I didn’t know where to start. I had so many questions!
I spent ages learning about laser hair removal at home. I wanted to know “does it work?” and “is it permanent?” Once I’d absorbed all the important facts about laser hair removal I then spent even more time researching and comparing all the IPL hair removal machines.
It took days. I read user manuals, all their warnings, dos and don’ts, to triple-check each device was safe for me to use. I found lots of helpful and very important information, sometimes in small print and website FAQs where it’s easily overlooked. I poured over online reviews until my head hurt!
And now to help you I’ve pulled it altogether in this easy-to-follow guide and list of best home laser hair removal machines. It will save your time.
In this best home laser hair removal guide…
Is at home laser hair removal right for you?
Start with this guide to see if home IPL is safe and right for you. It’s organised into 6 helpful questions to check your suitability and to help narrow down your choices from the many available and similar devices. Make the right decision: don’t buy anything before you’ve read this guide.
Jump to the questions >>
Wearebodybeautiful.com recommended machines
My best buy home laser hair removal machines roundup is here. Which is best for getting your full body fuzz-free, just small areas, or your face? Which is best for dark and black skin, for fair hair. Which is best for busy mums, which is the best gift for a loved one? This isn’t just a list of the choices available on Amazon – this is a genuine round-up of the best.
Jump to best buy roundup >>
All scores leaderboard and suitable skin tones for each machine
The third part lists all the at home IPL hair removal machines reviewed on this site listed by rating out of 5. The table shows which skin tones are safe and suitable and what type of treatments I recommend each is best for.
Jump to the leaderboard >>
Is at home laser hair removal right for you?
Answer these questions to be sure at home laser hair removal is right for you. They’ll also help you to shortlist the many available devices to those that best meet your specific needs.
1. What hair colour do you have?
The darker your hair colour the better. Dark blonde through to black hair has dark melanin pigment that’s required the light energy to target it, heat it and disable the follicle. If your natural hair colour is in this range, you can pick from all home IPL hair removal devices.
If you have fair hair (light blonde, red, white or grey), you lack the melanin that conducts the intense light to heat up and disable the hair root. Most devices won’t work for you. But a special technology does works on light hair and is available in a few devices.
Note down your colour and let’s carry on to see which skin tone type you have.
2. What skin tone type do you have?
Because of how laser and IPL hair removal works, it’s suitable and safe to use on lighter skin types. This is because the light energy heats-up dark pigment in the hair follicle and leaves the light colour skin unharmed.
There’s much more dark pigment in darker skin, so the light energy heats the skin too. This causes pain and damage. There’s a very high risk of developing skin reactions, such as temporary or permanent skin darkening or lightening, strong redness, burns and blisters.
We use the Fitzpatrick skin tone scale to confirm the skin tone types that can safely use IPL and laser hair removal at home.
There are 6 skin tone types, measured from type I to VI. Type I is the lightest and type VI the darkest. Some device manufacturers recommend a maximum energy intensity level for your skin type too.
Use the chart and the information below to see what skin tone type you are:
- Type I: Light, pale white skin that always burns in the sun and never tans
- Type II: White, fair skin that usually burns in the sun and tans with difficulty
- Type III: Medium white to olive skin that sometimes burns mildly in the sun and gradually tans
- Type IV: Olive, mid-brown skin that rarely burns in the sun and tans with ease to a moderate brown
- Type V: Brown, dark brown skin that very rarely burns in the sun and tans very easily
- Type VI: Very dark brown to black skin that never burns in the sun and tans very easily
If you have dark brown or black skin, skin tone type VI, just a few home IPL hair removal options are available. They are safe because they use special technology. Check out my best home laser hair removal recommended for dark and black skin >>
If your skin is dark up to skin tone type V, you have a couple of options that are safe to use at home. But you may be better off with the recommendation for skin type VI as it’s likely to give quicker results and much less discomfort.
If you have lighter skin tone types I to IV you can choose from all laser and IPL home hair removal devices. Keep reading to learn more.
