I have just bought a Phillips epilator which, according to one friend, was the best buy recommendation of Which? magazine. Because I knew she'd be touchy I just mentioned to my beauty therapist that I'd tried my friend's machine. Her response was along the lines of "don't come running to me when you find your body ravaged by ingrown hairs".

I have recently decided to discount her opinions (which are generated on occasion by self interest) but has anyone any evidence for her generalisation that it is common knowledge that epilators and ingrowns go together like a horse and carriage?

You have to be good to your skin. If you're not going to pursue a sensible and pro-active hair removal solution like laser or electrolysis, then you have to face the idea that you will be keeping live, hair-yeilding follicals active in your skin. If you are going to be keeping active, live follicals for years on end, then you have to take care of them. The lousier you treat your follicals, the worse your skin will look. When you shave with a nice new sharp razor, it's nicer to your skin and follicals because it gently and cleanly slices the hair off.

...When you use an epilator, it yanks the hair out of the follical in different directions time after time. When this is done, it wears and damages the follical. It can split the follical, it can distort the follical. It can start changing the growth direction of the follical. Yes, you will get ingrowns. Lots of ingrowns. And those hairs will be ingrowing pretty much every time that hair sprouts a new shaft.

Epilators were my best friends early on. I still have three very good ones. But if I could go back in time, I never would have used one. Although as a quick fix they gave marvelous results of completely hairless skin, in the long run they were rough on the follicals, and it showed months and years down the road. I'm still very tempted to break mine out and epilate, but I know better know. I think way ahead of how it's going to make my skin look in the future. Just my advice.

Using an epilator on my facial hair is what might have caused folliculitis.
I have a doc's appointment today to confirm it. If it turns out to be folliculitis, I will get it lasered. I would be very careful with using an epilator. Use detol or something similar to clean it everyday.