LASER VS. IPL

LASER VS. IPL

Many women (and men) find hair in certain places unsightly and embarrassing. Of course, the level of body hair you choose to have is a personal choice and it’s okay if you want, for example, to rock armpit or leg hair (you go, girl!) but for those who don’t, many often resort to painful, expensive, and time-consuming hair removal options. There are many ways to remove or reduce hair such as plucking, hot waxing, sugar waxing, bleaching, threading, electrolysis, epilating, depilatory creams, and lasering – with some methods more expensive than others and some ways more effective than others. But for those who have already discovered the benefits of laser hair removal, let’s examine which is more effective between the diode laser versus IPL hair removal. But first, let’s look at the environmental impact of your usual methods.

Let’s Go Eco-Friendly: What are Environmentally Safe Hair Removal Methods?

Let’s face it: everyone needs to care about the future of our planet and many of the hair removal options on the market are not “green” and eco-friendly. Let’s briefly explore why some of the most common hair removal methods can impact the environment.

Waxing

Waxing can be wasteful since it uses multiple cloths or paper strips to remove the hair plus wooden applicators and the wax itself. The wax used for hair waxing doesn’t decompose and isn’t biodegradable. So, when you go for a waxing session, all of those products end up in the landfill. Many salons try and reduce their waste (for-profits not the environment) by using less wax and fewer strips, but if you think of how many clients go through the door, the mountain of waste at the end of each day is currently unavoidable.

Besides, waxing is painful, can damage the skin (if applied too hot), and can cause redness and irritation. Among other side effects are ingrown hairs, rashes, sun irritation, and so forth. All that can set you back £15-50 per session – and results aren’t even permanent. Waxing only lasts two to six weeks and you must let the hair regrow to 1/4 inch long (about a grain of rice) and have to walk around with unsightly hair until your session.  Further, appointments can be hard to secure, especially in times of Covid and the uncertainty it brings. And it’s tricky to plan ahead at any time with a demanding job, family and busy lifestyle.

Plus, the average woman spends up to £23,000 on waxing over her lifetime.

Depilatory Creams

Although depilatory creams are cheap (£4-12 per bottle) and last 2-3 treatments, they contain harmful chemicals that often end up washed down the sink, and subsequently end up in our oceans. These creams break down the keratin in the hair and often contain thioglycolic acids, combined with calcium, sodium, or potassium hydroxide. As you can imagine, this chemical combo smells rather potent, so these creams often contain dilutants, moisturises, and fragrances, used to weaken the strength of the acids to make it safer for the skin and to make them smell less unpleasant. This mash-up can cause flare-ups on the skin and they come in plastic bottles, also not exactly eco-friendly.

Shaving

One of the most popular hairs removal methods is shaving because it’s inexpensive and easy and fairly painless (unless you knick yourself). But the environmental downside is that every year, two billion razors end up in landfills. Disposable razors are the worst culprits because they’re often badly made and can become blunt and rusty, so people throw them away after a shave or two. Even razors with the metal handle still have razors encased in plastic so they’re only marginally better than the all-plastic disposable kind. And, let’s not forget the often enormous amount of plastic casings and outer packaging too.

Plus, if you use chemically-based shaving foam or gel, these harm waterways, making the water undrinkable and killing marine life.

Over a lifetime, shaving is both expensive and time-consuming. Razors and razor blades are expensive, often costing around £8-30 per pack of blades.

Shockingly, the average woman spends £6,500 on shaving over her lifetime and it’s time-consuming too, taking around eight weeks of her life. Eight!

Laser Hair Removal

Although the cost of salon treatments can vary considerably and be pricey, if you weigh these figures against the cost of waxing and shaving and the environmental impacts of these other methods, the price of laser hair removal pales in comparison. How much would you pay for permanent results where you don’t have to spend hours of your life removing hair and you know that your hair removal products don’t end up in oceans or landfills?

What is Diode Laser and What is IPL?

In short, both of these methods, diode laser and IPL, permanently remove or reduce the regrowth rate of body hair – but one takes longer than the other.

Diode lasers produce a single spectrum of intense red light in a single wavelength. Diode lasers target the dark pigment (or melanin) in your hair follicle, heat the follicle, and disable its regrowth (i.e. they zap and kill the hair) without heating up the surrounding skin tissue (meaning no damage).

IPL or Intense Pulsed Light devices, on the other hand, work with broad-spectrum wavelengths in multiple colours. This type of wavelength cannot focus the light energy or concentrate the beam into a single follicle. The light is dispersed at various levels and various depths and the diffused energy targets not only the melanin in the hair follicle but also the surrounding skin tissue (meaning there’s a slight risk of damage).

