What helped me immensely during epilation is as follows:

I use warm water (normally a cloth soaked in warm water) and apply it to an area before epilation – Ice, cold water, cold air, etc. contracts pores and makes for a slightly more difficult unrooting of the hair follicle. But it is a trade-off between ease of removal and pain management. My pain threshold is poor but it never became unbearable for me… Just a sharp stinging sensation (perhaps like a tattoo needle?) when I encountered too many hairs under the epilator head.

After the region is finished, I would hop in the shower – not the bath – and wash the skin solely with water. If you apply soap, gel or any other type of cleanser, they will take up residence in some of your pores and could create recurring problems. Remember that whiteheads may still appear irrespective of your cleanliness since bacteria exists under the skin and is brought to the surface when a hair is pulled out. In my case, they disappear in a surprisingly short amount of time (about 2-3 days). While warm water is cascading over the newly hair-free areas, I would lightly exfoliate in a circular motion a couple of times and doing this wherever hair was removed. This is not the time to be vigorous – Be gentle yet consistent.

NOTE: The exfoliator pad or mitt you use (I find those fluffy mesh type ones to be too flimsy) should be placed in a bowl of boiling water as a type of sterilisation, then hung up to drip dry. It doesn’t need to be dry by the time you use it, just clean.

Once out of the shower, I pat myself dry with a towel rather than rub dry. Just rest the towel over wet skin and pat away to absorb water. Once dry, I use organic tea-tree oil and pat it over the hair-free areas, paying particular attention to red bumps, dots and anywhere where there may be small spots of blood. While the tea-tree liquid is an oil, it is an antiseptic and I don’t find it particularly comedogenic or greasy. It is potent though, and may give a bit of a sting along with a strong odour and cool burn (like Tiger Balm and Deep Heat, so keep away from eyes and orifices!) Some may use cold water afterwards to close up the pores but I tend to walk about clothessless so that the cooler air naturally closes up my pores.

This is the process I use to great efficacy. While light exfoliation should be done each evening, it is certainly important to commit to it for at least several days after epilation (or waxing/sugaring/tweezing for that matter of fact).

As a side note, I am unbothered if I break open whiteheads while lightly exfoliating – The water and tea-tree oil do a great job of cleaning my skin up. My chest was entirely covered in them after epilation and they certainly didn’t stand up to being abrased everytime I exfoliated them, but three days later and there wasn’t one to be seen. Popping and squeezing whiteheads has hygienic merit… Just don’t always believe the alarmist advice about ever breaking them. Just make sure that areas with whiteheads are done last to avoid contaminating unaffected parts of the body, that tea-tree oil or some other organic herbal remedy (witch hazel is another good topical treatment) is applied to skin after showering and that the exfoliant pad or mitt is covered in boiling water before its next use.

Then you can enjoy weeks, perhaps months, even years of hair-free skin depending on how regularly you epilate, as well as your hair type. It is a lot easier and much less painful for me to go over my body a few times a week (only a few minutes) to pluck out stray hairs as opposed to letting hair grow back, take up more surface area and requiring a lot more time to remove. Think of it as preventative maintenance.

I use the Emjoi Gently Caress, which is a total misnomer to say the least when dealing with a lot of hair! That’s why I use it in conjunction with waxing and use it to clear up strips or small patches of hair that the wax missed. The result? Smooth, beautiful-feeling skin!

I wish you happy hair-free days ahead!

Thanks!