Braun Silk-epil 5 5-280 Epilator - Painless Hair Removal for Women

Lena Le: This works amazing well. My legs are very smooth after each use. It does hurt since it pulls your hairs out of the root, but I got use to it.

United States on Sep 17, 2023

Gretchin: I have used Braun products for many years. They last far longer than any other brand. This is my 2nd Braun epilator that I have bought in the last 20 years! I like this one better than the last one, it has a little more power than the basic one and it was money well spent. I always have silky soft skin and never have stubble that shaving causes. I can usually go from 2-4 weeks between uses, depending on hair growth. Sometimes just a touch up is needed. So much better than expensive waxing. Great for legs, bikini, under arms. I would never use anything else. I hope they never stop making this epilator.

Canada on May 15, 2022

Amazon Customer: Braun Silk-épil 5 Power works great and this would've been my 2nd one so I would give it 5 starts, but I'm giving 4 stars because the one I received from this distributor was Silk-épil 5 Wet & Dry instead; this model is chargeable, doesn't have pivoting head and smart light, which were important features for me. I ended up returning. I would definitely recommend Silk-épil 5 Power if you can find one. Make sure you confirm with distributor which one you are getting.

Canada on Feb 19, 2022

Joseph Cafariello: Ladies and gentlemen, I have to write this review. This epilator is absolutely fantastic!

Now, I'm a man, and I recommend this for men too. Ladies, if you want your man to have a smooth face and he just hates shaving, this is the answer to both your dreams.

I'm of Mediterranean descent, so I have coarse, dark whiskers which are a pain to shave. Literally, a pain. And even after I shave it looks like I haven't. Years ago, I went for lazer hair reduction, which helped a lot. It killed about 50% of my whiskers, mostly under the chin and on my sides. But the mustache and ball of the chin were hardly affected, since these areas have the coarsest hairs.

Recently, I had been waxing my face. After 6 months of waxing, it has become really easy and painless to pluck out my whiskers. The first few times were very painful. But after a few times, it becomes easier and less painful because the hair root is less dense and less tethered to the skin.

So I went online looking for a home lazer kit to try my own lazer treatments at home, since waxing once a week was just too time consuming and messy. I didn't even know about epilators until looking for lazers. So when I...

Canada on Jul 31, 2020

Andrew C.: I once used a 20 year old epilator. That was 5 years ago. I used it for about 10 minutes and gave up. The pain was just not worth it. The PTSD from that event finally subsided and I thought I'd try again, but with something a little newer.

The cost of this epilator was a stretch for something I knew might regret purchasing, however the pain was much more manageable this time.

Build Quality
The device is built well enough, though I'm not convinced it's worth the price. Time will tell if the plastic construction holds up over time.

Use
The shaving attachment works well, but I wouldn't depend on it for frequent use. Compared to a dedicated body groomer, it's a bit awkward and the shaver caps do not fit as securely as I would like.
As I mentioned, epilation was more bearable than I expected. I showered and exfoliated immediately before beginning. I mainly used the faster speed setting with the roller head. Pulling your skin tight made a big difference and the area below the knee wasn't too bad. My knees and any area above required the additional technique of loudly verbalizing how much I enjoyed the pain and how good having each hair violently extracted...

United States on Jun 20, 2020

Laura Millard: This is my first epilator and I’ve been using it regularly for about a month. Like you’ve heard, the pain is ungodly the first several times you use it. It took me 3-4 sessions doing my full leg to actually get all the hairs, so I started out doing it everyday. After about 5 sessions I really noticed the pain had been significantly reduced. It still hurts when I start in on an area but once I get going the pain really lessens.

I don’t know how this compares to other models, but it works fairly well. It does break off quite a few hairs, especially my finer hairs, and that’s a bummer because I’m very prone to ingrown hairs, but the amount it does remove from the root is impressive to me. I do have to go over the same area many times to get all of the hairs, but I’m gradually having to do this less as the hairs seem to be pulled out much more easily now.

My biggest negative is that this gives me ingrown hairs even worse than shaving. If you have this problem too I recommend salicylic acid wipes/astringent, washing the area with hibicleanse before and after epilating to prevent bacteria from getting into the follicle, and a generous application of calamine...

United States on Sep 16, 2018

Kstou002: If you have never used an epilator before, please oh please do not purchase one under the delusion that it won't hurt. It will hurt. You are ripping the hair out by the root. It hurts. I have epilated for years and have gotten to a point where it doesn't really bother me, but trust me, it still falls under the category of pain. That being said, there is a reason that I have epilated for years. It is wonderful and magical and you don't have to deal with wax or razors. Once you epilate, the hair doesn't come back for a couple of weeks, and when it does, it is much finer looking because you don't have razor stubble, it's a whole new hair growing. It also damages the roots of your hair so that in general the more you epilate, the finer the hair will be when it grows back, and it's easier to do since you don't have to yank as hard to get the hair out, hence the lessening of the pain the more times you do this. PRO TIP: Make sure you thoroughly exfoliate before and after you epilate, especially in the shower the days following. This can help prevent ingrown hairs. Ladies, if you have a high pain tolerance and little bit of patience, then this is for you.
Now, to the review of the...

United States on Jun 22, 2017

Amazon Customer: This was my first epilator
It's not really painful on my legs (armpits are a whole different thing) but it's not as efficient as waxing for sure. I thought I could go a week with smooth legs using this but it's not the case.
There is definitely less hair now than when I shave, but I still have to use it every 2-3 days and even then my legs are not completely smooth.
Still, I guess it's better than using a tweezer, which I used to do all the time instead of waxing (and still do as this thing doesnt get all the hair)

Pros:
I can go longer without shaving my legs, as not all the hair grows back right away and I dont mind a few thin hair here and there
It takes less time than waxing or using a tweezer
Less trouble than waxing
Hair grows back thinner than when shaved
Isn't really painful on the legs.

Cons:
It takes more time than shaving.
It's not as efficient as waxing.
Sometime I have one relatively long hair sticking out and I have to go over it several times for it to be removed (so I guess it does the same thing with all the other hair) and it still doesnt get all the hair.
There is hair all over my bathroom floor when I'm...

Canada on Jun 27, 2016

Northern Flicker: Compared to the model with exact same features from over 10 years ago, this latest version is a definite improvement in terms of the amount of hair it can pick up. But as a result of being so efficient, I do have advise for people if they want their machine to last as long as possible. Depending on the amount of hair you have to epilate, I'd recommend cleaning the machine after one leg or arm. In other words, don't wait till you're done doing your entire body before opening up the machine to clean out the hair. Reason being, my old machine from over 10 years stopped functioning because too much hair got deposited inside the epilating part of the machine. It's virtually impossible to open up the epilating part of the machine because it doesn't use the standard screws. So the only option I had was to buy a new one. Also, a warning about the shaving attachment. With the old one, I used it only twice in the whole 10+ years I had the machine and the shaving part got destroyed during the shaving. I was shaving the nape of my hair (like a stubble growth) and that's when the shaving attachment broke. Honestly, I don't know what kind of hair you can shave with the shaving attachment. If...

Canada on Sep 17, 2014