Once you reach adolescence, armpit hair becomes a natural fact of everyday life. Although everyone’s hair removal regime comes down to personal preference, it’s still one of the most time-consuming and recurrent parts of any beauty routine.
While shaving is a quick way to get smooth underarms and waxing lasts longer, epilating your underarm hair helps to prevent unwanted issues like ingrown hairs and irritation, offering a more permanent hair removal solution.
Once you’ve read about the secret benefits of epilation, find our tips to get smooth, supple underarms from your Silk Epil 9 Flex epilator below.
Tip 1: Choose the best epilator for underarm hair
From creams to wax strips and razors, it can sometimes seem like there’s an inexhaustible list of hair removal treatments available. Finding the right one for you can feel tricky – every treatment has pros and cons. Still, here’s why many people believe epilating is the best way to remove underarm hair.
Epilating removes hair at the root – resulting in smoother, hairless skin and much slower regrowth than shaving. If you’re unsure if an epilator or waxing is the best treatment for hair removal, epilating is usually better for sensitive skin. It offers a more precise solution, so you don’t have to wait for hair to regrow before you can remove it. Unlike waxing, which usually tends to grab hairs of 2mm minimum length, epilating picks up hairs as short as 0.5mm.
Of course, perhaps the most common question about this hair removal method is: does epilating hurt? Epilating works by pulling hairs from the root with a series of tweezers. If you’re used to plucking your eyebrows, you’ll generally find it a similar sensation.
The Braun Silk Epil 9 Flex is designed with difficult-to-reach areas like armpits in mind. The world’s first fully flexible head makes this epilator great for effortless hair removal, while SensoSmart technology ensures you apply just the right amount of pressure. The Wet & Dry feature also means you can even use it in the shower for more comfort.
Tip 2: Exfoliate your armpits to avoid ingrown hair
The key to any successful hair removal is to exfoliate beforehand. Although this may seem a time-consuming step, exfoliation removes dead skin cells, softens skin and prevents issues like armpit irritation and ingrown hair.
Exfoliation fights against ingrown hair by removing dead skin cells and promoting hair regrowth in the correct direction. It’s good to exfoliate every time you wash, and all the more so before epilating to make your armpits smoother.
Braun’s Silk Epil 9 Flex actually includes an exfoliating brush so you can quickly exfoliate before you remove hair. Guiding the brush in circular motions, this deep-body exfoliation visibly improves skin, with a powerful brush that’s 6x more effective than an ordinary manual scrub.
Just like you would before you visit the salon, bathing or showering in warm water before you epilate will ease any pain by loosening hair follicles, and also remove deodorant and other impurities that can cause skin irritation.
With the Silk Epil 9 Flex letting you control your own experience from your own shower, there’s no need to visit a salon or spa to get the smoothest underarms. Here’s all you need to know about how to avoid ingrown hair.
Tip 3: Trim armpit hair before epilating
Armpits are a good place to build up your epilation tolerance. As the hairs there are generally shorter, grow back frequently and are more often on show (especially in summer months) you may find this area needs regular attention.
Despite what waxing advice may tell you, epilation doesn’t require you to let your hairs grow out again fully before removing them. In fact, epilating works best when armpit hair length is shorter so that the tweezers can grip and remove hairs more precisely. You’ll also find that epilating armpits is faster and less painful this way.
To prepare yourself for your first go at epilating, we recommend trimming armpit hair 2-3 days beforehand if it’s on the long side. This will allow for more comfort and ensure smoother results with a long-lasting finish.
Each time you epilate, you’ll find that it becomes easier, quicker and much less painful. This makes epilation one of the best hair removal techniques for decreasing hair regrowth.
Explore our guide on how to epilate like a pro.
The benefits of epilating underarms
Armpits are flexible, irregular shapes, which makes them tricky to remove hair from. However, the Braun Silk Epil 9 Flex’s micro-grip tweezers and fully flexible head help you reach difficult angles more comfortably, giving you hairless, long-lasting, smooth armpits.
Because regular epilation helps to stunt armpit hair growth, one of the most significant benefits of epilating over other modes of hair removal is that results last for weeks, not days. The more you epilate, the more you will reduce hair regrowth as hairs grow back slower, softer and thinner.
Similarly, epilating can be done from home. Using an epilator on your armpits will also eliminate any dark shadow under your arms, as sometimes occurs after shaving.
Epilating can be a good solution for anyone with sensitive skin. Provided that the correct epilation aftercare is used, such as a cooling aloe vera moisturiser, epilating armpit hair instead of waxing reduces inflammation.
Want to know more about the benefits of epilating? Follow our guidance on which hair removal method best fits you.
