Emjoi AP-9LC Epi Slim Epilator Review

MSRP

$29.95

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When we got the newest Emjoi Epi Slim, I had to review it. Pregnancy, age, hormones, genetics can make unwanted hair grow on the face. If you are a woman and you suffer from facial hair, you know how embarrassing it can be. Most of us have tried everything on the market. Bleaching hair doesn’t remove it. Hair removal creams can burn skin and are too messy. Tweezing each and every hair out can take hours each day. Shaving leaves stubble and a five o clock shadow. Professional waxing is costly. Emjoi claims it has the answer with the Emjoi Epi Slim, which it says can remove hair in the most delicate areas like the face. Does it work? Find out in our full hands on review.

What’s In The Box

Inside the box, under the epilator, the instructions, warranty information, and cleaning brush were tucked away. Be sure to read the instructions before using the epilator as they are helpful. The instructions do warn that the epilator is designed to remove individual hairs on the face and that the surrounding skin should be pulled tight. It would have been nice if it included a travel case or the required AA batteries, but these are not included.

Here is what is inside:

• Emjoi Epi Slim AP-9LC
• Cleaning brush
• Instructions
• 1 year warranty

Design

Slightly bigger than a lipstick case, we really like the size of the Emjoi Epi Slim. It comes with a little blue cap that protects the tweezer head. The tweezer head is slightly curved. It is very lightweight and fits in your hand so comfortably. It’s so compact and small that you can carry it in your purse when you travel. When traveling, you don’t have to worry about voltage difference since it uses AA batteries. We like that there is safety switch on it so no embarrassing vibrations come from your luggage when you are traveling.

Battery

The Emjoi Epi Slim is battery operated. The battery compartment is on the back. It takes 2AA batteries.  At first, it can be a little confusing which way the batteries go as the springs are on one side. However, it is marked. Used once a week for 20 minutes a session, a brand new set of batteries will last about 3 to 4 sessions.

However, we do wish it came with a cord or rechargeable batteries. Without new batteries it lags and won’t pull out hairs properly especially if they are fine. Even if the batteries work, they might not have enough juice to power the epilator. When the batteries are weak, you will start to feel the tweezers slow down. You will also hear that the epilator is not as loud. At this time, you should change the batteries because the Emjoi Epi Slim will not be very effective.

We really recommend rechargeable batteries with this epilator. I found it works really well with the rechargeable Panasonic Eneloop batteries which I highly recommend. Unlike other type of rechargeable batteries, these rechargeable batteries can be charged over 1000 times.

Preparation

Don’t use the Emjoi Epi Slim immediately when you get it. Exfoliate your skin 2 days before using it. If hair is long, I suggest shaving it first. Depending on your hair growth, wait between 2 to 5 days before using the epilator so that the epilator can pick up the hairs. It will not work on very small hairs that the tweezers can’t reach. It is recommended to epilate in the evening in case of redness.

When removing hair at the root on the face, oil and bacteria can get into the pores where you have removed hair. Begin with a clean face, removing any makeup. Always take a shower or wash your face before each use. This not only helps clean the skin, but warm water helps soften the hair making it easier to remove. To clean the face and prevent breakouts, use witch hazel on a cotton ball to wipe down the area you plan on epilating. You can use any plain witch hazel, but I find using Thayers medicated witch hazel or OXY facial cleaning pads before and after each use prevents breakouts the best.

Be sure skin is completely dry before using the epilator. Brush the skin with a dry brush or towel to make the hairs stand up a little. Some women like to put a little talc powder on the skin to absorb any oil.

How To Use

To turn it on, you simply press down on the safety switch and slide the on button up. When you turn it on, it’s got 9 tweezers that spin around very fast plucking out hair. It can be very intimidating to use when you first see the rotating tweezers and hear it. For such a small epilator, I found it pretty loud. At 74 decibels, it sounds like an electric razor. If you are trying to hide that you are using this epilator, it is pretty hard to do.

