Some of you are asking, what the hell is an Epilady? It’s a small device that removes body hair by grabbing it and ripping it out. An Epilady has a rotating wheel, with little pieces on it that squeeze together and then pull. Hair gets caught in between and yanked out.
While there are lots of Epilady knockoffs, the Epilady company managed to establish their brand name as the name of the tool itself: check out their website for a lot of euphemistic language and pictures of smooth legs. My particular Epilady is the Legend, so everything I say here applies primarily to that model – I don’t know if other models vary in effect, or if they are pretty standard at this point.
This is a post about epiladying (is that a word?) your testicles. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Yanking out all those testicle hairs with a mechanical device?
Really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. After attempting various techniques at removing my crotch hair, I have settled on the Epilady. Here’s what it has going for it:
1) It doesn’t hurt that much. You would think that ripping hair out one at a time would have a nasty sting, but the wheel pulls the hair out so quickly that it doesn’t hurt as much as pulling with tweezers. This is the principle that leg waxing works on: if you yank the hair out quickly enough, it hurts much less.
2) Despite appearances, it is really hard to get skin caught in the device. I used to cut myself much more when I was razor-shaving my scrotum.
3) It’s a really smooth finish. The rotating wheel manages to grab even the really short hairs that have just poked through the skin, while not grabbing the skin itself. You can yank out hairs that you would never be able to grab with tweezers. Ever wondered how porn star guys get their balls so smooth? Well, I don’t really know either. But an Epilady would do the trick.
4) While the first time can be a little rough (sound familiar?), keeping things smooth is simple. As in, five minutes every other day simple. Also, the upkeep barely hurts at all since the hairs are new and thin.
5) The Epilady’s main drawback is that it can take a while to finish a small patch of skin. This makes it difficult for use on the legs, for example. However, fortunately there is just not a large surface area where crotch skin is involved, so it goes pretty quickly.
6) The ingrown hair count is very low if hairs are removed with an Epilady. I still get some, but not nearly as many as I got waxing, and not even in the same ballpark as when I used to shave.
Still unconvinced? Well, if you prefer your crotch with hair (or someone you are dating does), then you probably should not have read this far. If you are into removing your hair down there, then while epiladying may not seem that attractive, it is way ahead of the other options. Let’s take a look at the competition:
Shaving. Using a disposable razor (or strangely, a beard trimmer) is probably the best alternative to the Epilady. However, the loose bits of skin do tend to get caught and cut, and getting a close shave is really difficult. Also, a razor is really not good for the skin. In college I stopped razor-shaving because I would develop moles in places I had shaved.
Waxing. Waxing is effective, relatively cheap, and relatively painless. Unfortunately, waxing takes enough skill that it is quite difficult to do at home. Trust me, I’ve tried. You need a special kind of wax (because the normal kind will take the top couple layers of scrotum skin right off, as I discovered), and the process itself is not at all straightforward. The scrotum has more nooks, crannies, and folds than your average labia, and getting the wax in and the hair out requires impressive waxing skills. Some waxing salons will do this, but then you have the problem of staying still (or rather limp) while a strange woman does painful things to your crotch.
Nair. Nair and a whole class of other products melt the hair by breaking it down chemically. Unfortunately, they either don’t work too well, or they burn the skin as well. In any case, smearing one’s balls with caustic chemicals seems like a losing proposition.
Tweezing. Tweezing is fairly effective, once you get good at it. However, you end up plucking hairs one at a time, so it takes a while. Also, because the yanking is slower, it hurts a bit more, and it is impossible to grab the really short hairs, so you end up with an incomplete removal job.
Electrolysis. “Electrolysis” is a nice euphemism for “sticking a needle into the hair follicle and running so much current along it that everything fries”. That said, electrolysis is the best permanent hair removal solution for the testicles, assuming you can find a place willing to do it. Unfortunately the pain of electrolysis is legendary, and the amount of time spent in excruciating pain is one minute per hair. You have a lot more hairs down there than you think.
Laser. Laser hair removal is permanent, but only works on certain types of hair and skin, namely dark hair with light skin. The testicle and penis skin tends to be darker, and so lasering is generally a bad idea down there. Not only that, but laser hair removal is quite painful, takes multiple visits, and rarely seems to actually get rid of all the hair.
Now that we have established the superiority of the Epilady for matters of scrotal depilation, let us move on to the actual techiques.
