I just found out that this girl I've been seeing for the past few months has some issues with underarm hair. She says that she's "balbon" in the said area and the strands are fatter than common underarm hair. It had always been an issue for her since adolescence and has slowly grown into an insecurity. Because of this, her parents paid for laser hair removal sessions; she's about to go into her 4th of 15 sessions.

She says it's working fine naman daw, and she's seeing some improvement. However, session intervals are long, and are getting longer as she progresses with the program. In between these sessions, she would simply let the hair grow out, and settle for clothes with sleeves. She won't shave because she's afraid that it may darken her underarms. She only does so when absolutely needed, like when she has to attend an event where she has to wear a dress or something.

Anyway, I heard about epilators from my girl friends. I'm thinking of getting her one for her to use in between sessions. I googled about them and ran into this blog. Now, I ask, would you recommend that I buy her an epilator? Would it work on underarms? Kasi, most product reviews I read say na the product is for legs only. Also, do consider that she's getting laser sessions.

Miss Liz, and other Filipinas out there, I hope you can help me help my girlfriend. Thank you! - Thoughtful Boyfriend

Hi Throughtful Boyfriend! You are thoughtful indeed! And sweet. I like that your letter was well-written and thought out, so I thought I'd answer it on the main blog. :) 

I'm glad you asked me this question because one of the worst things your girlfriend can do is epilate while on a laser regimen. Epilating pulls out hair from the roots (well, most of it) - hair will take longer to grow out and it shouldn't damage the skin as much as a razor would. However, laser requires hair follicles to be present. Otherwise, there won't be anything to zap off permanently. Laser works best when there's some hair growth!

In other words, it's not recommended to wax or epilate while she's doing her laser.

What I'm curious about though is why it would take 15 laser sessions to remove her hair permanently. Is she doing IPL laser?

Waxing was my favorite way to get rid of body hair, but most days I just shaved and called it a day. I don't really have time to drop by a waxing salon for an hour or so (including travel time), and besides it can be expensive if you must get it done twice a month. That comes down to P1,200 a month at a modest salon ha! I can buy better things with that money than getting rid of my leg hair, truth be told.

So, I embarked on a casual online hunt for electric hair epilators. Basically it looks like a razor but instead of cutting the hair close to the skin, the gadget pulls out each hair. Sounds like torture? Eh, depends on your pain tolerance. I'll discuss that later.

What is this sorcery and where can one buy it

I didn't know there were electric epilators available locally. The blog posts I've seen about it all talk about getting one abroad, or via pre-order. Clearly, my Google-fu needs improvement. Imagine my surprise when I saw one in Watsons Mall of Asia (SM department store area) a couple of weeks ago! I was actually checking out Baby Bliss hair curlers when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the mythical epilator. I knew I was going home with it, no questions asked!

Well there were questions asked because the first one I saw cost almost P7,000 I think. Haha. Good thing I rummaged behind the box to look for other models; the boxes look alike. The one I bought, the Philips Satinelle HP6400, is only P2,299.