Both types of hair removal do work, but diode lasers are proven to be more effective long-term and remove the hair faster. Read on!

Scientific Results Weigh In: Which Works Better? The Diode Laser vs IPL?

A study by dermatologists on women with hirsutism (where women have excess thick dark hair, primarily on the face, chest, lower abdomen, inner thighs and back) published in the Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery noticed that diode lasers won the competition after just two treatments between diode laser, IPL, and Nd: YAG laser; the study concluded: “it was seen that the percentage of hair reduction after two sessions of treatment was maximum (40%) in the diode laser group.” In only two sessions, almost half the hair was gone.

The study went on further to conclude “the percentage of hair reduction after four sessions of treatment was maximum (64%) in the diode laser group…[and] after eight sessions of treatment was maximum (92%) in the diode laser group.” So, after only eight sessions, this formal study found that women had reduced their hair by 92%, which is remarkable considering these women, keep in mind, had a condition with excess hair, where the hair was coarse, thick, and wiry. For women with finer dark hair, in fewer than eight sessions, you may see complete hair removal within this time.

The Cost of Diode Laser vs IPL

The NHS notes that IPL costs between £85-270 per treatment area per session, yet some UK clinics charge much more and that you’ll need regular treatments to keep the hair from regrowing. There are minimal side effects, but it can cause redness and some more severe rare side effects.

Although it’s difficult to find a diode laser clinic in the UK – with IPL clinics being more popular for their lower cost to aestheticians – some clinics offer treatments for as little as £50 per month with others having a course of eight treatments going up to £2,500 or more – all for single treatment areas. Another UK clinic charges £30-200 per session for single treatment areas using diode laser treatments.

At the salon, for either diode laser or IPL, you’re required to shave beforehand and both are quick treatments with diode lasers being slightly faster for treatment time. Since diode lasers have specific beams of light, there’s less heat and less need for cooling gels unlike with IPL. Both are painless treatments with patients saying both provide minimal discomfort but with IPL having marginally more discomfort than diode lasers.

What if the Salon Costs are Too Expensive?

For those of us who can’t afford the hefty price tag of salon laser hair removal, yet want this eco-friendly and permanent solution, there are at-home options on the market.

If you don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds per year on at-home hair removal methods or salon methods and want permanent results, we recommend our Tria Hair Removal Laser 4X.  For less than the cost of two salon sessions and considerably less than the lifetime cost of hair removal, you can start seeing results after just two treatments with the first clinically-proven laser available for home use. This at-home laser uses diode laser technology to provide safe, effective, and permanent results. Plus, if you’re unhappy with our product (although, we are certain you won’t be), you have a no-quibble 60-day money-back guarantee.

What Do the Experts Say About Diode Lasers?

According to the Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences (JLMS), scientists noted that “Lasers used in hair reduction aim to disable effective hair growth by destroying hair bulbs during the anagen growth phase. Lasers such as ruby (694 nm), alexandrite lasers (755 nm) for lighter skin types, Nd: YAG (1064 nm) for darker skin types and diode lasers (800-810 nm) for all skin types I-VI are effective” and, to reiterate, diode lasers were safe and effective for all skin types in this scientific study (but not all are recommended for use on all hair and skin types).

A board-certified dermatologist, dermatopathologist, and past president of the American Academy of Dermatology and ASLMS and the past president of the Dermatologic Association and ASDS, Dr Wheeland, F.A.C.P, noted that “Having personally conducted and published the largest patient-controlled research study using at-home devices, I can honestly say that the Tria Laser represents the best, safest, easiest to use and most effective laser technology available for permanently eliminating unwanted hair.”

The Takeaways

Imagine being hair-free in just 12 weeks!

Say goodbye to waxing, ditch your razor once and for all, and say no to chemically laden shaving and hair removal products! Save the environment and be hair free!

Imagine all the hours you will save when you don’t have to worry about hair removal; you’ll have time for the things that really matter whether it’s catching up on the latest episode of your favourite show, jet setting to your latest Instagrammable destination, spending time with family, grabbing cocktails with your friends, getting fit in the gym, or something else entirely. You’ll have the freedom of time on your side.

Plus, you can use your Tria Laser in the comfort of your own home with no trips to the salon, no unwanted hair to show a beauty specialist and no embarrassment.

Buy your Tria Hair Removal Laser 4X and enjoy a world in which unwanted hair is no longer a concern!

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