Braun Face Facial Epilator Review (2024)

When it comes to compact and portable epilators, none come close to the Braun Face. It’s an eye-catching facial epilator that is capable of hiding at the bottom of your handbag, ready for when you need it most.

As you would expect, such an epilator comes at a price. Should you justify parting with your cash for an epilator that only works on your face?

We answer that question and more. By the time you have finished reading our detailed review, you will know if the Braun Face is right for you.

Braun Face models

It feels like the a new model of Braun Face is released every 6 months. When Braun releases a new model the epilator itself will remain unchanged. The older 810 and 820 models feature the same 5365 face epilator as the newer models below.

The main difference between models comes in the color of the epilator cap and the included accessories. The three current models of the Braun Face are as follows:

1. Braun Face 851

The Braun Face is the top model facial epilator from Braun. The following items are included in the box:

• Braun Face 851 epilator
• Bronze epilator protective cap
• Facial cleaning head
• Exfoliation brush head
• Sensitive brush head
• White travel pouch
• Cleaning brush
• AA Battery

2. Braun Face 830

The Braun 830 epilator is slightly cheaper than the 851. Instead of the different bristled brush heads, it comes with a compact lighted mirror.

The following are included in the box:

• Braun Face 851 epilator
• Silver epilator protective cap
• Facial cleaning head
• Exfoliation brush head
• Lighted vanity mirror
• Purple travel pouch
• Cleaning brush
• AA Battery

3. Braun Face 831

The 831 is identical to the 830 except for a couple of cosmetic differences. The protective epilator cap is now rose gold in color and the beauty pouch has been upgraded to the white style found on the 851 model.

Braun Face

Examining the Braun Face epilator

Since the main epilator unit remains unchanged, regardless of model you purchase, the focus of our review is going to be solely on that.

At 6.5 inches, long the Braun Face epilator is small enough to sit at the bottom of your handbag. The small size makes the facial epilator perfect for on the go epilation, like when you look in the mirror at work and notice stray monster hairs in your eyebrows… yuck!

The Braun Face comes with a protective cap that slides over the epilator when not in use, keeping the head clean and hygienic.

The sliding cap can be removed by simply pulling upwards. However, this did not always work correctly and would sometimes snag on the epilator head, removing it too in the process.

As you can see above, when this happened the epilator head would become stuck in the cap.

Fortunately, when this happened returning the cap to the epilator handle and giving it a slight twist before removing it again solved the problem.

This problem was found on all the units we tested. The problem seems to be that the spongy material inside the cap clings to the epilator head with too much grip.

Fortunately the problem quickly resolves itself and with continued use the spongy material becomes looser and will no longer pull at the epilator head.

With the cap successfully removed you can see the entire epilator in all it’s glory.

We particularly liked that you can place can attach the cap of the epilator to the rear of the model, preventing you from misplacing it:

We know it seems like a simple feature but this is a bid deal for an epilator that is designed to be used on the go.

In the middle of the epilator you will find the power button:

The Braun Face epilator is unusual in that it’s head is bidirectional. What this essentially means is that the epilating head can spin both clockwise and anti-clockwise.

Sliding the power button to the left makes the epilating head spin clockwise, sliding the power button to the right makes it turn anticlockwise.

Because the Braun face is designed to be held horizontally, alternating the epilating direction makes allows you to pluck against .

The epilating head itself is tiny:

See Also

11 Pros & Cons of The Braun Face Epilator 910

Unlike the majority of epilators that use metal tweezers, the Braun Face uses plastic “tweezer openings”.

In total there are 10 openings. Braun claims the tweezers can capture hairs as fine as 0.02mm and as short as 0.05mm. Needless to say this should be able to remove all of those visible dark colored hairs.

Braun has left a quarter of the epilating head covered by plastic.

This is the side of the epilator head that will face away from you during use. Resting your index finger here while epilating will make it easier to precisely guide the epilator across your face without tearing out your eyebrows.

The rear of the Epilator is fairly boring and contains some basic specifications such as the model type (5365) and the country of manufacture, in this case China.

At the very bottom of the epilator is the battery compartment:

In order to open the battery compartment you will need a small coin to place in the slot and turn. Attempting to open the cover with your car key or a screwdriver will sheer the plastic.

