Luvon ,

I use it from the chest down. White skin, pretty black thick hair.

It is definitely time consuming, especially in the beginning.

My legs and arms are heavily reduced, the hair grows in much more sporadically, thinner, and there are patches where nothing is.

My chest is coming along as well, but taking longer but that hair was thicker… like 2 hairs per pore 😒

Armpits are also coming along well. Grows much slower and sparser.

I did 2-3 sessions a week for 2 months. So time consuming.

Haven’t tried my face yet.

I have the ulike with cooling tech. It makes it pretty painless. Don’t get one without skin cooling.

Hildegarde ,

What is IPL? I do not speak acronyms.

kali OP ,

Intense Pulsated Light

Similar to laser, but it doesn't last nearly as long and you can do it at home for a few hundred dollars. It's less effective though, and I'm still trying to make up my mind as to whether it's worth it or if I should just go straight for laser and skip the IPL bother.

Hildegarde ,

Thanks! This thread has such helpful information.

Arkhive ,
@Arkhive@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I have one, but I don’t have any sort of routine with it. I’ve used it here and there if I want to sort of extend the working time of shaving my face. Let’s say I’ve got a night out, maybe spending the night somewhere other than home, and I want to still have a smooth-ish face the next morning, then I’ll use it.

SquishedFly , (edited )
@SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I honestly have a very bad experience with IPLs. I used one for several months once a week and, not only did mine break after 3 months, it also wasn't really noticeable that anything happened.

No, actually that was a lie. I did notice that, the space that was usually occupied with one hair now occasionally had a second (very thin) hair growing right next to it. It made me effectively have more body hair.

I'm sure that it would have worked better if I kept it up for half a year more or so, but there where 2 more factors that made my stop using it:

  • the IPL impulses hurt my eyes even it had good skin contact
  • doing one session takes fucking for ever

So in conclusion: save your money and save your time (imo)

Edit to clarify: I mainly used it on my legs, I notices absolutely nothing on my face either though

kali OP ,

thanks for the input! im looking into laser right now and was just weighing up my options for if i can't get it

SquishedFly ,
@SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

If you still wanna get into it the rule of thumb is:
The lighter your skin and the darker your hair, the better

kali OP ,

well... I'm a scottish-australian with black hair lmao, maybe I should look into it

LadyMeow ,

Ive been doing laser and im loving it. It can be pretty painful, but the results have been great for me

ada Mod ,
@ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Yeah, that's me too, and laser was super effective on me

janet_catcus ,

heh, same here... originally planed to use it on my arms too but... it takes forever and doesnt do much so, a simple epilator is much more effective, hurts like a bitch, even more than ipl, but at least the hair is gone. only sucks to have to rub my skin sore every now and then to avoid ingrown hair...

SquishedFly ,
@SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I actually wanted to try an epilator too but I'm pretty scared... I've got 4 massive surgery scars on one of my legs and I'm scared that I'll somehow fuck something up (surgery was like 7 years ago but the scars don't go away)

And waxing makes me get more razor burns than a razor funnily enough

tiefling ,

I think you'll be fine. I'm covered in scars and epilate no problem, but admittedly they're not huge. FWIW, I find epilators weirdly relaxing but I'm weird.

SquishedFly ,
@SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I should have probably mentioned that the stitch points and some areas of the scars are visibly bulging out a little, which is why I'm so worried...

janet_catcus ,

not going to lie, it hurt a lot the first time... but everytime i redo my arms, it hurts less, though i have to also admit i miss the pain a little ^^'

i think those scars ought to be fine .. if in doubt, use tweezers near them instead, takes longer, hurts less, but eventually the regrowing hair will become thinner, a little, and then you can just use the epilator there too... i do it like moving the device into the hairs along the skin untill it hurts, then i pull back and lift off so it doesnt touch any more, repeat. also make sure the hair you epilate isnt to long, the longer it is the more likely it snaps, instead of being ripped out :3

Oestradiolo ,
@Oestradiolo@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

What machine did you use so I can avoid it?

SquishedFly , (edited )
@SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The Braun Silk-expert pro 5, probably the most expensive and best reviewed IPL device out there

ValenThyme , (edited )

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    SquishedFly ,
    @SquishedFly@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Very interesting. I'm white enough that I get made fun of for it from my family and my body hair as pretty much as black as it gets but it just didn't seem like it worked...

    I also never got any razor burns (tho in all fairness, I only really used it for me legs and face). Maybe my unit was just defective?

    Thevenin ,

    It seems that IPL effectiveness varies a lot based on the texture of the hair, not just color. It eventually worked on my legs, but not my face.

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