups around the brows between waxing. I found it so much easier than using a pair of tweezers to pluck each one out individually while getting super close to the mirror.

It is not really intended for shaping or defining your eyebrows. You will definitely still need waxing, threading, or a tweezer for that. Even above the eyebrows you have to be careful to cover your eyebrows with your hand as the epilator can cause the skin to move. You shouldn’t use this epilator under your brows as it can pinch the skin since the skin is a lot looser and puffier there.

I found that it worked great on my forehead, sideburns, cheeks, chin and upper lip. It worked even for the course hairs growing along my chin. I did notice that with thicker hair such as on the chin, the hair has to be a smidgen longer so that the epilator can grab onto it properly. I know a lot of women suffer from POS or have a lot of course hair growth on their face and I think this will work great.

Braun claims that this epilator leaves you hair free for up to 4 weeks. Unfortunately, for most people this will not be true in the beginning. Since hair grows at different rates, you have to get through your full hair cycle before you remain hairless for weeks. My hair didn’t show signs of growing back even after a week.

Theoretically, you can use the Braun Face anywhere on the body. It does have a relatively smaller head than other epilators. It works great on the bikini line, stomach, and even underarms. However, for hygiene issues I really don’t recommend it especially since you are using it on your face.

Does It Hurt

The short answer is yes. Ladies, let’s be honest, pain is beauty. I don’t want to scare anyone but removing hair from the face is painful business. If you can handle tweezing or waxing, you can probably handle this. It can be terrifying to place the epilator on your skin since it is spinning so fast. I recommend placing it on an area with no hair until you get the courage to begin removing hair. Not going to lie, when I first started epilating my face, I flinched a bit. It stings. I used soft pressure until I got used to the stinging sensation. I found that the tighter you pull the skin, the less painful it is. In comparison to other facial epilators, I did find this epilator to be slightly less painful. This is probably because there are fewer tweezers and they don’t spin as fast.

If you have never removed hair on your face before from the root, I highly recommend waxing or tweezing first to weaken the roots a bit. Then it is easy to epilate the regrowth. Taking an ibuprofen or Tylenol about a half hour earlier can ease the pain. If the pain is really unbearable for you, you can purchase a numbing cream with lidocaine. Use the cream until your skin is used to hair removal at the root. Do not try to remove all the hair at one time. Take your time and do little sections. I think the first time hurts the most. The tingling sensation lessens the more you use it.

If you been waxing or tweezing since forever, it is probably not going to be as big of a deal. Unlike tweezing, you are plucking more than one hair out at a time. It stings slightly on softer hairs and little more on coarser hairs. Certain areas of the face hurt more. I found on the bridge between the nose and above the eyebrows to be a piece of cake, but the upper lip and under the eyes hurt like the dickens. This is because there are a lot of nerve endings there.

This is not something you should do before going out on a date or out with friends. I did notice that my face was red and irritated. This is a normal reaction and it cleared up by the next day. Sometimes you even get little tiny bumps in the hair follicles especially if you are new to removing hair at the root or haven’t done so in awhile.

The Cleansing Brush

I really like how simple it is to switch from the epilator head to the brush head. The interchangeable heads simply pop on and off. With a simple click, it is now a facial cleansing brush. The cleansing brush has 10,000 super fine bristles on it. The bristles are super tiny. The bristles are supposed to be tiny enough to clean the gunk out of your pores, helping your skin to absorb products better.

Braun says the cleansing brush cleans 6 times better than manual cleansing alone, helping to remove makeup, oil, and dirt. The company claims that the facial brush uses ultra sonic oscillations that not only cleanse skin but improve blood circulation. It is been tested and approved by dermatologists for the most sensitive skin and can be used every day.

I was anxious to test the brush on my slightly oily skin. I recommend using it before you epilate since it helps to lift hairs up off the skin, which makes it easier to epilate. All you do is put your facial cleanser on the brush and pick which direction to use. Like the epilator, the cleansing brush can rotate in two different directions, which helps you get to awkward places like the corner of the nose. I like to use the brush in one direction and then switch to the other direction afterwards.

I applied a little mild soap to the bristles, wet my face, and started cleansing. When I put the cleansing brush on my face I could feel the vibration. It almost felt like a soothing massage. While the bristles feel soft when the brush is off, you can definitely feel them on your face when the brush starts to spin around. A light touch is all that is needed.

I recommend dedicating most of the time on the T-zone where most of the dirt and oil is. Guide the brush in gentle circular motions. Let the brush do the work. I started at my forehead and moved down to my nose. Then I concentrated on the outer corners of my nose where there was a lot of dead skin. It’s a small complaint but I do wish there was a smaller brush attachment that could be used to get around the nose with greater precision.