With the cover open you will find the single AA battery that powers the entire epilator:

The AA battery comes pre-installed allowing you to use your new Braun Face epilator straight out of the box.

Newer models of the Braun Face come with a separate facial cleansing brush attachment. In order to use it you will first need to remove the epilator head:

A light tug on the epilator head is all that is required to remove it from the handle.

With the handle removed you are now free to attach the facial cleansing brush to your Braun Face.

We feel the less said about the facial cleaning brush attachment the better. It failed to impress and feels like little more than an extra gimmick thrown in justify the purchase of an otherwise expensive battery operated product.

The AA battery powered motor is just to weak to power the facial brush. The bristles would stop moving at the stills at the slightest pressure, instead the middle of the bristles would bend and flex back and forth giving the illusion of movement.

The surface area is relatively small compared to a stand-alone facial cleaning brush. But perhaps the worst part is the bristle quality. While they feel soft, they fray quickly. This would be less of an issue if replacement brush heads were not so astronomically expensive.</p

If you are buying the Braun Face, do not be lured in by the idea of a 2-in-1 tool, the Braun face should be looked at as an Epilator only. The facial cleansing brush is a gimmick at best.

Testing the Braun Face Epilator

The only thing left to do is take the Bran Face epilator for a test drive and see whether it is up to the task of plucking out those stray facial hairs.

For the purpose of testing the Braun Face on a variety of hair types, three other people were brought in to help with testing. Including myself that made for a total of four testers. The following contains summaries of our experience wit the Braun Face.

The Braun Face is designed to be held horizontally along the face, which took felt foreign at first. But with practice it became second nature.

Precision with the Braun Face was effortless. The narrow head combined with the horizontal positioning allowed testers to epilate right up to the eyebrow line without yanking out the longer hairs.

While the glossy white surface of the Braun Face may look great for the purpose of photographs, we do wish the handle was slightly more grippy. It was easy for fingers to slip on the smooth plastic surface.

The narrow head works best at touching up facial areas, like tidying up your brows or removing the small patch of hairs from your upper lip. While the small head made it easier to be precise, it also made the Braun Face impractical to be used on larger areas of skin.

While we initially had our doubts about the plastic tweezers, they worked surprisingly well on short blonde hairs, easily plucking the clearly visible ones. However, we found that the Braun Face could not remove hairs with the same effectiveness as epilators with metal tweezers.

Closely examining the epilated areas with a light revealed that the Braun face left behind small blond hairs. It is worth mentioning that these small hairs were not noticeable from a distance; you know, the average distance that another human being who does not get up in your personal space would look at you.

While you can use the Braun Face in the shower, we found that is was much harder to be precise when doing so. Emerging from the shower and examining the epilated areas revealed many more missed hairs than when we did it dry.

Where the Braun Face completely failed was thick and coarse hairs. Instead of plucking the hair outright, the epilator would continuously pull on the thicker hairs. While it may be an effective torture device, the Braun Face is unusable on these thicker hairs.

The problem seems to come from the motor not being powerful enough to pluck thicker hairs from the skin in a single movement. This is not too surprising considering the Braun Face is powered by a single AA battery.

Speaking of the battery, the Braun Face chews through them. A single AA battery will may last a few epilating sessions depending on just how long you use it for.

The battery life is so short that we cannot recommend the Braun Face unless you buy a set of rechargeable batteries to go with it.

Note: We are receiving reports of Braun Face epilators failing within the first year of purchase. While our test showed no sign of slowing down, they were only trialed over the course of a month. We cannot comment on the product failures based on personal experience.

Final Thoughts

The Braun Face is a interesting epilator. It is unsuitable to be used as your at-home epilator for everyday use, the small head and short battery life see to that. It’s main appeal is it’s handbag friendly size.

Instead it is best used as a touch-up epilator, sitting at the bottom of your handbag just waiting for your eyebrows to step out of line. But it comes at a hefty price for a product with such a limited amount of useful applications.

If you have fine blonde hairs that you like to keep in line , have a dedicated at-home epilator and have the spare cash then you may find value in the Braun Face.

But for the average American, the Braun Face is an expensive and unnecessary luxury.