Category: Personal Care Blog

After you’ve suffered through an epilation session, the last thing you probably want to do is focus on skin care. Unfortunately, not taking a few minutes on post-epilation skin care can result in unwanted side effects, including infection and ingrown hairs. This last step is always an important part of epilating, but most important when you are first starting out and not sure exactly how your body reacts to epilation. 

After epilating, you need to prevent infection, soothe inflammation, and prevent ingrown hairs. There are many ways to go about this, so read on to get an overview so you can decide what’s best for you and your skin.

Prevent Infection After Using an Epilator

When you epilate, you are pulling hairs out by the root. This causes a minor injury in the hair follicle which makes the area at risk for infections for about 24-48 hours. 

Since newly epilated skin is prone to infection, the first thing you need to do after epilation is minimize the chances of exposing your skin to bacteria or other germs that can cause infection. 

Clean the Skin

Ideally, you should have cleaned your skin before you epilated. You should have also cleaned your epilator head well before you started epilating. This is probably the best way to prevent infection.

So if you skin is already clean after epilating, simply wipe any excess hairs from your skin with a clean towel and you’re good to go.

However, if you did not clean your skin before you started epilating, now is the time to do it. Gently cleanse the skin with a mild soap. Then pat dry the area with a clean towel.

If you don’t have access to a shower or sink to cleanse the area well (when traveling, for example), use a topical over the counter antiseptic spray or cleansers. 

I love Bactine for this purpose. In fact, you may want to use Bactine before you epilate because it also contains lidocaine which help reduce the pain of epilating.  If you decide to use a different antiseptic, I would avoid any with alcohol as this irritates and dries the skin. And your skin is already irritated at this point. 

Keep the Skin Clean

Once you have clean skin, you need to keep it clean until the risk of infection has gone down. It’s super tempting to obsessively touch your smooth skin after epilating, but make sure you don’t touch your skin with dirty hands.

Since sweat can transport bacteria, try to avoid activities that cause excess sweating like working out for about 24 hours. 

You should also make sure that you are only wearing fresh, clean clothing. 

If by chance you do touch your skin or expose the epilated area to germs or bacteria, just cleanse the skin again and pay dry with a clean towel. Or use a topical antiseptic product.

Soothe Skin After Epilation

After using an epilator, you are likely to have some skin redness as well as some minor pain, swelling, or other signs of inflammation.

If you just have some mild redness, you don’t really need to do anything. This is perfectly normal and will go away on its own. However, if you are experiencing pain, swelling, a rash from histamine or another inflammatory response from the body, you can tap into many different hacks and resources to calm your skin and facilitate recovery. 

Ice

A cold compress, bag of frozen vegetables, or a cold wet washcloth applied to the skin for up to 20 minutes will work well to reduce swelling, pain, and irritation.

Lidocaine

If you have lingering pain, Bactine or another topical product with lidocaine will help numb it. Bactine has the added benefit of being an antiseptic so helps prevent infection.

Loose Clothing

Tight clothing rubs against the skin and causes irritation. Wear loose clothing for 1-2 days after your epilate your hair.

Cortisone Cream

If you break out in histamine bumps, a rash, or have inflammation, an over-the-counter cortisone cream may help. 

Avoid Harsh Products

For the first 24 hours after epilating, it’s best to avoid any harsh or drying products including perfumes, tanning products, deodorants, or alcohol containing products.

Aloe Vera Gel

Applying some aloe vera gel, either from a bottle like this product or straight from an aloe vera leaf, will soothe skin without causing breakouts. It also helps moisturize.

Sudocrem

Using some Sudocrem after epilating on your skin will reduce irritation. It also has the added benefit of antiseptic ingredients so will help prevent infection. 

Your Pharmacist

An often untapped resource is your pharmacist. She can give you a custom recommendation for either topical or oral medications based upon your symptoms. 

Prevent Ingrown Hairs After Epilation

A common side effect of epilation is ingrown hair. When hairs are pulled from the root, new hairs have to grow back in and find their way to the surface of the skin. If skin is dry or dead skin cells are clogging the hair follicle, hair can get stuck under the surface, resulting in ingrown hair.

Because of this, it’s important to take steps to minimize dry skin and the accumulation of dead skin cells after epilation.

