Panasonic ES-ED90-P Wet And Dry Epilator Review

MSRP
$129.99

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Panasonic claims that its line of epilators offers a gentler epilation experience. We already reviewed the Panasonic ES-WD51-P epilator, which we highly recommend. Designed to be the complete beauty solution, the new Panasonic ES-ED90-P adds a couple of new features and bells and whistles over the previous Panasonic epilator. In addition to a built in light and variable speeds, Panasonic has also included six additional attachments for different body zones including a nifty foot file. Do these new features make it worth purchasing this model over the previous model? Find out in our in depth review.

What’s In The Box

The box opens from the top. Inside the box, there are numerous attachments which can seem a bit overwhelming when you first open the box.

Along with the epilator, there are six different attachments which include the fast cap, gentle cap, legs/arms epilation head, underarms/bikini line epilation head, shaver head with trimmer, and a foot care head. Along with the attachments there are protection caps for the various heads to keep them from getting damaged.

The included instructions tend to make things more complicated than they really are.  However, it is not hard to figure out once you begin pairing each attachment with the diagram.

Here is what is inside:

• Panasonic ES-ED90-P epilator
• Fast cap
• Gentle cap
• Epilation head for legs/arms
• Epilation head for underarms/bikini Line
• Shaver head with trimmer
• Foot care file head
• Cleaning brush
• Travel pouch
• Instructions
• 2 Year warranty and 30 day quality satisfaction guarantee

Design

Slightly heavier than a regular electric shaver, the Panasonic ES-ED90-P has an oval shape and is made out of plastic. It’s got a nice feminine color, designed to appeal to women. Its super compact size makes easy to travel with. It comes with a traveling pouch to store the epilator and its attachments, but the pouch feels a little flimsy.

The ergonomic shape fits in your hand nicely without being too bulky or heavy. It is light, versatile, and easy to maneuver. We like how head actually pivots 60 degrees, which makes it easier to move along the contours of the body.

In the shower, the plastic can get a little slippery especially if you are using it with soap. We would have like to see a rubber grip on it.

The controls are super easy to use and very intuitive. There is an on/off button in the center of the epilator. It’s a push button which you don’t have to hold it down. You simply have to push it to switch between the different speeds and turn the epilator off and on.

Additionally, we found it very easy to switch between the different heads. There is a button on the back that releases the head. Once you pop off the head, you can easily pop on another head.

Since this epilator is smaller than other epilators, the buttons on the front and back are right where you are holding it. You have to be careful that you don’t accidentally press the buttons.

Number of tweezers

The Panasonic ES-ED90 contains 48 metal tweezers. Currently, the Emjoi Emagine has the most tweezers with 72. The more tweezers an epilator has, the faster you can remove hair. However, it can be more painful to remove a lot of hair at the same time. To address this, Panasonic has included a gentle cap for beginners that covers half the tweezers. This allows you to remove less hair and is perfect for those new to epilation.

Battery life

The Panasonic ES-ED90 is a fully cordless epilator. This makes it very convenient as you don’t have to worry about the cord. Our unit came charged, although before you can begin to epilate, Panasonic recommends fully charging the epilator. To charge the epilator, you simply connect the AC adapter to the epilator, plugging the other end into the wall. A solid red light will appear. It takes approximately 1 hour to full charge the battery.

When the red light turns off, the epilator is ready to use. A single charge will last 30 – 40 minutes. Unfortunately, as a safety feature, you can’t use the Panasonic ES-ED90 while it is plugged in since it a wet and dry model. Panasonic says that the battery is designed to last 3 years if it is used once a week. Although the battery can’t be replaced by users, the battery can be replaced by an authorized service center only in the United States.

Speed settings

Unlike the Panasonic ES-WD51-P, there are two speed settings on this epilator. To turn on the epilator, you press the power button once. The epilator will be on the higher speed setting which is called Normal mode. Under Normal mode the tweezers rotate faster, allowing you to epilate faster. When you press the button a second time, the epilator will switch to the slower speed called Soft. This speed is recommended for beginners and people with sensitive skin. It can be a little difficult to tell what speed setting you are on. However, a green light on the front of the epilator will light up, indicating that you are in Soft mode. If you press the button 3 times, the epilator will switch off.

Attachments

This model contains six different attachments that allow users to choose how they want to remove hair on different parts of their body. The epilator allows you to trim, shave and epilate hair. There is also a separate head that lets you file the hard skin on your feet.

There are 3 different heads and 3 caps. The caps slide on and and off. They simply cover the various heads, altering their use.

Here is what we thought about each of the attachments.

Main Epilation Head for Legs/Arms

When epilating large areas like the legs and arms, this is epilation head you are going to be using the most.

Depending on your experience, there are two different caps that cover the main tweezer head. One of the caps is designed for beginners while the other is designed for fast epilation. These are called the beginner cap and fast cap.

