It was only after I unboxed Braun’s at-home hair removal device — and showered and shaved and started mentally preparing to blast a strong, laser-like light along my bikini line — that I found myself wondering if I had lost my mind.I had learned about Braun’s Silk-Expert Pro 5 on TikTok, and in my defense, the woman talking about it seemed trustworthy. She was a Los Angeles–based Pilates instructor, after all, and I had fallen down a rabbit hole watching her series about things that her private clients recommended to her. And if there’s one thing I trust rich people in LA who do a lot of Reformer Pilates to recommend, it’s effective beauty treatments. The Pilates instructor also said it works “really well.”In hindsight, this was embarrassingly little research for me to have done before spending well over $300 on a gadget that would semi-permanently stop my body hair from regrowing.