You Shave Your What? - The Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P

Author's Rating:

Pros: Lightweight, trims hair

Cons: Hard to manuver at times, not totally smooth

The Bottom Line: 
Maybe I expected a miracle ....

Author's Review
This review has been long in the making and is perhaps one of the most revealing for me - yes, on a product review. 99% of you do not see me daily, or at all, and as most others on this site I try and show accurate pictures of myself, but ones that I feel turn out well and show me in the best light. I spend a lot of time obsessing about certain physical features, even ones not always in my control. You see, I have facial hair .

The Story

At a young age I was diagnosed with a more common than I once thought disease called Polycystic Ovarian Disease - PCOD. Basically PCOD affects how my ovaries perform, and though everyone's story is a little different, there are many commonalities - one of them being growing hair in unwanted places. Often in a woman with PCOD hormones play a huge factor in how one feels, weighs, has a menstrual cycle and even conceives. So, what about the hair?

As a teen I always had to shave my legs and underarms a lot - I just figured some people were naturally "more hairy". In my college years I was on the pill, and my senior year I stopped taking it. As is now more known with PCOD the skin and hair follicles can reek havoc when not regulated, and that year I noticed a few stay hairs on my chin, down my side burns, and the hair above my lip was getting a little darker. Simple plucking and bleaching of the lip seemed to take care of it fairly well. Not knowing better, I spent the next 2 years off and on the pill, all the while the hair situation growing slowly worse. Fast forward to marriage, and finally we conceive. Those 9 months with Colin, though I wouldn't trade them for all the money in the world, again reeked havoc on the facial hair situation. Not wanting to bleach while pregnant, I took to shaving those areas that I felt needed it, and have continued ever since. The hair was always fairly fine - when shaved it didn't leave a shadow or anything - I could just see them growing in. After studying lots of women, most have some type of downy hair on the sideburn and chin area - mine just started getting a little darker in strands as time went on, and it bothered me.

I have to tell you, it has been the most embarrassing thing to have people look at me. Even with shaving I still don't feel comfortable and often attempt to wear hairstyles that hide my face. I have been married almost 5 years and won't let my husband sit too close to me when there's too much light and never let him put his hands near my face. Never. I hate people looking at me when we talk, and I am very cautious about making friends. No one ever gets to get too close to me.

Finding The Product

On a Makeup and Beauty site one day I happened upon a message board posting about just this same thing. The "miracle" product a lot of the women recommended was the Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer. I did a search (through www.google.com) for the product, and that night ordered the one with the best price (the Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P) - Panasonic also makes a similar, slighter bigger and blue in color groomer by the same name ( model # ES119AC - the P in my model standing for pink, the AC in the other model standing for Aqua - I only know because I emailed Panasonic directly prior to submitting this review to check what the differences were).

To be fair, I purchased this at www.smallappliance.com (the exact link currently is http://www.smallappliance.com/store/detail.html?sku=22287&cart=32345516211406903) and shares the follow information:

Microfine Construction - designed for use on the thin, downy hair of a woman's face and neck.
* Hypoallergenic Surgical Steel Blades System is safe and gentle to the skin while cutting effectively.
* Painless, for use on those all-too-visible areas that are impractical to tweeze or depilitate.
* Safety design keeps blade away from direct contact with skin.
* Helps makeup go on smoothly and evenly.
* Microfine Construction - designed for use on the thin, downy hair of a woman's face and neck.
* Battery operated.
* Dimensions = 6.5" High X 1" Wide X 1" Deep
* Approximate Shipping Weight = 1 Pound

The women on the message board told me that this groomer safely and easily removed the hairs from their face and neck area and kept them away for days! Expecting that my $30.00 would buy me a whole new outlook on life, I checked the mail desperately every day, until the little package arrived.

Getting And Using The Product

Within a week it did - I eagerly tore it open. It came in a small white plastic case with zipper and the product was inside with a section of the foam inside cut down in to fit it. It also came with a small brush.

The device itself is pretty simple to describe. The Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P is light pink, and compared to electric shavers a very lightweight product (think more like the size and weight of an electric toothbrush - or at least my Crest Spinbrush). It has a long base, with a small, fine razor head exposed on one side at the top. The only 2 buttons on this device are the larger on/off button on the front (push up for on, down for off) and the smaller push in button on the upper back to release the blade (for cleaning, replacement, etc). The blade is not very exposed, and one whole side of the top is enclosed in the pink plastic. The blade is mostly covered by a white set of "teeth" which also look to be a durable plastic. When using this device, you can really only apply the blade in one general direction, otherwise it cuts nothing.

After reading the basic instructions and care (how to replace battery, finding out the brush was a way to clean the device, how to hold it, etc), within minutes I was ready to use my Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P. Holding my skin taught I placed the blade close to the sides of my face and hoped.

Wow, a lot of the even fine and downy hair was gone! Neat!

I then spent weeks, even up to a month trying to find out the best way to use this device. Maybe that's a sign that I just never felt totally comfortable using it (this from a girl that has waxed, bleached, depilatoried, plucked and shaved for years). 2 months later, I am still getting the hang of it. Honestly, I keep hoping that I will make up my mind for certain one way or another about this product. And it's hard to say exactly why. I am left handed, and often find it hard to get at just the right angle of the blade to my face. The chin area especially - I have to really pull my skin taught in order to remove all of the hair (though, to be fair, this is mentioned in the instructions). And I can still feel a tiny bit of stubble - though I can never see it. Even with shaving with a regular razor I can get that "smooth" feeling for about a day - I never get that feeling with the Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P. Although, I must admit, using this device is quicker and easier, it also makes a small "whirring" noise - which has often prompted my husband to ask me what I am doing. And either way I have to make sure I moisturize really well afterward - regular shaving and this device make the areas I am using it on about equally dry.

Since I own it I am finding more and more ways to use it. I have used it for the fine hair on the sideburn area, and on my chin. My favorite way to use this is to trim my eyebrows - that pesky hair that grows on top of the hair line, even after waxing - this device trims that down in mere seconds.

But Do I Recommend It?

I don't know. That's the truth of it. $25-30, while not a ton of money, is still more than I'd like to spend on a device that I am not in love with. It's more a device I am using , because it's too much of a hassle to try and return it (plus I don't think I can - I think there is a hygiene policy). And knowing that I paid the money for it, I plan to at least not let it sit on the shelf - especially while the battery that came with it is still working. Will I search out a new battery and keep using the Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P? I don't really know. Truthfully, it's not a device that I think about all that much - except when I see it in the closet and remind myself that I just "had" to have it.

Do I think you need the Panasonic Cosmetic Groomer ES119P? Not especially. I guess if you are consumed by your facial hair on any level, this device might do the trick. It's not a product that you can just get cheaply, is at every store, or can borrow from a friend - so I'd think long and hard before buying. Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would have bought it.

Note - so please excuse the odd ratings I might have left for this product - it was hard to pick from the choices of effectiveness, whether I recommend it, and etc -