First off, there are two directions you can run the Epilady. If the rotating cylinder is moving against the skin in the direction the hairs point, it pulls them out pretty smoothly. I call this “with the grain”. If it is moving against the skin in the opposite direction than the hairs point, that’s “against the grain”. Epiladying with the grain hurts less, but does not grab the hairs as well. Epiladying against the grain hurts more, but is much better at grabbing the hairs and so does not take as long. You should always move the Epilady so the rotating cylinder is trying to push it in the opposite direction (much like a lawnmower), otherwise it will just sort of walk along the skin and not grab hairs. This is true whether you are going with or against the grain.
In a similar vein, there is a tradeoff with rotation. My Epilady has two speeds. The faster speed yanks the hairs out quicker, so they hurt less, but again has trouble grabbing them. The slower speed hurts a bit more, but is more likely to grab the hairs.
I tend to run my Epilady at slow speed and against the grain, to get done as quickly as possible. But then, I’m used to the weird motion and I am only doing upkeep at this point, so being zippy doesn’t hurt much.
As the Epilady grab hairs, it jerks. This means that it moves with these disconcerting jerks and spasms. It is very odd at first, but you quickly get used to it.
You will have to go over any particular section of skin five or more times to get all the hairs. This may seem frustrating at first, but you will quickly get used to it. Learn to swing the Epilady back and forth a number of times, until all the hairs are gone.
Your first time. Before you do anything, try a test patch! While epilators seem to produce less ingrown hairs on average, some people have bad reactions to them and end up with a lot of ingrown hairs. It seems to depend on each person’s particular hair and skin. See the comments for one example of epilating gone wrong. So try it out in a small patch and give it two days to check for reactions before really digging in.
If you have a lot of hair, go with the grain and at the high speed at first, to thin things out. Then, when you are able to bear the greater pain, switch to a slower speed and go with the grain, in order to clean up the straggler hairs. You’ll know when an area is done, because the Epilady will move across it smoothly, without jerking. If it is jerking, there are probably still hairs, even if you can’t see them.
Your first time will probably take twenty to thirty minutes, and you’ll be sweating by the end. If you have to stop because of the pain, then take some Advil and try again once it kicks in. Trust me, it gets easier, both because you get better with the device and because you’ll have less hair. Also, if you’ve never yanked out this hair, it hurts worse the first time you do it. The second time will not hurt as bad.
Upkeep. Once you’ve managed to eliminate the solid growth of well-anchored hairs, it is pretty easy to keep things smooth. I pull out the Epilady every other day, and run it back and forth for about five minutes. During upkeep, it is best to go against the grain and with the slow speed setting to take care of things quickly. Upkeep barely hurts in comparison with removing a full growth of hair, and this is why it is important to keep doing it. Getting behind by a week will mean that the next hair removal will resemble your first time.
Testicles. The main trick with the testicle is to pull the skin taut. Do this in whatever way works for you, but usually pushing the testicles into a small area of skin does the trick. You are looking for a convex smooth surface.
Watch out for loose folds of skin. If the skin can move, then when the Epilady grabs a hair, it will yank the skin instead of actually pulling the hair out. Also, loose folds can get caught in the Epilady’s cylinder, which will cut you. One area in particular is the seam that runs down the middle of the testicles. Smooth it out when going over that section, and move the Epilady across the seam rather than up and down it.
Work your way as far back as you want, and down the sides into the crease between the testicles and leg. I take it all the way back to my anus. You’ll notice that it actually hurts more off of the testicles than on – because the testicles tend to have sparse and fine hair, they go pretty easily, when compared to the upper thigh or ass.
Pubic triangle. This is the area above the penis. You’ll likely have a lot of hair here, and it is thicker than the hair on your testicles, so this part will hurt a bit more. Doing it after the testicles means you will have some endorphins going, which will make it easier. Use the faster speed and go with the grain if necessary.
You’ll find that you have some concave (indented) areas, or flat areas, both of which are really difficult for hair-grabbing. The Epilady kind of requires that the skin have a curve to it, since the cylinder is indented in order to effect the grabbing motion. If you are having trouble getting at hairs, or the hairs are really short, pinch the skin between two fingers and run the Epilady between the fingers along the top of the pinch. Go against the grain at slow speed for this. This technique is also useful for the indented area behind the penis but above the testicles.
Penis. Some of you have some fine hairs on the shaft of the penis itself. The best way to get these is to be hard, so unless the pain associated with hair yanking turns you on, you will want to get hard before starting with your Epilady session, and then you should do the penis first while things are still stiff.
