What Is The Quietest Epilator?

Q. What is the quietest epilator? I heard that they are loud. Will my roommates know I am using one? Is there any way to mask the sound it makes?

A.

So you have just purchased your brand new epilator after reading epilator reviews. You pull everything out of the box. The epilator looks a lot like a razor except the head looks a bit scarier. Before you turn on the epilator, you start reading the instructions. It looks like it won’t be that bad. You plug in the epilator and allow it to charge for 1 hour. Then after a bit of apprehension, you finally get the courage to slide up the switch, turning the epilator on.

The entire mood of the room changes as the birds stop singing, the flowers stop dancing, and the cheerily music playing in the background stops in its tracks. I remember the first time I turned on an epilator, I was so terrified of the pain because it was so loud and violent looking.

Before you know it, the tweezers swirled faster than I could turn the epilator off. At any moment, it felt like it was going to spring free from my hand. Worse, it growled at me like it was going to eat my skin. My hands were literally trembling. I felt like I was in a horror movie and I was the dumb character going to be killed or have my hair pulled out with a torture device.

Quickly, I turned it off. I deeply prayed for 2 weeks before I turned it on again.

We had a lot of fun gathering the different ways that women have used to describe the way epilators sound.

“It sounds like a lawn mower.”
“It sounds like a jet engine about to take off.”
“It sounds like a chainsaw.”
“It sounds like a torture device.”
“It sounds like my husband’s electric razor.”

And our favorite:
“It sounds like a demonic vibrator.”

How loud an epilator gets really depends on how powerful it is. In general the faster the tweezers rotate, the louder the epilator gets. On average, epilators get as loud as an electric razor at around 80 decibels on their higher speed setting. The lower speed setting is about 5 – 10 decibels quieter. Cordless ones are a bit quieter than corded ones. Battery operated epilators don’t get as loud. Epilators for facial hair are a lot quieter since most of them are battery operated. The Braun Face is the quietest facial epilator that we tested and it measured 55dB.

For body epilators, the quietest one that we tested was the Panasonic ES-ED90-P followed by the Braun Silk 7. The Panasonic measured 67 decibels and the Braun Silk 7 was 70 decibels. The loudest epilators were the Emjoi Emagine and the Philips Satin Perfect at around 80 decibels.  See the best rated epilators and a how loud they are here.

Using an epilator is not exactly discrete. If you are trying to hide the fact that you are using one it is going to be hard unless you get a wet and dry model. I found using an epilator while in the shower with running water masked the sound a bit especially with the Panasonic ES-ED90-P. Otherwise, you will have to use it when the kids have gone to school or wait until your roommates or your significant other is not home. Everyone is going to think you are either shaving or using some kind of demonic vibrator. Some epilators come with a safety switch so the epilator won’t accidentally go off in your suitcase while you are traveling, causing unwanted attention.

If you don’t care what other people think, just put on some earplugs. It won’t stop the roommates from asking what the heck you are doing but it cuts down on the noise.

Have you used an epilator? Were you initially put off by the sound it made? How would you describe how it sounds? Let us know.