[Update (9th May 2011): Remember to also read my latest post on the new iPulse PLUS,
Boots Smooth Skin iPulse PLUS: New and improved!]
It's been a while since I last blogged about my experience with
Boots Smooth Skin iPulse IPL, and with the recent arrival of
Philips Lumea and
Remington i-Light on the home IPL hair reduction market, I thought it was about time I did a quick follow-up, as well as a comparison of the three products for those of you who are interested in buying one. There are a few other brands in the market (e.g.
Silk'n and
Tria), but these three are currently the most high profile in the UK. Much of the science-y bits in the comparisons are based on some very helpful information I asked for from the iPulse team.
Here are some quick stats on the three home IPL systems (my Boots Smooth Skin follow-up is afterwards):
Boots Smooth Skin iPulse
[Update (9th May 2011): This information is for the original Boots Smooth Skin. You can read details and FAQs for the new Boots Smooth Skin iPulse PLUS here:
Boots Smooth Skin iPulse PLUS: New and improved!]
Website:
http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Smooth-Skin and
www.ipulse.co.uk
Price: £324.99
Description: "Boots Smooth Skin gives permanent hair reduction in just 6-12 weeks, it is an easy to use hair removal solution at home."
Can be used on face?: Yes
Can be used by men?: Yes
Light energy level: 7 - 10 joules, depending on setting used (some studies say 7+ joules are required to be effective at disabling the hair follicle).
No. of settings: 3
Application window (size of treatment area): 3cm²
Pulse repetition rate: 6 seconds, manual trigger
Permanent?: Yes, if you've caught hairs in their active growth (Anagen) phase, the hair follicles will be disabled.
Gel required?: Yes, first tube of Activator Gel is included. Further tubes are £2.99 from Boots.
Estimated lamp lifetime: 10,000 flashes. Replacement handset costs £159.99.
Pros: iPulse Premium IPL technology has been created using unique, patented "square pulse" technology, which gives a controlled, even flash of light energy. This prevents overlapping of treatment or missing spots completely.
Cons: Hair can still grow from follicles that have been disabled if your body's hormones change. Therefore, iPulse still advise to keep the unit for top-ups every few months. No multi flash mode, so treatment sessions can be quite slow while waiting for the lamp to recharge between flashes.
Buy original model:
Boots.com product page
Buy new iPulse PLUS model (released 9th May 2011):
Boots.com product page
Philips Lumea (SC2001)
Website:
www.consumer.philips.com/c/lumea-shaving/171060/cat/gb
Price: £399.99
Description: "Philips Lumea IPL hair removal system uses gentle pulses of light to stimulate the hair root into a resting phase. Hair sheds naturally and regrowth is inhibited. Using it every two weeks enables you to enjoy smooth skin everyday."
Can be used on face?: No
Can be used by men?: No
Light energy level: 2 - 6.5 joules, depending on setting used
No. of settings: 5
Application window (size of treatment area): 3cm²
Pulse repetition rate: 3-5 seconds, manual trigger
Permanent?: No, Philips Lumea is simply "photo epilation" where it heats up the hair and follicle, enough for the hair to fall out and the follicle to go into resting phase. The light energy is not intended to be strong enough to disable the hair follicle completely.
Gel required?: No
Estimated lamp lifetime: 40,000 flashes, after which the total unit would need to be replaced.
Pros: Cordless. No gel required. While hair reduction is not permanent, treated areas remain hair-free as long as treatments are performed every 2 weeks before follicles have a chance to become active again. Also, compared to shaving/waxing/epilating, you don't need to wait for hair to grow back before treating (thus no stubble and no ingrown hairs).
Cons: Light energy is only strong enough to put hair follicles into resting phase, and not to disable them completely, which is why treatment need to be repeated every 2 weeks to prevent hair regrowth.
Buy:
Boots.com product page or
Amazon product page
Remington i-Light (IPL5000)
Website:
www.remington-ilight.com
Price: £349.99
Description: "i-LIGHT safely removes hair for an ultra silky smooth feeling that can last for up to 12 weeks. Plus it’s the first home IPL with a multi-flash mode, making it one of the fastest IPL methods of long lasting hair removal."
Can be used on face?: No
Can be used by men?: Yes
Light energy level: Up to 6 joules.
No. of settings: 5
Application window (size of treatment area): 2cm²
Pulse repetition rate: 2 seconds, continuous multi-flash for larger areas, or single-flash manual trigger for spot treatment
Permanent?: No, Remington i-Light does not claim to achieve permanent hair reduction, but rather that it "stuns" follicles and thus suppresses hair regrowth for up to 3 months.
