Five things I wish I’d known before I bought an IPL
My IPL hair removal machine has been a game-changing investment, but don’t go into the treatment blind
Whether you shave, wax or epilate, hair removal is a never-ending battle – unless you invest in an at-home IPL machine, that is. This permanent hair removal treatment can give you smooth, hair-free skin, with no razor burn, ingrown hairs or stubble regrowth if you do the treatment correctly.
IPL – intense pulsed light – is a method of hair removal that uses high-intensity flashes of light to damage hair follicles at the root. Over time, this damage prevents the hairs from re-growing, leaving you with smooth skin for six to 12 months, depending on how stubborn your hair is.
I have been reviewing IPL machines for Expert Reviews since 2022, but I actually bought my first IPL machine in 2016 having struggled with PCOS and hirsutism since I was a teenager. I chose the entry-level Philips Lumea Advanced, and while my teenage self wasn’t self-disciplined enough to keep up with full-body treatments, IPL proved to be a godsend in reducing the hair on my face.
Now, having tested seven more IPL machines in various parts of my body, I’ve got a pretty solid grasp of how best to master the treatment, which features you need to look for when buying an IPL machine, and other tips and tricks you need to know before you make the investment.
Five things I wish I knew before buying an IPL machine
1. You will need to shave before each treatment
You may think that shaving would be a thing of the past after buying an IPL. Sadly, that is not the case for the initial stages of treatment. For the treatment to work properly, you’ll have to shave immediately before starting – ideally within a four-hour window.
That’s because shaved skin gives the light flashes closer access to the hair follicle, thereby allowing the follicle to absorb more light energy and be prevented from re-growing over time.
Speaking from my own unfortunate experience, any hairs you miss and then flash with an IPL will shrivel up and get baked onto the treatment window. This not only prevents the treatment from working effectively but also damages your device.
Thankfully, once the initial eight to 12 week treatment phase is complete, and you’re happily hair-free, you should only need to whip out a razor if you notice any pesky patches of re-growth.
2. Patience and commitment are key
No, you haven’t accidentally started reading a relationship advice column. IPL is a treatment that can take between eight and 16 weeks to see results, depending on which device you use. That means you can’t just start treatment the week before a holiday and expect to stay hair-free straight away. To get the best results out of IPL, you’ll need advanced planning and diligent treatment tracking.
This is because body hair grows in cycles, with a four-week growth phase followed by a few weeks of rest. This varies from person to person, but since the cycle lasts various weeks, you’ll need to complete multiple treatments over that time to ensure every hair gets zapped and won’t re-grow.
Some IPL devices, such the Smoothskin Pure Fit, require weekly treatments for the first few weeks, whereas the Philips Lumea IPL devices are only safe to use every two weeks. Top-up treatments are recommended in most cases every three to six months after the initial treatment phase.
Unless you keep a detailed diary, all these treatments can be tricky to track over that length of time. Thankfully, the Philips Lumea app allowed me to track my treatments and sent me handy reminders when it was time to do a treatment. Not all IPL devices come with apps, and they aren’t necessary if you’re good with a diary, but if you’re as forgetful as I am then it’s something you’ll want to consider.
3. Flash rate matters more than you think
You’ll need to forgive me for using jargon here. Flash rate is the time the IPL takes between each flash. In my tests, this has varied wildly between different IPL machines.
The Smoothskin Pure Fit is the fastest I’ve tested, and flashes every 0.86 seconds. Compare this to the Philips Lumea Advanced, which flashes every 3.5 seconds, and you can see how much more time-consuming the same treatment would be with a slower flash-rate. In fact, the Smoothskin treated my whole leg in just nine minutes, while the Lumea Advanced took a whopping 27 minutes. It’s no wonder my teenage self didn’t fancy treating her whole body with that device.
So, if you’re going for treatment time alone, I’d recommend investing in the Smoothskin Pure Fit. Luckily, it’s currently available for a bargain price of £179 in the Amazon Prime Day sale. Just be aware that the Smoothskin is the most uncomfortable IPL I’ve used – while it’s nowhere near as painful as epilating or waxing, those with really low pain tolerances might want to choose a gentler option from our roundup of the best IPL machines.
4. The treatment isn’t suitable for everyone
Sadly, IPL won’t be effective and safe for everyone. As a general rule, if you have light blonde, grey or white hairs, the treatment simply won’t work. Furthermore, the treatment is not safe for those with dark skin tones.
Explaining this requires a little physics lesson. Hairs are damaged by IPL machines because they absorb the high-frequency light that they emit. Since darker colours absorb more light than lighter colours, darker hairs are damaged more than light hairs – the follicles won’t absorb enough light energy to be damaged, so the hairs will continue to grow.
For the same reason, the treatment isn’t safe for people who have very dark skin. That is because the light from IPL flashes will be absorbed by the dark melanin pigment in the skin, instead of the hairs. Rather than the treatment being ineffective, IPL can cause skin irritation, hyperpigmentation and even burns on dark skin.
If you’re concerned about your skin being burned, all our IPL recommendations have built-in safety sensors that will prevent the devices from flashing if your skin is too dark. Thankfully, before you invest in an IPL, most have a handy skin and hair colour suitability chart you can reference online. Furthermore, most IPLs have a generous returns window in which you can receive a refund if the treatment isn’t working for you.
5. It’s worth investing in a model that has all the attachments
Some IPL machines come with no attachments at all, which can make it difficult to access and treat the hairs in smaller areas of the body like the armpits and bikini line. You may also be able to save some cash on a Philips Lumea device that has fewer attachments.
I would advise against this, as you can’t buy new IPL attachments separately. Even if you might not think you’ll use the attachments that come with an IPL device, it’s worth investing in a pricier device that comes with every attachment.
Just in case you one day decide to treat your bikini line or face – it’s worth having all the bells and whistles. That’s why I’d currently point most people towards the Philips Lumea Prestige (8000). Not only does it come with all the attachments, but it also has six different intensity levels and app-based guidance and tracking to make treatment painless and simple for beginners.
Better still, Amazon Prime members can also snag a tasty discount on the Philips Lumea Prestige in the Prime Day sale. The device has an average price of £432, but is currently available for £350. That’s a cracking discount that will only last until the Big Deal Day sale ends at midnight on 9 October.
