You may also want to take a look at our complete round up review of all home laser / IPL devices and our extensive cost comparison analysis.
The popularity of home laser and IPL hair removal kits have been on the increase since their introduction at the end of 2005, however do they actually work?
Frustrated with the lack of understanding surrounding the efficacy of these kits, we took the time to look at the scientific data surrounding home hair removal devices, and what we found was surprising!
The Truth About Home Laser / IPL Hair Removal Kits
What is a Home Laser / IPL Kit?
How Does it Work?
Are They Safe for Use?
What is the Difference Between Laser and IPL?
How Popular are Home Laser / IPL Kits?
Regional Interest for home Laser / IPL Devices
Professional Laser Hair Removal v Home Laser Devices
Lower Power = Less Permanent Results
Home Laser Devices are not Suitable for Dark Skin Types
What are the Typical Results of Home Laser / IPL Hair Removal?
Study 1 - 36 Females and 59% Reduction of Hair
Study 2 - Up to 65% Reduction at 12 Months after Treatment
Study 3 - Hair Reduction of 36% with 10 Adults
Study 4 - Twenty Women up to 53.6% Hair Reduction
Study 5 - 73 Patients with hair reduction of 44.3% at 2 weeks after final treatment
Are Home Laser / IPL Hair Removal Devices Safe?
FDA Approved Home Laser / IPL Products
Conclusion: The Truth About Home Laser / IPL Machines
Who Do I recommend Purchases a Home Laser Hair Removal Device?
Product Recommendations
Resources and Studies
What is a Home Laser / IPL Kit?
A home laser hair removal kitcustomers
The cost between $200 and $700 to purchase and are becoming more and more popular among customers due to cost savings (as compared with professional laser hair removal or electrolysis) and convenience factors.
How Does it Work?
Scientists don't yet fully understand the finer points of laser hair removal (including why it works on some people and not others), however the following is based on current scientific findings:-
Are They Safe for Use?
Later on in the article we look at the evidence surrounding home laser hair removal.
The high level overview is that certain home laser and IPL kits have been shown to be both safe and effective for hair removal on skin types up to IV on the Fitzpatrick scale.
The FDA has approved a small number of home laser / IPL kits so that they can be sold directly to the consumer. These devices contain certain safety features that prevent the user from doing unsafe things that may cause physical harm.
For instance, most devices come with a skin sensor that assesses the pigment of skin. If it detects that the user has a pigment of skin that's too dark for the device (usually V and above on the Fitzpatrick scale is too dark) then it won't unlock for use.
Another common feature is that the device will not fire unless it is pressed up against a hard surface. This is to prevent the user from causing optical damage by looking at the laser.
What is the Difference Between Laser and IPL?
For an in-depth analysis of the differences between laser and IPL then read our detailed article here.
The main difference between laser and IPL hair removal is technological and is the way in which light is used:
What does this mean to you?
Honestly, not much. Both types of device have been shown to be safe and effective and there isn't enough scientific data to support one being better than the other.
How Popular are Home Laser / IPL Kits?
The graph below shows the popularity of three search terms "Home laser hair removal", "Home IPL hair removal" and "Tria 4x" (the Tria 4x is one of the most popular home laser hair removal brands).
Regional Interest for home Laser / IPL Devices
Home Laser Devices are not Suitable for Dark Skin Types
Current home laser kitsskin types
For people with dark coloured skin then professional laser hair removal with an Nd:YAG laser is the only option. For more information about this, read our guide: The Truth about Laser Hair Removal on Dark Coloured Skin.
What are the Typical Results of Home Laser / IPL Hair Removal?
Here's where we start to look at real scientific data:
Study 2 - Up to 65% Reduction at 12 Months after Treatment
12 months after the final treatment 86% of subjects had greater than 30% hair reduction and 38% had greater than 80% hair reduction. On top of this, 31% of subjects reported complete (100%) hair removal.
The study also showed that the higher the power setting of the laser, the better the results (as you would expect). The chart shows the hair reduction results by laser power:-
One thing that's interesting to note: Even the lowest power laser setting in this study is higher than the power of the laser in study 1 (above).
This may account for the reason why the results in the second study were far more impressive than the first given the clear correlation between power and hair reduction results.
Study 4 - Twenty Women up to 53.6% Hair Reduction
Hair countstemporary redness
Patient satisfaction scores were high - each of the patients said that they would purchase the device for future home use.
Are Home Laser / IPL Hair Removal Devices Safe?
In all of the studies on home laser hair removal devices, there hasn't been any concern regarding permanent scarring, hyperpigmentation, scarring or other forms of permanent skin damage. I believe that there are two main reasons for this:-
The other area of concern is optical safety. Some studies have been carried out to measure optical radiation of home hair removal devices in relation to recommended guidelines on exposure limits.
Eadie et al concluded that the home IPL hair removal machine they assessed did not present an optical hazard according to currently available international standards.
Rohrer et al also concluded that with adequate training and instruction, patients may administer self-treatments for hair removal in a safe and effective manner.
Conclusion: The Truth About Home Laser / IPL Machines
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to home laser hair removal.
The first is that home laser hair removal products don't work and are a waste of money and the second opposing school of thought is that home laser kits are equally as good as the lasers that professionals use.
The real truth is that neither of those schools of thought are correct.
It's clear from all the evidence from scientific research that there is some merit to home laser hair removal. Here are the important points that the studies have highlighted:-
Product Recommendations
If you've decided to go ahead with home laser / IPL hair removal treatment, then I can recommend you check out either the Tria 4X or Silk'n SensEpil. (Update: see here for a full and complete round up review of home laser hair removal kits).
Both devices have good scientific data behind them, are FDA approved, have been around a while and are top products in the market. The SensEpil is cheaper to begin with but refills cost more. Click on either model below to read our review and figure out which one is right for you.