Moisture After Epilating

To prevent dry skin, start moisturizing your skin within 24 hours of epilating. Some people break out if they moisturize too soon due to irritated pores and skin, so you may need to wait an hour or more before applying a moisturizer. 

To prevent further irritation, it’s best to use a gentle moisturizer that is alcohol and fragrance free. If you are using it on acne-prone areas like the face, then it should be non comedogenic as well. An aloe vera gel works well for this purpose. Aloe vera not only helps reduce inflammation, but also moisturizes and exfoliates. And as always, make sure your hands are clean before applying the moisturizer to recently epilated skin.

Continue to moisturize your skin daily or as necessary to keep skin from drying out. 

Exfoliate After Epilating

To eliminate dead skin cells, you should exfoliate your skin after about 2-3 days after using an epilator. This allows time for irritation to completely subside and gives pores time to heal and close up. You should continue to exfoliate every 2-3 days to prevent ingrown hairs. 

There are two main ways to exfoliate your skin: using friction or a chemical product.

With friction, you simply need to slough dead skin cells off by rubbing skin with an exfoliation cloth, glove, loofa, or pumice stone. For better results, use an exfoliating scrub.

I like to mix brown sugar into coconut oil and add a few drops of lavender essential oil to create a low cost moisturizing exfoliation scrub, but there are endless make-for-you products available. One that many people swear by is Soap And Glory Flake Away Body Scrub.

Another option is to use a chemical exfoliation product such as Tendskin. These products contain acetylsalicylic acid or similar ingredients that help remove dead skin cells and free ingrown hairs without relying on friction.

After Epilating Cream

If you have been reading about epilation online, you may have encountered people talking about after epilation cream and are wondering what it does. So what is after epilation cream? After epilation cream is a cream, lotion, or other topical product that is made specifically to use after hair removal methods that remove hair by the roots, such as waxing or using an epilator. 

These creams usually have ingredients that reduce waxing residue and calm skin. Some also have antiseptic properties to help prevent infection. And some have ingredients intended to slow hair growth. 

Two of the most popular after epilation creams are GiGi Post Epilation Lotion and Parissa Azulene After Waxing Oil.

Is After Epilation Cream Worth the Money?

Unless you are interested in a growth inhibitor to slow hair growth after epilation, I don’t think that after epilation creams are usually necessary. For one, you are usually paying a premium to have a product that does multiple things at once, but you probably don’t need all these ingredients. Since you aren’t waxing, you definitely don’t need to remove wax residue.

I think you may have better luck using lower cost products that address specific issues you have after epilation. For example, if you have histamine bumps, a cheap tub of cortisone cream works great. 

Final Takeaways

This post has listed the best practices for after epilation care so that you end up with the best results with the fewest side effects possible. After epilation, you need to take steps to prevent infection, soothe skin, and then prevent ingrown hairs.

All of the after-care steps listed above may seem overwhelming, but here’s a little secret: I do almost none of these on a regular basis and still have few epilator side effects.

For example, I often epilate my underarms before taking a shower, with a dirty epilator head, and then only use a loofa and regular soap to cleanse/exfoliate afterward. Then I put on deodorant immediately and sweat like a pig. Yep. I suck at after epilation care.

Yet I only get mild redness on my underarms. No major inflammation, no pimples, no infections, no ingrown hairs. However, I couldn’t do the same on my legs all the time and get the same results. Your mileage may very and every area of your body will be different.

It’s definitely best to start with all the steps I’ve listed in this post until you get used to epilating and know how your body reacts. Then adjust your practices as time goes on. And keep in mind that if you don’t do everything perfectly, it’s probably not going to be the end of the world. 

Related Questions

Should I use coconut oil after epilating?

Coconut oil is considered comedogenic so it can cause pimples. If you’re not prone to acne or have dry skin, then it’s usually fine to use coconut oil as a moisturizer after epilation. However, if you want a natural alternative, I recommend jojoba oil because it’s non comedogenic and it doesn’t go rancid like coconut oil does. 

Can I use deodorant after epilating? 

After epilating, it’s best to wait until irritation subsides or about 12 -24 hours before using deodorant. This will prevent irritated skin and avoid introducing bacteria from your deodorant stick. It’s usually easiest to just epilate your armpits at night so you don’t need deodorant right away. 

