@mako9802 I do IPL at home using a Remington i-Light Pro+ Face & Body, with persistence you can permanently get rid of hair. I double zap tougher areas and it works well.
Using IPL between hair growth cycles is very handy for 1 main reason - it really really helps if you have fast hair growth and need to deal with severe ingrown hairs - particularly inner upper thighs/ pubic area, and bottom. By zapping problem areas it stunts the growth to make it more manageable using skin exfoliants, BUT zapping this frequently won't kill the hair follicles more so if you don't get ingrown hairs then its a waste of time. I'm not on hrt and despite exfoliating I still get ingrown hairs because of fast hair growth.
I did 4 sessions if IPL last year and then went on a long holiday period and didn't start it back up till this year, most of the hair did come back, but this time after 8 sessions most hair has been permanently removed. You will find hair that is too fine and downy is not affected. Also hair that is too thick IE front face hair is unaffected because the IPL is not strong enough to kill the hair follicle - although I have permanently got rid of hair on my neck up to jawline (must be thin enough AND I did a double shot - painful but effective ) Interestingly the only hair on my neck is white hairs because they are unaffected by IPL and laser - only electrolysis can get these.
IPL and laser tech is very closely related, strong polarised light at a certain frequency to heat the melanin in the hair follicle and force it to rupture and be permanently damaged. IPL is a spread out beam ideal for legs, arms, feet, hands etc, LASER is a small focused area that usually has a higher power setting (professional grade)- so more effective for tougher face hair, all hair in general BUT slower and more expensive to have done.BUT still cheaper than electrolysis.
Hope this helps,
Sonja.
