So I've just bought a Philips Lumea

[Iwasbornin1993]

The SC2006/11 model.

Bit of an impulse buy after spending what seemed like an age shaving to get nice smooth legs! And failing miserably.

Does anyone else have one? Will it really "change my life" as a few people on the Amazon reviews suggested? Or will I just end up regretting the £300+ it has just cost me

If you have one what have been your pros and cons of using it?

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Looking for advice before buying an at-home IPL device? You’ve come to the right place. Check out our guide to buying and using a Philips Lumea - complete with FAQS, tips, and recommendations from the most discerning shoppers out there: Mumsnetters. MNHQ.

It takes a few weeks to see any reslts and a couple of months to see good results.

You shave as usual then flash the device every two weeks. It takes 7-10 days for the hairs that are destroyed to drop out and you get regrowth as usual. I was really dissapointed at the initial regrowth and that five weeks in things were only a bit better. But a couple of weeks after the third use it was visably much better.

Six months on my armpits are smooth, my legs need a weekly very light shave maybe 10% of hair remans (but i haven't been diligent in flashing monthly).

It gets faster too. You learn how to hold the button down and get the angles right.

Yes it's amazing!
Takes a few weeks to notice the difference, but when you do you'll love it!

It's amazing BUT you need to stick to it and follow the instructions (only shave, no waxing or epilating cream). It took 2-3 months for me to see results. Almost gave up. Nowadays I'm hair free, I almost never shave, and I go 4-6 weeks between using the Lumea.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like it'll be worth it then as long as I remember to do it!

If I'm hair-free in time for my honeymoon next year then I'll be happy!

Can I ask where you bought it from? I am thinking of buying one and don't where has the best offers on at the moment.

From Amazon! £313 it was but I've just checked now and it's actually gone down to £299 which is typical

That's the cheapest I could find but it may well be less elsewhere - I'm not known for my bargain hunting unfortunately!

I'm considering this purchase. Can I ask those in the know whether this is equally good for facial hair?

I've done my lip and a bit on my jaw line. It worked well. You have to shave first (spent a good ten minutes staring at my reflection building the confidence) and i was really scared about stubbly regrowth but that didn't happen.

If you read too much online you come across horror stories of burns and its worth doing a one off use in a not too visible spot and leaving 24hrs to see if you have any reaction before trying on your face. I did my thigh at each of the five levels of intensity and it was not uncomfortable at 5 so thats what i use.

I bought one recently for my DD from Boots. It was £250, but it might have been on a special offer. And there's more than one model too!

Fishwives - from my (quick) research last night it appears that only some model numbers are suitable for use on the face!

The SC2006/11 which I've bought is, but I did see a few cheaper ones that said not to use facially. The newest model (I think) is the SC2008/11 which can be used all over but I couldn't find this any cheaper than £450 which is why I went for the slightly older choice!

Thanks, OP - will do my research on face-suitable models. Good thought about doing a discreet patch test first, MisFor. Can I ask how long it took you to see jawline results? That's my Hirsute Area...

Can you use it on the bikini line? and what about if theoretically someone had hairs on their bum cheeks, would this work?

My jawline results were about five weeks. I did it twice with two weeks between and then about once every six weeks since. This may sound a little crazy but i didn't want a completely hair free jaw because i thought it might make my face look hairy and leave almost a shave line so i went for a significant reduction look.

It is suitable for bikini line and has worked on some rogue hairs of mine in other areas and this is where I saw results fastest. At certain times of the month I find i'm not so tolerant of the flash and where i usually use it on five with no real sensation, there was one ocassion when three had a slightly uncomfortable sensation in bikini area till I twigged why.

But i will emphasise as others have said it takes time and durring this process its easy to loose faith in if its working.

I'll echo everyone else and say it's fantastic but I did have to wait for results and it did feel a bit disheartening after several weeks and no really noticable results. Then suddenly, bam! Fastest results for me were definitely bikini line and underarms which were obvious after three sessions, but I started with the legs and they felt like they took forever.

Bikini leg and armpits got really good results. Legs are still patchy, but the hair is lighter there for me. I never shaved my tache or chin but it's still worked reasonably well there, too.

Which model would people recommend? Would like to be able to use on my face and absolute budget is £300.

It's arrived... And the instructions are all in French! Let's see how far my GCSE French gets me when I try it out tonight

If you go to the Phillips site, there are pdfs of all the instruction manuals (in English!)

Ahh thanks, will give it a browse!