Illustration: Dana Davis / Photo: Maxine Builder

At first, deputy editorial director Maxine Builder was scared of this $300 hair-removal device. “Zapping” your own skin at home admittedly sounds like a recipe for disaster. But the potential reward of long-lasting hair reduction and smooth skin was simply too tempting for Maxine, who was shelling out $95 every six weeks for waxes that didn’t last.

So she took a deep breath, exhaled, and zapped, zapped, zapped.

Her verdict? Totally worth it. “I haven’t been plagued with a single razor bump in over 12 months,” she writes. “I’ve also saved, by my rough girl math, about $800 in bikini waxes, and I’ve avoided the pain of physically ripping out my body hair.”

An at-home laser hair-removal device we love→

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For good, old-fashioned shaving These are the best body razors→

Our favorite tweezers We’ve recommended this super sharp pair for more than a decade→

The best easy-grip nail clippers Anyone who finds it difficult to use traditional nail clippers may like these lever-style and electric options instead→

Photo: Michael Hession

Having a good bath mat is actually pretty important: It prevents you from slipping in the bathroom, dries your feet, and, ideally, ties your whole bathroom aesthetic together.

In pursuit of the best bath mats, we singled out 21 of the most promising options. And then we took many, many showers. We came away with seven favorites, including an absolutely no-budge option and a luxurious, quick-drying one.

A treat for your feet→

Illustration: Dana Davis; Photo: Aquasana

This under-sink system removes all kinds of gunk and harmful chemicals from drinking water. It comes with some of the best certifications, a high flow rate, a robust filter capacity, and a prefilter to help with rusty sediment.

Plus? It makes water taste great. As editorial director Christine Cyr Clisset puts it: “When it hits the back of my tongue, I want more. Even water from the filtered pitcher my family used to use rarely tasted as good.”

We love it—and it’s on sale→

And for your medicine cabinet: US households can again order four free Covid tests. Here’s our full guide to at-home tests.

You can reach the Wirecutter Newsletters team at newsletters@wirecutter.com. We can’t always respond, but we do love to hear from you.

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