Excessive hair growth is frustrating, especially when it hinders your fashion and makes you feel less confident in your skin. So, it is exciting finding a permanent hair removal home kit that can permanently ensure a hair-free body you need to look confident. But, there’s a catch!
Unfortunately, the IPL machine at home does not work like regular cosmetic beauty cream products that require once or twice daily usage to reap results.
How often you use portable laser hair remover devices at home depends on several factors. Continue reading to find out what these factors really are and how often you should use your IPL handsets at home.
An IPL device sends pulse light into the melanin of the hair follicles, which absorbs the light and burns out from the roots, leaving your skin hair-free.
Compared to most professional laser hair removal devices, most people think that IPL hair removal handsets for home use air weak and won't offer the same effects as those professional ones used in the beautician’s parlor.
However, IPL hair removal at home is very effective and offers a long-term permanent solution for hair removal with consistent and proper use compared to what you get from professional sessions.
When Should You Use Laser IPL Machine at Home?
How often you can use an IPL machine at home depends on the state of your body hair. Hair grows about .3 to .4mm every day, but they mostly end up in the anagen, catagen, telogen, or exogen phase after a while. These are the four stages of hair growth that determine when best to do IPL home treatment.
No matter how little or long the body hair is, each hair on your body is in a different growth phase which determines how successful your laser hair removal treatment will be.
Anagen Phase - Hair Growing Each Day
Here, the hair actively grows each day, with new hair sprouting from the cells in the root at 1cm per day. About 20% of the hair follicles are at this stage.
Catagen Phase - Hair Stops Growing
This phase sets off right after the hair grows at the anagen stage. Here, the hair follicles stop growing and remain stagnant. Only 3% of the body hair is at this phase.
Telogen Phase - New Hair Roots
During this phase, between 6 to 8 percent of the body hair no longer grows but attaches to a newly formed root so that it can easily come off and way to new growth.
Exogen Phase - We Shed Hair
In this phase, we shed about fifty to hundred hairs each day as the hairs in resting fall off.
So, when should you use a laser IPL machine at home?
Laser hair remover will typically work best when your hair is in the anagen hair growth phase. This is because it is only at this phase the hair pigments can easily absorb the light energy from the IPL device to easily damage the cells in the root hair and stop hair from growing.
While there is a small amount of hair during the telogen phase, IPL home handsets won’t work successfully in this stage because the hair follicles are not fully formed. So, the melanin won’t absorb energy well.
How Often Can I Try the Home Use Laser Hair Removal Treatment?
Most experts recommend using the device 3 times per week to reap maximum results. On the other hand, you can also use your IPL machine at home once every two weeks and still remove hair effectively. But, don't exceed the recommended use range. Once you start seeing results, you can lower your sessions to about once every month to maintain progress.
On the other hand, consider using your laser hair remover only when you need it. The best at-home laser IPL devices contain only 90,000 pulse lights – some even lower. While this may seem like a lot at first, using it daily means you lessen its life span. Remember, your sessions may take months. You don’t want to spend more money getting a new device in a short time.
How Long Do At-Home Laser Hair Removal Results Take to Surface?
The simple answer is to trust the process.
You won’t always t notice the changes immediately after the first few sessions, but laser hair removal works in a way the hair falls off in bits, so you notice less and less hair on the treated area. Once the hair starts to fall off, you won’t have to worry about hair removal for a long time.
Regardless, it can take three to six months for at-home laser hair removal results to show. So, it is important to keep calm and not get frustrated and forgo the treatment because you can’t see results immediately.
What Happens If You Use Your Portable Laser Hair Remover Often?
Most people often use their IPL devices more than the recommended use range, hoping to see quicker and better results.
The truth is that using your portable laser hair remover more often than recommended does not do anything to speed up the hair removal process. Unfortunately, using your IPL machine more daily will also make you waste the number of pulse lights available on your IPL handset. To avoid this, use the device as recommended.
Conclusion About How Often You Should Use Laser Hair Removal at Home
Laser hair removal handsets are mechanical devices. So, how best you use them determines how long they last. Stick with the recommended use range to ensure longevity. Three times a week treatment or once every two weeks may seem frustratingly slow, but the results you get are sure to leave you confident in your skin.
