Anyone tried Boots 'Smooth Skin' home IPL hair reduction system yet?

imho

I used mine from May 2009 to Oct 2009.I then went to India for 5 months with no hair under armpits and bikini line was free of hair.
Didnt take the machine with me of course.
Might as well not bothered wasting £250 and the time i spent zapping hair as it is all back as it was before !

katrina1979

I have not read all 33 pages but i am desperate to know does this have quite a good success rate. I have a ral problem above my lip and chin which seems to be hereditary rather tham medical.

This has changed me as a person as my confidence is at an all time low with it:( Also what do you do with the hair growth in between treatments?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

jenniewb

katrina1979 wrote: »

I have not read all 33 pages but i am desperate to know does this have quite a good success rate. I have a ral problem above my lip and chin which seems to be hereditary rather tham medical.

This has changed me as a person as my confidence is at an all time low with it:( Also what do you do with the hair growth in between treatments?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I've been keeping my eye on this thread for a while now (called 'lurking'!) I want one of these but am not sure if I can part with that amount of money! I know it works out good value but (and there is a big but) its not perminant! Apparently no lazer treatment is, even the salon stuff.

I think from what I read, the people who have posted here (and bear in mind I think more people tend to want to post if things go wrong rather then to post praise- its probably more to do with needing support, advice or getting something off your chest, but a few people have posted posative things.
I seem to have gathered that its around 50:50 good to bad comments. Many people say it works and 'does exactly what it says on the tin' (or box!) Others report that it doesn't keep hair at bay for long enough or takes too long or is painful, and many others say salon versions will always be better and last longer.

There are people who report faults on the machine (about 10%) but they seem to get new sets as its an electrical item and has 1 year of warrenty. And then the many many who report cracks in the machine! It seems it doesn't affect the results but does concern me that the company have not done enough tests to consider making a machine which is crack proof.

I think the people with fine hair seem to have better results- however there are still those that buck even that trend. I guess its hard to know either way if its worth it or if using your Tesco points to go to Sk:n and get it done there is a better option but for me I'm sticking with waxing until theres a machine which works with somewhere closer to 100% results

curlygirl1971

katrina1979 wrote: »

This has changed me as a person as my confidence is at an all time low with it:(

Hi Katrina,

Completely understand what you mean by this but I hope that this thread has highlighted to you that you are not on your own in suffering from this problem.

I too have been following this thread and really appreciate all the effort posters have gone to in documenting their experiences with this system and also their honesty in sharing their problems with hair growth. I've found the information posted really useful

Another possible option for some people is a medical one. First you need to speak to a sympathetic GP or even an un-sympathetic one ....just as long as you get across the message that this is an issue that has a massive impact on your life. They can prescribe a cream for your face called Vaniqa and there is also a tablet that when taken with certain contaceptives can have good results - it's called Spironolactone, but whilst on it liver function needs to be monitored by regular blood tests. Some GP's are happy to prescribe these but others prefer to refer to Dermatologist / Endinocronologist (sp?).

HTH's someone in anycase

nikki88

been following this forum for aaaages now. finally the birthday came along and could finally afford to buy it. However cannot believe the price has now gone up to £324. gutted. fingers crossed it goes back down again.

All_eBayed_Out

OMG Im shocked it has gone up this much!

gwhizz75

Thought I would give a quick update to let people know how the boots smooth skin is working for me. I have pale skin and very dark brown hair.

I have used it 4 or 5 times now on my underarms and the hair there is now growing back in patches and much slower than it used to. I am confident that after a few more blasts I will be pretty much hair free under there.

I have also been using it on my bikini line, however I have only used it 2 or 3 times in this area. I'm SO pleased with the results on my bikini line already though. It was growing back patchy even after the first shot and now there is a huge difference to when I started out.

