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You’ve had enough of constantly shaving, epilating or waxing and finally want to treat yourself to permanent hair removal – but which method works best? Because not all lasers are the same – there is IPL hair removal, the diode laser, the alexandrite laser and the YAG laser. This article explains how IPL and laser treatments work, what the differences, advantages and disadvantages are and which solution is best for you. 🙂
How does IPL hair removal work?
IPL stands for “Intense Pulsed Light“. This is not laser epilation, as most people think, but photoepilation. This method uses a so-called flash lamp device that emits strong pulses of light that target the pigmentation of the hair. The broad light spectrum of IPL devices consists of many wavelengths between around 250 and 400 nanometers.
This broad spectrum of individual light pulses has a relatively untargeted effect on the affected area of skin. The energy is absorbed by the melanin in the hair roots and converted into heat there, causing the hair papilla to become desolate. Unfortunately, the IPL treatment has a much less targeted effect on the desired hair roots than the laser, which puts a lot of strain on the surrounding skin. As a result, IPL hair removal takes longer and is less effective than laser hair removal.
What exactly are the differences between IPL hair removal and laser?
All types of laser hair removal work with a very specific wavelength, which is predefined for each treatment depending on the skin and hair type. The most common types of laser include the alexandrite laser with a wavelength of 755 nanometers, the diode laser with 810 nanometers and the YAG laser with 1064 nanometers. Compared to IPL, which acts on the hair follicles over a wide area and in pulses, the laser’s radiation acts very specifically on the hair roots with highly focused energy.
The principle is ultimately the same: Depending on the wavelength, the laser hits the hair follicle, which is heated and ultimately eliminated. While the alexandrite laser is particularly suitable for very light to darker hair on light skin, the diode laser also reliably removes hair of the same type on European skin types(skin types 1-4). And the YAG laser achieves what many consider impossible: It makes even very thick, dark hair growth on dark skin a thing of the past without affecting the melanin in the surrounding skin. You can find out exactly how hair removal works on dark skin here.
So how do the different lasers work?
Now that you have an initial overview of how both types of hair removal work, we would like to explain the differences between them in more detail. IPL, a form of photoepilation, differs from laser epilation. It uses a broader light spectrum (250-1200 nm), which allows the treatment of larger areas, but is usually less efficient and requires more sessions compared to the narrower spectra of lasers (755/810/1064 nm).
Treatments with IPL can often be painful, as they affect the surrounding skin as well as the hair root, whereas laser treatments are usually barely noticeable. IPL is only effective on dark hair and light skin types and must never be used on very dark or black skin types due to the increased risk of burns. Laser technology, on the other hand, offers solutions for all hair and skin types. Although laser treatments are usually a little more expensive, they generally require fewer sessions than IPL and offer longer-lasting results.
The advantages of laser hair removal
You may have already guessed it – our recommendation for removing unwanted hair is clearly the laser rather than the IPL method due to its advantages. Laser treatment is less painful, more thorough and more efficient, resulting in fewer sessions required. It enables the removal of both very light and very dark hair on all skin types, including very dark skin. In addition, the laser method targets the hair roots without unnecessarily exposing the surrounding skin to high levels of radiation, a clear disadvantage of IPL treatment.
📌 Our conclusion:
Depilation with IPL hair removal is possible in principle, but only works on dark hair on light skin and requires many sessions with greater stress on the skin. This is why we recommend laser treatment to our customers in the vast majority of cases, as we can respond much more precisely to your particular skin and hair type and generally achieve significantly better results. Laser hair removal is also less painful. The best thing to do is simply let us advise you personally, together we will find the perfect, individually tailored solution for you.
