Review (1/5): Cheap Plastic Wind-Up Toy Masquerading As An Epilator
I have been a long-time user of Emjoi epilators. In fact, I've only ever used Emjoi epilators because they worked well for me. So, when my last one died recently, I was excited to see this model touting 60 tweezers instead of the measly 36 tweezers on my old Emjoi. I am not an especially hairy person, but I love how epilating makes my legs, arms, and underarms so much smoother than shaving. The main drawback is that it takes longer to epilate because the head is usually so small and you have to repeatedly go over the same area to make sure you get all the hair out. I was hoping that having almost twice as many tweezers working would make the job go faster. Apparently, I was wrong in that assumption.
The first thing that struck me with the eRase was the size. It is tiny! (See my pictures comparing it to my old Emjoi Soft Caress) I have medium-sized hands, and the eRase is a slippery little bugger to hold onto for an extended period of time. It doesn't help that the whole unit is made of smooth plastic with no bumpy or grippy parts to help your grip. I ended up having to sort of pinch it with my fingertips the whole time I used it. Very ergonomically bad for your hands.
The other main thing that I noticed was that the whole thing - other than the tweezers - seems to be made of plastic. You can see in my pictures that even the gears that drive the tweezer heads are plastic. I can't imagine this epilator lasts long with plastic gears. It's really no better than a little high-powered wind-up toy (it even kind of sounds like one when it's running).
As for the hair removal part - the whole reason why I would buy an epilator - it was mediocre at best. It did not save me any time over my 36-tweezer model. The eRase is so tiny that it didn't cover any more surface area, and the design is flawed so that the two heads seem to get in the way of each other and actually pull out less hair per pass than my old model. I also felt like it was just ripping the top part of the hairs rather than removing them from the roots. I noticed, too, that it did not remove the fine hairs on my underarms and legs very well at all. Also, for the very first time in my 20+ years of epilating, I got some of my underarm skin caught between the tweezer head and the back of the unit. Ouch! I'm still feeling the effects of that 2 days later.
There are other small details that made decide to return this epilator. The fact that it's corded was what I wanted. The cord, however, is not attached, so over time, it can become loose with constant plugging/unplugging (That's what happened to my last epilator). Since it needs to be plugged in for it to work, it would be better if the cord were attached to the epilator. I also don't always have a problem with things made in China - I buy them with the full knowledge that I most likely will get what I pay for - but this cheap, plastic, epilator is worth less than the $60 I paid for it.
Things I didn't do with this epilator:
- Epilate my face or private areas. I don't do that, so I can't tell you how well this epilator works for those areas.
- Use the sensitive skin attachment. I'm used to epilating, so the tiny, prickly feelings don't bother me anymore.
Overall, I was sad to have to return this epilator (assuming the vendor will take it back) since I had such high hopes for it. I guess I need to start looking for a different brand...?
Edit on 10/21/16: I was able to return this epilator, but because it wasn't sold by Amazon, I had to pay return shipping. The return shipping costed me about $7, so I basically paid $7 to try this epilator. Definitely not worth it since I could have bought a different, slightly more expensive epilator sold by Amazon, and returned it for free. So, keep this in mind if you buy something that is not being sold by Amazon - there may be free shipping to get the item, but you will pay to return it if you don't like it!