Note down your skin tone type and let’s move on to check if there are any health or medical reasons you can’t use a device.
3. Do any of these apply to you?
You could be unsuitable for laser and IPL hair removal at home for a bunch of health and medical reasons. You’ll find warnings and contraindications listed in the user manuals. Don’t buy a machine until you’ve read them.
So what type of things are we talking about?
There are things that could injure your skin or make existing skin conditions worse. Things like aesthetic skin treatments and peels, medicines, skin conditions and diseases.
Some medications and diseases also make you more sensitive to light. IPL and laser hair removal treatments, combined with this photosensitivity, create a high risk of side effects. Possible side effects are burns, blisters, temporary and permanent skin darkening (hyperpigmentation), skin lightening (hypopigmentation), or scarring.
Other common conditions make you unsuitable too. Pregnancy and implants are examples where we need more tests and trials to prove it’s safe to use the home-use devices. Manufacturers therefore responsibly add these conditions to the list of warnings.
This collated list of reasons you may be unsuitable to do IPL and laser hair removal at home comes from various brand user manuals. Read through it and double check none applies to you. And please remember, this isn’t a substitute for doing your own specific research before you buy. You must read the user manuals for each device, and consult your doctor if you’re unsure about anything.
The brand manuals present this information in very different ways. Some use catchall general statements and some use very specific examples. Even if none applies to you, the lists can feel overwhelming and make the devices seem unsafe. But see it for what it really is – they are there to protect you. It’s very important to thoroughly check your suitability against these lists.
For your convenience, below are links to the most popular device PDF user manuals that you can check through (correct as of 6th June 2016).
If none of the reasons apply to you, move onto to learn more about home IPL and laser hair removal and tanning.
4. Do you tan regularly?
Do you like to tan regularly, sunbathing by natural sunlight, artificial light or fake tanning lotions?
Is it likely you’ll tan during the first few months of your IPL at home treatment regimen?
These are often overlooked but important questions to ask if you are thinking about laser hair removal at home. If you answer yes, this is very important: IPL / laser hair removal and tanning don’t mix for two big reasons.
- Safety: The combination increases your risk of skin reactions
- Effect: Tanning darkens your skin so you’ll need to user a lower power intensity level. The higher levels are most effective.
To protect your skin and make sure you’re safe using your laser hair removal at home, the device manufacturers provide warnings and guidelines around fake tanning, sun bathing and sun exposure.
So what are the guidelines?
Before your treatments
The manufacturers advise different guidelines for how long you must avoid the sun before your treatments. These vary from a cautious 4 weeks, a more manageable 7 days and a short 48 hours. Perform a new patch test to check your skin sensitivity once you’ve waited the guideline time after tanning.
Here’s why: Whether you tan easily or slowly, natural and artificial sunlight increases the melanin in everyone’s skin. If you use IPL after sunbathing or sun exposure you’ve got a high risk of reactions and damage to your skin such as burns, blisters and temporary and permanent skin darkening (hyperpigmentation) or lightening (hypopigmentation) or scarring.
After your treatments
Post-treatment sun exposure manufacturer guidelines vary too. The most cautious advises to avoid the sun altogether for 2 weeks after your treatments. Another recommends at least 7 days. And just one suggests 48 hours, then use a minimum SPF 30+ in the sun for 2 weeks after your treatment.
Here’s why: laser and IPL makes your skin extra sensitive so it’s at more risk than usual from sunburn after your treatments.
Tanning with creams
Wait for the artificial tan to disappear completely before treating your skin with IPL.
Should you avoid tanning altogether?
Yes. The majority of guidelines mean it’s safer and more effective to complete the full treatment regimen before you start working on your tan.
Complete your treatments in Autumn or Winter months, or if you can’t avoid the sun cover up and use SPF sun lotions. It’s best to stop using fake tan lotions too.
Once you’ve completed your treatment regimen, it’s easier to plan occasional top-up treatments safely around sun exposure and tanning.
