Philips Lumea: do i really need to shave first?

[whimsicalname]

That's it really. I just shelled out on one to deal with my full on beard, and am a bit concerned about the instructions to shave. Really? Even my neck?

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Yep... whatever hair is left when treated, gets zapped and effectively burnt. So it burns the hair, which hurts and it smells vile. The intention is that it is getting the not-yet-grown hair in the shaft to inhibit the growth (or some such technical stuff).

I am afraid so, yes. It is so that the ray can penetrate into the skin. I do have to say that I got one free to test and it didn't work. I am now using the epistick as suggested on here.