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When you're a parent who has twins or higher-order multiples, personal time doesn't just shrink.
It vanishes. Poof.
Gone as quickly as you have to speed-shower before your mini multiples realize you've left their side for a millisecond.
Gone are the days of taking long, uninterrupted showers to recharge yourself.
Say goodbye to scheduling last-minute salon appointments on a whim with zero planning.
Self-care takes even more of a backseat than your rear-facing babies do.
Self-care takes even more of a backseat than your rear-facing babies do.
Between round-the-clock feedings, double-diaper duty, and toddler containment, making sure you have time for self-care when you're a parent to young kids is nearly impossible.
But not totally impossible.
On the days when you have no energy left once the twins are in bed, there's not much you can do.
But if you can muster up even a few minutes' worth of power in your tank, you can reclaim some of the self-care moments you've lost.
One Paragraph Review: Philips Beauty Set 9900
The Philips Beauty Set 9900 offers an efficient, all-in-one grooming station that turns a stolen 10-minute bathroom window into effective, long-lasting self-care. The set comes with 12 versatile accessories, including a cordless wet / dry epilator that can be used in the bath or the shower, a bikini / body trimmer and comb, exfoliation brushes (one for facial cleansing and one for body care), a rotating pedicure foot file, and a SkinLED red-light therapy attachment. Its impressive battery life means you can steal your self-care moments without worrying about it running short on power before you're done.
Pros
- Impressive battery life lasts a 60-75 minute runtime (I think I went even longer before charging)
- A rapid five-minute top-up gives you enough charge to power an entire hair removal session
- Versatile attachments allow you to do many self-care routines in the comfort of your home
- Integrated light makes it easy to see the area you're working on and if you've missed any hairs during removal
- Waterproof construction means you can use this unit it in the bath or shower without fear of wrecking it
Cons
- Need space to store the set and attachments to keep it accessible yet out of reach from curious hands
- While it's possible to find self-care moments, it's harder to find time to clean and upkeep attachments
- Hair removal, while efficient, takes more time than you probably have when you've got young twins at home
- It's battery powered, so you still have to remember to charge it every now and then, even for five minutes
- The USB-A charging cable IS included, but the power adapter for that cable is not included
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Philips Beauty Set 9900 Wet & Dry Epilator
Cordless Epilator & Grooming Kit
The Philips Beauty Set Series 9000 pairs an ergonomic cordless epilator with 12 targeted grooming accessories, covering full-body hair removal, exfoliation, trimming, and foot care. Its extra-wide ceramic tweezer head operates across two speeds to capture short hairs without pulling sensitive skin. Best of all, it's supported by an integrated Opti-light and fully waterproof construction, which means you can use it in the bath or the shower and easily see what you're doing. This kit comes with several specialized grooming attachments, making it a versatile at-home personal care kit, no matter how little time you have.
What is an epilator and how does it work for hair removal?
You might be wondering what exactly an epilator is.
It's a handheld device that has rows of rotating tweezers that open and close quickly as they spin, removing unwanted hair from the root by grasping multiple hairs at once and pulling them out as the epilator is moved over your skin.
In the realm of hair removal, it's comparable to waxing because it extracts hair by pulling it from the root; however, it's much more gentle than waxing because it doesn't require anything to stick to your skin nor does it pull off skin cells in the process.
Epilators effectively slow regrowth of unwanted hair and help hair to grow back finer when it does come back.
The Philips epilator set comes with multiple attachments that help prevent ingrown hairs and make sure hair is at the optimal length for pulling, so your at-home hair removal goes as smooth as your legs will feel.
For hair care, the 9900 beauty set includes:
- An epilator head;
- A flexible shaving head;
- A facial hair remover;
- A bikini trimmer and trimming combs (regular and bikini);
- Exfoliators (a big one for your body and a small one for your face) to cleanse and prep your skin; and
- A ProGuide attachment that pulls skin taut as you glide over it for less painful removal.
The hair removal wasn't totally painless, but it wasn't that bad either. After a few moments, I was totally acclimated to the sensation and it was no big deal.
It did take a little longer than I expected, though. Maybe it was because it was the first time I'd used a device like this to remove hair and was getting used to the process. Even with it taking longer than I thought, it was still fairly quick for at-home self-care that I could do while my twins were napping.
How long does the hair removal last?
Epilation is supposed to remove hair and keep skin smooth for up to four weeks, but it's important to remember that whatever you epilate won't be totally hairless for that entire length of time because your hair is always in different stages of the growth cycle.