Beginner Cap

Using the beginners cap greatly helped to reduce the amount of the pain our tester experienced. The cap has little ridges on it that pull skin taut as the tweezers pluck the hair. We felt that cap will make epilation much more manageable for beginners and those users who have not epilated for some time. It’s also great for more sensitive areas of your body. The cap covers a portion of the main epilator head, exposing fewer tweezers to your hair. It removes less hair at one time so it can be slow. However, it can help you get used to epilation as you develop tolerance to the pain.

Fast Cap

The fast cap is perfect for those already experienced with epilation. Since it exposes all of the tweezers, we found it much faster than the beginners cap. Surprisingly, even the fast cap seemed to reduce the amount of pain.

Shaver Head With Bikini Comb

This model comes with a shaver head that can be used on the parts of your body that you want to remove hair but maybe are too sensitive for epilation. If are in a hurry and don’t want to epilate, it great for quick touch ups. There are better shavers on the market, but this is a welcomed feature.

There is also a nifty bikini comb guard that you can snap on top of the shaver to trim hair. It’s not painful because you are just cutting hair. It’s great for tidying up the bikini area and trimming hair everywhere. If you let your hair grow out, it’s also great for trimming hair to the ideal length before epilation.

Epilation Head For Underarms/Bikini Line

Panasonic says that the large main epilator head is not designed to be used on the underarms as it could pinch skin. Instead, Panasonic has included a separate smaller narrower head that makes epilating the underarms much easier. Compared to the main epilator head, it has a much smaller surface area and a lot less tweezers. While you should always keep skin taut, it is designed so that it doesn’t pinch skin in the area. The narrower head also allows you to epilate along the bikini line.

If you are a beginner, you can also use this narrower head on other areas of your body so that you are not pulling as much hair out.

Foot Care File Head

One of the biggest surprises on the Panasonic ESED90 is the attachable foot care file, which files calluses and hardened skin on the feet. We absolutely love the foot care file and wish it was included on other epilators. The pumice stone rotates quickly removing dead skin. This head can only be used dry. Since it is electrical, it is so much better than manual filing, which leaves uneven skin. We tried it 30 minutes after showering, as suggested by Panasonic.

After putting the foot attachment on, we sanded each foot for about 5 minutes using the normal speed. You can actually see the dead skin being removed. As you place the pumice stone on the skin, the light helps illuminate the area. You can hear when you are going over rough skin. It did not hurt and took off just the right amount of calloused skin. It does help to put a washcloth or newspaper down to catch all the dried skin. The results are amazing. It left a huge mess of dried skin on everything, but left our feet feeling smooth. Panasonic recommends filing your feet every 2 weeks and replacing the file after 1 year.

LED Light

The Panasonic ES-ED90-P includes an LED light. When you switch on the epilator, the light comes on. It allows you to see any hairs that you have missed to get a smoother finish. Even in good lighting, it can be hard to see areas that are in shadow. It is very helpful in the shower or when you are epilating your underarms. We love that Panasonic has included this feature on this model but do wish there was an option to turn it off in some circumstances.

Wet Use

We like that most of this epilator’s attachments are fully immersible in water and can be used wet or dry. Epilating is slightly less painful in the shower or bath.

You can even use this epilator with foam. To create foam, you have to wet the epilator and put a small amount of soap on the epilator head. When you turn on the epilator, foam is created.

The only problem is that in the shower it can be difficult to see and feel hair. Hair tends to stick to the skin. It feels like you have done a good job, but once you get out of the shower, you might notice that you missed some of the hair.

Still, it is very easy to make epilation part of your existing routine if you can simply hop in the shower with the epilator. It also makes cleanup easier as you don’t have to worry about picking up after plucked hairs. It’s nice to have the option for both. You may prefer to do your arms and legs dry, but epilate your underarms in the shower. Compared to epilating dry, it is easier to slide the epilator over the skin with soap in the underarm area. You can also make one pass wet and do the finishing touches dry.

Noise Level

In general epilators are loud. Some women tend to be self conscious about the noise an epilator makes. At 67 decibels, the Panasonic ESED90 is one of the quietest epilators that we have tested. A lot of the other epilators sound more machine-like.

Body Areas It Can Be Used On

The Panasonic comes with several different heads for different areas of your body. This epilator is designed to be used on the legs, arms, underarms, and bikini line. It is great for epilating the calves and shins on the lower legs.

Panasonic doesn’t recommend using this epilator everywhere on your body. This is not an epilator for the face. It is just not precise enough. Panasonic also recommends not using it on the elbow area, knee area, and thighs. Additionally, it should not be used for a Brazilian. Instead, consider trimming the bikini area with a bikini trimmer. The reason why is that the epilator may pinch any area with sagging skin. If you decide to epilate these areas be sure to create a flat surface for the epilator so it won’t catch the skin.

