The present invention relates to hair removal. In order to provide a hair- removal apparatus with improved user acceptance, a hair-removal apparatus (10) is provided that comprises a hair-removal device (12) with a movable hair-removal component (14) which comprises at least a first hair-contacting member (36) and a second hair-contacting member (36) which are movable relative to each other and which are configured and arranged to mutually co-operate for removing hairs by mutually exerting a contact force, a pressing component (40) configured and arranged to generate said contact force by exerting a pressing force (20) on the movable hair-removal component during operation, a skin proximity sensing component (16), and a force adjusting component (18). The skin proximity sensing component (16) is configured and arranged to detect a relative distance (22) between the movable hair-removal component (14) and a portion of the skin (24) with hairs to be removed. The force adjusting component (18) is configured and arranged to adjust, during operation, the pressing force (20) exerted by the pressing component (40) in dependence on the relative distance (22) detected by the skin proximity sensing component (16). The movable hair-removal component (14) has a functional mode wherein the contact force has a first value and a non-functional mode wherein the contact force has a second value smaller than the first value. The force adjusting component (18) is configured and arranged to adjust the pressing force (20) exerted by the pressing component (40) such that, when the relative distance (22) detected by the skin proximity sensing component (16) is a first relative distance (26), the movable hair-removal component (14) operates in the non-functional mode and, when the relative distance (22) detected by the skin proximity sensing component (16) is a second relative distance (28) smaller than the first relative distance (26), the movable hair-removal component (14) operates in the functional mode.