Beauty & Personal Care

Eight at-home IPL devices ranked by published session time, energy levels and flash rate, with every price taken from the maker’s own store.

Eight detangling brushes ranked by the hair type each brush is built for, with teeth patterns and prices taken from the maker’s own store.

Eight smart scales compared on what the maker’s own store commits to: the metric class, the app line, the electrode count, and the price.

Eight thermal sock packs compared on what the maker’s own store commits to: the pack counts, the cold-weather wording, the sock height class, and the price.

Eight lumbar support pads, seat cushions and foot rests compared on what the maker’s own store commits to: the foam class, the pad shape, the pairing set, and the price.

Eight reusable ice-pack bodies and gel packs compared on what the maker’s own store commits to: the pack design, the strap line, the brace pairing class, and the price.

Eight ankle braces compared on what the maker’s own store commits to: the strap design, the lace class, the compression wrap design, and the price.

Eight water flossers compared on what the maker’s own page commits to: the pressure range, the tank, the tips, and the price.

Fine hair does not need more heat, it needs less of it applied more evenly, which is the whole argument for a wide barrel at a low temperature. The tools worth buying for this hair type are the ones that hold a set temperature you can actually change, and the ones whose barrel diameter is larger than the section of hair you wrap.

Razor burn on a sensitive face is usually a technique problem rather than a quality problem, and the three things that reduce it are pressure, warmth and passes. The shavers that handle sensitive skin best let you set the cutting distance yourself, run cool against the skin, and get a pass in without a second tug.

An epilator pulls hairs from the root, which is the whole trade-off: less shaving, more sting. Comparing the top-selling models, here is the honest shortlist – including the ones we would not wish on a first-time user.

A great clipper is the difference between a home fade and a hat. The machines that do not snag, do not overheat and hold their blade sharpness for home-duty cuts.