What’s the best lotion for after epilation? 

Immediately after epilation, I recommend aloe vera gel to soothe and moisturize the skin. Two other good options include jojoba oil and Sudocrem.

Have more questions about epilation? Check out the Epilator FAQ and Beginner’s Guide!

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

References:

Indian Journal of Dermatology: Aloe Vera: A Short Review

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Safety and Effectiveness of Health Care Antiseptics

Before I used an epilator for the first time, I researched epilation like a maniac. Because of this, I had a good idea of all the possible epilator side effects and how to prevent them. So many of the epilator horror stories I’ve read on the internet could be prevented by knowing this information before you buy and use an epilator.

So what are the side effects of using an epilator? Common epilator side effects include pain, redness, swelling, and ingrown hairs. Less common side effects include bleeding, swelling, red bumps, pimples, rashes, whiteheads, bacterial infections, pinched skin, bruising, itchy regrowth, and scars.

Sounds scary! BUT! Most of these side effects are not inevitable. And many go away as you get used to epilating. Thankfully, there are tons of things you can do to prevent them from happening. Read on to find out the risks of epilation, how to prevent side effects, and how to treat unwanted side effects and epilation accidents. 

Pain

One of the most common side effects of using an epilator is pain. Since you are pulling hairs from the root, you will experience some pain. However, the level of pain experienced varies widely from one person to another.

The good news is that the pain usually subsides after the first few epilation sessions. Many long term users, including myself, can epilate without feeling pain. So if you can get through the first few times, you’ll probably be fine with epilating long term. Until then, try ice before and after epilation to prevent pain or check out my post on how to make epilating less painful for more ideas.

Skin Redness

One of the other most common side effects of epilating is redness. The hair follicle becomes slightly inflamed after you pull out a hair by the root. This activates the body’s defensive responses which results in skin redness.

You should expect some redness after every session, but this usually goes away within a few hours.

The easiest way to deal with this is to epilate at night before bed. Then your skin has time to recover before you will be in public. However, if you want to speed up the skin’s recovery process, use ice or a anti-inflammatory cream to soothe your skin after epilation.

Bleeding and Red Dots

I’ve never experienced bleeding with epilation, but it is a well-known side effect of pulling hairs out by the root. The idea of bleeding may make epilation sound terrifying, but it’s perfectly normal and not anything to be worried about.

Each hair follicle is connected to a blood vessel, so if you pull it out when it’s in the growth stage, a little bleeding is perfectly normal. Your body will respond quickly by swelling at the pore to cut off blood flow, so bleeding doesn’t last long. Then your body will reabsorb any blood left in the pore. 

If epilation causes bleeding or red dots from blood for you, you’re most likely to see it after your first time epilating in tight-pore areas or areas with thick, coarse hair such as the underarms or pubic area.

As your hair roots become weaker, bleeding tends to stop happening. So the best way to deal with this side effect is to keep the area clean to avoid infection and expect it to go away within a few sessions. 

If you see bleeding happening beyond the first few epilation sessions, you may need to use an epilator with a lower speed.

Other causes of bleeding include medications or health issues. Some medications, including NSAIDs (non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs) such as Tylenol, thin the blood, which makes bleeding more likely. Health issues that affect blood clotting often cause bleeding so talk to your doctor if you seem to be bleeding more than normal.

Swelling

As mentioned, after hairs are pulled from the root, each pore swells a little to prevent bleeding. And if your body is feeling a little too hypervigilant in that moment, your pores may swell enough to be noticeable, making your skin look swollen.

You’re most likely to see swelling on sensitive areas of the body including the underarms, bikini areas, or your upper lip. Thankfully, swelling is normal and temporary and should go away within minutes or hours. To speed up the process, apply ice to the area for about 10 minutes at a time.

Red Bumps, Pimples, Rashes, and Spots

Now we are venturing into the more significant and not always harmless side effects of epilation: bumps, pimples, rashes, and various spots. Some of these are pretty easy to deal with and others can cause serious health issues, but they all look pretty similar. So to pinpoint what exactly you’re dealing with, you need to know if it’s caused by bacteria or an inflammatory response by the body. 