When I first used it, I barely felt it working, but I was really impressed with the results. After I rinsed and dried my skin, my face was left glowing with no redness or irritation. It felt youthful. The facial brush got my face much cleaner than my face wash ever did. It works great for dry patches of skin. Most of the dead skin on the outer corners of my nose was removed gently. I could see it flaking off.

Also, it is great for removing makeup. Sometimes using face wash and makeup remover doesn’t get it all out. Even if you think you have removed all your makeup through traditional methods, the brush usually still has makeup on it. Beauty Blogger, Huda, exclaimed, “It literally removed all my makeup. There is nothing left.” I do suggest you first remove the makeup regularly then use the Braun Face scrubbing brush after, otherwise makeup cakes on the brush.

Braun claims that it works great for blackheads too. However, I didn’t notice any change after my first use. However, after some time, I did notice a reduction in the number of blackheads.

I like that you can take it in the shower without worrying about getting it wet. It is easy to add to your shower routine. Now, I love using it with just plain water in the shower with no cleanser.

Daily use of the facial cleansing brush in the shower works great to prevent ingrown hair. Whenever you epilate there is a chance for ingrown hair or razor bumps. Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate every day. The idea is the keep the follicles bacteria free and open so that the hair can easily break through the surface of the skin when it grows back. When you exfoliate, it also makes it easier for the epilator to grab the hair. In addition to manual exfoliation with the brush, Tend Skin, PFB Vanish, or Bliss Pads are great products to prevent ingrown hair. I like to use Bliss Pads every couple of days because they are super easy to apply on the face.

If you already own a Clarisonic cleansing brush, you might not be that impressed with the Braun cleansing brush. However, for those that don’t own a cleansing brush, this is a nice addition. The Clarisonic brush head is a bit bigger than the Braun Face brush. Also, the Clarisonic brush seems a bit more powerful and spins faster because it runs off a rechargeable battery instead of just one double AA battery.

There are actually two different technologies when it comes to facial brushes. The Clarisonic brush makes a complete revolution. The Braun face brush vibrates and goes only a quarter of the way before switching directions. Experts haven’t yet which technology is better, but say that most facial brushes clean better than manual cleansing.

You are supposed to use the Braun Face brush for only a minute. Unlike the Clarisonic brush, there is no timer so you have to keep track of the time on your own. You never want to exfoliate too much until the skin is raw. Dr. Dennis Goss says “Too much of anything is not a good thing.”

While it is not as powerful as the Clarisonic facial brush, the Braun Face did more than an adequate job cleaning my face. At about half the price of the Clarisonic, it is pretty impressive. If you have never used a cleansing brush, you will probably be happy with the results. The bristles were delicate on my face. It felt a lot like a mini facial.

The brush simply pops off so it can be rinsed with warm water for easy cleaning and replacement. Braun recommends that the brush unit be changed every 3 months for best results. A 2 pack of brushes retails for $19.99.

Who Else Likes It

The Braun Face is receiving great feedback from customers and beauty bloggers.

Jessica Alba, the brand ambassador, credits the Braun Face for giving her a blemish free glow. She says that she is now confident to break free and go without makeup. In a recent interview about the product she said, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re going for a red carpet look, or want a day without any make-up on; we need to be able to count on beautifully cleansed skin as our foundation. Braun Face gives women the confidence and freedom to either wear make-up or not.” She states it is like a “mini at home facial.”

Huda Kuttan, an influential Youtube beauty blogger, was impressed that it is both a facial epilator and facial brush. She says, “There is nothing like this out there. I am liking this product. My skin looks so much more even.”

Nilu Thapa, a beauty veteran seconded the opinion saying it even works great for PCOS saying one of her friends with thicker courser hair tried it and the results are “fantastic.”

Customers on Amazon awarded it a 4.0 out of 5 stars with close to 80 reviews.

Wrap Up

Although it has its flaws, the Braun Face is simply the best facial epilator we have tested. It does come at a steep price and the battery life could be better. Still, it is cheaper and much more private than going to get a wax at the salon. Additionally, it sure is more convenient than plucking each and every hair out. Usually, just a facial cleansing brush would cost $100 on its own.

Braun has built a device with two very good beauty devices that perfectly complement each other.  The cleansing brush works great to exfoliate the skin of dirt, oil, and makeup. The epilator is precise enough remove hair in all nooks and crannies of the face. After removing your facial hair and cleansing your face, your beauty products will go on so much smoother. If you are looking to epilate and cleanse your face regularly, get the Braun Face. This is a product you will use a lot. It is the closest you’ll get to an at home facial.