Customer Reviews

Braun SE7280 Silk-Epil Xpressive Epilator Body System, Corded

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am in LOVE with this product! I got so tired of shaving EVERY DAY in the summer time just so I can wear shorts, capri's, or a dress. The first use was VERY painful. For me, it was worth it. I just used it for the third time, and it seems to be less painful with each use. If you go very slowly, and run the epilator over the same spot a few times, you basically get every hair -- and I only paid a little over $100 for this item. I tried waxing, but the hair breakage I was left with made the experience a total waste of money and time. I paid $150 for a full leg wax and bikini wax last year before I went on vacation, and still ended up shaving the whole vacation just so I could wear a bathing suit every day. I'm not brave enough to use this on my underarms yet. The best advice I can give is to use this in the late afternoon when you're not going to leave your house -- you are left with tiny red spots where the hair gets pulled out, but this is gone by morning. By the third use, the red spots almost had disappeared before bedtime. I hope you find this review helpful.

I am a bit of a body hair-phobe. Shave in all areas (legs, bikini, underarms) daily. Waste lots of time, water, and razors that way, but maintain my sanity. I saw this epilator when it was a gold box deal. Had a Christmas gift certificate, so thought, "why not?"

In all my years (and there are getting to be distressingly many of them) I have never epilated or waxed in any of the relevant areas. My sister-in-law once described her bikini wax in infinite detail - enough to put me off body waxing for good. I saw a friends epilady years ago and immediately recognized it as an implement of torture. So I slogged along year after year with my daily defoliation. Until I saw this new creation. It looked practical, sounded reasonable and the reviews were good - so I bought it.

Day one - tried it out on the kids and husband first. (Never said I was a saint.) Kids said that it "tickled" and pinched a bit. Husband screamed in agony. Decided to trust the kids.

Day two - after a hour of yoga and deep breathing plugged in the device. Several long minutes later, turned it on. Hesitantly applied it to my lower leg. (Leg hair with one days growth, naturally.) In general pain level was very mild, mostly a pinch and a pull, unfortunately I experienced no tickling. Once I a while there was a "YOW" moment, but nothing to go on about. Success, I love my epilator.

Day three - Legs remain pleasingly smooth, will move on to problematic underarm and bikini areas. How bad can this be? Answer: Very. Did not read review recommending three alcoholic beverages prior to use, now understand the need, would recommend general anesthesia instead.

Days four, five and six - ponder impending sale of nightmare inducing epilator. Will anyone in their right mind buy an used epilator?

Day seven - notice offensive leg hair is returning. Eye epilator. Begin yoga and deep breathing sequence. After plugging in epilator have to take break due to spasmodic hand trembling. Contemplate alcoholic beverages, as it is ten in the a.m. consider this ill advised. Tenatively begin use, after first pass regain enthusiasm. Not as bad as first time at all.

Resolution - will continue to use on leg area. Bikini and underarm areas will remain unmolested.

Epi-log (Sorry could not resist.): Have been using epilator for about a month now. It has become a good deal less uncomfortable. Have found that using it after soaking in a hot tub is best. The hairs come out easily and with minimal pain. So far have not had any ingrown hairs or other complications! (Note: still limiting use to leg area - wimpish character remains intact.)

I've waxed my underarms every three weeks every summer for the last few years - which adds up money-wise. I bought the Silk Epil as an alternative, figuring I would just have to use it 4 times to make the money back in what I would've spent at the salon. The first time I tried it, it was so painful that I screamed. I couldn't believe how bad it hurt - MUCH more than waxing. I'm happy to say that I just finished my 4th time and the pain is now manageable. Not pain-free, but a similar level to waxing, which I can tolerate. Here's how I did it:

1. Start on your legs to get used to the sensation. It's unlike anything else.
2. Use it on as short as hair as possible. It really does make a big difference in the pain - the tugging feeling is awful. I shaved and then tried again four days later.
3. Pull your as skin tight as possible.
4. For me, turning my head and watching makes it more tolerable than watching it the mirror. Must be a psychological thing, but it is a big difference.
5. Take a deep breath and just plow through it. I hold my breath and take a pause between each pass. The pain dissipates quickly - within ten seconds.
6. Don't wait for all the hair to grow back before epilating again. Hair grows in at vastly different rates, and it is much easier when the hair is sparse. I do it every week, and it gets easier each time.

Good luck!

