My first epilator, many years ago, was the two-speed Braun Silk-epil Eversoft Deluxe (with 20 tweezers) and this year, for my birthday, my husband bought me the Silk-epil 7 (with 40 tweezers). Wow, what a difference!
I love the fact that the Silk-epil 7 is cordless and only takes about 45 minutes to charge fully. Epilating for the first few times does hurt, especially around the ankles, knees and thighs and it will take a while, but it does get easier, faster and painless the more often you do it. I find that around the 4th or 5th time, it only hurts around my ankles and behind my knees.
I tend to only epilate in spring and summer, when the weather is warmer, as I find epilating in winter when it is cold is too painful and difficult. Not only is it uncomfortable, but I find when it's cold my skin almost holds on to the hairs! I tend to shave during winter and then in spring, before I start epilating, I go to a salon for a once-off, full leg wax and then begin epilating once the hair starts to grow back. This seems to ease the initial first time pain and its not as sore once I begin epilating, about a week after the once-off wax.
I did try epilating directly after bathing or showering (as recommended by Braun), but find that when I do this, my hair is too soft and more likely to break. I prefer to epilate a few hours before I bath or shower, but this is just my personal preference, so do whatever works best for you.
This epilator was great, being rechargeable and an upgrade not having to stay attached to the wall like with my last one. However....after 10 years, my old one is still fine and this one has given up (I've had it...maybe 3 years?). I guess that's still a decent lifespan but for a Braun product, I am surprised it didn't last like my old one. I'm back to the plug in, annoyingly.