Does anyone have a home IPL machine?

[worldgonecrazy]

I keep looking at these and pondering how light can get rid of hair, and whether it works like laser and will stop the hair growing back as quickly?

Any mumsnetters have one and do they work?

[DunkyWhorey]

Yes! I have one.

I have the new Philips Lumea presicsion one. Its not el-cheapo, but it definitely works, I am delighted with the results.

You shave your legs, use it over your legs (flash the light about in a systematic way, covering the whole area - it doesn't hurt) and you do this every 2 weeks for about 6-8 weeks, so about 4 treatments. I've done my 4th treatment, in fact I did it before a holiday about 3 weeks ago and my legs are completely hair free still. The idea is you keep doing it every 2 weeks for about 3 months (so I should do another treatment or two really) and then you only do it once every 3 months or so. The hairs don't grow back.

I've also done my underarm and more recently I've started to tidy up the old map of tasmania (biniki line) and that's going well too.

How does it work? In a nutshell the light is attracted to dark, so it is attracted to the hair root, which it basically burns and damages, which stops it growing back. The best candidates are light skinned people with darkish hair - Im not a mega dark haired person, but my leg hairs are light brown and its worked on them. Those celtic people with mega white skin and thick black hair would be the ideal candidate. People with olive skin can do it, but you can't be too dark or you will just burn and it won't do the hair. And if you are heavily tanned or tanned at all, its not recommended, also fake tan counts.

The reason you shave first is if you have long hairs it will burn them and stink and also be less effective - you want to target the hair shaft. But you can't epilate first because you need to have that hair root just under the skin for the light to zap.

I recommend it. Its not cheap but much less faff than salon stuff and pays for itself eventually if you want to be hair free.

[worldgonecrazy]

Thanks - that's an impressive review. I've got celtic colouring so probably an ideal person. I'll go check them out.

[DunkyWhorey]

Check out some Amazon reviews, there are hundreds, will give you a good idea. No ingrown hairs either!

[PorkyandBess]

I have got one, bloody marvellous.

[soupmaker]

I could do with one of these. I have a lot of facial hair (chin and cheeks) and a bikini line that is way out of control. I'm Scottish, so probably have the right colouring. How long before you notice the difference? Do you need to shave your face? I pluck at the moment but it's not ideal.

[scripsi]

I have PCOS and am celtic colouring too, so very hairy.
Does this actually stop hair growth permanently in the end? Also I was looking at IPL for rosacea - would this use the same frequency to get rid of redness?
Sorry for all the questions, I just got rather excited when I saw your post as it might help me with two problems making me feel miserable.

[savy57]

Does the Philips lumea have the 4 skin sencors? I've had the rio ipl and the remington ipl
The remington one I was too scared to use so got rid of it at the time so can't comment on how good it was but the Rio one I noticed results after 3 weeks but I found it extreamly difficult to work due to never being able to get all 4 skin sencors touching the skin, it was an absolute nightmare so I did return it but after seeing the results on the small bald patches i now have on my legs I so wish it was just easier to use

[savy57]

Should say I've been looking into the me my elos since its just a gliding motion instead of the skin sensors

[DunkyWhorey]

Phillips Lumea easy peasy, no problem about sensors.

Can use on face. Have used on red veins round nose, think they are fading...time will tell...will update...

Can use on facial hair. Yes, you have to shave it.

[Gravity1]

I read that any hair that is hormonally caused (if that makes sense!) doesnt respond as well, so not sure if its the answer for people with PCOS. Hasnt worked wonders on my face tbh, and suspect I may have PCOS (its in the family.) Annoying, isnt it?

[winedripplease]

I have the boots ipulse - very good, although quite £££. I used it once a week for around 4 weeks and got rid of my problem hair (some facial, some bikini, etc). stopped using for a few months due to not having time and did notice some regrowth but a few extra sessions got rid. well worth it. when I see all the ipl deals on groupon etc now, I can just laugh

[winedripplease]

ps. think there were hormonal causes for mine, and it worked

[IDontDoIroning]

I've had ipl and have bought the boots smooth skin machine. It's fairly easy to use. I don't have too many problems getting all 4 sensors on the skin to get it to work. Small niggles are that the head is quite small and it gets hot quickly so you have to let it cool down. As a result it can take quite a time to do a big area like your legs.

However I have found it very effective I'm fair with dark hair. I have almost no dark underarm hairs but I still shave occasionally as I noticed some fair fine hairs caught the light.

It's also considerably reduced my bikini line which went down the inside and backs of my thighs.