You have to be sure to hold the epilator perpendicular at 90 degrees to the skin’s surface. If you place it wrong, the tweezers will skid over the skin. Unfortunately, there is no guide to ensure that you are holding it at 90 degrees. Since there is no cap, you have to be very sure that you place it very gently on your face as the tweezers can come close to the skin.

It does take a little patience to use it correctly. Do not use the Emjoi Slim like you use an electric shaver. Do not press at all. Hover it very lightly in small circles on the outside of the skin just barely touching the surface of the skin. It should be used as if there is a rolling ball on the top sort of like those roll on deodorants. You can also use small paint brush strokes to scoop up the hair. If you are not feeling it, you are probably facing the epilator the wrong way or the batteries are too low. Always move the device in circles or brush strokes towards the label on the front of the device.

If you push down very hard on the hair, the epilator will not be able to pluck out the flat lying hair. You want to make sure that the tweezers have enough of space to grab the hair. The hair has to be allowed to stick up away from the skin’s surface. Use your other hand to pull skin tight so hair stands off the surface of the skin. If you hear the motor stressing when you place the epilator on your face, you are pressing too hard. Using the epilator incorrectly could allow the epilator to pinch and grab the skin.

To remove facial hair, you have to work in small circles or paint brush strokes forwards and backwards to catch the hairs. Hair on the face can grow in many directions so moving in circles in various directions and angles can help the epilator pick up most of the hair. As you work back and forth, you will feel it pick up both fine and coarse hair. It even works with fine blonde hair. With coarser hair, it does tug on them a bit. We don’t recommend using this on very coarse hair like on a man’s face because it would be far too painful with too much tugging. You do have to put it in the right area and rub in circles over a spot a couple of times to get all the hair, but it is pretty thorough. It won’t get the very small hairs that the epilator’s tweezers can’t reach.

What Body Areas Does It Work On

Face

I first tried the Emjoi Epi Slim on my face. I found it is tough to use something like the Braun Silk Epil 7 on the face because its wider head makes it uncomfortable to maneuver even with the included facial cap. With a smaller head, the Emjo Epi Slim does a better and faster job on the face. I found its smaller size makes it easy to use across the chin, by the ears, on the jaw line, and in the mustache area.

On my jaw line and cheeks, I gently put it up against my face and pulled the skin tight with the other hand. I moved the epilator very lightly with small circles backwards and forwards along my jaw line and cheeks. Then I moved upwards and downwards in small circles. It got most of the hair. You have to be very careful around the eyelashes. Push your one eye closed with your finger to keep the eyelashes away from the epilator.

I then tried it out on the little patch of hair underneath the lower lip using small light circles. It picked up these hairs pretty quick.

It works on the lady mustache, but the upper lip is very very painful. You have to be very careful when epilating the upper lip otherwise the epilator can injure the skin. If you are not comfortable with this, I recommend using the Bellabe spring for the upper lip. Just like the Epi Slim epilator, it hurts like crazy but it won’t injure you.

If you epilate the upper lip, shave the area and wait for hair to grow out 2 – 5 days. When epilating the upper lip, you have to apply a lot of pressure to keep the skin tight in this area. It is best to work this area in 3 sections – left, right and middle. Pull the skin tight to the cheek to flatten out one side. You can also press outwardly with your tongue. Then move the Emjoi Slim with  quick downward paintbrush strokes just grazing the area. Do not place it on the skin. Hover it above. Be very careful around the side of the lip, which should be held down firmly. Don’t try to catch all the hair. Lift the epilator back off the skin. Even if you don’t catch all the hair move on. Work your way from the corner up. Repeat the same process on the other side.

I found that the middle portion of the upper lip right under the nose is the most painful area on the whole face. When doing the center, be sure to pull the skin on the upper lip with your index and middle finger to the sides of the lip.

I then moved onto the chin. It is easy to remove light hairs here. Provided hair is long enough, it works on the dark course hairs on the chin.