There's active growth (85 to 95 percent of your hair is in this stage at any given time), the transitional stage (this phase lasts two to three weeks), resting mode (this phase, when the hair doesn't grow, lasts about two or three months), and the shedding stage (these are the 50 to 100 hairs we naturally lose on any given day, except for when we're postpartum and that number skyrockets).
What does this mean?
This means that even though you use the epilator, and you should, in theory, be "good to go" for up to four weeks, you're probably going to notice some hair popping up quite a bit sooner than that. These aren't the regrowing hairs you removed with the epilator; they're the ones that were dormant or not long enough, so they didn't get removed during your first sweep.
For me, I noticed new hair that definitely hadn't been there at removal after about a week. Once I removed those new ones with the epilator, I found I went longer between removal sessions as regrowth slowed.
I didn't run into any issues with ingrown hairs, and I like to think this in, in part, to using the exfoliator attachment to prep my skin ahead of time, but I did have some irritation with slight strawberry skin on my legs for quite a while after using the epilator.
I will say, though, that I have very sensitive skin, so this is part for the course, in my case, and I didn't make the effort to ice my legs afterward, so I probably could have avoided the irritation if I'd tried some preventative measures on my part.
Power pedi
If your feet are like mine and tend to be less than beautiful unless you're struttin' straight from the salon, this rotating attachment from the beauty set will become your best friend.
In a few moments (we're talking more like a few seconds), your feet will go from gnarly and troll-like to smooth, soft, and safe to show off.
Is it as perfect as my pedi from the salon? Honestly, no.
But it doesn't purport to be. It's the perfect tool for those in-between moments where you want to feel confident and have zero time to invest in yourself.
The results are pretty darn good, considering I spent less than a minute filing the gross parts of my feet so they looked nice enough that I could confidently go sock-free without worrying about judgement for having basically no time to take care of myself.
I will not go barefoot in public unless I'm sporting a fresh pedicure, but now that I've got this pedi attachment at home, my feet can look polished with basically zero effort on my part.
I'm not self-conscious anymore and am no longer hesitant to lose the socks and bum around in my barefeet.
Skin care in seconds
If you don't already have one in place, starting a skin care regimen couldn't be easier if you've got this set.
The SkinLED attachment has a pre-programmed five-minute routine that allows you to use red light therapy with hardly more than the push of a button.
Just clean and dry your skin, attach the SkinLED accessory, and then turn on the device. After one minute, it'll make a beeping sound, indicating the light is warmed up (to 45° C) and ready to use.
Then, place the light against your skin and slowly glide the light over different zones on your face, starting in the center and then moving outward, taking about 20 seconds to move through each area.
Repeat the routine through the zones a few times until the pre-programmed timer runs out and the device automatically turns off. It doesn't get easier than that.
For any spots needing extra care, you can hold the light still on a specific spot for up to 10 seconds.
Note: Don't use the red light directly on your eyes, under-eye areas, or on your eyelids, and don't use the red light therapy attachment more than once every 24 hours.
Why try red light therapy?
The beauty set's SkinLED attachment uses red LED light therapy and a gentle warming effect to stimulate and boost collagen production.
With a wavelength of 940 nanometers, the LED light illuminates your skin and gives it a more balanced appearance.
With continued use over time, this improves your skin's appearance and enhancing your overall skin texture and radiance.
A beauty of a set
Beyond the additional attachments to help with hair removal, the Philips Beauty Set 9900 comes with some nice little extras, like the included charging cable and an impressive battery life that gives it a runtime of up to 75 minutes.
What I really like about this unit is that if you forget to charge it, a quick top-up of five minutes gives you enough power to get you through a hair removal session without any issues.
This set also comes with a cute, little zippered pouch that has different sections to hold the various accessories.
Is the Philips Beauty Set 9900 worth it?
For any parent who's completely and utterly tired and has basically zero Me-Time but still desperately wants to feel like a human being, this beauty set is definitely worth investing in.
In just a few minutes a day, you can steal super important self-care moments you thought you'd lost for good.
There's no more worrying about the chaos and logistics of pre-planning and getting to a salon or spa for an appointment you're not going to fully enjoy anyway because you'll feel rushed or on-edge the entire time.
Being able to reclaim your self-care moments on your own terms and in the comfort of your home? Worth it.
Beginning to feel like yourself again after being dragged through the postpartum period? Absolutely worth it.
No matter how big or small, what's something to make sure is a part of your "Me-Time" or self-care routine? Let us know in the Comments section below or connect with us on Instagram to share your thoughts!
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