Epilator

An epilator is an electrical device used to remove hair by mechanically grasping multiple hairs simultaneously and pulling them out. The way in which epilators pull out hair is similar to waxing, although unlike waxing, they do not remove cells from the epithelium of the epidermis. Aside from the spring in early spring-type epilators, there are no parts in epilators that require regular replacement. Epilators come in corded, rechargeable and battery-operated designs. The battery-operated devices can be used wet or dry.

Epilation can be painful to some people because, as with waxing, it involves pulling hair out of the roots. Because of the pain involved being particularly bad on the first epilation of an area, some people prefer to have the area professionally waxed first, then use epilation to remove regrowth.

The first type of epilator was the original Epilady released in Israel, and manufactured by Mepro, in kibbutz Hagoshrim in 1986. The design incorporated a coil spring, which was bowed into a curve such that the coils on one side of the spring were squeezed tightly together while on the other side the coils were spread apart. The motor in the epilady rotated the spring, causing it to flex as it rotated. Moving the rotating spring across the skin caused the hairs to be caught up in the spring and pulled out the hair.

Because the springs flexed continuously, they were subject to occasional failure and were sold separately as a replacement part.

Today, there are manual epilators designed for the face, that do not use a power supply. This design consists simply of a coil spring with two handles. The spring is then bowed into a curve and placed upon the unwanted facial hair whilst turning the handles. This caused the hairs to be caught between the coils of the springs and pulled out from the roots.

The Remington Lady Remington Smooth and Silky was designed to operate in a similar way to the spring type Epilady, except that a series of metal discs were used instead of a spring. It was the subject of extensive patent litigation in Europe due to a conceptual similarity to the spring type epilator. The UK patent infringement case is known as Improver Corporation v Remington Consumer Product Limited [1990] F.S.R. 181.

...
Wikipedia