Bacterial Infection: Whiteheads, Pimples, and Folliculitis 

Bumps and rashes caused by a bacterial infections will typically look like small whiteheads or red pimples. There may just be one bump or a cluster of many together. They usually appear 24-72 hours after you use an epilator and most commonly appear on the chest, back, or upper lip.

Bacterial infections after an epilation are caused by bacteria getting into the pores. This happens when you don’t clean your epilator after each use or share an epilator with other people. It can also happen if you touch freshly epilated skin with dirty hands or if bacteria-carrying sweat gets into your pores. 

The best way to prevent a bacterial infection is by only touching your skin with clean hands and avoiding working out or other activities that cause you to sweat a lot for about 24 hours after epilating. You should also make sure that any clothing you wear after epilation is clean.

Once you have a bacterial infection, it’s best to consult your primary care doctor or dermatologist for medical advice. 

Histamine Bumps After Epilating

If you experience bumps almost immediately after epilation or you experience red itchy bumps, hives, or welts, you are most likely experiencing an inflammatory or allergic reaction. This is often known as histamine bumps. These bumps can appear anywhere, but are most common on the chest, lips, cheeks, or around the eyes. 

Does this mean you’re allergic to epilation? Not exactly.

When tissue is injured, your body’s defense system reacts so to protect and heal. And this reaction can involve a release of histamine from mast cells, which are also released when your body reacts to allergens.

Basically, your body is just over-reaching to the situation. This could end up being a one off fluke, which means you can continue to epilate without problems. Or in some cases, it becomes your body’s bad habit, and you will have this reaction every time you epilate. 

The good news is that skin should calm down in a few minutes to a few hours. The best way to deal is to take steps to reduce your discomfort such as using a cool compress or applying a calming lotion like calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream. Another option is to consult your pharmacist for medication recommendations. 

If you continue to have these reactions after epilating, it’s best to consult your doctor to ask about treatment recommendations or see if you should avoid certain hair removal procedures.

Ingrown Hairs

Ingrown hairs are a common side effect of most hair removal methods, including epilation. Few people can epilate without experienceing at least a few ingrown hairs now and then.

After being pulled out by the root, new hairs have to break through the surface of the skin. Sometimes these new hairs have difficulty breaking through, either because they aren’t growing straight up or because dead skin cells are blocking them.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to exfoliate well before and after epilating and then continue to exfoliate skin 2-3 times a week. Once you get an ingrown hair, it’s likely to go away on it’s own. If it doesn’t go away or you end of seeing signs of a bacterial infection, it’s best to seek medical advice. 

Pinched Skin

One of the worst things that can happen from using an epilator is pinched skin or skin getting caught in the epilator head. This happens when the skin is too loose or you push down on the epilator.

It’s most common on the underarms and public area (labia), but may happen almost anywhere on the body. This causes anything from mild pain and bruising to severe pain, cuts and bleeding. 

I’ve been an unfortunate victim of one of these tragedies. It happened after I bought a more powerful epilator.

I had been used to the limited power and slower speed of the older epilator and didn’t adjust my epilator technique to match the speed of the newer epilator.

The result was my armpit getting stuck in the epilator for a split second. It hurt like a mofo but only left a tiny bruise that went away after a few days. Since then, I’ve more careful and have avoided anymore of these accidents. 

The best way to avoid the same fate is to always pull your skin taut and try to create a flat surface to move the epilator over. Always be mindful of nearby skin when working around joints and the pubic area.

Some people have suggested baby powder to avoid pinching skin with an epilator. Here’s a suggestion from a reddit user by the name of caarbonn:

Baby powder is key for epilating lady bits and underarms, it helps prevent the skin from getting caught, and for me it prevents a lot of weird pulling and tugging that results in slight bleeding post epilation. Just make sure you don’t get the baby powder too close to your vajayjay or wash it off immediately to prevent a yeast infection! 

-Reddit User

If you do get pinched, it’s likely to only happen for a tiny moment and the skin will come out of the epilator quickly on it’s own. If not, turn the epilator off and ease the skin out as gently as possible. Then treat the injury with basic first aid.