Gel required?: No
Estimated lamp lifetime: 1,500 flashes. 3 replacement bulbs are included. Further bulbs cost £24.45.
Pros: No gel required. Multi flash mode allows for continuous movement and thus faster treatment sessions. Significant results can be expected after a single session, but treatments should be repeated every 1-3 weeks until desired result is achieved (usually around 6-12 weeks). Hair is likely to grow back less dense, lighter and finer.
Cons: Slightly smaller application window (2cm²) than other devices. Once desired results are achieved, treatments are still required every 3 months whenever hair starts to reappear again. Extremely short lamp lifetime (but comes with 3 replacement bulbs and further bulbs are relatively cheap). Remington i-Light does not have the same "square pulse" technology as Boots Smooth Skin iPulse, so it has "hot spots" which means zaps are not fully even - so you end up overlapping some areas and missing others.
Buy:
Boots.com product page or
Amazon product page
My follow-up review on Boots Smooth Skin
If you haven't already read it, or need a refresher, you can read my previous
Boots Smooth Skin review (after 48 weeks) here.
It's been 4 months since I wrote that review, and I've only used Boots Smooth Skin a couple of times since to achieve hair-free status on my underarms and bikini line. I can definitely go a few months before noticing that enough sparse hairs have grown back to warrant doing something about them. And once I've done a quick zap on those hairs, they're gone again.
The only area I
still haven't noticed very significant results, is on my upper lip (sorry to any men I have troubled by writing this - but it's only the luckiest of women who don't need to do
anything with their upper lip). I still try to use Boots Smooth Skin once a week on my upper lip. Fortunately it takes less than 5 minutes to cover the area. It's been well over the suggested time (6-12 weeks) to achieve permanent hair reduction, but I'm sure at least 60% of the hair is still growing back and I can't even tell whether the hairs are coming back finer because they were already fine. But those hairs being fine is probably why IPL isn't working so well on them.
Something I've noticed is that the hair reduction has been the most successful and long-lasting where I've used a stronger setting. I've never been able to use the highest strength setting because it generates too much heat on my mid-toned skin, but I can manage the medium setting on most areas. On sensitive areas where I have only used the lowest setting, the regrowth is greater than on areas where I have used the medium setting.
I still haven't needed to get a replacement handset, and I still have a third of the activator gel left. So I seem to be getting a lot of mileage. However, the bulb might have gone now if I'd been using the system on my legs too.
4 months on from my last review, my experience and routine is pretty much still the same, except that I can go for much, much longer before I get any regrowth. In my previous review, I observed that some regrowth would appear after four weeks, but now I would say that the hair-free time period is
at least double now, and the regrowth again is sparser, finer and much less noticeable.
I now try to use the highest setting I can where possible. I'm suspicious that the lowest setting isn't strong enough to kill the hairs permanently... or that it's just going to do it too slowly for my liking. The problem with using the stronger settings is that the glass window overheats incredibly quickly, meaning that the zapping session takes longer because I keep needing to rest the handset to let it cool down before I dare use it again. I really wish something could be done to stop the handset overheating so quickly - it's pretty much the only thing I have a problem with, and the zaps do get quite painful if the bulb is hot.
All in all, I'm still very pleased with my Boots Smooth Skin purchase last year. I've been able to completely ditch my waxing kits and epilator, and the only time I need a razor is for the prep before a zapping top-up. Any time a friend mentions the chore of hair removal, I realise that I completely take being hair-free for granted - I could never go back to that! I'd recommend the iPulse hair reduction system to anyone. Well, as long as you're light-medium skinned with dark hair, and can spare quite a lot of time to use it diligently during the first few months.
Update (20th April 2010): The girls at
The London Beauty Review have been trialling
both Boots Smooth Skin and Philips Lumea. Read all about their experiences on their
latest post here - it's a really useful read written from a user perspective!
Update (12th June 2010): I don't know how but I'm now managing to use Boots Smooth Skin on the highest setting (for "fair" skin). I tried using this setting for the first time and it doesn't seem to smart any more than the middle setting. So I'm going to continue using it! I still have fine hairs growing through on my upper lip and a few on my underarms, so maybe the stronger setting will finally get rid of those. If you're currently using the middle setting comfortably, definitely try the stronger setting... you never know, it might be ok for you.
Update (9th May 2011): iPulse have brought out a new, improved model of Boots Smooth Skin, which you can read full details of on my post,
Boots Smooth Skin iPulse PLUS: New and improved!
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