PREFACE:
Alright, so lets get a couple of things straight:
1. When I say my hair is thick, course, and bushy I'm talking thicker, more course, and more bushy than some parts of my husbands body hair. Granted, yes, no matter how hairy I am it does not change the fact that there is a small amount of estrogene and progesterone floating around my blood, thus hindering some of the bushy thickness from growing to the likes of my husbands in particular areas (I'll just spare you the details and list em here: legs, face, & belly), however, when I tell you I have never in my life known a woman hairier than myself and I am not being dramatic (why would I want to be?!), please believe it!
2. I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). That means a couple of things: 2a) It means that I grow excessive amounts of body hair than the average female, 2b) The hair I grow grows back thickly and quickly.
3. Yes, I DO HAVE A BEARD. Is it like my husbands? No, not at all. Is it as dramatic as it sounds? No, not at all. But do I grow extremely course hair underneath my chin and along my upper lip? Yes, I do. Is it hard on me? Yes, it is. Do I feel ugly and gross because of it? No, I don't! I embrace my feminine 5 o'clock shadow and realize that life is wayyyyy too short to give a heck about whether or not my chin is hairless. Also, I've had it since I was 13 and I'm 24-11 years of living with hormone imbalance, its all just added bonuses of my life at this point. And, I'm a BIG believer in hair removal products however they come (except depilatory creams [i'd be a hairy lady-man any day of the week than put that poison on my face ever again] and electrolysis [really, I'd rather spend $2,000 on a trip to Europe or a down payment for a Vespa...hair is just hair, but life, well, it's a whole heck of a lot more than hair on my chiny chin chin thats for darn sure]).
Moving Forward:
Since I never give reviews and covet any reviews on body hair removal products I want each of you who read this to keep in mind that:
a) you're probably nowhere near as hairy as someone such as myself.
b) if you are looking for an epilator just for basic hair removal, TRUST ME I'm SURE many if not ALL will work for you.
c) hair removal that involves pulling hair from the root of your body HURTS (go back to the days when plucking your eyebrows was new and/or you haven't done it in a while-stings right??)

MY BRIEF HAIR REMOVAL HISTORY

Shaving: HATE IT! I NEVER SHAVE! When I was an insecure Jr. High girl I STILL DIDN'T SHAVE my legs or armpits because of the pain involved. I would cave once in a while and shave to "feel prettier" (so I thought at the time) and every time I would feel regret because of the extremely painful ingrowns, rashes, cuts, etc. (and yes, this all takes place with brand new razors each shave, expensive razors, loads of shaving cream, not pressing hard, etc. etc. etc.)

Waxing: I've waxed my face most of my post pubescent life. Waxing in painless for me, I'm an expert at it. It doesn't cause ingrowns, it doesn't cause rashing, it doesn't cut me (when I was younger I would burn my face from heating wax too much, but haven't done it in years) and it is easy. I don't mind growing my hair out to wait for a wax.

Plucking: Handy dandy plucking is so great! Having those tweezers on hand to help maintain the beastly growth as it was awaiting its next waxing appt. (in my bathroom, by myself, of course) has spared me for years on those insecure days when I just felt like the world knew my hairy secret and couldn't even wait another day for it to grow back in order to wax.

HONEST TRUTH:
Did it get the hairs?
Having waited an entire month to remove any excess body hair (I was getting ready to send my money back if it wasn't doing what it allegedly promised) my hair was long and it was ready to be removed. I placed this little wonder underneath my chin and within 60 seconds ALL of the extra hairs were GONE! Just a quick stroke of this terror and they were gone, finito, hasta la vista baby!
Now, for those of us with PCOS (In my case, its severe) we know that the hair under our chins isn't peach fuzz-its along the lines of a whiskery texture and when it is waxed more than likely you will also have to pluck to remove the many that just refuse to come out. Well, this Braun terror did not even need me to pluck (ok, I plucked 1 hair because it was in the crease of my neck and my Braun baby was having a hard time with it-but that hair was peach fuzzy anyway, so no biggy). After I finished my chin I went to my upper lip and BAM! all gone!
My feminine 5 o'clock shadow was no more within maybe 90 seconds. And when I tell you it was as (AND STILL IS AFTER 1 WEEK) smooth as a baby's butt-believe it!
Some hairs have started growing back (I expected this, I'm a PCOSr, not a typical fuzzy lady) but they are so few that even I am amazed...and I've been waxing for YEARS-nothing has kept those ferocious hairs from growing back this slowly in all my hair removing days (since I was 14 baby!)

Did it hurt?
It feels like waxing but the pain lasts less, its over more quickly and is much easier. Don't be a wuss! IT IS NOT THAT BAD and I'm hairier than probably 99% of you.
When I was epilating my thighs I stopped for a few seconds to gather my breath because it was stinging a lot. But that hair was so long that I knew I just needed to get rid of it first and it would be fine next time.

