Update #1 - IPL Hair Removal

From Amazon

I received the LumaRx IPL hair removal system with much anticipation.  I don't know if I have understood exactly just how much my body hair bugs the crap out of me.  I am beginning to understand that I have some serious body image issues.  Maybe that is why I love Sally's blog, Already Pretty, as much as I do.  My wife frequently comments on how much she loves my body, and I in turn indicate how much I do not appreciate it.  And that sucks!

Okay....anyways!!!!!! One of the things I could do to remedy this situation is to attempt some more permanent hair removal methods, right?  Yup!  Enter the IPL system I purchased.

I eagerly opened the package and quickly found the manual and began to read the directions.  It took a little bit to thoroughly read it all, and then to read it again.  The device itself was quite easy to setup.  A couple of cords to plug in and it was all set to go.  I turned it on and a little bit of buzzing and the system was beeping and flashing a light at me.

It was ready to go, but I didn't think I was, so I shut it off.  Referencing the manual yet again, I reassured myself that I understood what I was supposed to do.

On went the machine again.  A brief whirring, and the machine flashed it's lights at me, and began softly beeping again.  I placed my skin on the little window to test the color of my skin.  It happily beeped and kicked on a fan and indicated it was all ready to go.

But.... I didn't know if I was yet.  So I shut it back off.  I reread the manual, and verified that yes, I still understood the directions.

On went the machine again, a soft whirring, a little beeping, checking the skin again against the window, verified it was okay, the fan kicked on, and it was set to go, again!  I took the handset, placed it against what I figured was the least sensitive portion of my body, my lower calf of my right leg.  The device beeped, indicating it had created a good contact with my skin and with great trepidation, and the device set on level 1, I pressed the button.

A flash of light, and a barely felt tingle, indicated that it worked, and I was not zapped into nothingness by the space aged laser!  I examined my skin, and everything felt and looked fine.  I turned it up to level 2, moved the device to the next location, and pressed the button.  A flash of light, a small tingle, and it was done.  I repeated this process, going to the top level it would go.

Did it hurt?  Maybe a bit, but not really.  Especially when comparing it to something like waxing, or the horrific torture that is epilating.  It certainly did not hurt enough to dissuade me from doing both of my lower legs.  It took me maybe about a half an hour to do both, and then I stopped.

I figured that I should wait a day or two and see if I was going to have an adverse reaction.  Over the next two days, I watched, and waited for my skin to fall off or to develop some wicked rash, but none of the occurred.  Two days later, all appeared clear for take off and so I went for it and zapped pretty much everything from the neck down.

Well, not quite everything, right?  There was a patch between my legs that I left alone, but everything else got zapped.  Some areas were more tingly than others, but nothing close to painful.  A couple of times I yelped a bit.  Back of the legs were more sensitive.  My bikini line was a bit sensitive.  A few areas on my chest stung a couple of times.  But seriously, the discomfort was absolutely not even close to the pain of waxing or epilating.

It took me an hour or two, with some small breaks, to finish, but I got it all.  The hardest part, making sure that I was getting each area sufficiently.  It was tough to break up all the areas into a discernible grid pattern that I could actually follow.  But I got it done, and I was thrilled!

Over the next few days, I watched all of my skin carefully for bad reactions and for my hair to magically begin to fall out!  Neither happened.  No bad reactions, but also no immediate hair loss either.  Well the directions do state that it will take awhile to notice the results.

Apparently what happens is that it kills the follicle and the hair then gets pushed out over the next week or two.  So I will have to wait and see what happens!

Round 1 conquered!  Yay!

Stay tuned for more results!

Love you!



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