I just did my 6th session today, so this is a partial review, but the over-the-top title really is how I fell about this thing. I got this IPL because I trust the brand and there was no way I would ever go with a cheap no-name brand for this kind of thing. It's expensive, but IMO, the freedom it gives you is worth a lot more than that. There aren't many things that actually change your life for a few hundred bucks - but if you fit the restrictions on skin and hair colors, this is one of them. I'm medium-white with dark hair - mostly black where it counts, a few shades of brown in other places like my upper lips. I've never shaved regularly. Shaving meant rapid and prickly growth and after a couple of times I would have to do it every day on my legs, bikini and armpits. So instead I used to either wax or use an electric epilator. So I've been zapping a lot of body parts for 6 weeks now: entire legs, bikini line, armpits, upper lip and chin. After a few weeks I added a few more (around the nipples (since hair there is growing around them, not on them), extended bikini, and my forearms. Since I didn't want to shave my face, I did wax my upper lip before the first time, thinking that maybe it would take longer to work, but I didn't care. It's completely painless for me, at the higher level. Get a little zap now and then, but even that is more surprising than painful (say, 1/10 on the pain scale, and it only lasts half a second). At first you will probably smell some burning hair, I suppose that's normal (because that's how it works). If you see black spots on the machine's window after using it, it's because you either didn't shave, or you missed some hairs. Those got nuked, and the black spots are their remains. Very hard if not impossible to remove, try cleaning the head with a moist microfiber cloth. They don't affect anything, though. I use the small head on my upper lip, chin, the lower parts of the bikini line or where I want to be extra precise (gotta try for straight lines, eh), around my wrists, and on the lower legs for the shin bones, ankle bones and front of the knees. I use the big one everywhere else. So here's my results after 5 weeks (I only did week 6 today so it doesn't count): The first week, the hair grew as it normally would after a shave. Meaning after 5 days, it was clearly visible (a few mm) and prickly. Ew. I didn't notice any change. The second week I noticed that while the regrowth seemed to be the same in terms of length and amount, the hair was a lot thinner, especially on my legs, and definitely not scratchy. Win. The third week, my armpits were at maybe 30%. The rest of me was also showing very good progress, I want to say 50%. After that I noticed that regrowth was very patchy, clearly mostly stalled, and some hairs were growing without a root - I could pluck them off with my nails. Now, I'm mostly hairless everywhere. - Upper lip never really grew back at all, save a few very short, light hairs that are really invisible. Remember, I waxed there instead of shaving before the first session. The machine would have been worth the price for that alone. - Armpits are completely hairless. I haven't shaved them for two weeks now because there's nothing to shave anymore. Total win. - Lower legs have a couple small patches around the shin bone that are more resistant so I still have little dark spots there but they barely even breach the skin anymore, and a few stragglers here and there that I probably missed before. I only shaved before my session today out of an abundance of caution to get any small straggler that I may not see in the back. - Upper legs have like 10 single hairs on the both of them. Those I probably missed a couple of times. - Bikini line is mostly hairless except for two patches with the same small spots on my pubic area. Those seem to be mostly dead but they won't grow enough to fall off. Also a few are still growing where the tendon of the thigh muscles meets the bikini line. - Nipples only have one little hair growing back. - Still have two or three hairs growing on the chin (or rather they're *trying* to grow, but failing). Didn't shave those this week because they haven't breached the skin since last week. So after 3-4 weeks, I didn't have to worry about going out wearing shorts. After 5 weeks, I can go to the pool or something without even checking if I have any visible hair and I don't have to shave some areas before zapping anymore. - Extended bikini line is going well but I've only been at it for 3 weeks. - I also started doing my forearms, the part between my butt cheeks, and the lower part of my labia last week. Can't talk for that yet. And no it doesn't hurt either, it's just a real pain to shave well down there. I will keep doing it weekly for another 6 weeks. I think it's important, to catch the hairs that were in sleeping phase before. At any point in time, some are sleeping, some are growing, and among those, some haven't broken the skin yet. So you have to keep at it until you've zapped them all, and that takes a few months. I will update in a few weeks.
