That's the fun part, you don't.

If you have ligt coler skin, pulsating light is really better. I saw better results with it than epilation, both with a silk epil or wax. If you have darker skin, I found waxing far more comfortable than epilator. It's not less painful, but it's only one sharp flash of pain, where the epilator is like the same pain but long running. If you go with wax, use a water-sugar based one, it rinces off better, and the paper band allows to have a nice grip on the band

When you do it the first time your hair is still very thick and it will hurt more. The more you do it the less it will hurt because the regrowing hair won't be as thick (because they didn't have as much time to grow) and it won't hurt as much. Long story short: just keep doing it in regular intervals (2-3 weeks) and you will get used to it.

Pain is relative, usually on a scale of 1 (not that bad) to 10 (a little bit worse than you've personally experienced).

So if you get into a car crash or get struck by lightning, such things won't really bother you anymore.

Otherwise you could set things up to stimulate the same dermatome (patch of skin that has sensory nerves entering the spine at a specific point) in different ways I'd put your feet on sandpaper or flex your toes while doing your legs. Basically there's interference between the neurons because they're competing for extracellular ions. It's why you see people limping round in circles when they stub their toe and why heart attacks cause pain in the left arm. Also why people get worked up having their toes sucked.

I've tried it only once or twice and stopped immediately, went to laser instead. Still hurts like a mofo but it's more effective.

One tip for afterward: put aftersun or any cream that helps your skin hydrate etc., in the fridge before you epilate, then apply after epilating/lasering.

When lasering, getting a cold compress on the skin immediately after each individual laser zap helped a ton.

After about 10 times it starts to hurt less, keep at it! (Or save up for laser hair removal)

I have a theory that a lot of the pain comes from when the epilator slips off the hair ^[3]^, or breaks the hair ^[4]^ instead of pulling it out completely at the root ^[5]^. My thinking is that if the epilator successfully pulls out the hair ^[2.1][5]^, it won't keep keep tugging on the follicle ^[5]^, so minimal pain ^[6]^, but if it keeps tugging on the follicle from mowing down the hair (ie breaking it) ^[4]^, or just slipping off ^[3]^ before completely pulling it out ^[2.1][5]^, it'll keep stimulating the follicle resulting in more pain ^[6]^. I find that when a patch is able to be fully and cleanly epilated with no cut hairs left behind it's pretty painless, but when it starts leaving stubbly cut hairs behind, that's when it starts hurting a lot. All that being said, I'm not sure how to stop it from breaking hairs ^[7]^. As for slippage ^[3]^, maybe it'd help to make sure that you ^[8]^ and the epilator are completely dry before epilating ^[9]^, if you haven't already done so. You could also try reducing the speed ^[10]^ of the epilator.

idk, I tried it and cried and gave up immediately

For me the first time was SO painful that i could only do small patches at a time but the second time was far less painful and now i barely feel it at all. Just take it slow and at your own pace

Where are you using it? I tried my face once and I couldn’t get it done. I honestly think going one at a time with tweezers would have been better. You can more carefully find the angle the specific follicle wants the hair to be pulled at.

I always do it underwater in the bathtub. Way better. And as the others have said: The first time is the worst, I did it biting a towel because it hurt so much. I don't do it as much now as I used to because HRT has significantly slowed hair growth on my legs.

It hurts less after you power through the beginning. Also with regular use you might get used to it more and more.

It gets better with every time you do it. I recently started epilating again after not doing it for months and I used cold wax strips the first time because epilating just a few hairs hurt too much, but with the cold wax strips it's possible to remove hairs from large areas at once. I epilate every two to three weeks and it is easy now

tbh I gave up on it but I found that if you do it consistently it hurts way less

It does hurt less after the first/second times. At first I did my feet, lower legs. Then stopped. Knees are particularly bad. Thighs hurt too and I didn't get to the top of them yet! I really just wanted smooth legs if seen under a skirt.

I put a podcast on, recommend: philosophy tube (which is by an incredible trans woman) - gives you loads to think about to distract from the pain.

Never try epilating your hands would be my advice. Felt like fire ants. (I imagine)

Yeah I gave up on epilation, hurt a lot the first time, numbing cream didn't seem to help, hurt about as much the second and third time. Starting IPL soon