Also, for anyone who is interested. I have vitiligo and had reservations about using this as IPL can cause changes in pigmentation and it isn't recommended for use if you have vitiligo. I used it anyway and I haven't noticed any additional white patches appearing. Obviously that is just me and everyone is different but I thought I'd share my experience from that point of view.

nickysel

I've read all 34 pages (never let it be said that I'm desperate!!) HUGE thanks to all you posters for such great info & updates, but haven't seen the answer I need. Since I hit my 50s, I've suffered horrendously with hairs on my chin - can't possibly go more than a day without plucking. Hairs are a real mix - lots of soft, downy blonde hairs, some fine(ish)dark hairs, a rapidly-increasing number of 'telegraph pole'* ultra-thick jet black hairs & some hairs which are almost-translucent but which are ultra-coarse & feel like wire. (my skin's v fair, btw, but I do have some - mostly light - freckles.) So I'm wondering:-
(a) If I get a BSS, I know it won't work on the blonde/translucent hairs - but is it safe to use it over these since the dark ones are amongst the blondies?
(b) Can't get my head around the shaving bit. Do you need to shave immediately before BSS session & then not again 'til next session? Or do you shave in between zappings? Completely freaked about shaving 'cos I always end up with stubble within hours - & ingrowing hairs. SOOO do not want to shave my chin - unlike pits or bl, I can hardly cover my chin while waiting for the next zapping session!! Is there any way to use BSS without shaving?
Soz if these questions seem glaryingly obvious to all you guys..........but I'd REALLY appreciate your comments.

*can't remember which MSEer used the term - but thank you - it's SO accurate!!

that-obsessive-girl

Hi everyone. I posted back in (I think December) on this thread with my review after 48 weeks of using Boots Smooth Skin iPulse. I have written a follow-up post on my blog, as well as a comparison of the popular home IPL systems on the market at the moment.

I know some of you are wondering whether Philips Lumea or Remington iPulse are any better than Boots Smooth Skin, so I hope the post will be helpful:

beautyscribbler.com/2010/04/philips-lumea-vs-boots-smooth-skin.html

that-obsessive-girl

Hi nickysel,

(a) Yep it's safe to use Boots Smooth Skin over the blonde/translucent hairs which surround the darker hairs. There will be no effect on them, and it shouldn't make the IPL any less effective on the darker hairs.

(b) You do need to shave immediately prior to using Boots Smooth Skin - this is so that the journey down the hair shaft is as short as possible for the light energy to reach the follicle. However, what you do in between "zapping" sessions is up to you (as long as you don't pluck!). Are your ingrowing hairs generally from the darker hairs? You should get fewer ingrowing hairs with Boots Smooth Skin from the first time you use it. Unfortunately there's no way to use IPL without shaving... but if you can just cope with a bit of stubble for the first few weeks, you should find that the dark stubble will eventually stop completely (blonde stubble will remain I'm afraid).

Once you've got the result you wanted to achieve (i.e. no more dark hairs), you just need to zap every month or so to make sure that you catch any remaining hairs before they get a chance to come out through the skin.

Hope that helps!

If you're interested, I have a post about home IPL on my blog here: beautyscribbler.com/2010/04/philips-lumea-vs-boots-smooth-skin.html

nickysel wrote: »

I've read all 34 pages (never let it be said that I'm desperate!!) HUGE thanks to all you posters for such great info & updates, but haven't seen the answer I need. Since I hit my 50s, I've suffered horrendously with hairs on my chin - can't possibly go more than a day without plucking. Hairs are a real mix - lots of soft, downy blonde hairs, some fine(ish)dark hairs, a rapidly-increasing number of 'telegraph pole'* ultra-thick jet black hairs & some hairs which are almost-translucent but which are ultra-coarse & feel like wire. (my skin's v fair, btw, but I do have some - mostly light - freckles.) So I'm wondering:-
(a) If I get a BSS, I know it won't work on the blonde/translucent hairs - but is it safe to use it over these since the dark ones are amongst the blondies?
(b) Can't get my head around the shaving bit. Do you need to shave immediately before BSS session & then not again 'til next session? Or do you shave in between zappings? Completely freaked about shaving 'cos I always end up with stubble within hours - & ingrowing hairs. SOOO do not want to shave my chin - unlike pits or bl, I can hardly cover my chin while waiting for the next zapping session!! Is there any way to use BSS without shaving?
Soz if these questions seem glaryingly obvious to all you guys..........but I'd REALLY appreciate your comments.

*can't remember which MSEer used the term - but thank you - it's SO accurate!!