Yesterday I kicked off Body Hair Week here on the blog with a lengthy post on my experience of salon-based IPL treatments. Def have a read of that if you haven’t already for an intro to all things IPL.
Before I started salon based IPL treatments, I was slightly obsessed with the IPL devices that you could buy in Boots for use at home. Way back then there were two main players: Philips with their Lumea and iPulse with their Smooth Skin. I wrote about them extensively on my original WIWT blog and there are some reviews comparing the two devices as they were in 2011 (!!!) here.
Reading those ancient blog posts reminded me of all the things that frustrated me about those devices, but it was mainly how unspeakably boring and faffy the whole ‘IPL at home’ process was. You needed gel, you needed time (SO MUCH TIME) and the onus was on you to figure out if you were pale or tanned if you didn’t want to burn yourself. I had been impressed by the results, but found the time investment so ridiculous that I was quickly looking for professional alternatives.
Fast forward to now and the two main players in the home IPL market are still the Lumea and SmoothSkin, but where they once had fairly comparable devices, the latest release from SmoothSkin – the SmoothSkin Gold – blows all its competition out of the water. And, wonderfully, it has a fix for all the things that used to frustrate me with it before.
Gel? Gone. You don’t need to faff around with gel to use the SmoothSkin Gold. It’s designed to be used without any annoying skin prep at all. (Except shaving, obvs).
Hours and hours of zapping? Gone. There is now just *one second* between shots, where you used to have to wait for SIX SECONDS. (Six seconds doesn’t sound like a lot, but when a treatment window is 4cm and you are doing your entire leg it very quickly adds up). There isn’t a faster device on the market.
Self-assessment? Gone. You really can damage your skin with an IPL machine so they’re not LOLsome beauty gadgets to just lark about with. I never liked having to assess for myself how dark I was – especially in summer – because it seemed like such a subjective thing to be deciding. The SmoothSkin Gold detects your skintone and adjusts the output accordingly. You can’t get it wrong! And it can change its output with every flash so it’s perfect if you’ve got, say, tanned shins but pale thighs. (Like me).
These white dots indicate a lower output because the device can tell it’s flashing tanned skin.
Whereas my fat pale thigh can have a lot of light zapped into it. Yey!
Oh and none of these improvements have come at the expense of making it less powerful, it’s still the most powerful home device on the market at 95000 milliwatts compared to the Precision Plus Lumea’s 5700mw.
This handy guide compares the key features of some of the more popular IPL devices…
It’s clearly, at the moment, the best home device money can buy.
From a practical point of view I was pleased to see how much smaller (and snazzier!) it is now compared to its predecessor.
An older SmoothSkin on the left, looking all sad and irrelevant.
I received my SmoothSkin Gold at a press event last summer but never used it as I was in a waxing schedule pre-wedding and then post-honeymoon I didn’t want to zap my tan (I know, I know – world’s smallest violin!) but I’m definitely going to start using it properly on my legs to see if I can zap those final strays I was talking about yesterday. I have a course of underarm and bikini waxing all paid for so until I finish those up I won’t try it anywhere else, but this device can be used everywhere (even the face) so it seems like a pretty good investment.
Pain-wise, I used it today and it does have a bit of a kick to it, but I like that as it makes me feel like it’s a decent powerful device. It feels the same as my salon machine felt which is reassuring. (I appreciate it won’t actually be as strong as a salon device).
Awesomely for IPL newbies or those with a low pain threshold, there’s a ‘gentle care’ button which you can activate to make it less ouchy, but obviously what it’s doing realistically is reducing the flash output i.e you won’t get the same results as quickly if you choose to use the gentle option all the time. It’s a good idea for when you start out though or for the more painful areas like knees and ankles.
I suspect it will be hard for me to review its efficacy accurately as I’ll be coming from the point of view of having had professional IPL done, but I will report back anyway in a few months. (Weekly treatments are recommended for 12 weeks then monthly maintenance sessions).
The device costs £299 and you can buy it at Boots (think how many advantage card point that is?!) or directly from SmoothSkin. Handily, SmoothSkin offer a payment plan if you buy it directly them so you don’t have to pay the whole lot up front. They also do a 90 day money back guarantee.
I assumed they’d have made it more expensive as it’s so much better than past versions, but they seem to have been pretty fair with the pricing and it’s the same as previous models. There never used to be such an obvious “winner” in the home IPL market, so at least it’s easier for consumers now. Researching the different models back in the day drove me bonkers.
I wonder what improvements the next few years will bring to the IPL market? And if one day we really will ever be able to ditch the razors completely?!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post which is all about the best waxing in London.
x
I got the Remmington iLight pro (Face and body) for Christmas. Had been uhming and ahhing but a good Black Friday deal meant my stepmum got me and herself one.
I have really REALLY bad random black hairs on my neck/side of face/chest/boobs and got the machine more for these than the ordinary areas of legs/bikini etc.
The fact that this one isnt wireless can be a BIT annoying but its also got the skin tone checker thingymabob and has on occasion not let me zap areas not suitable (nips!).