What parts did I epilate? and on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being pain free and 10 being my nightmare of shaving) how was the pain?
Face-2 (seriously, easy as pie)
Bikini Line-4 (be careful here, pull your skin extra tight because its easy to get it "caught" in the epilator. It doesn't hurt when its caught, it stings a bit then burns afterward because the skin has been cut.
Upper thighs-7 (i had to stop and breathe at a couple points)
My lady V (aka vagina)-4 (it stings but thats expected, and the benefit of hair gone in 60 seconds? yes please!)
My lady lump in the back (aka butt [including inside crack] <---hey, i'm just being honest)-3


OVERALL RATING:
5 stars! This miracle in an electronic rotating tweezer package is what makes my hairy life easy in the long run-and I'm thankful!
Now I have more of a reason to NEVER shave again.

Before purchasing this Braun SE7280 Silk-Epil Xpressive Epilator, I read the glowing reviews of the earlier model (Braun 5270 Silk-épil X'elle). Over 500 people gave it a 4 or 5 star rating. That was impressive. I decided that between those two models, it was worth paying a little more for the swiveling head, narrower lighter body style, and Olay wipes. This is also sealed so that you can run it under water to clean. I like to use rubbing alcohol to keep the tweezers free of any body oils so it can grab even super fine hairs. The LED light really helps spotlight thin blonde peach fuzz.
Does it hurt? I enjoy using the epilator on my legs that has medium-thick dark brown hair. It is no more painful than gently exfoiliating with a loofa. My face and arm pits are more sensitive. It feels pokey like little zaps of static electricity. There are star shaped beads that stimulate the skin before the hair is pulled. They roll up and down, but scratch a bit if you move side to side. I was so happy with it that I convinced my 16 year old daughter to try it. We used the Olay wipes before, but she still couldn't hold still because she said it hurt.
I could have given this product 5 stars if it weren't for a couple minor things. It actually could be user error, but I still find super fine baby hairs after going over the area a couple times. I exfoliate and moisturize with an alphahydroxy acid lotion, but still have some ingrown hairs. This might improve as I become more experienced with this gizmo and my skin gets used to epilation. In the mean time, I still much prefer this over the balancing act in the shower to shave with the risk of nicks. I run this over my legs in less time than it takes to shave. Waxing was extremely messy or expensive, and pulled my skin causing bruising. This epilator hurts way less than waxing. No amount of advertising could have convinced me to buy this, I have to thank the reviewers here at Amazon for the details and honest insight.

Wow! I don't know if I will ever stop gushing about this products. I go to the salon once a month to get a full "take it all off" bikini wax. It tends to add up, but I have been ok with paying someone else to take care of my business... That is until I discovered how easy and painless this is! I ordered this product for my armpits which I have had struggled with. I hate shaving everyday and didn't want to do laser treatments because of the super long wait time in between treatments where you are not allowed to shave, ew! But I digress.

I have very little to no hair on my arms and legs. So little that I don't even bother to shave them. (No I'm not a hippy) For real, I have like maybe 12 hairs on each leg all of them barely visible. So I started there. One leg at a time. At first I thought the thing must be complete garbage because all I felt was a tickle, no pinch, nothing. I checked, double checked, searched, sure enough those hairs were gone.

Well no big deal... There weren't that many to begin with and they were thin anyhow.

On to the pit! I had shaved them yesterday so they have 24 hours of growth. My pits on the other hand DO HAVE HAIR. They have a 5 o clock shadow all their own to be exact. Quick swipe of the Olay wipes, deep breath. Mixed sensation of excitement and fear.

PAINLESS!

Albeit... there was a tiny bit of blood and swelling. If you ever do get around to trying your armpits you will be surprised how deep the hair follicles grow beneath the surface! I was. I got most of the hairs and decided to give it a rest. From what I have read epilation takes days.

The bikini area did hurt a little in some areas more than others but nowhere near as much as it hurts at my salon does a very good wax. Also the pain went away instantly as soon as I was done with each section as opposed to the discomfort I get after waxing. I was also able to get all areas by myself in hardly anytime at all.

The swelling I talked about earlier with the armpits did go down. Everything looks just beautiful now.

Disclaimer: I am used to the sensation of having my hair pulled out... SO that may be "painless" for me may be painful for some... That being said I still thought WAXING hurt AND NEVER went for a wax without at least taking a pain killer and meeting with the girls for before or after drinks.