It can be used on other areas of the face. It can be used on the neck, while pulling skin tight. It can be difficult to remove hair on the neck since the hair lies flat. It requires many passes. Removing hair on the side burns takes long and is really uncomfortable but it can be done. You have to tightly tie back loose hair and pull up on the skin by the ear. At about 1 1/2 inches wide, the Emjoi Epi Slim too big for shaping the eyebrows.

Underarms

I was impressed with this epilator on the underarms and bikini area. Given its size, it is one of the best epilators for the underarms. Just be warned the underarms are super tender. Epilating the underarms is very painful, but compared to other epilators, I found it easy to direct the small precision head where I needed it to go. When epilating the underarms, be sure to hold your arm up over your head to keep the loose skin in the area tight. Then glide the epilator lightly over the skin in small circles. It does tug on coarse hair a bit. Because hair grows in different directions, you do have go over areas a few times to get all the hairs. The first time when you epilate deep rooted coarser hair, it is normal for the skin to bleed at the spot of the hair removal. It does get easier the more you do it as hair grows lighter. After epilating the underarms, they look so much smoother and lighter. They only have to be touched up once a week.

Bikini Area

It works well on the bikini line, but it hurts like heck the first time you do it. Its small size means it can reach your very private areas. It works great on the difficult nooks and crannies. Inside the panty line, while so very painful, it is one of the best epilators for a Brazilian. It is best to do this section a little bit at a time and walk away when it gets painful. It is a much slower process than getting waxed since you are only removing 1 to 5 hairs at a time. If you have never had a Brazilian, my advice is to get it professionally done a few times and then epilate the re-growth every week. For those that can’t stomach the pain on the bikini area, I recommend using a good bikini trimmer instead.

Other Areas

You can use this epilator on other parts of your body besides the face. Because it has a small tweezer head, it works best for the face, underarms, and bikini area. It is very maneuverable in tight places. You can even use it to remove light hair on the stomach. It works on the legs and arms, but it takes a long time to get it all. It’s not very practical. It works better for touching up these areas or on smaller areas like the back of the knees. If you are using an at home Tria laser or waxing, this is great for touch ups.

Performance

Provided the batteries are fresh, the Emjoi Epi Slim works well to remove women’s facial hair. It removes fine peach fuzz on the upper lips, chin, and hands. Like waxing, it will pluck most hairs, but occasionally will break just a few and leave the tiny ones behind. When removing most of the hair on the face, your complexion looks instantly lighter and smoother. Even makeup goes on smoother.

Don’t expect it to work like a shaver and remove hair effortlessly. Although, I found it much quicker than tweezing each hair out, you do have to make numerous passes in different directions to clear each area. Sometimes it is difficult to get strays and easier to pluck them out with tweezers. Unlike shaving, it won’t pick up all the hair at once. Once you get most of the hair the first time through, it is pretty easy to maintain. Since hair grows in 3 cycles, it takes a couple cycles of hair removal to stay smooth for longer periods of time. Maintenance is easy. Just use your fingertips to tell you when hair is coming back. Touching up takes just a few minutes every couple of days.

If hair has just been shaven it will not be long enough for the epilator to pick up. While Emjoi claims it can remove hair as short as 0.5 mm, we found that you do need a couple days of growth for the tweezers to grab onto. Hair should not be too long either. If hair is too long, hair might not be pulled out at the root.  In contrast, I found that the Bellabe spring would pick up hairs that are much smaller and finer, but this gets the coarser hair better. With very coarse hair like on a man’s face, the Epi Slim will tug on the hair. There might be some hair that is too tiny for the epilator to grab, but never press down on the epilator. Just wait until they grow out a bit more. You might have to wait a few days before it can pick it up. It can be very difficult to pick up the extra extra fine hairs.  For the extra extra fine hairs and smaller hairs, you can either use a tweezer or the Bellabe spring.

Like waxing, anytime you remove hair from the root, you have to worry about ingrown hair. To prevent ingrown hair from developing on the face, you should use a glycolic or alpha hydroxy product to clean the face. You can also lightly rub the face with a pumice stone or exfoliating glove to help hair break through skin cleanly when it grows back. This will help keep new hair from getting stuck under the skin’s surface.

