Get Ready for Summer with IPL Hair Removal

It may be hard to believe, but summer is already just a few short months away, and since it’ll be here before we know it, it’s important to start prepping now. A change in weather means a change in skincare routine, and for many of us, that includes a change in hair removal.

Let’s be honest: in sweater season, when we get to wear long sleeves and layers every day, a lot of us neglect most, if not all, of our hair removal routine. Now that it’s starting to warm up, it’s time to think about how we’re going to get ready for sundresses and swimsuits. Those who prefer the au natural aesthetic have different skincare considerations to make for summer, so for now, we’ll address some important topics for those of us looking for hair-free skin.

Sunscreen

Hopefully, we all know how important proper sunscreen coverage is, especially in the summer. Sunscreen needs to be applied to all exposed skin, and on long days outdoors, it needs to be reapplied every couple of hours to continue protecting you from sun damage.

Unfortunately, some common methods of hair removal can get in the way of this. Waxing and sugaring irritate the skin in a way that makes it sensitive to any skincare products, including sunscreen. To avoid this, you should refrain from wearing sunscreen for one or two days following a waxing or sugaring, which means you’ll have to schedule any big outdoor plans to be at least a couple of days after your hair removal appointments. Depending on the frequency of your waxing appointments, that’s up to two full weeks of outdoor time that you’ll lose in protecting your skin after hair removal.

Intense Pulsed Light therapy (IPL), on the other hand, doesn’t prevent you from wearing skincare products. It does make your skin more sensitive to sunlight, which is all the more reason to start now! Even if you plan to use IPL during the summer, don’t panic -- as long as you take sunscreen a little more seriously, and use a stronger SPF, it should be fine regardless. Who knows, the need to protect your skin after IPL may even help you build healthy sunscreen habits in general.

Fashion

One of the major reasons for hair removal during the summer, aside from the fact that you may not like the feeling of hair on exposed or sweaty skin, is the look. Our legs, arms, armpits, and more are likely to be covered way less with summer clothes and trips to the beach. We remove the hair from these areas because we prefer the way that looks on us, but most methods of hair removal risk creating issues that, among other things, sort of ruin the look we’re going for.

Shaving is one of the most popular and cheapest hair removal methods, but it’s a potential issue in the summer for a few reasons. First of all, it doesn’t last very long, meaning you have to keep up with it extremely well to maintain the hair-free look. If you forget about it even for a few days, you risk going out with unwanted visible hair without even noticing it. And second of all, it can irritate your skin in both unpleasant and extremely noticeable ways. You could get razor burn, ingrown hairs, cuts, or simply red, angry, irritated skin. These can all be painful, potentially interfere with your sunscreen use, and ruin the smooth, clean aesthetic that you were shooting for.

Waxing does last longer than shaving, but it can irritate your skin in visible ways and ruin your look, as well. It may cause redness, just like shaving, and it can also make you bleed or give you heat blisters. This definitely interferes with the desired aesthetic, not to mention being pretty painful.

Unlike these options, IPL doesn’t tend to irritate your skin, meaning you can be both physically comfortable and mentally at ease with the knowledge that your hair-free skin is silky smooth.

Using IPL (Ideally, before summer starts)
Although IPL treatment is offered in clinics and spas, many are opting for the convenience, privacy, and safety of at-home treatment. You can do this with a simple, user-friendly IPL hair removal device like the one made by EXO beauty. It’s not as complicated or intimidating a process as you might think. You simply charge up the device, follow the manufacturer instructions on how to prepare your skin for the treatment, and begin with the push of a button.

Your hair grows in cycles, and every hair on your body is at a slightly different point in its cycle at any given time. IPL Devices affect hairs in the growth phase of the cycle, which means that a single IPL treatment only affects some of the hairs it reaches. Because of this, the treatment needs to be used multiple times before every hair is affected, and it normally takes around eight treatments to reach this point. After every hair has been affected, it will be many months before you need a “maintenance” treatment. If you time it right, you can finish your initial treatments before summer starts and not need another one until it’s over, so you won’t have to worry about setting up an extra rigorous sunscreen plan. However, if you’re starting your initial treatments too late for that, do not try to rush through them. Using IPL more frequently than recommended by the device manufacturer can lead to skin irritation or damage, so it’s much better to deal with a little extra sunscreen while you’re finishing your initial treatments.

Conclusion

If you plan to remove your body hair for the summer, IPL treatment is one of the best options available. It can seem inconvenient to those who are new to it, since you have to make a special appointment for it or purchase your own device, but it will save you so much time in the long run. Unlike other hair removal options, IPL gives you the opportunity to spend the entire summer with smooth, hair-free skin that hasn’t been subjected to irritating or damaging processes. Once you finish your initial treatments, you won't have to worry about hair removal again for the rest of the season, and potentially for a long time to come after that. Get your IPL home device now to set yourself up for a uniquely stress-free summer.