Watch out for the foreskin and glans skin. This skin is soft and sensitive, and is much more likely to be grabbed by the cylinder, with anguish resulting. So be careful when you are working up top. If going against the grain, maintain a firm grip on the Epilady so it does not walk its way up to the top of your dick.
I find that hairs on the shaft need a lot less attention, and can be removed once a week or even less. Hairs by the base of the penis can be dealt with the same way you deal with the testicles, since they tend to have a firm backing down there.
Okay, that’s all! Have a happy epiladying experience. Remember boys, a hairless sack is a happy sack!
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Poundcake 
I’m going to have to give this a try. I currently shave but it’s a pain to keep up with it, and the stubble and rash I get is hell. Just have to track one of these down in the UK now.
Korben: Good luck with that! I had to order mine online – they’re oddly difficult to find in stores.
Sounds good. I have been thinking about options and currently trim. I was thinking of waxing, but here in Japan that is very difficult to find.
Thanks for all the tips!!
Immediatley after reading your article, I ordered a Legend. It arrived today. When I first saw those spinning wheels, I was afraid to put them anywhere near my nuts. I must have re-read your instructions 3 times before getting up my courage. I had already been waxed, and I’ve even tweezed lots of individual hairs down there, so I figured this was just an automated tweezer. IFinally I gritted my teath and went for it – man it works great. There were some areas I had never had waxed or tweezed and those hurt like a son of a bitch, but the result is so worth it. I love getting those nastly little black hairs out by their roots. I even had the “worst case scenario” occur once in which some folds of skin on my nuts got caught in the spinning apparatus, but it just spun to a halt immediately, and it just felt like something was pinching me there really tight. I turned off the switch on the Legend and rotated the wheels (it was obvious which direction) until the skin was out. No cuts or anything. But damn, I would have hated to have been a beta tester for this product before they figured out all the safety features. Anyway, I’m mad smooth now. Thanks again for posting this.
Awesome! Glad it was helpful. The battery’s been dying on my Legend, so I’m going to experiment with some other brands and report back.
Hey pepomint, did you try the other epilators? Did they work better or worse? I want to buy one but I have not decided on which one.
Hey cherikee,
The only other one I tried was the flat-head epilator from Panasonic. I was getting it to see if it would be good for doing my legs. It wasn’t, and it is useless for the genitals.
Other epilators seem to use a slightly different hair-pulling technology than the Epilady, so they might be better or worse, hard to say. I can say that the Epilady Legend definitely works, but cannot speak for the other round-head epilators.
In other news the battery on my Legend has been slowly dying, so I recently purchased a second one, and now I have a home (plugin) and travel (battery) Epilday.
Pepper
Thank you so much for puttin up this article.
I bought a Braun silk-epil which although quite pricey seems to catch hairs pretty much instantly (don’t need to keep going over same spot) and comes with loads of attachments like a trimmer, shaver, armpit extension etc to make different areas easier.
I wish I had read your article before doing the shaft of my penis as i did this flacid and ended up getting my foreskin sucked into the device. Although not painful, it was a bit of a scary shock (although the shock may have disguised any pain).
So yes i agree, make sure you are either semi or fully erect before doing the shaft. I learnt my lesson. As this is my first time epilating, the pain is so much worst then waxing (which was over a year ago so everything is fully grown back) but obviously this is because all the hairs are thick and full. I have to do it in segments because the pain is so great but perseverence is a virtue. Just go slow and block out the pain. But the result is amazing already. When i used to shave, there was always patches of mysterious stubble roughness that i couldn’t get rid of and used to get so many ingrown hairs.
Epilating is certainly the way forward but it may be wise to be professionaly waxed first and then upkeep with the epilator.
bald feels clean: Thanks for the input and comparison point! It’s good to hear that there is another brand out there. Maybe I’ll get the Braun and try it on my legs.
I happen to be into S/M, so that first-time pain is manageable for me. But if it is too much, popping a couple Advil before going to town would probably make it doable.