To sum up, without a natural or artificial tan:
- You can use the highest energy intensity level suitable for your skin type, and so get best results
- You don’t increase the
- You don’t increase the risk of post-treatment skin reactions
- You get the best results from your treatment regimen
For some people working to these guidelines is impractical or the need to tan outweighs the need to treat their hairy areas! You must decide if laser hair removal at home is right for you and so avoid buying a device that gathers dust in the bottom of a draw.
If that’s all good, let’s now see which body areas you want to treat.
5. Where do you want to be hair free?
Perhaps you crave silky smooth skin in one or two body areas, or your face, or maybe you want a fuzz-free full body!
The first thing to check for is where you can use the device.
Some home IPL machines are suitable for body only treatments, from the neck down. Others are safe for facial treatments too. These either have a special filter integrated in the flash window or a specialist facial attachment. The most recent machines are suitable for both body and face treatments.
- The most common treatment areas for men are neck, shoulders, back, chest and torso.
- The most common treatment areas for women are upper lip, chin, sideburns, armpits, forearms, tummy, bikini line, legs, feet and toes.
- At home IPL and laser hair removal is not suitable for use on men’s beards. Using it there can leave unintended bald patches, have little effect after prolonged use and can cause adverse and unsightly reactions.
There are a few things to look for in a machine depending on where you’ll use the IPL hair removal device.
Small areas
If you’re treating small areas like underarms, bikini line, tummy and forearms, a small precision treatment window helps to cover these uneven surfaces. 2 cm² is a good size. You want a good number of flashes, but you won’t need hundreds of thousands of flashes as you’ll use relatively few compared to full body treatments. You won’t notice the treatment times as much either, as it takes just minutes to cover these small areas with flashes.
Large areas
For areas like your back, torso and full legs you’ll need a device with lots of flashes that gives you the most treatments for your money so it’ll last for ages. And it must have fast treatment times too.
Facial use
A must-have is a small treatment window, safe for facial use, that you can position with precision. A good size for this is around 2 cm². This allows you to place it accurately and get full contact on small tricky areas like your upper lip.
Women can treat their upper lip, sideburns, cheeks (below the cheek bone), chin and neck, but never use it near your eyes.
Facial use is not recommended for men. There’d be limited results on your beard because of the thickness, density and depth of male beard hair. There’s also a risk of adverse reactions – not a good look on your face.
Full body and face treatments
For this, you’ll need a machine that has it all. Packed with features it must have a small facial attachment, a precision attachment for small, tricky and uneven areas, several years’ worth of full body treatments, fast treatment times and an ergonomic design that’s comfortable to use.
Now you know which areas of your body you’ll treat with your IPL device, let’s look at the cost of the machines.
6. What’s your budget?
IPL and laser hair removal kits range in price. Those available in the UK range from around £150 up to £500. In the US they range from around $100 up to $700.
Let’s dig into why there is such a large overall price range.
Why is there such a large price range?
There were just a few IPL / laser hair removal home-use machines available over 5 years ago. And they cost a premium price. Today the premium brand prices haven’t dropped that much, but the specs and performance of the machines has vastly improved.
And now there are more affordable options too. Established and new brands have released basic, lower-cost machines. But it’s not always obvious what more, or less cash, gets you.
Here are a few things that account for a high or low price:
Number of flashes
A higher number of flashes provide loads more treatments. This usually means a higher price tag.
The first home use IPL machines had a tiny number of flashes. Some gave just 1,000 flashes from each expensive replacement bulb. Brands quickly realised they could keep prices high and out match their competition by increasing the number of flashes. They gradually started to rise.
Devices with tens of thousands built-in flashes followed, still accompanied by the expensive replacement cartridges. Next, excellent value devices gave 100,000 flashes. Now in the past year, you can buy models from Philips, Smoothskin and Silk’n with a humongous 200,000 to 400,000 flashes. These promise several years of use.
Premium features
You’ll pay more for a device that offers a unique and desirable benefit, usually from £££ to ££££ range.