Thank you. If you enjoyed my review please say so.

I have been using epilators to remove leg hair for almost 20 years and have tried 4 different products during this time: the epilady, another braun product, an emoji product and this braun silk-epil. Each worked better than the one before. This is the BEST product yet. It is efficient, effective and fast. It works more similar to a razor than any other product. My only regret is that it is not cordless, like the emjoli, a feature i found to be very useful.

I won't get into the pros and cons of epilating vs. shaving vs waxing except to say that for me, epilating is a perfect solution. Having done it for years (since they were first introduced), pain is a non-issue and redness is minor and disappears with a few hours. Epilating is definitely something that you build a tolerance for over time and repetition. I bought this model to replace an Emjoi Optima. I had two complaints about the Emjoi. (1) the shape: So nice and round, pleasing to the eye, but difficult to hold with no good handgrips. The only places to get a good grip on it were the buttons that release the blade head. (2) The blades are placed in a slightly concave configuration, which is great for legs, and not so great for pits and bikini line.

About the Braun. I think it's perfect for what it is supposed to do. Easy to grip, and while epilators in general may tend to miss finer hairs on the first pass, this one seems to get more in fewer passes than the Emjoi. I could take or leave the light, I don't think it helps that much. The noise level is no different than the Emjoi, and is not as loud as husband's electric shaver. It comes with different switchable heads, including a "Beginner's Head", but I just use the one that came pre-installed.

This is my 3rd epilator and it is the best.

Hi All...
Recently I have purchased Braun silk Epil- 7280,Xpressive.
I would like to share my experience with everyone, so that others might benefit from it.

Today every woman is using one or the other way of hair removing products and methods and always ending up in a mess..
I was really tired of using such products and methods.."Shaving" this is an instant method for hair removal but, that results last for just a jiffy..then starts burning, itching what not then the hair which grows back is thick and dark skin becomes dark and rough.
Next here comes in the list is "Cream" even they are also instant but they do harm and it makes hair grow thicker..and the same itching, burning, black spots on the skin..e.t.c, e.t.c

"Waxing" this is a best way, this removes hair from the roots..and the hair which grows back is much lighter and growth becomes less in due course, but one has to wait for hair to grow long to get waxed again this not a solution .If you have a sudden party or any outing your body hair always bother's you as you have to wait a long to get it waxed. Here instead of waiting for smooth skin you should wait for hair. Every method is included with pain, time and the result is nowhere to count.

From times I came across many devices and products but each of them have some or the other defects. I used to wonder that there should be something or some device which should work like waxing and remove hair from the roots without harming skin. At last I found a device which actually does what I used to wonder that is an "Epilator". Now my research for epilator has begun..I read many reviews, rating and every time the rating and reviews have voted for one product as "The Best", and that is undoubtedly "BRAUN". Whatever model you select in Braun it has got its own way of satisfaction.

My model is "Xpressive -7280" chorded. This is a very handy model, fits perfectly in palm and can use with lot of comfort. The massaging rollers play a very big role while epilating..they gently massage and epilate hair without much pain.. it pulls each and every hair..even the shortest hair is not spared..For the beginners, it might be little painful as you yourself pull every hair, but if you are used to waxing before, then that is not a big issue here, you feel like tickling sensation around .Surprisingly, the hair which grows back will be more soft ,thin and you don't feel any burning or itching. Sometimes you may notice ingrown hair..but if you use scrubber ,pumice or anything, those ingrown hair comes out of the upper layer of the skin and you can epilate it. Be cautious if you have thick and strong hair, as this may pain a little more.

Initially you should go slowly so that you get accustomed to the device as well as to the pain. I have used it twice till now, I have already mastered in using, I even try on my sensitive areas of course, and it hurts but worth bearing..I can see thin and smooth hair growing which is unnoticeable in my private areas which earlier had thick, dark and coarse hair..

I titled as an Excellent enemy for hair..because you can really see how it works on hair on the body..it pulls even a flat lying hair..you don't have to wait for your hair to grow long..it will not make your skin darker like shaving..it will not leave skin with dark spots.

I hope this review will help the beginner's .Enjoy smooth and glowing skin with Braun.

I am totally satisfied with Amazon delivery services..it was timely and so apt.Thanks to amazon.

Note: This review is totally out of personal experience, not with the intention to degrade other products.

I owned an old silk epil which i liked, unfortunately (or fortunately :-)) it broke so I bought this one and what a difference with the one I had! It is a lot smoother and easier to use, less painful and I can even do my under arm and the bikini area! it is fast and a lot more efficient!
I totally recommend this item!