I used to pluck or shave those areas once a day or once every other day, I honestly gave up on plucking because of how long it took and how blotchy it left me, which was rubbish and I was constantly paranoid about it all. BUT after only 3 sessions with the LOWEST setting (i’m a huge wimp, it took me a good 20 minutes to man up and actually zap myself) i’ve noticed a ridiculous difference. I’ve shaved maybe thrice this side of Christmas? and even when they do grow back they’re finer and SO easy to just pluck out with fingers.
I have also done my armpits three times and noticed zero difference, but i suspect those will need WAY MORE and a lot more strength due to the density of the hair.
It really is the most incredible difference for small areas and so happy i’ve finally found a solution!!! I am now deffo going to try doing my legs as well because well, why the hell not! 🙂
Meg…I just wanted to tell you I feel your pain about the random really bad black hairs. It’s actually really heartening to “meet” someone else with this highly annoying problem!
Pleased to hear the iLight is going well! I think underarms are a bitch to tackle so will always take that bit longer, but luckily they’re a small enough area to zap so I always felt they were worth perservering with when I did IPL years ago at home. Once I’ve finished my waxing course for underarms I will try them again with the SmoothSkin fo sho x
This is exactly the one I’m going to get next year…later this year…rightnowthanksforremindingmeaboutthepaymentplan. haha.
I got a machine years ago from Argos I think a Rio about £200 and after having salon IPL sessions was disappointed with it, the lack of sting and smell of burning hair made me feel it wasn’t wuite doing the trick, I also didn’t like picking my own level. I sent it back within the 90 day period but because of issues I have with my lip / chin area I would really be interested in one (if the Dr palms me off with the pill again!) I love the look of this one too! A lady at the blood clinic (rather random places I discuss my facial hair!) recommended something from QVC called an no!no! Again with payment plan and 90 day return period but I never looked into it. Another nurse had recommended it to her and they both used it and her mother did too and thought it was amazing. This one looks really smart though not sure whether Im more keen on a payment plan or lots of boots points!!!
Hahaha I so know what you mean about the Boots points! I have £30 worth at the moment and I refuse to spend them til I find something I REALLY want. Not gonna waste them on tampons and Gaviscon – hah!
I’ve heard about the no!no! but never truly understood what it does and if it’s really IPL? You do hear good things though and they’re often recommended for men which makes me assume they must be pretty heavy duty….always a good thing! x
Poppy, I hope you’re an affiliate of this brand because I just bought it (via your link) on the strength of your review.
I’ve been uhmm-ing & ahhh-ing over whether to invest in the Philips Lumea Precision Plus for well over a year – it always felt like an indulgence for someone who doesn’t have shaving nightmares. Although, I say that but truthfully, I have a *damn awkward situation which haunts me every time I’m heading out on a first date, wondering how the hell I’m going to resolve it, should things run into Date 2, 3, 4….5. In fact, sometimes when I’m feeling verrrry single, I remember that “hey, it’s OK, at least I don’t have to stress about this ‘damn awkward situation’ and then everything feels right with the world. (Although, now that I’ve just seen it in writing, I realise what a burden it has been…)
I don’t know if it’ll change my life, but then who knows, maybe it will… 😉
Thank you so much x
* result of overzealous shaving as a teen…
I wouldn’t bother with the nono. I just sent mine back as it really didn’t work. It burnt a few random hairs at a time which is what it does…burns the length of the hair it catches with the wire. It also doesn’t do ‘hormonal hair’ which was the main reason I bought it. Am now trying the Smooth skin pro after getting my refund!!
NoNo did not work at all, tried it for few weeks, it was burning the hair from the skin only, not the roots. Also, it made my skin extremely dry and kind of changed the skin tone.
Hopefully I will buy my Smoothskin soon!
Thanks so much for this review – I just caved and bought this while boots had £30 off and triple boots points!!
I had a lot of laser treatment several years ago. It changed my life, but I was already in my 40s! Now I have occasional long, fine hairs on arms, legs, buttocks – gone completely on bikini front and tummy. I did try electrolysis which I still use on chin – new hairs form as I get older – but it seems expensive and painful for limb hair. Does anyone know if the much finer hairs on limbs will respond to Smoothskin? They are fine when I swim but show up more when I wear tights and they’re flattened. I’m not “on show” as I was in my youth, but it would give me huge pleasure to be really smooth! Any experience with fine hairs?
Can I use this daily? I have used mine twice now at one week apart. I’m doing my face, upper lip, chin etc. I have to shave daily, each morning before work as I have stubble and it’s not nice as a woman. I’ve spent the money on this machine but would like to see results a little quicker. Still shaving each and every morning. What would it hurt to do it more frequently?
I definitely wouldn’t do this more frequently than recommended or you risk burning your skin.
Does this machine work on darkskin? I am black female with very dark coarse hairs.
They say it can be used on dark skin but I’ve got white skin and dark hair so can’t comment from my own experiences. Compared to other home models, this one is supposed to have a better range in terms of what skintones and hair colours it can treat. Sorry to not be more help x
i prefer my karmin 🙂