IPL is the treatment people research the longest before booking, usually because the claims made about it online range from cautious to outright fiction. Here's the version we'd give a friend.
How it works, briefly
Intense pulsed light is absorbed by the pigment in the hair, converted to heat, and that heat disrupts the follicle's ability to grow a new one. It only works on hairs that are in their active growth phase, and at any given moment only a portion of your hair is — which is the entire reason it takes a course rather than a session.
"Permanent hair removal" isn't the right phrase
The accurate term is hair reduction. A completed course typically leaves you with substantially less hair, finer and slower-growing, and many people need only occasional maintenance afterwards. Some hair usually returns eventually. Anyone promising permanent removal is overselling, and we'd rather you heard that from us than felt it later.
Who it suits, and who it doesn't
IPL works by targeting pigment, so it performs best where there's strong contrast: dark hair on lighter skin. It works poorly on grey, white, red and very fair hair, because there isn't enough pigment for the light to act on. That's a limitation of the physics, not of the machine, and no clinic can get around it.
Very tanned or deeply pigmented skin needs careful assessment, because the light can be absorbed by the skin as well as the hair. This is what the patch test is for — always — and why a reputable clinic will insist on one even when you'd rather get started.
What it costs here
Single sessions start at $19 for an upper lip or chin and $59 for a full face. Underarms are $39, bikini $49, half leg $89 and full leg $149. Because you'll need a course, the prepaid packs of six are where the real pricing sits — $90 for lip or chin, $294 for a full face, $174 for underarms, $744 for full legs.
The packages are worth looking at if you're treating more than one area: Kitten covers lip, chin and bikini, Fox covers half leg and underarm, Gorilla covers full leg and Brazilian.
The honest maths against waxing
A Brazilian wax with us is $85 for a first appointment and $55 for maintenance, roughly every four to six weeks. That's somewhere around $500 a year, every year, indefinitely. A pack of six IPL Brazilian sessions is $330 and, for the right hair and skin type, substantially reduces what you're maintaining afterwards.
For dark hair, IPL usually pays for itself inside two years. For fair or grey hair, waxing remains the better answer, and we'll tell you so at the consultation rather than sell you a pack that won't work.
What to expect during and after
• It feels like a warm elastic band flicked against the skin. Uncomfortable, brief, tolerable.
• Sessions are spaced four to six weeks apart to catch hairs entering their growth phase.
• Expect mild redness for a few hours, occasionally a day.
• No sun, solarium or fake tan for two weeks either side. This is the rule people break and regret.
• Shave between sessions if you need to — do not wax, pluck or epilate, because the treatment needs the follicle intact to work.
So, is it worth it?
For dark hair on fair to medium skin, on an area you currently maintain constantly — yes, for most people, comfortably. For fair, grey or red hair, no, and no clinic should tell you otherwise. For anything in between, a patch test and a five-minute conversation will answer it better than another hour of reading.
We're happy to have that conversation without any expectation that you book.