Bruising

Bruising is not a normal side effect of epilation. If you find bruises on your skin after using your epilator, you are likely pushing too hard on the skin, pulling on the skin too taut, or using a speed that is too high for you.

It’s also possible that you have an underlying health condition that thins the blood or reduces blood clotting or you are taking medications that cause that effect. If bruising continues, it’s best to seek medical advice.

Itchy Regrowth

Although less common than with shaving, epilator regrowth can be itchy. The main reasons for itchy regrowth are ingrown hairs, bacterial infection, histamine reactions, dry skin, or you may simply just have thick, coarse hairs that irritate your skin while growing back. 

If your problem is ingrown hair, bacterial infection, or histamine reaction, refer to the sections above and resolve the underlying cause.

If the problem is your hair type or dry skin, the best solution is to exfoliate 2-3 times a week, drink plenty of water, and thoroughly moisturize your skin daily with a soothing fragrance-free, alcohol-free cream designed for sensitive skin.

I’ve had chronic itchy skin for most of my life and found Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Lotion (click to check out the reviews on Amazon) to work really well to relieve and prevent itchiness from dry, sensitive skin.

Scars

Scars from epilation are rare. I’m accident and scar prone (I get a new scar from cooking on a monthly basis!), but I’ve yet to get a single epilator scar after years of epilating. However, there is a small chance you can get scars from epilating.

If you end up with scars, it will be due to damage caused by other side effects such as ingrown hairs or bacterial infections. The best way to prevent scars from using an epilator is to treat side effects promptly and appropriately.

For example, don’t dig out ingrown hairs yourself, don’t pick at damaged skin or bumps, and don’t ignore bacterial infections. And always seek medical advice before things get out of hand.

Once you have scars, you can do what I do with my scars and simply embrace them. Or if you’re not into that, there are many options available to treat them.

The easiest step is to try an over the counter scar cream like Mederma (click to read reviews on Amazon). Your primary care physician or dermatologist can also prescribe stronger creams and medications that may work better. For deeper or stubborn scars, steroid injections or surgical interventions may be necessary to completely remove them.

Final Takeaways

The only side-effect free way of dealing with unwanted hair is to embrace it and go natural. Every hair removal method is going to have some risks and potential side effects.

If you use an epilator, the most likely side effects are pain, skin redness, swelling, and ingrown hairs. There are also more rare but serious side effects including bacterial infections and pinched skin.

One way to deal with pain and inflammation side effects is to use ice before and after epilating. And epilating at night will give your skin time to recover before it needs to look good.

Take steps to prevent bacterial infections by cleaning your epilator regularly, using clean hands, and keeping dirty hands and sweat away from freshly epilated skin.

And finally, always move your epilator slowly and keep your skin taut when epilating to avoid pinching the skin, bruising, or other epilator accidents.

Related Questions

What is the best epilator for beginners?

My pick for the best epilator overall is the Braun Silk-épil 9. However, for beginners, I typically recommend the Emjoi Epi Slim (click to check it out on Amazon). This is a small affordable epilator that works best for the face, underarms, or bikini area. The low price lets you test out epilation for yourself without spending a lot. Then if epilation works out well for you, you can eventually upgrade to a better epilator and use this as a back up or travel epilator.

Have more questions about epilation? Check out the Epilator FAQ and Beginner’s Guide!

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

Ugh! I hate our consumer culture that encourages us to just buy, buy, buy cheap products that break easily and have to be replaced. This is one reason I gave up disposable razors. This is also why I spent so much time researching the durability of epilators and if epilators wear out before I finally invested in mine.

So do epilators wear out? All epilators wear out eventually. The best quality epilators can last 3-5 years or even beyond 10 years. Lower quality epilators will wear out much quicker, often in 1-3 years. There are several things you can do to keep your epilator from wearing out quickly. Read ahead for my tips on finding a durable epilator and increasing the lifespan of your epilator. 

How Long Does an Epilator Machine Last?

An epilator can be an incredibly good investment, depending on how long it lasts. So how long is that? 

I can’t speak about most generic brands of epilators, because there are so many different ones on the market now and I don’t have experience with them. However, most name brand epilators, including epilators from Braun, Emjoi, Epilady, Remington, and Phillips, typically last quite a while and can be well worth the upfront investment. 

