14 Best Facial Hair Removal Methods for the Smoothest Skin of Your Life

If you know anything about epilating, you know that it's commonly thought of as hella painful, thanks to the fact that it plucks each hair from its root, like a bunch of tweezers operating all at once. But (!) epilators have come a long way since your grandma's day—so much so that one Cosmo editor wrote a love letter to this exact Braun epilator for being virtually painless (yes, really).

The cordless and waterproof device is equipped with 40 tiny tweezers to remove facial hair (or whatever kind of hair) with each pass, and, unlike with waxing, it can also grab super-short hairs, so you don't need to wait a few weeks for it to grow out between treatments. And if epilating scares you, no worries—it also comes with a shaving attachment and a trimming attachment, so you can remove your hair however TF you want.

• Size: Handheld tool
• Face area: Lower face
• Methods: Trimmer, razor, and epilator
• Permanence: Not permanent (but results can last as long as waxing)
  

Glowing customer review: "I was tired of shaving and having stubbly legs only a day or two later, and I didn't want to go through the hassle or expense of waxing or laser hair removal, so I started looking into epilators. Overall, the level of discomfort is totally manageable, though the first time you use it it will be the most uncomfortable because it has the most hairs to pull out."

If you don't believe the 9,000 positive Amazon reviews (!!), take it from Cosmo contributor Valeriya Chupinina: “As someone who tears up from using tweezers, the promise of zero pain is the first thing I look for in my hair removal products," she says. “This trimmer is so gentle and leaves my face without any irritation and redness.”

It also comes with two attachments for the base: a general facial hair trimmer and an eyebrow precision trimmer. Just glide the trimmer over your dry skin to remove facial hair, then angle the eyebrow trimmer under and above your brows to shape them.

• Size: Pocket-size tool
• Face area: Eyebrow, upper lip, chin
• Method: Hair trimmer
• Permanence: Not permanent (you may need to repeat weekly, depending on your hair-growth speed)

Glowing customer review: "This facial hair remover works perfectly—it charges easily and stays charged for a long time. It seems strong—meaning it removes hair in just one swipe—and it is sturdy and easy to clean."

Excuse me while I introduce you to the magic that is hair-removal creams in the year of 2024. This formula from Flamingo is surprisingly gentle and makes hair removal so easy—I usually do it while I'm watching TV, tbh.

On clean skin, I spread a thick layer of this cream with the included spatula all over my upper lip and cheeks (where I'm prone to peach fuzz that can make my makeup look textured), then let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. I wipe it off with a paper towel, rinse my face with some warm water, then layer on the brand's Calming Serum (included with the cream!) to help bring down redness and reduce irritation.

Just keep in mind that hair-removal creams aren't a great fit for everyone. “Depilatories can be very irritating,” says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD. “So I’m very cautious in recommending them for people with sensitive skin.”

• Size: 1.35 ounces
• Face area: All (just be careful around your eyes)
• Methods: Depilatory (hair-removal cream)
• Permanence: Not permanent (but will last almost as long as waxing or plucking)

Glowing customer review: "I've been using this product for years now, and I'm very happy with the results. Now that I'm getting older, I have a 'furry face,' and this leaves me smooth and hair free without making me break out, so I'm delighted. This is a gentle depilatory that doesn't leave me smelling terrible!"

If you're not feeling your upper-lip hair, but you're also tired of trimming it every single week, try this pocket-size electric razor our editors love. It's extremely easy to just keep at your vanity to touch things up whenever you feel like it. It has a teeny-tiny ring light around the base of the razor that lights up your face for serious precision—key when you're grabbing those ultra-fine hairs or avoiding a zit (my cross to bear every time I shave my upper lip, lol).

As far as facial hair removal products go, the packaging on this one is cute and minimal too—it’s designed to look like a lipstick, making storage simple. And according to testers, it closely cuts your hair without any pain or irritation.

• Size: Pocket-size tool
• Face area: All
• Method: Hair trimmer
• Permanence: Not permanent (though many testers felt it trimmed almost as closely as shaving)

Glowing customer review: "As a woman that needed to wax my lip area every week, this is a life saver. Now I use this every couple of days as needed. Much easier and it always looks clean!"

I've tried dozens of dermaplaning tools since I discovered how much smoother my skin looks without all my peach fuzz, and this pick from Gillette Venus is definitely the best. The actual tool is very heavy, which not only makes it feel luxe in my hand, but helps steady my grip to reduce potential knicks (anyone who's accidentally shaved off the tail of their brow knows how important this is). But what I love most is the blade, which is sharp enough to remove that layer of teeny-tiny hair on my face, but doesn't make me fear for my life, ya know?

