Beauty Tools & Accessories
Buy and sell beauty tools and accessories in Costa Rica.
Most beauty tools that come up second-hand still work. A barber in a neighbourhood barbershop moves to a cordless clipper and passes on the corded one; a nail kit turns up when someone stops seeing clients at home. Clippers and shavers are judged by the blade and the battery, a nail lamp or drill by how it stood up to regular use, and make-up brushes by how clean they are. New and pre-owned sit side by side, from a trimmer still in its box to an epilator used a couple of times. Hair dryers and straighteners have their own space under hair styling tools.
Clippers, trimmers and foil shavers:
three tools that look alike in a photo and do different jobs. A clipper takes hair down in bulk over a guard, and the barber models from Wahl and Andis carry a lever that closes the blade for fades. A trimmer is the narrow one for necklines and beards, with a finer blade that runs closer. A shaver, foil or rotary, from Philips, Braun or Remington, finishes at the skin and is the only one of the three that replaces a razor. OneBlade-style hybrids from Philips sit between trimmer and shaver, on a clip-on blade you replace when it dulls. Corded or cordless settles most of the choice. A corded clipper never runs flat and suits someone cutting heads all day; cordless frees the hand for fades and is what most barbers end up moving to. Check that the guards and charging base come with it; a clipper without its guards only suits someone who already has a set.
Nail lamps, nail drills and make-up brushes:
a home nail setup comes down to a lamp and an electric file. An LED-only lamp cures faster but only sets gels sold as LED-compatible, while a dual UV/LED lamp takes both kinds. A timer, an auto sensor and a removable base for pedicures mark a salon lamp. An electric nail drill should run smoothly at speed with no wobble or buzz in the handpiece, and come with its bits. Brushes and sponges are the one thing here better bought new or sealed, and the products they go with are in cosmetics and make-up. Dryers, straighteners and curling tongs live in hair styling tools.
Corded and cordless clippers in colones:
a corded professional clipper starts around ₡35,000 new, and the cordless barber models run past ₡100,000. The battery in a cordless Wahl sits sealed inside and is not meant to be swapped at home, so a cordless clipper that no longer lasts through a few cuts should be priced as the corded clipper it has become: it still runs on its cable. At the cheap end, a basic UV/LED nail lamp costs under ₡10,000 new, which is why only the larger salon lamps and the drills are worth reselling.
Blades, foils and flash lamps on a used tool:
ask to see it cutting, not just switched on. A clipper blade should run quiet and stay cool; rattling or a blade that heats fast means it needs oil, alignment or replacing. On a barber clipper, close the lever all the way and look along the edge. On the copies that circulate, the top blade sticks out past the bottom one and nicks skin, and the blade screws sit raised instead of flush. Blurred box printing and an off-brand charger are the other giveaways. On a foil shaver, a dented or thinned foil pulls hair instead of cutting it. Foils and heads are sold as spares, so a sound body with a worn head is a fair buy if the price leaves room for a new one. A home IPL device has a lamp rated for a set number of flashes, and on most home units it cannot be replaced, so ask how long and how often it was used. Anything with a blade or head that has been on someone else’s skin wants a proper clean, or better, a new blade or head.
A barber’s spare clipper or a home nail kit:
photograph the blade edge close up with the lever shut, plus the guards and charger. Say whether the battery still lasts through a cut and whether it was used on paying clients or only at home, because a buyer coming from Liberia or Turrialba will ask before setting off. For a nail lamp, show it lit with the timer working; for a drill, list the bits and film it running for a few seconds. Have a clipper charged when they arrive: anyone collecting one will want to hear it run and feel how warm the blade gets.