Most of these epilators will last a minimum of two years. The more high end models, such as the Braun Silk-épil and Emjoi Emagine can easily last 3-5 years or often up to a decade or longer if you take care of it well.

You can also extend the life of these higher end epilators through replacement parts. When one part of the epilator wears out, you can often find replacement parts online for a fraction of what a whole new epilator would cost. Just buy it and then keep on keepin’ on. As long as your epilator’s motor stays in good shape, it can last a really long time when you have a model that offer replacement parts for sale.

Besides buying replacement parts, you can also extend your epilator’s lifespan by using it carefully and doing a few maintenance steps.

Do Epilators Go Blunt? 

One way an epilator can wear out is due to the epilator’s head beginning to work less efficiently over time. When this happens, users often wonder if the epilator is going blunt?

Well, kinda. 

Unlike razors, epilators cut hair and do not have blades. So there are no blades to go blunt. 

However, epilators do have springs, discs, or tweezers that grab hairs. Over time, elements like moisture and rust erode or damage these. 

Springs, for example, often become stretched after a year or two and can no longer pinch hairs as well. 

Tweezers and discs might be worn down and then there is enough space for hairs to slip through instead of getting caught. 

Besides this permanent damage, it’s more common for epilator heads to work less efficiently because they aren’t clean enough. Dirt, oil, lotions, dead skin cells, and sweat can coat the springs, discs, or tweezers in an epilator, making them too slippery to do their job. 

Other Reasons Epilators Wear Out

Besides “blunt” springs, discs, or tweezers, there are several other common reasons that epilators wear out:

Hair Balls

Like your cat, your epilator can be overwhelmed by hairballs. That is, if you don’t clean it well.

Hairs left to accumulate in the head can block the head from fully rotating. This in turn will often cause the epilator to turn off as a protective measure to prevent the motor from overheating.

The simple solution to this is to clean your epilator head to prevent anything from clogging it up.

Overheating

Unfortunately, if your epilator doesn’t automatically turn off when it’s clogged and begins to overheat, then it can get too hot which can damage the motor. This could also possibly happen if you have a generic epilator or one with a poor design and use it too long in one setting. 

Battery Dying

Batteries are essentially perishable items. Eventually they stop holding charges. However, if used correctly, they can last years. 

Motor Dying

Like batteries, motors never last forever. Being mechanical, they will be worn out with use to physics. Fortunately, since epilators are used pretty sparingly, epilator motors can last quite a long time. 

How to Make Your Epilator Machine Last Longer

Keep it Clean

As I’ve mentioned, dirt, oils, and hairballs are a few things that make an epilator work poorly. So one of the best ways to take care of your epilator is to keep it clean, especially the head and tweezers (or discs or springs). 

This means you should try to use your epilator after you’ve cleaned and exfoliated your hair and skin. This will prevent deposits of oils, sweat, dead skin cells, make-up, lotion, shampoo residue, etc. 

In addition, it’s best to clean your epilator head after every use. How to do this depends on your epilator model, so follow the instructions in your manual. But at a minimum, you should be clearing hairs out of your head after each use and thoroughly cleaning the head after every 2-3 uses. 

Stay Cool

To keep the motor in tip-top shape, make sure you don’t overheat it. If you hear it struggling or feeling the epilator getting hot, take a break. Turn the epilator and make sure there isn’t anything clogging the head like hairs. Then leave the epilator off for a while until it has fully cooled. 

Protect the Rechargeable Battery

Follow your manufacturer’s instructions about battery care to extend your battery’s life as long as possible. Usually, you should use a fully charged epilator and never let the battery run down past 20 percent. 

Store Carefully

It’s best to store your epilator between 59 degree Faherenheit and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Also to protect the electrical elements, keep it in an area that doesn’t have excessive humidity. So it’s probably best to store it outside of the bathroom.

Do You Need to Replace Epilator Heads?

So your epilator seems like it has gone “blunt” and isn’t catching hairs as well anymore? If you have an epilator with a detachable head, you may need to replace the head. But that’s not always necessary or possible.

First, consider if the motor is working well. Has it slowed down since you first bought it? If this is the case, a new epilator head may not solve your problem. You may have to ditch the whole epilator and buy a new one.