While not recommended for beginners, this epilator can be used on the underarms. Don’t use the large main head on your underarms. It is too bulky and can catch the skin. Instead, Panasonic has designed a special attachment for the underarm area. This attachment is narrower than the regular epilating head, making it easier to use. Though very painful, the attachment can also be used to epilate the bikini line. Panasonic recommends before epilating the bikini line it can be helpful to put on a bikini or panties to see where your bikini line is.

Epilating the underarms makes them look and feel great. The smooth look is just not possible with a razor. Since underarm hair is very course and deep rooted, it can be very painful the first time.  Some women may prefer to wax the area first and epilate the re-growth. It is normal to experience a little bleeding at the hair follicle when pulling out coarse deep rooted hair. However, if you can get through the first time, it is easy to maintain as it isn’t as painful. After the first time, Panasonic recommends epilating your underarms once a week.

Always trim the underarm hair in the area before epilating. It is also helpful to apply a little baby powder to keep the underarm area dry.

When epilating the underarms, it can be awkward to hold the skin tight and epilate at the same time without feeling like a pretzel. If you have a significant other or friend, they can certainly help. When epilating your underarms put your arm over your head, bending it at the elbow to keep skin taut. Since hair grows in different directions, you have to go in different directions.

Performance

We found the Panasonic to be pretty effective at removing unwanted hair. The results are better than shaving and it beats plucking each hair out. Once hair is epilated, it doesn’t grow as fast as shaving. Since hair does grow in 3 cycles, you might have short stubble that the epilator can’t pick up. It does take a few hair cycles to catch all the hair at the same time. The more you epilate, the longer periods of time you can wait between sessions as hair grows back lighter and sparser.

The main epilator head covers a wide area. With the pivoting head, the Panasonic ES-ED90-P  glides nicely over the skin. As long as you don’t push down too hard on the epilator, it will not pinch skin. Compared to the Braun Silk 7, the Panasonic ES-ED90-P does require several more passes for smooth results. This is especially true on the curved parts of the body.  Sometimes there are stubborn hairs that this epilator doesn’t pick up immediately. While it isn’t as painful as the Braun Silk 7, it doesn’t seem to pluck as much hair out per pass.

However, the Panasonic was more effective than the Emjoi Emagine on the ankles and shins because of the pivoting heads. With the Emjoi Emagine, you have to get the right angle to remove hair.

Pain

The Panasonic ES-ED90 is the least painful epilator that we have tested. Although it performs better dry, it is slightly less painful in the shower. The epilator works best when hair is trimmed to about 4mm. If this is your first time epilating or you haven’t epilated for some time, you can use the shaving head first. After about a week, when the hair is starting to grow out you can begin using the epilator on the re-growth. You can also trim hairs to the correct length with the included bikini trimmer.

The beginner cap is perfect for those new to epilation because it covers a large portion of the tweezers. Surprisingly, even the fast cap helped reduce the pain when compared to other epilators we tested. Both of the caps help pull the skin taut, minimizing the discomfort. You can start with the beginner cap and finish up with the fast cap.

It is still not painless because you are pulling hair out from the root. The pain gets better as your body becomes accustomed to the plucking sensation.

It is best to start with a small area that is the least sensitive like the calf. At anytime, it okay to stop. You can pick up where you left off the next day. You just have to get through initially removing all the hair. If it is too painful, do it in segments over several days. It is the worst the first time. After the first time, it is not as painful because your hair grows back thinner and loses its thickness.

It is normal to experience redness and sensitivity after epilation. Your skin may be covered with little red bumps. This is normal and will fade in a short time.

Cleanup

It can be helpful to epilate in the shower or on top of a towel to collect the hair that has been plucked.

After epilating, you should clean the frame, caps, and tweezer head with a little rubbing alcohol to disinfect them. Cleanup is easy because most of the attachments can also be rinsed under water. Be sure to allow all the attachments to dry completely before the next use.

Summary

Performance wise, the Panasonic ES-ED90 performs very similar to the previous Panasonic epilator. That’s not a bad thing since the Panasonic was considered to be one of the best epilators. However, the Panasonic ES-ED90 makes a number of improvements over the previous Panasonic epilator.

Among these is the new built in light which helps in locating any missed hairs. It’s one of those features you don’t think you need until you use it. With this feature alone, you will find that you get smoother results.

We wished that the previous model offered multiple speeds and this time Panasonic has included two different speeds.

Now there is a separate precision head for the underarm area. Then there is the completely unexpected and amazing foot file, which seems to take off months of hard calluses on the feet. It’s a feature we hope to see on more epilators.

As long as you don’t mind paying a little extra, the bump in price is more than justified. The Panasonic ES-ED90 comes highly recommended.