What is IPL hair removal?

IPL stands for "intense pulsed light" and is a treatment method for treating stubborn hair growth and hair regrowth. The treatment method has been around for more than 25 years and has traditionally been used in salons where the person treating is trained in IPL hair removal.

Recently, however, it has become more and more popular with IPL for home use, i.e. you treat yourself at home, without training. IPL should not be confused with laser.

Read our article on the difference between IPL and laser:

https://aylima.com/blogs/news/ipl-vs-laser

How does IPL hair removal work?

IPL works by directing a gentle light impulse to the skin and being absorbed by the melanin in the hair root. The light impulses stimulate the hair follicles to enter the resting phase and as a consequence the hair splits naturally and hair regrowth is prevented.

As you may already know, not all hair on the body grows at the same time, but hair grows in different phases, so-called hair growth cycles.

IPL is only effective on hair in its growth phase. As mentioned above, not all hairs are in the same phase at the same time, you may have noticed at some point that some hairs can be longer and grow faster than others.

Therefore, a treatment schedule of 6-12 weeks is recommended to ensure that all hairs are effectively treated during their growth phase. Why 6-12 weeks are generally recommended is because all skin and hair types are unique and as with all cosmetic treatments, it is very individual how quickly you see final results.

Why IPL?

Consumers who turn to IPL at home primarily want to address the core problem ie hair growth. But there are of course more reasons and the main reason why people treat with IPL is to avoid shaving several times a week, waxing, epilating, threading, etc.

IPL not only solves the problem in the short term, but the treatment method is permanent, i.e. a maintenance treatment every 6-8 weeks is enough to remain hair-free in the treated area. In addition to the time-consuming and painful use of classic hair removal methods, IPL treatment is painless.

A big reason why people use IPL instead of classic hair removal methods is that a side effect of shaving, epilating, waxing etc. regularly is the appearance of ingrown hairs, i.e. razor bumps, red dots or so-called donut bones.

In medical terms, the term folliculitis is used, i.e. ingrown hairs that lead to inflammation in the area.

With IPL, these problems do not occur.

IPL- to think about

Hair colors and skin tones:

IPL works best on darker hair colors. People with lighter hair colors such as red, gray and very blond (white) hair are advised not to treat with IPL as a hair removal method.

This is because very light hair does not contain enough melanin to be able to bring the light down to the hair follicle, the same applies to red hair that contains another type of melanin that does not respond well enough to IPL treatment.

It is possible to see results with blonde hair but it may take more treatments than for people with darker hair before the desired result is achieved. IPL also needs a low melanin content in the skin, so the skin does not attract the light but the hair.

Dark skin tones are therefore more likely to absorb the intensely pulsating light, which can burn the skin.

Which areas should not be treated with IPL?

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should avoid using IPL as there are no studies
or documented research on pregnant women. IPL treatment of intimate areas such as the bikini line is excellent to treat with IPL, however, you should never treat directly on mucous membranes, all around is fine.

Men should not treat directly on the scrotum (scrotum). You should also not treat tattoos directly because tattoos contain color that the IPL device picks up instead
the melanin in the hair follicle, however, can be treated well all around!

You should also not treat skin that is red after you have burned in the sun.

Does IPL hurt?

One of the biggest advantages of IPL over other types of hair removal is that it is
significantly less painful. The feeling can best be described as a warm feeling over the skin.

Which IPL machine is best?

There are today on the market a whole host of IPL devices for
home use to choose from. The price also varies a lot between different brands. However, all brands are based on the same technology.

What may differ between different retailers is how the company behind the product thinks about safety and certificates related partly to the product but also to the production of the IPL device.