Most brand machines have identical features and benefits. But a few do stand out from the crowd. These ones have desirable features that cost more cash. For example:
- The latest Philips Lumea BRI956 operates both cordless and mains-powered, has curved treatment windows to fit the contours of your body and a reassuring skin tone sensor that advises the best intensity level for your skin.
- The Smoothskin Gold and Braun IPL have fast treatment times and a hassle-free skin tone sensor that chooses the intensity level for you.
- And the Iluminage Touch and Precise Touch is safe for dark and black skin tones, and it’s the only device proven to work on light hair.
Basic design models
Basic models are cheaper to produce, lower priced and therefore more affordable.
Basic models in the £ to ££ range, are functional and straightforward, but they don’t compromise on safety or results. They are usually mains-powered, of a smaller design and they come without extra precision attachments. The number of flashes and their treatment times vary by device.
Older models
You can still buy models that were released a few years ago. Newer models have surpassed their spec and these old models have lowered their prices to look more attractive, or shift the remaining stock.
Choose your price range
The machines on this site are categorised by their prices in £ GBP and $ USD. Most devices fall into the lower ranges, but unsurprisingly the most desirable and popular are in the higher ranges.
Each machine reviewed on Wearebodybeautiful.com is assigned on of the following price categories:
We try to find the cheapest deals and find retailers who offer additional perks such as superb customer service, money back guarantee periods and discount codes. But prices and availability vary by country and retailer, so shop around!
Make a note of your budget price range. Then move onto the next step and start your search for your perfect home laser hair removal system.
Now, shortlist the best devices for you
By now, you’ll know if you are suitable for home IPL hair removal treatments, and you’ll have answers to these questions.
- What hair colour do you have?
- What skin tone type do you have?
- Do any of these apply to you?
- Do you tan regularly?
- Where on your body do you want to be hair-free?
- What’s your budget?
Now you can create a shortlist of machines based on your answers. Check out the Wearebodybeautiful recommended best buy machines and scores leaderboard below.
Best buy roundup: Best home laser hair removal machines
If you’re short on time or just want a strong recommendation right now, try these.
Recommended for fast, safe and simple use
1. Philips Lumea Prestige BRI956, BRI953, BRI950
Do you want baby-smooth arms, underarms, chest, back, tummy, bum, bikini line, legs, feet and toes? And no more ladytache, chin or cheek whiskers please? Well, then you need a super-device that’s designed to do it all.
Ahem. “Hello new Philips Lumea Prestige BRI956. We’ve been expecting you.”
2. Braun Silk Expert IPL
If you hate faff, try this.
The Braun Silk expert IPL is simple and straightforward to use. It’s a fine choice if you want a simple plug-and-play machine to get the job done quickly. I recommend it for fast, safe and simple home IPL hair treatments.
3. Iluminage Touch & Iluminage Precise Touch
If you have dark or black skin (Fitzpatrick skin type V or VI), most home IPL hair removal systems aren’t safe for your skin. You have just a few choices.
Your best bet are the FDA cleared Iluminage Touch and the Iluminage Precise Touch. They win the Wearebodybeautiful.com award for best home IPL hair removal devices for dark and black skin.
4. Smoothskin Bare
All scores leaderboard and suitable skin tones
The table below shows the Wearebodybeautiful.com rating out of 5 for all the reviewed devices. Sort the data by clicking the headings, click the images or names to read the full review.
Check which are suitable for your skin tone against the Fitzpatrick scale.
And which match your budget:
| Device | Our score | Safe for | Safe skin types & hair colour | Especially suited to | Price GBP / USD |
|---|
* Clinical trials showed the devices to be effective on light hair (blonde and red) but white and grey hair were not included in the trial. If you have lighter body hair it will take longer than the recommended treatment regimen to achieve your optimum results.
Original article and pictures take https://www.wearebodybeautiful.com/best-home-laser-hair-removal-guide-reviews/#questions site
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