DIY IPL Hair Removal: My experiences
There allot IPL machines out on the market today, both home use and professional. IPL & SIPL simply stand for intense pulsed light and super intense pulsed light. This is not the same as laser. IPL is nothing more then a quick intense pulse of light. The technology is nothing new. The light sometimes used is nothing more than a flash bulb, similar to the one used on cameras. Now don't run and get your camera just yet. The flash required for an IPL treatment is a series of flashes close together and much more intense . The IPL also uses an optic to filter some of the undesirable wavelength. The flash lamp maybe a simple halogen bulb or it could be a Krypton or Xenon bulb, the later two being more expensive. An IPL can also be combined with radio infrequence to cover more wavelength ..
I will not go into the theory of the IPL, only a brief description . There is allot of info on the web you should do some research on your own as well.. The theory is, with an intense light source you can heat the skin or follicle enough to cause trauma to it. I know that sounds a bit scary. But with an intense pulse of light you can limit the amount of damage to the surrounding skin cells. Sense the hair follicles tend to be darker (hopefully) than the surrounding skin tissue, the light is absorbed by the dark follicle. Because of the quick pulse the skin cells don't have time to heat up enough to burn and cause damage. Although with most types of permanent hair removal treatments, there is a negligible amount of damage that occurs to the surrounding skin cells. This is why the"home use" IPL and Lasers are less effective. The manufactures know that if they sold you a machine powerful enough to eliminate most hair from most skin types. The likelihood of people damaging their skin is too great.
The reason I purchased this IPL is: Cost and the fact it claimed to be useful for skin resurfacing. (my wife has some wrinkles she would like removed) The output was very high and was said to be effective on light or blond hair
The machine that I will review is the Quazar IPL600 it is also referred to the SIPL600.
The company who makes them goes by the name "Quazar" not to be confused with the larger "Quasar" company who made TVs and electronics.
I purchased this on Ebay. The cost at the time was $ 950.00. The msrp is about $1600.00.
The output on the IPL600 claims to be 180Jcm2 density at 410- 800. ( witch is actually pretty high output) with an effective area diameter at 410-200 jcm2 ( I have found the effective area (for me) to be just about 3/8 of an inch) Because the IPL uses a halogen bulb with a filament even though focused the beam is not uniform.
What is included in the kit. 1- IPL hand unit, 1- power supply, 2- set of protection glasses, 1- bottle, carbon dye, 1- bottle of durma-blast, and 1- extra flash bulb
When I received my new IPL I could tell right away this was not built in a very professional manner. I have owned and operated a manufacturing business for about twenty years. I immediately recognized that all the components are OTS (off the shelf) parts. Meaning most all the parts can be bought a your local hardware and electronics store. I knew before I bought the IPL that it look kinda funky. Resembling more of a ray-gun from Flash Gordon than a piece of medical equipment. I immediately took it apart to see what I had purchased. In the power supply is just the basics. A supply transformer, a steeper relay a pulse generator and counter. In the hand unit is simply halogen bulb , a trigger switch, a cooling fan, and optics.
I was nonetheless excited to get started. The instructions suggest most people find it not necessary to go beyond setting three. (settings are 1 thru 6). But everyone's skin type is different so you must preform a test patch. Do a small area and check for any adverse reaction. I did so on setting three. The next day no reaction. So I did my face and arms. The hand piece has a temperature indicator you have to keep an eye on and not exceed 50c. It gets hot pretty quick so you have to let it cool often. The cord that attaches the hand piece to the power supply is about two feet in length . That made it very difficult to keep the power supply on a table and still conveniently reach all the areas needed. The protective glasses are very cheap and don't fit well.
You must wait ten days between treatments. (That gives the surrounding skin tissue time to recover from the trauma incurred by the IPL ). I waited ten day and saw no results. I repeated this process over and over till I reached setting six, still nothing.
In the instruction booklet (ten pages long) They mention a variation called "deep tissue trauma with follicle extraction and carbon dye. They don't really explain why they have this variation . I thought since nothing else worked I would give it a try.
If you have very light skin combined with very dark hair. Which is not that common. The IPL would probably work on you without the variation method. But if you have light skin and light or red hair (as I do) you will have to use the variation method.
The variation method. First you have to wax, pluck or epilate the hair first. Now, I have , mostly out of curiosity touched the epilator to my face before. It was very painful to say the least. I thought this was going to be tough , but I had no idea how tough. WOW!!! It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced while being conscience. It wasn't pretty. It torn off little pieces of skin as well as plucking the hair. I just kept going, I just had to do this. Afterward my face was a mess. You are not supposed to do an IPL treatment on any damaged skin or any open sores. So what I would have to do is keep epilating each day until my skin healed. I knew from my experience with the epilator (that I do on the rest of my body) that the first time is the hardest and that it progressively gets better. I took about a week and a half of epilating to get to the point where I could do an IPL treatment. The theory behind the carbon dye is this. If you have light hair your follicle will be light as well. If you first pluck the hair out of the follicle then fill the follicle with something very dark in color e.g. carbon dye. Then when you do a IPL treatment the light will be primarily absorbed by the carbon dye thus heating the follicle to a point of trauma. Which should damage the follicle and hopefully the follicle dies permanently.
With the carbon dye method the IPL becomes more painful. I decided I would proceed at setting five. After which I saw some results. (finally, Not much mind you but some) Another ten days and another treatment. This time I would try setting six. It hurt allot more but still nothing compares to the epilator. After the treatment I realized setting six was too high and that I will stay with five.
I have had results but not without a price. Remember I have light skin and blond / red hair. That's even a problem for some professional lasers and IPLs.
This only my experiences . I would have to say "I do not recommend this method of hair removal).
I hope your experiences go better.
Erocse
