We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we love. Here’s my unfiltered review of laser hair removal: It’s painful, expensive, and takes a lot of sessions to see results. Soon, I'm running right back to waxing (ouch) and shaving (annoying).
I thought at-home laser hair removal devices would be an expensive little beauty gadget that did nothing—yet another tool piled up next to my abandoned skincare devices. They're actually the best of both worlds. An at-home laser hair removal device actually can help reduce the number of hairs that grow on you by damaging the follicle with every zap—all from your bed, couch, bathroom, wherever.
This makes your hair look sparser, creating the illusion that you have far less hair (and making hair removal a whole lot quicker). And yep, at-home laser hair removal devices do work. They just use lower energy levels than the professional devices at a medspa or dermatologist’s office, which means they also require way more treatments to get similar results.
I’ve tried out all the top devices on the market for two months, evaluating how easy they were to use, how long they take on different areas of the body, the level of pain, and the efficacy, all to come up with this list of the top 10 out there. Here’s a peek at our top favorites. Keep reading for a bit more info on these devices, plus a full review of all of our picks (like how we use them, the results we've seen in two months, and more).
Safety Guidelines and Skin Type Considerations: Annoyingly, there are currently no at-home laser hair removal devices that are safe to use on dark skin and/or light hair, even if the device claims to work for “everyone.” In reality, they won’t work—or are unsafe for—any skin tones deeper than “light brown” or on hair colors lighter than “medium brown.” So make sure to speak with your dermatologist before wasting your money or, worse, damaging your skin. Now keep reading for info on how at-home laser hair removal works, the difference between IPL devices and laser devices, and first-person reviews on the best ones to try. Why we love it: After four months of consistent testing, this Philips IPL device quickly rose in the ranks as the best laser hair removal device we’ve tried.
It’s seriously high-tech, which can sometimes make something more complicated, but in this instance, it ups the beginner-friendly factor by miles. Once you connect the device to the accompanying app, the device actually speaks to you as you’re using it. So as you glide it down your leg or under your arms, the device will say if you’re doing it correctly or if you missed a spot.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