Does It Hurt?

Yes. Emjoi recommends trying the unit on the back of your hands to familiarize yourself with the unit. If you can’t take pain, I recommend a facial trimmer instead. Epilating the face is super painful especially if you have never removed hair from the root before. If you have waxed or tweezed the area, then it won’t be so bad. The pain is pretty comparable to waxing or tweezing. With waxing the pain is over in instant. This hurts every time a hair is plucked. In the beginning, it is best to do a little bit at a time. You can feel a little zing where the hair is pulled out. You do get used to the plucking sensation over time.

Certain areas tend to hurt more as well as coarser hair.  Soft fine peach fuzz on the cheeks hardly hurts. Fuzz on the chin is not so bad. Coarse hair on the chin hurts more. You can really feel it on the upper lip especially under the nose since there are more nerve endings there. Epilating both the underarms and bikini line is painful business since hair is very coarse. The pain does get better the more you use it as hair grows back lighter. On more painful areas, some women have had success with using ice to numb the skin. You can also use a numbing cream like GreenCaine, but you have to layer it on pretty thick for any effect.

Cleanup

It comes with a cleaning brush that makes it easy to clean. Take the brush and just brush away any loose hair stuck inside. You can also use a little rubbing alcohol to disinfect the tweezers. Just be sure it is completely dry before putting it away.

What Others Are Saying

The Emjoi AP-9LC Epi Slim is highly reviewed by customers and Youtube beauty bloggers.

Chantal Mcculligh can’t stand shaving. She uses the Emjoi Epi Slim for tinier places. She likes to use it on her legs on her knees where her large epilator can’t get. She uses it on her upper lip to get rid of the peach fuzz. Her makeup goes on much smoother with no shadows. She encourages women to epilate their underarms with it because they look so much nicer

Loralee didn’t want to spend a lot on an epilator and just wanted to try one out. She wanted something to travel with. So she decided to get the Emjoi Epi Slim. Before she would tweeze her armpit hairs because she thought the friction of shaving leaves them dark. She liked it because you don’t have to tweeze each and every armpit hair out. In contrast, she found that it wasn’t great on her thin leg hairs. She says it works better on smaller areas and uses it primarily on her armpits. The biggest negative for her was that it was loud and obnoxious.

Theresa Huaroto uses the Emjoi Epi Slim to get rid of her sideburns. She says it hurts so bad, but loves the cleaner look.

On Amazon, it is getting a 4.0 out of 5 with close to 100 reviews.

Summary

Facial hair can really affect a woman’s confidence. There are other electrical tweezers for the face, but this is the best epilator for the face. The Emjoi Epi Slim works well to remove both fine and coarse hair from the cheeks, chin, and mustache area. It is so painful to epilate facial hair, but the face looks so much smoother. Thanks to its smaller size, it also works well on the underarm and bikini area.

At under $30, the Emjoi Epi Slim is cheaper than paying $20+ whenever you need to get your face waxed or threaded. Best of all, you don’t have to wait in between sessions. It is a lot quicker than tweezers. With tweezing, you have to find just the right angle in the mirror. With Emjoi Epi Slim , you just run it lightly in circles in the area you want to remove hair.

We generally like the Emjoi Epi Slim, but it has some problems. The unit runs on AA batteries which have to be replaced every now and then. When the batteries are low, performance dips. We would have like to see a guide on it that keeps the tweezers away from the skin as well as perpendicular to the skin. If you are not careful and push down too hard, especially around the upper lip, it can pinch skin.

Multiple passes are required for a smooth finish and it sometimes tugs on very coarse hairs. It’s not as accurate as tweezing so strays are difficult to pick up sometimes. It won’t get hair that is too short or extremely fine. You do have to wait for hair to grow out so that the tweezers can pluck the hair.

Still, it leaves the face feeling smoother than before if you can handle the pain. Compared to other epilators for the face, underarms, and bikini, this is the most well rounded epilator, not to mention the best bang for your buck.