I usually wash my face in the shower with a gel cleanser, then before smoothing on any products, I'll slowly glide the tool over my skin in sections. I pull my face taught, then move the tool against the grain, toward my forehead. Afterward, I'll keep my skincare fairly gentle (i.e. no retinol, AHAs, or salicylic acid) and apply a hydrating serum and basic moisturizer.

A super important thing about dermaplaning, though: You should always be working with a sharp blade. If the blade gets dull, you're upping your chances of cuts and scratches on your face. Luckily, this razor is disposable and comes with two heads. So once one has seen better days, just pop it off and stick on a new one (generally, this should be every 5 to 10 uses).

• Size: Pocket-size tool
• Face area: All (but especially great for eyebrows and small crevices, like your upper lip)
• Method: Dermaplaner
• Permanence: Not permanent (you may need to repeat weekly, depending on how dark your hair is and how quickly it grows)

Glowing customer review: "I bought this to try after watching a tutorial on social media by a dermatologist. Read the comments and almost everyone said no dark hairs come back. Dude. This is AMAZING!!!! My face is so soft. So shiny. It looks like I got Botox. I’ve never gotten Botox, and I swear this shaving your face thing works!!!! Wow."

This drugstore facial hair remover (which comes in a pack of three) can double as an eyebrow razor or an at-home dermaplaning tool, depending on your mood (and hair status). The blade is a bit longer than others I tested, which helped cover more surface area on my face. But the tool itself is also slightly slanted, making it easy to get into the nooks and crannies, like the tail of my brow or sideburns.

If you've never learned how to shave your face at home, you basically just (gently) feather the razor around the edges of your brows the shape them, or swipe it down your face in short strokes to help soften skin and get rid of peach fuzz. Per my testing, I found this razor to be extremely gentle on my skin—no knicks or cuts at all whatsoever, which is fab for a dermaplaning beginner.

• Size: 3 pocket-size tools
• Face area: All
• Method: Razor
• Permanence: Not permanent (but cuts almost as close to skin as shaving)

Glowing customer review: "I love these facial razors! They are very easy to use and remove all of that peach fuzz that often makes makeup look off. They also work great for cleaning up around your eyebrows, as well as removing any lip or chin hairs that pop out."

Not only are these facial hair removal wax strips a total breeze to use, but reviewers say they also get the job done just as well as the messier wax kits. All you have to do is warm up the strips by rubbing them between your hands for 20 seconds, gently smooth one over your skin, and then rip it off (don't give yourself too much time to think here—thinking is pain, bb).

I find it more comfortable than other wax options, actually, but it's definitely a bit spicy. But to mitigate some of the potential redness afterward, I always layer on a calming face serum (my favorite is The Ordinary Soothing Serum) to hydrate and nourish my face.

FYI: Each tin is filled with 12 strips (and it's a two-pack, so 24 total), so you'll absolutely get enough to do your 'stache every now and then. Plus, it comes with a small tube of post-wax aloe cream (to help soothe inflammation), making it a one-and-done process.

• Size: 24 mustache-size wax strips
• Face area: Upper lip
• Methods: Waxing
• Permanence: Not permanent (but will last the longest of any facial hair removers, aside from lasering)

Glowing customer review: "I will 1000% be buying these again! I suffer from PCOS and my hair is out of control. I literally have to wax, shave, and/or pluck daily. I carry a pack of these in my purse for those days I'm running late and didn't have time for the other. It grabbed almost all of that awful coarse hair. All the stars!!"

Okay, so I know this looks like a Medieval torture device, but I swear that (1) It’s not, and (2) It truly works to get rid of and remove your facial hair, body hair, or any type of hair. Think of it like a mix between epilating and threading: As you bend and roll the coils over your skin, the coils will grab and tweeze your facial hair and peach fuzz from the root to remove it.

I've personally tested this Tweezerman hair remover on myself, and its pain level feels similar to threading—i.e., a little less painful than tweezing that many hairs one after the other. It's not as precise, though, which is why it's great for getting all those random hairs on my chin, or just between my eyebrows.

• Size: Pocket-size tool
• Face area: All
• Methods: Tweezing/epilating
• Permanence: Not permanent (will last as long as shaving)

Glowing customer review: "This little thing worked great for me and I thought it was super easy to use. I got the hang of it within the first minute of using it and it was smooth sailing from there."

Okay, so this dermaplaning kit is definitely a pricier option, but trust me, it really works for removing facial hair. As a reminder, dermaplaning is a treatment that uses a razor (or scalpel, if you're getting it professionally done) to shave your face and slightly exfoliate it at the same time, since it can scrape off some surface-level dead skin cells. Even though a scalpel will give you a stronger and smoother finish, you can still get similar, hair-free results with this at-home kit from Dermaflash.

The tool is available in four different colors and comes with four razor refill cartridges and a prep cleanser that dissolves surface-level skin oils to give you a closer and smoother shave. Basically, it's exactly what a beginner would need.