But if the motor seems to be performing well, the next thing to check is the head itself. Is it clean? The springs, discs, or tweezers need to be squeaky clean to perform at their best. So make sure you’ve done a thorough cleaning and then try the epilator out again.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, then it’s time to look into a replacement head. If you have a more high-end name brand epilator, it’s likely that your manufacturer sells replacement heads online. You can check out replacement heads on Amazon or go directly to your manufacturer’s website.

When Should I Replace My Epilator?

Most epilators will work well for two or more years. However, as time goes by, your epilator will likely begin to stop grabbing hairs as efficiently. At this point, you have a few options.

If you have an epilator from a company that offers replacement parts, such as Braun or Emjoi, you can look into replacing individual parts to make your epilator work like new again. This is often more cost-effective than buying a completely new epilator.

Unfortunately, if you can’t find replacement parts for your model or if you notice that the problem is your motor, there isn’t much else you do. At this point, you have to decide if it’s worth buying a new epilator or not. 

If you are still getting decent results from your epilator and saving money is a priority, just stick it out and keep using your epilator until it’s not working anymore.

And if time or convenience is more important than money, then it’s probably time to just replace your epilator. 

Final Takeaways

All epilators eventually wear out. But how long your epilator lasts will depend on several variables.

A quality epilator can last anywhere from 2 to over 10 years. If you buy a high end name brand epilator model, take good care of it and replace parts as they wear out, your epilator may last a decade or longer. In contrast, if you buy a cheap generic model, you may find yourself replacing the whole thing every 1-3 years. 

Related Questions

What is the most durable epilator?

High end name brand epilators are usually pretty durable. In addition, if you get a model that has replacement parts to buy, you can save money by replacing parts instead of the whole epilator when something breaks. Two high end models that I love that also have replacement parts available are the Braun Silk-épil 9 (click to check it out on Amazon) and the Emjoi Emagine. 

Have more questions about epilation? Check out the Epilator FAQ and Beginner’s Guide!

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

I’m not gonna lie, finding an epilator in stores is hard. But I did the leg work so you’ll know exactly where to buy an epilator in stores.

I checked tons of local stores plus dove into some research online to find out which brick and mortar stores are most likely to have epilators to buy. 

So where can you find and buy an epilator in stores? You can sometimes find a limited selection of epilators in several different chain stores, but they aren’t consistently stocked at most of them. Your best bet is likely Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy or Boots.

If you’d like to save yourself a wasted trip, read on to find all the stores that are likely to carry epilators and how to check if your local stores have epilators in stock.

What You’re Likely to Find in Stores

Very few brick and mortar stores have epilators in stock all year round. If they do, they usually have a small selection. 

You’re most likely to find the latest Braun Silk-épil model. If you’re lucky, there may be one or two other brands or models of epilators available. Epilday, Panasonic, or Phillips epilators are what I see most often in stores after Braun epilators.

How to Check the Stock of Local Stores

The best way to find out if a store near you carries epilators is to search the store’s website first. Most chain stores give you the option to search the availability of local stores. This allows you to check the stock of all the stores in your area before you head out. Then you can just hit up the store that has the epilator that you want. 

In the following section, I provide more detailed info on how to do this for each store so it’s easier for you to do this quickly.

However, if the stores change their websites after this post is published, the directions here may become outdated. If that’s the case, these three basic steps will likely work for any store website:

1. Search for epilators
2. Click on an epilator you’re interested in
3. On the full product description page, look for in-store availability or pickup

Just a warning: many stores have razors and hair trimmers (such as the Finishing Touch Flawless Hair Remover) listed under epilators. However, epilators pull hair out by the root with tweezers, discs, or springs. These other products just cut the hair at the surface. So if you’re not familiar with the product, make sure you read carefully to see if it epilates or only cuts hair. 

Brick-and-Mortar Stores that Sell Epilators

Since most of my readers are located in the United States, I’ve focused mostly on stores and availability in the US. 

However, if you are in Europe or Canada and have a store owned by the parent company of a store I mention in your region, it’s probably more likely to carry an epilator. This is because epilators are more popular outside of the United States. So it may be worth doing a little more investigating on your part. 

