After comparing epilators, the Braun 7681 receives our coveted Editor’s Choice award for the best epilator because it offers the perfect balance of features.
For years we have tried to remove hair from our skin either permanently or temporarily. Every year we spend millions of dollars on shaving, waxing, and sugaring. Why? Hairless skin is thought to be more attractive. Waxing is expensive and shaving leaves skin feeling rough and stubbly. For some of us, epilators may be a great alternative to waxing and other hair removal options. We say some, because they are not for everyone.
Epilation removes hair at the root. Since you are ripping hair out at the root, the results last much longer. The first epilator ever introduced was made by Epilady. It was a medieval torture device. Most people that tried it switched almost immediately back to shaving. Today, epilators are a lot less painful and some models even allow you to use them under water. These cordless models allow us to have the flexibility to epilate in either wet or dry conditions and just about anywhere.
We’ve conducted many epilator reviews and it’s hard not to recommend Braun’s epilator, the Braun silk epil 7. It’s expensive. However, its top-of-the-line performance, features, and strong customer reviews, make it a good buy.
How The Braun Silk 7 Compares To Other Epilators
Why Braun? First, the Braun 7681 is our highest-rated epilator. Braun is a leading manufacturer of hair removal products. According to GFK, they are the number one epilator brand. It’s also named as one of the most used epilators on discussion boards. Furthermore, Braun has established a reputation for making quality products that are designed to last.
Compared to previous Braun epilators, the slimmer profile makes it fit comfortably in your hand. The Braun features two speeds – low and high – which are useful for different hair types. The pivoting head allows you to even get hair around the knee area.
The Braun 7681 is a full body epilator. The Braun 7181 is the base model in the Braun series 7 line. It’s perfect for those who just want to epilate their legs.The Braun 7181 is the base model in the Braun series 7 line. It’s perfect for those of us who just want to epilate their legs. It comes with just the basic epilation head for the legs, which should be fine for most women. In any case, most women are only going to epilate their legs.
If you want all the bells and whistles to epilate different parts of your body, you can upgrade to the Braun 7681, which comes bundled with numerous attachments for different parts of the body. It includes a shaver head, trimmer cap, sensitive area cap, facial cap, and efficiency cap. The sensitive area cap turns it into a bikini epilator and underarm epilator. In these areas, you must be careful since the tweezers get close to the skin. The most useful attachment is the shaver head, which is helpful for trimming hair to the correct length. You need about 1/4-inch of hair to epilate. Don’t epilate longer hair as it will hurt. Of course, you can shave and wait one to three days for the hair to grow out a bit if you don’t have a trimmer.
Through our research, most people didn’t find any of the other attachments on the 7681 particularly helpful. Most of them are simply covers which simply cover up a portion of the epilator head. We actually like the newer model the Braun Spa Treatment Se7921, which is just like the Braun 7181 but includes an exfoliating head. In order to avoid ingrown hairs, exfoliating before and after is a must. The Braun se7921 has a spin brush that gives you better results than manual exfoliation. If you have the extra money and don’t need the additional accessories of the Braun 7681, you might want to consider the Braun Se7921 for the exfoliating head alone.
Features
The series 7 line of epilators are all cordless and can be used under water. This is supposed to reduce pain and result in gentler epilation. One particular informed user said that the difference between this and other epilators is this epilator can get wet. Although the level of pain might just be a little less under water, she felt that just the feeling of using it under warm water made it more comforting. Also, since you can rinse it under water, it makes it easier to clean. Some women preferred using it in the shower, because the hair washes down the drain instead of sitting on the bathroom floor.
The downside to using it in the water is that hair is harder to see. You might have to double-check if you’ve got stray hairs when you get out of the shower.
Wet hair tends to be structurally weaker than dry hair. Depending on your hair type, the epilator may not work well under water. Also, using it under water may result in the tweezer heads not gripping the hair firmly. One reviewer claimed that under water the epilator broke her hair instead of pulling it out.
Although most women might prefer to use it in a dry environment, the ability to use it under water is still an option that most women prefer just to see which is more comfortable for them.
One beneficial feature that should be a must on every epilator is an LED light. The light illuminates the skin so that you can run down the stragglers. You won’t miss hair on the back of your knees. With other epilators, without a light, you have to go by feel – which is time-consuming and therefore not as practical.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to the cordless feature. Most people prefer the cordless option. Being cordless means that you never have to worry about the cord getting in the way. You are never tied to an outlet. This makes it easy to use the epilator on the back of the legs, crook of the knee, or anywhere else on your body. The epilator is able to reach a full charge in about an hour. You get 40 minutes of operating time with it. For safety reasons, you are not allowed to use it while it is charging. This means that if you don’t charge it, you won’t be able to use it until it recharges. It also means that when the battery dies, you are out of luck.
