I did a lot of research last night :-)

Basically... The head of the epilator is made up of lots of tweezers and so it works by ripping the hair out at the roots. It works very similarly to waxing (but it is less messy than having to deal with wax). You run it (fairly slowly) over your legs kind of like a razor (going against the grain of hair growth) and you might need to run it over again to pick up all the hairs. The hairs grow back finer similarly to waxing and the hairs grow back at about the same rate as they grow back after waxing. It is painful because you are pulling the hair out at the roots but as I'm a pull the band aid slowly kinda person epilation is like a more controlled waxing IMHO.

Some people say that they epilate once a month. Epilators are capable of getting hair that is 2mm long, however, so you don't have to wait for the hair to grow like you have to wait to wax. It is also a lot cheaper to do touch ups. You can just plug it in and you are away. Some people (who seem fairly paranoid about being completely hair free) say that they use it every two weeks or sometimes every week to pick up those tiny little hairs while they are still short. Sometimes the epilator breaks the hair too in which case you will get some hair growth in a week. The finished effect isn't as smooth as shaving or waxing because both of those scrape off the surface of your skin. You have to be more careful about exfoliating regularly if you epilate (I used my face scrub on my legs this morning - rash completely gone). Some people epilate then shave for special occasions when you really want that silky feel. Some people say that after a few years... They don't need to use it very often at all. Depends how paranoid you are about hair growth, I guess.

I finished my underarms with tweezers. I found out that the hair was a bit long for epilation. It would have been perfect for waxing but the ideal length for epilation is shorter than the ideal length for waxing. When the hair gets a bit longer it curls back towards the skin and apparently that is when the epilator gets the skin instead of the hair. And, yes, I should make more of an effort to raise my arm and tense so the skin is taught. And I should also go very very very slowly and carefully and start from the edges and not just go for the hairiest parts like I did.

Some people wax then use an epilator as the hair starts to grow back. That is meant to be a LOT less painful than using an epilator for the first time after shaving (like I did on my pits and legs). I finished my pits up (mostly) with tweezers last night (yeah, took a while) and I'll tidy them up a bit more with the epilator tonight then keep up with that. I'm also going to shave my bikini line and have a go at that when it is just starting to grow back. People were saying that you can do everything down there with an epilator but that you should work up to it very gradually indeed (a bit like with your pits). Some people wax to get the shape they want then move to epilation to maintain it.

It really is a great investment (on the assumption that I'm not going to get ingrown hairs because I'll get something really scrapy to make sure I exfoliate vigerously and then moisturise on a daily basis). Want to touch up my legs tonight (only did my lower leg last night) and see how smooth I can get them.

The machine is a little noisy... But comperable to a guys electic razor, I guess... Will be able to do it while watching TV and nevermind the neighbours!

I think that with the hair thing... It is when we start to get older (older than teenagers / very young adults) that some women start to get very dark and coarse hair on the front of their lower legs. I think that hair removal might have been about getting rid of that initially... Then (eventually) it became fashionable to have smooth smooth legs all over. I have been noticing that I'm getting really dark and coarse hair on the front of my lower legs like that and the shaving stubble would be unpleasant (scrapy as a guys face) in the evening if I'd shaved in the morning. That is why I wanted to get this - to see whether I can lighten it by ripping it out and also so I don't have to remove it so regularly. I'm kinda tossing up whether I need to do the other parts of my legs (my thighs etc) as the hair is very light and fine there. Think I may as well do it (won't hurt for it to be even lighter and finer) but I'm not self consicous about that the way I'm self conscious about my lower legs. I'm semi-tempted to do my arms too but I want to wait and see about ingrown hairs first... We shall see...

Hair straightener is working out okay. I'm having this problem (with my current shampoo I think) where it seems to be very harsh on my hair. My hair is not happy after being washed. It is all static and flyaway. I put in the leave in moisturiser which calms it down a little. I put in this straightening serum which calms it down a little (though I have to be careful with that or it goes oily and looks like it needs another wash). If I use the straightener on it when it has just been washed it isn't so happy... I do like the straightener though... But I haven't really been using it a lot... Need to sort out the shampoo and conditioner situation first... Also... My hair is getting longer now and doesn't need to be straightened in the same way... It will do after a trim though.