If you’re outside of North America or Europe, this article may not be helpful to you as I’m not familiar with stores outside of this area. 

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty has a small selection of epilators in many of their stores. Unfortunately, they don’t usually have the best prices. Most epilators I’ve seen there are at least $5 higher than other stores. 

However, if you’d like to see if an Ultra near you has epilators for sale, click here. Then click on the epilator you are interested in. When you get to the product page, click “store availability” and enter your location to see if the product is available near you.

Best Buy

In contrast to Ulta, Best Buy sometimes has epilators on clearance for large discounts. So if you’re looking for a store to buy an epilator at, this is where I would probably look first.

To see if there are epilators in a store near you, just click here to get to their epilator search results. Click on a product and the page should tell you if it’s in stock at a nearby store.

Target

When looking for an epilator in stores, I’ve had the best luck at Target. They almost always have at least a Braun Silk-épil in stock. 

In addition, if you have a Target Redcard, you’ll get 5% off the price.

To see what the Target near you has, click here for a list or epilators on their website. On the left hand side, under “get it fast,” click on “in stores.” 

Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond tends to have a nice selection of epilators online and one of the best selections you’re likely to find in stores as well. 

The prices tend to be all over the place, though. Some will be much lower than other places, while some are much higher. So if price is a concern for you, check the prices on Amazon first for a reference point. 

To see if your local Bed Bath & Beyond has epilators, go to the epilator search results page here. At the top of the page, click on “availability” and select the store nearest you. 

Macy’s

Macy’s usually carries epilady epilators online. Sometimes you will also find them in stores, but it’s not very common. In addition, Macy’s prices are going to be higher than other places usually. I included it here anyway, just in case you love shopping at Macy’s. 

To see if Macy’s has an epilator in stock near you, go here. Then choose “free pick up today” on the left hand side of the screen.

Walmart

Walmart has sold epilators during black friday, but they don’t seem to keep them in stock throughout the year. If you’d like to check your local store, go to this page. At the top of that page, click “store availability” and choose a store. You will then be shown all the epilators in stock at that store. 

Walgreens

Walgreens rarely has epilators in their stores. If they do, it’s usually a small manual spring epilator. If you’d like to check for yourself, go to the epilator search results on their site by clicking here. Then select your store at the top of the page. 

JCPenney

JCPenney sells epilators on their website, but rarely in their stores. If you want to check anyway, you can go here and select store pickup on the left hand side to see if any are available in a store near you.

Aldi (US and Europe)

Every once in a while, I have seen epilators for sale in Aldi. Aldi rotates products throughout the year so they are only available for a week or two at a time. 

These are a generic brand and the quality may not be great. I’ve never tried them so can’t say, but I do remember that they are often really low cost at around $20. So if you just want to test out epilating, it may be worth checking if your local Aldi has any. 

The best way to know if your local Aldi has an epilator for sale is to simply check out the weekly ad. You can find yours here if you are in the US.

Or here if you’re in Europe.

Boots (UK)

If you’re in the UK and want to buy an epilator in a store, you’re in luck. This is because Boots is one of the best places to get epilators in stores with a much wider variety than you’ll find in most US stores.

To see what your local store has in stock, click here. Then choose an epilator. Once you’re on the product page, click “find in stores” to see if the epilator is available in stores near you. 

Where I Bought My Epilators

Online shopping may not be right for everyone, but I’ve bought all of my epilators from Amazon.com. I live in a metro of half a million and only found two different epilators in my city, both priced higher than Amazon, so Amazon was the clear choice for me.

Amazon has by far the widest selection of epilators I’ve found, including the most popular epilators as well as tons of generic brands. And most epilators come with free shipping, which is the main disadvantage of shopping online. 

I think the only way I’d buy from a local store would be for easier returns. Thankfully, none of the epilators I’ve bought have needed to be returned. I credit this to doing tons of research beforehand and choosing a quality epilator from the get go. 

Final Takeaways

Lots of stores sell epilators these days, even in the United States, which is an improvement from just a few years ago. Unfortunately, the selection is very limited and the prices are often higher than what you’ll find online.

If you want to buy from a brick-and-mortar store, I would start first with Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, or Boots. They seem to be the stores that consistently have at least one or two models in stock at all times. 

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