I am keen for mild S/M but not generally my crotch. I’ve never felt a pain like it before lol
The braun i bought was the silk Epil Xpresive. They have a lower model and a more expensive model (Xpressive is their top one). But then there’s 2 xpressives. the top one of those 2 has a precision epilate designed for sensitive areas (just pulls less out at once)
What made it worst for me is i have psoriasis which is a skin condition where the skin cells over produce and often make my skin more sensitive (although i do heal faster than normal which is a plus) so doing it slowly i can bare it
However, I’m used to my genitals and anus being epilated now but my face is a different story
I thought it all went well first time (although it felt like my face was being ripped off) and the results were brilliant but next day scabbing occured all under my chin. I’ve been shaving the past 3 years (used to wax from when i first started growing facial hair in puberty) and the hairs had gotten so thick that it was literally leaving craters in my face. This takes a while to heal (even with my skin condition) but the hairs grow back surprisingly finer after the first completion and it gets amazingly easy
However, i do notice one issue with the epilator. Not all hairs are pulled out cleanly. A lot of the hairs break which mean within 2 days, mild stubble occurs in random spots so looks like it’s gonna take a couple of weeks before it gets to the point where ill only need to epilate once every few days (the bulk has stayed away for 2 weeks, even on my chin where it grows quicker)
But i just love the results, no more shaving rashes (issue on my chin but i was expecting worst for first time use there), and no more itchy stubble, and already cheaper than waxing sessions. Just before i go to bed, quick once over with the epilator and im ready for the morning
I think after the initial stage, it gets so much easier and glad i gritted my teeth for the first bit 😀 Also the hairs on the shaft of penis which i wrote in my previous comment havn’t grown back since i wrote that comment. So if they come back, it’ll be rare i need to go onto my shaft again 🙂
One last thing on the braun xpressive though, they give you some wet wipes type thng which seems to tighting up the skin but it makes the hairs grippier and gets more out. I used this first time doing the epilating and that may have been my issue
Also the top xpressive is water proof so epilating is possible in the shower or bath
Thank you for the usefull article.
When i try to epilate my testes its like almost impossible, it keeps rolling off, like jumping off them to my sides, and i think some skin actually got caught in it once, is my epilator just too cheap and isnt getting the small hairs on them or what am i doing wrong,i see no change in their stubble. when you first do it do you just keep going over and over till its smooth all over or just give up after like the first 3 hours of going at it, cause it seems like no matter how much i pass the epilator over my pubes i cant get smooth smooth.then again, i think im relizing theres like hundreds of hairs down there.lol … by the way has it ever made you bleed? im getting a fair amount of blood from the hair follicles on my shaft.
Yeah, you must have a crappy epilator. What brand are you using? Or you could be holding it wrong. You’ve got to keep a firm grip so that the epilating surface spins against the skin, sliding across it rather than walking along it.
As for the blood, I’m not sure. Maybe you have skin that is sensitive to having hair pulled out?
I’ve been epiladying for a few months, blood was commom on the firts few times as some of the hair folicules where pulled out allong with thw hairs… its quite painfull whent it happens, but at least they wont grow back for a long while!
I use the Epilady on my scrotum. It works well, but as mentioned you need to keep the skin tight. If not- the fold of the skin get caught in the mechanism and it bleeds.
I am still recovering from using the Epilady on my pubic area above my penis. It got full of nasty ingrown hairs. It’s been months and they won’t all go away. The ingrown hairs can get all infected and look like an std, so make sure you try a little area first before comiting.
Apparently ingrown hairs vary a lot from person to person. I get almost none. I’m sorry you had to go through that!
I used to be brave and epilate outside the bath, since I have bought the Braun Silk-Epil Expressive Wet/Dry I do it in the bath. I love the feeling of my clothes gliding around on my body and endure the occassional slip up of not pulling skin taught. Is rough when skin gets caught in the head of the epilator, but the pleasure of how things glide around on my body outweighs the pain!Of course I am a girly guy type that enjoys a totally hairfree body. I absolutely love epilating my body while I use pretty scented bars like Dove or Caress. Even though I prefer Caress, Dove seems to work a little better with epilation in the bath. Hair removes much easier when skin is warmed up. Sure I get ingrowns here and there, but I don’t think anyone ever perfects a few ingrowns as sometimes is easy to put the head of the epilator down wrong on the skin. I haven’t used the Epilady since the Epilady Trio which seems like another lifetime ago! Sure Epilady was the first, but since then to me it seems like Braun is wining on total body hair removal. I have been doing from neck to toe for over 20 years now and until I purchased my present Expressive have never felt so so soft and fem. Is a total turn on. Am bi-curious but live straight with kind of a hairy girlfriend. I have tried to turn her on to Epilation but she prefers shaving. Ouch is rough in the intimate moments when my penis gets those spikes shoved at it!
I bought an epliator a few weeks back and thought I’d try it as I am reasonably hairy accross my body f***in*ll it Hurt like mad the first time but after Muh research TRY USING TALCUM poweder over the hair areas and then epliating with the powder still there it makes it easier to grab the hairs and for some reason it makes it hurt less aswell.
