There are many hair removal creams on the market, most of which are more or less effective.
Revitol’s Hair Removal Cream is pricier than your regular depilatory creams, but it is promoted as an alternative to laser hair removal or electrolysis, which should put it high on the list of desirable products. But is it really?
This article reviews Revitol Hair Removal Cream and takes a deeper look into all of the manufacturer's claims, as well as reviews and complaints it has received, to try to ascertain the product's true efficacy.
Overview of the Product
Manufacturer's Claims
- Revitol claim that their hair removal cream “is the most effective alternative to expensive laser treatments and electrolysis”.
- It can be used anywhere on the body where you would like to remove hair and is supposed to work “within seconds” without any type or redness or irritation.
- The cream has a light scent unlike the strong scent of other depilatories.
- The product is marketed as a “natural” product that will also help keep your skin hydrated.
- The Revitol website claims that the product not only removes hair but it also inhibits hair, which means that its use causes a slower regrowth. Quote: “Most people report hair stops growing with ongoing maintenance”.
- The product works just as well for women as it does for men and can be applied anywhere on the body, including sensitive areas such as the face and bikini area.
How the Product Works
According to the manufacturer, Revitol’s hair removal cream seeps into the hair follicle and dissolves the hair at its root, as opposed to other creams, which cut the hair off at skin level.
This means that after a few uses the hair should grow back slower and lighter (Revitol claim that with between 1 and 4 months of use you should see a difference, and that “most people report hair stops growing with ongoing maintenance”).
The cream is applied to the skin and wiped off after 5-7 minutes (no longer than 20 minutes). When you wipe the product off with a towel or cloth the treated hair should come away too, leaving the area hair free.
What we Found
On paper this sounds great – a natural product that will clear your skin of excess hair within a few minutes, and promises results that were previously only available from expensive professional treatments such as laser hair removal and electrolysis.
I set out to investigate all the available evidence to ascertain the truth behind the claims to find out - is this product really so revolutionary?
While the product description and overview are very clear as to how the product works, most of the online product reviews are extremely negative i.e. “this product does not work at all” and “this product is a scam”.
I dug pretty deeply into the question and came up with the following findings:
- A small percentage of websites with nothing but a Revitol product review on them, raving about the product (including YouTube videos acting as veiled promotions)
- A few possibly unbiased reviews on the product
- A few obviously biased reviews that, in my view, someone was probably paid to write (some even containing incorrect information about other hair removal products)
- Many, many neutral to negative customer reviews on Amazon and other websites
- A few positive customer reviews on Amazon
- A lot of complaints about the actual company (more information below)
Does it actually work?
While the product claims to be “natural”, Revitol Hair Removal Cream contains the same active ingredients as much cheaper, over the counter hair removal creams: thioglycolate and calcium hydroxide.
The “natural” ingredients are: green tea and aloe vera extracts for anti-oxidant and moisturising purposes.
In a nutshell, this indicates that you will likely achieve exactly the same results with this cream as you would with any other hair removal cream. This is not to say that it doesn’t work, it may well suit you, but there is no guarantee or proof to substantiate the claim that your hair will grow back slower or not at all.
It would seem to me, based on my findings, that you are paying a premium price for the Revitol Brand, which is likely to achieve exactly the same results as other, cheaper depilatory creams. In my opinion the marketing for Revitol's hair removal cream and their revolutionary claims are both questionable and spurious.
I can confidently state that you will not get the same results as you would with laser hair removal or electrolysis and there is no evidence, scientific or otherwise, that this cream will stop your hair from growing back permanently.
Side Effects
What I found slightly alarming is that a lot of the product reviews claimed that the product caused a burning sensation, even when they followed the instructions.
The claim that the product is “natural” is misleading and could possibly lead people who have had adverse reactions to other creams to try it. The instructions do tell you to do a patch test first, but by the time you have done that you will have already spent your money on something that is going to give you the same result as an over the counter product will give you.
Product Reviews On Amazon
The product has an average customer rating of 2 stars out of 5, with 29 1 star reviews out of 55 total reviews.
The reviews range from individuals stating that the cream worked really well, through not so well (or not as well as they thought it would), to a large percentage of very negative reviews i.e. claims that it does nothing, smells very bad, causes burning and/or scarring and is a very disappointing product.
Further Issues
Customer Service
When I extended my research outside of Amazon, I found that there were more issues surrounding this product than just the fact that it fails to deliver on the manufacturer's promises.
There are many reports about individuals who saw a commercial (on TV and online) offering free samples for just the cost of P&P. Once the samples were received, apparently additional charges for over $75 appeared on their credit cards, even when they tried to cancel any them via the customer helpline.
There are multiple complaints of the customer service helpline either being disconnected or unanswered. Although everyone should be aware of additional charges or automatic sign-up agreements when submitting their credit card for any product, there should still be an easily accessed cancellation and refund process.
There are also numerous complaints of people receiving collection letters for content that they never received. In addition there seems to be some kind of returns policy that includes a charge to return an opened package (although it seems unlikely, and I am unable to verify the accuracy of this, I did read the same complaint several times).
Based on these findings, I would be wary of ordering the product outside of Amazon. Furthermore, I would be very wary of ordering a product with a non-existent helpline or customer service.
Complaints have been lodged on different consumer websites (links below) and are available to the public.
Cautionary Note
On the Revitol Hair Removal Cream FAQ page, all of the questions are seemingly answered correctly, however, the removal cream is named as "Hair No More", "Vanishing Crème" and "Hair Vanishing Crème" throughout the page.
So when it says that the FDA approves "Hair No More", it is unclear to me whether the FDA actually approved a different product. Whilst there is nothing illegal about saying that the FDA approved “Hair No More”, this is a FAQ page for a product called “Revitol Hair Removal Cream” and not “Hair No More”, which leads me to question it.
Conclusion
Whilst Revitol’s hair removal cream may act as any other hair removal cream that you can buy over the counter at a cheaper rate, it is most unlikely to live up to its own claims, mainly the one that states “most people report hair stops growing with ongoing maintenance”.
While it does have the ability to remove hair, it does not contain anything extra that will make hair stop growing back. In my opinion this is false advertising.
At the same time, there are too many complaints about the business motives and customer service of the company for us to be able to recommend this product.
We believe that you would be equally satisfied with a cheaper hair removal cream from your local drugstore.
See review of recommended hair removal creams
