If you took the decision to undergo IPL hair removal you may have questions and concerns. It is okay to have doubts and to wonder what is the treatment like. This article explains what to do (and not to do) and what’s going to happen before the treatment, during it and after it.

Before:

Avoid exposure to heat, before and after the hair removal. Don’t expose to sunlight either, take saunas or hot baths from one day before to one day after the treatment. The hair removal will be better and spots on the skin will be avoided as well.

Do not use moisturizing creams or oil at least 12 hours before the IPL hair removal process. Although it is important to have hydrated skin to ease the hair removal, the day it will be performed  it’s better to use moisturizing cream after the session. As an alternative talcum powder can be used before the hair removal.

During:

Even though pain with IPL permanent hair removal is minimum and can be easily beared, ice can be applied for both pain andreddening (if they should occur), even if generally there are no problems. Do not apply ice directly on the skin, wrap it up with a cloth before. During the sessions, as the discomfort is very little and only the part of the body to treat is needed by the doctor, you can take advantage of it doing a facial cleansing or manicure.

After:

After removing the hair with IPL, post-depilatory calming cream can be used, there are perfumed or neutral ones. The first can irritate, so be sure before using it.

To obtain a calming effect apply camomile gel, aloe vera or witch hazel, even if it’s an after sun it’s great after an IPL hair removal session. If you want to delay the appearance of regrown hair, use a growth retardant cream, which also has moisturizing and calming agents.

Do exfoliations between sessions of IPL hair removal to avoid that the hair grow towards inside. Use a wash cloth or a cream for exfoliations to eliminate dead cells and regularly a hyper-moisturizing cream to facilitate the growth towards outside. A great home defoliant is bicarbonate.

A word of warning about anesthetic creams:

Recently experts have warned patients about the indiscriminate use of anesthetic creams during IPL laser hair removal sessions. These creams are used in medical treatments and need medical prescription. They’re drugs, generally including a local anesthetic (lidocaine, benzocaine, prilocaine etc.).

There some risks using these creams in IPL permanent hair removal sessions. First of all they could cause a conflict with other drugs (we would like to stress the importance of talking to a doctor and go to a medical center, not an aesthetic one), secondly your body could absorb the cream which may cause serious effects such as irregular heartbeat, respiratory problems, neurological symptoms (convulsions, coma) and even could cause death.