I’ve tried several different methods of genital hair removal and by far Epilady Legend works the best. A few tips for the first timer. First of all, you’re ripping hair out by the roots. Of COURSE it will hurt. But you can minimize the pain with good technique. The tighter the skin is stretched, the less it hurts. An Epilady is not an electric razor; it should glide over the surface of the skin, not be dug into it. Pressing hard can get skin trapped. The more frequently you remove the hair, the thinner it comes back and the less it hurts. Finally, always work in small patches, even extending the process over several days for large or thick areas the first time if needed. You’ll be smooth and pain free in no time.
I was just trying to was my “area” its the 3rd day and i still havent managed to finish (I had to sop and let my skin recover cos I couldnt take it at work) I’ve waxed everything around but I cant build up the courage to work on my testicles… Last thin I did was at the base of the shaft (just above my penis) and I nearly cried. So here I am stumbled upon this and I’m definitely gonna give it a try. I was just wandering where to buy it from? It’s like 80 euros on ebay =S . Anyone knows a website for stuff like this?… Preferable in Europe preferable.
Great article…I have been doing this for a few years now…mainly testicle and triangle shaving. It gets easier and much less painful the more you do it. The triangle use to hurt..but now…there’s not pain at all.
Is there much difference is results between the rechargeable & corded Epilady’s? There is quite a difference in price.
I go to a salon to get waxed & I’m thinking I could keep up with hair removal with an epilator instead.
Thanks
The batteries in the rechargeable Epilady’s do not last as long as one would hope, and are pretty much toast after a couple months. So you end up using them while plugged in anyways in most cases. I’d recommend sticking with the corded versions unless you really need portability.
OK, thanks for that. The cost of a few waxing treatments is getting the same as the cost of an epilator so well worth getting one. Corded one seems the best option for me.
This looks great, planning to try this out. Should i purchase the Epilady Legend or the Epilady Legend 4?
Looking at the website there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of substantial differences between them. Still, I would recommend getting the newer one – maybe some of the technology improvements they claim will pay off in some way.
Also, don’t forget to do a test patch! A small minority of people seem to get very bad ingrown hair issues.
Hi pepomint,
I have been epiladying for about a year now. One thing to mention is longer hairs will hurt…I would typically suggest first timers to trim the pubic hairs a bit. I use the Panasonic epilator and have had good luck with it.
The first time always hurts really really bad, however after the first time, it is almost like no pain at all. The first time I did it, I was sweating and going OMG this hurts and screaming like a banshee (even though I’ve never heard a banshee scream, I am sure I sounded like one)…..
I don’t do the once every 2 days epilation but that is a good idea…I may start doing this. It usually takes epilated hair a weeks to begin growing but you could have hair that hasn’t grown in yet. I do get some ingrown hairs but it isn’t bad….you just have to squeeze it out.
Another thing about ingrown hairs are after you epilate the area, you exfoliate. I typically use a salicylic acid soap you can buy in the drug store. Salicylic acid is the precursor to aspirin so you can use an aspirin scrub as well 🙂
I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance, or the hairs must be more fine or something, because the first time I did it epilating definitely hurt but I don’t think I even broke a sweat.
I’m actually up to doing it every day. Takes just five minutes and is pretty easy because the hairs haven’t had a chance to strengthen their roots yet.
Thank you for mentioning the salicylic acid soap trick! That’s a good tip.
Are there any videos of epilating? Doing the looser skin of the scrotum sounds tricky, seeing it being done would be a great help.
I’ve never actually seen a video of someone doing this, and I’m not much for videoing myself. So you may be out of luck. But, perhaps someone who reads this post will put something up on one of the porn tube sites and then give us the link.
The big thing is keeping the skin stretched at the contact point. There tends to be a lot of moving the balls around inside the scrotum in order to accomplish this.
It’s the looseness of the skin that could make using an epilator a bit tricky. Guess you just need to take more time & care.
Is this blog post still active?
I bought this, works wet and dry.
https://us.braun.com/en-us/female-hair-removal/epilators
The hair comes out easier when wet, but i find i can position myself and pull my skin tight better when dry.
That being said I have only used it twice.
Not gonna lie, there was a some blood and it was painful but i was more excited to be hairless. For about 3 days after it was quite sensitive in that area. I had only ever plucked a few hairs before otherwise my pubic hairs had only been shaven or trimmed. I think it was a shock to take the whole root out.
I did another run over 5 days after and not much growth had happened so it was a lot less painful.