All these features would mean nothing if this epilator didn’t remove hair well. This Braun is equipped with 40 tweezers, which is a decent amount of tweezers. As a rule of thumb, the more tweezers you have, the faster you can remove hair but this comes at the expense of experiencing more pain. This is a mid-range number of tweezers. It’s not the most on an epilator. That nod would have to go to the Emjoi Emagine, which features a whopping 72 tweezers.
Braun claims that this epilator can remove hair as small as 0.5 mm (size of a grain of sand). Users don’t know if the epilator lives up to the claim, but they say you have to wait 3 to 5 days so that the tweezers have something to grab. One user claimed that she was impressed that the epilator was able to grab some of the shortest hairs after a few passes saying it works as advertised “getting fine hairs better than earlier models”. The head pivots slightly which allows it to hug the contours of the body to do a very thorough job.
Pain
Braun claims that this epilator massages the skin when gentle pressure is applied, making it more comfortable. It does this when users attach the massaging head cap. To a certain extent, the vibration can distract you from the pain, making it more comfortable. We really wanted to tell you that the Braun 7681 is not painful, but the truth is regardless of the epilator, plucking out hair from the root is going to hurt.
The amount of pain is going to be dependent on your hair type and your experience with hair removal. The reason why you get so many varying opinions about how much it is going to hurt is because everybody’s hair and skin is different. Additionally, the amount of pain you feel is going to depend on the area. Naturally, if someone has been epilating for years, their body becomes used to it. Remember the first time you plucked your eye brows and it was all puffy and red. You had tears coming down your face. Now you don’t feel anything. Epilators are a lot like that. They are not for everybody.
Although epilators that have more tweezers will remove hair faster, it will hurt more because you are removing more hair at once. We think an epilator virgin who tried the product described it best: “Ouches, oh My God, Holy Hell!” Take a tweezer pull out one hair and multiply it by 40. The hardest part is sticking “past the first few minutes”. Most women who have stuck with their Braun 7681 are more than happy with the results.
Epilator Comparison
What about other models? We compared a ton of models – here we present the highest-rated epilators.
Panasonic ES-WD90-P
We also love the Panasonic epilators. If you want something with all the bells and whistles of the Braun epilator and more, they have a new one out called the Panasonic ES-WD90-P which may even top the best that Braun has to offer.
It is pricier than the Braun. It comes with 6 attachments but unlike the Braun you actually get different heads for sensitive areas and normal areas. We love that the pivoting action on this model is on the head and it features a dual head epilator head unlike the Braun which has one. It even comes with a foot buffer which customers seem to love. Both are great products with similar features but if you want the additional attachments, the Panasonic may just be the way to go.
Panasonic ES-WD51-P Epilator
Since Panasonic released their new model, women can score a great deal on Panasonic’s previous epilator, the ES-WD51-P , which is a well-received model by customers. Many women don’t need all the bells and whistles that the Braun 7681 or newest Panasonic offers. Most women want a good epilator but don’t want to break the bank for it. It has most of the features of the Braun – including a wet/dry option and it’s cordless. Good Housekeeping gave it their seal of approval. It’s about half the price of the Braun and delivers more tweezers. It soon might be difficult to find.
Emjoi AP-18 Emagine Epilator
If you don’t need the light and cordless option, there is the extremely popular Emjoi Emagine, which features 72 tweezers. It’s a great option for those who want to speed up the epilation process. It’s a great epilator for the legs and any other area you want to clear a lot of hair very fast. They also make a rechargeable version but it doesn’t hold its charge for very long.
Remington EP7030 Epilator
For those who plan to buy only one epilator for the face and body, consider the Remington EP7030. You don’t need the most expensive epilator to get results if you are not going to use all the features. With the facial attachment, it is a good epilator for the face. We like that it has got two speeds. One of the reasons we recommend it for the face is that on its slowest setting it doesn’t seem to go as fast as the Braun 7681 on its slowest setting. This makes it safer to use on the face. It’s a wet and dry model, which means that you can use it on lubricated skin.
Philips HP6401 Satinelle Epilator
If you need just a basic epilator consider the Philips HP6401. It’s not a cordless model, features no light, and might not remove hair as fast as the Braun – but it is serviceable. A step up from that is the Philips Satin Perfect Hp6576, which is rechargeable and features a built-in light. It’s one of the only epilators with ceramic tweezers which are supposed to grab hair better. It may not be able to be used under water, but unlike the wet and dry models, it can be used with or without a cord. Unlike the Braun and Panasonic cordless models, you can use it while it is charging.
Simply put, there are many good choices of epilators for, but the Braun offers a fair amount of features and attachments that should satisfy most people.