Philips lumea - should I buy one?

[ClickyJoints]

I hate shaving my legs, hate waxing, hate epillating. Will this magic my hair away? There are a couple of black Friday offers on and I'm dithering as it still seems so expensive

Yes! As long as you are the right skin/hair colouring. It has been life changing for me.

Yes. I bought a similar one (different brand because it was on offer) last summer. Also changed my life. Dark thick hair, fair skin.

Dark hair, fair skin = buy one.

If you start using it now by summer you will have very little hair.

I have been disappointed with mine. I've got the ideal colouring but have found only about a 40-50% reduction in hair growth on my legs. I stuck with it for many months despite getting a red itchy rash after each treatment. Perhaps i was just unlucky and have sensitive skin, as most people rave about it. I've gone back to waxing - less frequently than i needed to before - and zap my legs in between

I have the right colouring and it worked fabulously for me. I now have no hair growth, as long as I use it once every 2 months or so.

It worked for me, I wasn't sure if it would as it didn't for my mum - she's darker than me though.

I do find it takes me ages to do each leg and I'm not great at knowing if I zapped every inch of them. However it has worked well on the areas I've definitely zapped!

Yes

Yes! It's life changing.

I'm debating the same OP, but these replies have mostly filled me with confidence! Would you mind sharing where you've seen these on offer please? I couldn't find any in the BF sales x

Argh, random 'x' - sorry people of mumsnet

Thanks, I've decided to drop hints tell dh it's what I want for christmas so hopefully it will be mine. @littlecakes There was an offer on Amazon black Friday and also directly through the Philips website (I think it was 50 or 60% off)

Thank you - ordered! John Lewis seemed to be the best price out there

I'm late to this party but it has defo worked for me.

Does it hurt?

Really wonderful purchase. I’ve not had to zap under my arms for over a month since the initial treatment and none of that 5o’clock shadow there either. Legs do only when needed. Life changing, but it.

Buy it

I’m dithering too.

How do you know which bits you have zapped in a session? What happens if you zap the same place twice?

And finally. I have an ingrown hair problem. Any idea how it deals with these?

I'm curious as to the responses, does it not work on fair hair? I'm am pale and blonde but have a lot of hair and hate shaving, epilating and even sensitive to sensitive hair removal creams.

I think it's great if you are willing to accept slow results. I normally shave. I have unwanted hair pretty much everywhere but it's most obtrusive on my face, and I used to need to shave my chin, cheeks and jawstrap twice a day. After a few months, that's down to once a day with smaller areas. I've had patches disappear completely (lower lip, feet) and it's better everywhere (moustache, big toes, legs, bikini line, stomach, underarms). I really hardly have growth on my legs much at all.

Waxing is the main culprit for ingrowing hairs, for me. I didn't get any with the lumea. I kind of missed them (sporner)
I don't think it works on fair hair. There has to be a high contrast between hair colour and skin tone for best results.
Some people use a white eyeliner to mark where they've started. i used a mole on my knee as a landmark! You're not supposed to repeatedly zap the same area in case of burns
I would say if you have sensitive skin, see if you can have a trial run before forking out.

I started on level 1 and am gradually increasing, now on level 4 of 5. It only hurts if I haven't shaved closely enough beforehand. No ingrowing hairs for me. Some rash but I think it's shaving rash so it's slowly reducing.

Venividi it only works well if your hair colour is significantly darker than your skin colour.

The laser works because darker colours absorb the light more and so the laser light zaps anything dark. If your hair and skin shades are too similar, then the laser strength that damages the hair shaft can also damage your skin. If you have very dark skin then you should avoid using it at all.

So dark hair and pale skin is the ideal combo. Apparently lasering is v popular in the Middle East because so many people have black hair and fair to olive complexions.