As far as I know ipl kills each hair it affects BUT IT only affect actively growing dark hairs. Which is only a very small percentage of hairs at any time as most have either finished growing and are sitting in the skin at rest or are dormant. So it takes quite a few treatments to get a noticable reduction as fresh untreated hairs sprout over the next few months. However i have found it is very good on underarms and bikini line.
There is a problem with facial hair as very fine vellus hairs can suddenly turn thick and black I believe this is an issue with hormonal conditions like pcs.. So it can appear not to work but in reality it is new untreated hairs that are growing.

I believe the hormonal effect of facial hair was the reason why the boots machine was not promoted for this. I have used mine myself and although I don't have pcs I am q hairy and now in my 40s so get the odd dark hair. I have found it good on coarse dark hairs but not do good on the finer dark hairs.

I bought this when they first came out and it predates the Phillips lumea. Also it l

[IDontDoIroning]

Sorry on phone pressed post too soon.....
It looks like IPL is getting cheaper but even so after a few sessions it would pay for itself against the cost of ipl.

[GenericNameChange]

I thought that IPL was considered a non permanent hair removal system? I'm v tempted to get one but it's the fact people say it's non permanent that puts me off.

[scripsi]

hmm, I would use this for the hairs on my face which have decided to become dark and coarse, so it might just work ... Would be interesting to know if it is the same kind of IPL that works on rosacea and redness ...

[savy57]

GenericNameChange ipl isnt permanent but how it works is you use it every second week until you get totally hair fre,e the hair then stays gone for months at a time so means you then only have to do a top up once every month or in some cases a lot less than this in order to stay hair free permanently

DunkyWhorey thanks good to know the lumea works better than the rio with the sensors im so gutted i had to take it back after seeing the results of my little bald patches but it really was impossible to get the thing to work think i managed about twenty flashing in the 3 weeks i had it and tried several times :(

[Dancergirl]

Hmm, I'm tempted to get one. I have pale skin and dark hair and want it mainly for my top lip/chin. Is it effective on these areas? And do I need to get the precision one? It's 450 pounds on Amazon but they have a much cheaper model.

[LinzerTorte]

Dancergirl Yes, if you want to use it on your upper lip and chin then you'd need to get the Precision model as it has a smaller head. I have the older model (the one reduced to 250 pounds on Amazon) which is fine for my legs, but I don't think you'd be able to get the larger head to make contact in all four corners if you use it on your face - and it won't work if you don't (you have to wait for a green light to come on before you can press the button).

[Caerlaverock]

The which review says it doesn't work, dam I am so tempted but it is a lot of money for a dud

[June2009]

Could someone tell me how your legs look in between sessions?
My hair typically starts growing back probably the next day after shaving so say:
I shaved on Monday, have a IPL session on the tuesday, will the hair just not grow (bar the ones I missed), how does it actually look? Nice and hair free or like a growing beard or??
I am a good candidate for it, I've been waxing for over 20 years now and the waiting between waxes is killing me during the summer. At the moment I'm plucking in between waxes so keep it longer, until there is just too much hair growing to keep up or not enough time to pluck, I am SO fed up with it.

The other thing is that I had a test patch done by a beautician on my leg and came out in a cold sore on my lips and I wonder if it's related since I hadn't had a cold sore in three years and the questionnaire i was given at the beginning specifically asks if you are prone to cold sores. The beautician when asked was very vague about it.

Thank you!

[savy57]

For me my hair leg grow exactly the same after using the ipl it wasn't Untill about 3 to 4 weeks before the hair fell out and never grew back, the instructions that came with it said the hair takes 1to3 weeks for the hair to fall put after treament

[bawabod]

I have had laser treatment in a clinic on my face I have PCOS the hair on my chin and my side burns has gone but I was informed that over the years I would have to have top ups as my condition is hormonal. I also have light asian colouring and 4-5 years ago there was not much on the market for home use.I do have top ups but would like to know has anyone used the ipl home- use lasers effectively on asian skin ?

[June2009]

So savy what did you do for these three weeks? Did you have to shave every few days? Did you re-use ipl?

[Staryeyed]

I have the Phillips one. I have really fast growing dark hair on pale skin. It works but not 100%. It does seem to slow growth and lighten hairs so it's manageable but I do still have to shave /epilate sometimes. It has worked best on bikini area which has had significant reduction 80% even though I stopped using it through winter time last year. My underarms also worked well about 90% reduction but effect has not lasted as long. Legs are reduced between 60-70% but I do still have growth and it need doing regularly even after several treatments. For me it has most definitely worthwhile because before treatment even waxing had a very short term effect (about a week)but now I can shave once a week maybe or epliate every so often. Don't buy it and expect to be hairless forever more.