It works similarly to waxing, yeah. It is hard because you get more information from message boards than you do from promotional websites and there isn't a lot on epilation because plastic surgeons don't do that though they do laser therapy and electrolysis and so on and so forth... but there are also a lot of urban myths that are promoted on websites.

best i can figure it is similar to waxing in the sense that both pluck the hair out at the root. you get some breakage with epilation but then you get some breakage with waxing too. you can epilate shorter hair than you can with waxing so you don't need to wait as long before you epilate. it is also easier (less fuss with wax and less expense with applications) to go over areas multiple times in order to get the odd stubborn hair.

waxing differs from epilation (and is similar to shaving) in the sense that waxing and epilation removes the very surface of your skin whereas epilation doesn't. removing the surface of the skin is what gives it that very unnatural super silky smooth feeling. removing the surface of the skin is also what helps to prevent ingrown hairs. some people will epilate and then shave for special occasions when they want that silky smooth feeling. it is important to use facial scrubs on your legs and / or exfoliate and moisturise daily when you have epilated in order to prevent ingrown hairs. some people who have particular problems with this find that there is some product that they can use that helps with that (don't remember the product sorry). most find that exfoliating and moisturising daily is enough to prevent that, however.

it is meant to slow hair growth over time similarly to how waxing does. because both methods rip the hair out at its root it damages the hair follicle so that growth is slowed and so that the hair tends to grow back lighter. treatments that are meant to be perminent (such as laser and electrolysis) often don't result in perminent hair loss without multiple applications, however, as they do nothing to prevent hormones telling your body to make follicles and to make hair grow from follicles. waxing, exfoliating, and vigerous plucking are meant to help damage the follicle such that the hair is less likely to grow back, however.

different people find different results with different methods. some people say that after a period of use (a couple years) waxing / epilating results in their needing to do it much less often. other people say that they still need to do it fairly frequently (every couple weeks or once per month) but that it is still the best way to remove hair maintenence-wise.