The Braun Silk Epil 5 is one of the absolute best corded epilators you can buy. These days Braun products, as well as those of other brands, are more and more becoming cordless. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this.
If you are looking for the best in cordless epilators, this is one of our favorites.
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Let’s have a look at what we’ll be getting with the Silk Epil 5:
There are a few features that most Braun epilators have that are built to enhance the epilating experience. There are also a number of caps that come with the product. Some people think these are unnecessary, but we’ll leave that up to you, as they’re completely optional.
High Tweezer Count – the more tweezers an epilator has, the more efficient it is.
The Silk Epil 5 has 40 tweezers, it can pick up hairs as small as 0.5mm. This is a fantastic feature, and one that we think puts epilators way above waxing. With waxing you have to wait until hairs grow back to a certain length before removing them. With the epilator as soon as you spot a hair poking through you can simply epilate it!
Why are epilators far superior to waxing?
Pivoting Head – an undeniably vital feature, especially when the epilator is corded.
Epilators that don’t have pivoting heads can often be extremely ineffective if you’re not a pro. The pivoting head means you can attack hairs from way more angles than if you didn’t have the head. In our Guide to Perfect Epilation we stress that unless you keep your epilator at a 90 degree angle to your skin, you’re very likely to miss hairs. This means you’ll have to go back over the area more than once. Very annoying.
With a corded epilator it can sometimes be harder to maintain that angle. This is where the pivoting head is gold. Even if the epilator isn’t at a 90 degree angle (it can rotate up to 15 degrees each way), it will still pick up hairs. Saving you time and frustration.
SoftLip Tips – every little helps.
This is a feature of all Braun epilators. They are little teeth that guide your hairs into the tweezers.
To be honest, we aren’t too sure how effective they are but they certainly can’t hurt.
Smartlight – now this is a useful function!
We don’t encourage epilating in the dark, nor have we tried it, but this powerful little light could actually make it possible (if you were so inclined).
What it’s really used for is to let you see those tiny fine hairs that you normally wouldn’t see. After trying both with and without the light, it’s really surprising how many you miss. They’re just too thin to see with the naked eye.
For enhanced smoothness, this feature is key.
Massage Rollers – pain reduction is minimal.
So this “high frequency massage system” is designed to “stimulate the skin and effectively soothe the plucking sensation during epilation”. There are far more effective ways to reduce epilation pain, as can be seen in our guide here: 9 Ways To Reduce Epilation Pain.
Again, I suppose every little helps.
Speed Personalisation – essential for the beginner.
If you’re a first time epilator, you’ll thank the gods for this feature.
It’s a well-known fact that the first time epilating isn’t the most pleasant of experiences. So the option to slow things down is a blessing. We recommend starting on the first setting and when it becomes more comfortable moving on to number 2.
Setting 1: gentle epilation, Setting 2: efficiency.
Corded – never worry about battery life.
While there is something to be said about the convenience of a good shower epilation session, you’ll always be worried that the battery will die when you’re halfway done.
The Braun Silk Epil 5 has a 7.5ft cable and can be used as long as you need. It’s actually more efficient to epilate dry anyway.
Different Braun Silk Epil 5 Caps & Extras:
The epilator comes with 5 different caps, designed to increase functionality and make certain things easier. Let’s have a look at what we will get, and what they’re used for:
- Efficiency Cap: this is the cap we used the most. It lets you get closer to the skin for a smoother result. Once you get used to the epilating sensation this is the cap to use.
- Shaver: it can result in better epilation if your hair is of a similar length. This cap lets you use your Silk Epil 5 as a fully fledged shaver, though a very sub-par one. You aren’t buying this as a shaver anyway, but be aware that it’s not very good.
- Trimmer Cap: we mostly used this cap to trim down sensitive areas before epilating them. If the hair is shorter it’s less likely to break off and actually can be less painful to pull.
- Sensitive Area Cap: a must if you’re planning on epilating in places like your face, bikini area or underarms. This cap reduces the surface area of the head, letting you be far more precise.
- Facial Cap: even smaller than the sensitive area cap for places such as your chin or upper lip.
There are a few bonus items that come with the Braun Silk Epil 5 like a brush, a pouch and a cooling glove.
Is the cooling glove helpful?
Actually, we wouldn’t recommend using it before epilating simply because the coldness will close your pores and might make the epilator a little less effective. As for post-epilation its a great little tool to soothe your sore legs!
Can I use it in the shower?
The Braun Silk Epil 5 is a dry only epilator. Thankfully you can’t actually use it in the shower even if you wanted to try due to the fact that it only works when plugged in. Do not try to use it underwater when it’s plugged in!
Easily Cleaned
The Braun Silk Epil 5 has a completely sealed body. This means that water can’t get inside it when its put underwater. So even though you shouldn’t use it in the shower, its extremely easy to clean.
Simply run it under some hot water after using the included brush to get rid of loose hairs, and it will be clean. For a more hygienic clean we recommend you put it in some cleaning alcohol and let it soak for a little to kill any bacteria and to ward off future infections or ingrown hair.
What’s the epilator pain like?
This is a very subjective issue so we can’t comment definitively, but we felt that this was one of the most comfortable epilators we’ve used.
The 40 tweezers are responsible for this. If you’ve used other epilators in the past with less tweezers, I think you’ll be surprised at the pain reduction.
Can I use this epilator on face?
Larger epilators like this are often designed for whole body epilation, and in this case that includes your face. This model even includes a facial cap so that you get an even more precise job done.
If you are looking for something that is designed specially for the face or sensitive areas, take a look at the Braun Face 810.
Why wouldn’t I buy the Silk Epil 5?
Firstly maybe the Silk Epil 7 or the Silk Epil 9 would be preferable to you.
Plug Issues
The most common problem people face with this epilator seems to be the plug. A lot of people found that the plug kept falling out of the socket. So be aware when you buy this that the issue is known.
We also discovered that many people found a solution for this: push the plug in nice and hard until it CLICKS! Most people had 0 problems after finding this out.
Hair build-up
Due to the design of this epilator, loose hairs get caught and then will build up inside the head underneath the rotating tweezers.
When this happens the epilator starts to become less effective. It can easily be remedied by taking the head off and brushing out the hairs.
Conclusion
All in all, we are consistently impressed by the Braun Silk Epil 5. It has a variety of great caps and extras, the base features are useful and make it a very strong epilator. If you want a corded epilator then this should absolutely be a candidate for your purchase.
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