• Size: Handheld tool
• Face area: All
• Method: Dermaplaning/razor
• Permanence: Not permanent (but cuts almost as close to skin as shaving)

Glowing customer review: "The price point is steep, but my goodness is it worth it. My acne is scabbing up, and this tool gently exfoliates the dead skin layer. My skin is so smooth. My makeup is perfect."

If you're into natural skincare products and want to test out a cleaner way to remove facial hair, try this sugaring kit. Its formula uses only eight ingredients, including sugar, water, lemon juice, date extract, and honey, to create a sticky, hair-removing paste that rivals a traditional wax strip. It also comes with everything you need to make waxing your facial hair easy, including 10 fabric strips, six wooden applicators sticks, and a natural pre-wax bar cleanser.

• Size: 6 oz tin of sugar paste
• Face area: All
• Method: Waxing (sugaring)
• Permanence: Not permanent (but will last the longest of any facial hair removers, aside from lasering)

Glowing customer review: "So I discovered sugaring on Tiktok and finally took the leap. Since I am new to waxing of any sort and was fascinated with sugaring, so I decided to try a pre-made kit first before trying to make it myself. I am two weeks out from my wax job, and some hairs are starting to come back in, but most of my skin is still smooth."

This 12-pack of dermaplaning tools/razors is so easy to use and also come in two other colors (black and light pink), if you're all about facial hair removal with a side of ~vibes~. Just carefully stroke the razor's edge along your clean, dry skin—avoiding any active acne breakouts—and your facial hair will quickly lift off.

• Size: 12 pocket-size tools
• Face area: All
• Methods: Razor
• Permanence: Not permanent (will last as long as shaving)

Glowing customer review: "I noticed my forehead had gotten dull and congested [and] my usual exfoliants weren't really offering the results I wanted, so I decided to give dermaplaning a try. I won't be looking back! This will be a regular part of my routine from now on. My face is glowing, and my makeup applies so smoothly now. The process was super easy to DIY, and I had no issues with pain or irritation!"

Yes, this bb is expensive, but it still costs waaaay less than getting laser-hair treatments by a professional every six weeks. For me, the biggest pro—aside from the cost—is that I can slowly decrease my facial hair from the comfort of my couch rather than trekking to my dermatologist's office.

Just remember, though: At-home laser hair-removal devices are only safe for fair-to-medium skin tones with dark hair, meaning they're not ideal for deeper skin tones with dark hair, or lighter skin tones with white, blonde, or red hair. Why? Because the technology in these devices can't yet distinguish between the melanin (pigment) in your hair versus the melanin in your skin, “which can result in burns," says dermatologist Victoria Barbosa, MD.

• Size: Handheld device
• Face area: Lower face
• Method: Laser-hair removal
• Permanence: The most permanent at-home solution possible

Glowing customer review: "I use this once a month and have had four treatments so far. Since my hairs were already fine to begin with, the difference is subtle but it is definitely there. The biggest improvement I have noticed is how long it takes for my arm hair to grow back after I shave it. I would say it takes almost a month before I have to shave it again."

Arguably one of the cheapest and simplest methods of facial hair removal is a simple pair of tweezers to individually grab and pluck rogue hairs. I swear by the O.G. Tweezerman tweezers, thanks to the ultra-sharp tip that helps grab even the finest of hairs.

Sure, it isn't the most comfortable way to get rid of stray hairs, but it's definitely the most precise. Plus, Tweezerman tweezers are slanted, which make it way easier to grab baby-fine hairs. When I put the tweezers to my brows, they rest on my face without any gaps to help avoid digging at my skin and irritating the heck out of it.

• Size: Pocket-size tool
• Face area: All, but especially good for eyebrows and chin
• Method: Tweezing
• Permanence: Not permanent (you may need to repeat weekly or biweekly, depending on how dark your hair is and how quickly it grows)

Glowing customer review: "This tweezer is the best. It's easy to grab even the finest hairs. I had one previously, and it lasted for years until I dropped it, and it must have hit the tile just right and damaged the 'nose.'"

Nose and ear hair, like all body hair, is fully normal. But if you’re not a fan of yours, this nose hair trimmer will take care of it with a quick buzz up each nostril. “TMI, but my husband’s nose hairs are generally out of control,” says Cosmo deputy beauty director Lauren Balsamo. “Thank god for this easy-to-use trimmer to help keep them in check.” Even better? This one is cordless and has washable heads for a clean rinse.

• Size: Handheld device
• Face area: Nose
• Method: Trimmer
• Permanence: Not permanent (will likely need to repeat every other week)

Glowing customer review: "The mushroom style head is the best design I've seen on any trimmer I've used, as it allows for a closer and better trim."