JOVS Venus Pro IPL review

What is it?

The JOVS Venus Pro IPL uses intense pulsed light energy (IPL) to damage and disable your hair follicles, slowing and then stopping hair regrowth. Periodic top-up treatments keep your skin smooth. Learn more about how home IPL works here.

For IPL Skin Rejuvenation, the Venus Pro has a dedicated ‘SR’ mode and ‘SR’ flash window. In combination, the IPL flashes target melanin and haemoglobin in your dermis (the outer skin layer). The resulting gentle heat boosts circulation, reduces inflammation, and triggers skin healing and regeneration through boosted collagen production. In turn, this brightens dull skin, fades redness and sun damage, firms, smooths, and repairs your skin.

First impressions

The JOVS Venus Pro comes in a large emerald-green and gold-styled cardboard box, with both JOVS and CurrentBody branding. Inside is a large and small branded green and gold box, and two smaller white boxes. Most of the packaging is recyclable cardboard, except the bubble wrap and inflated plastic padding to protect the kit contents.

Lift the lid on the smaller power attachment compartment using the gold ribbon tab. On top is the small green user guide booklet. Underneath that is a 1m and 10cm long mains-power supply cable.

Release the bottom magnetic clasps, then pull the gold-ribbon tab to open the bottom draw. Inside are six flash window attachments, nestled in a moulded-black protective foam with labels to the side.

Here’s what you’ll find in the smaller boxes:

The large green box is neat and beautifully finished. I like the green and gold styling, the subtle textured paper covering, and the gold ribbon details. It’s professional and classy, with an expensive feel. However, it’s a shame the power adapter is in a separate unstyled white box. It’s a crucial part of the kit and seems almost an afterthought in the packaging design.

Here are the full Venus Pro box contents:

In the JOVS Venus Pro box:

• Venus Pro IPL device
• Razor
• Safety glasses
• Power adaptor
• Mains cable (with UK plug)
• UK, EU, AU & US plugs

Before you start

Read the user manual and do a skin sensitivity test.

Some of the phrasing is a little off due to translation into English, so you may need a little longer than usual to absorb and understand the manual. It lists warnings, precautions, and contraindications, about the device, how to prepare, a light intensity usage chart, skin sensitivity test, how to use it, when to use it, cleaning and maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Pay close attention to the contraindications (called ‘non-target users and conditions’ in the manual). There are several reasons you could be unsuitable to use home IPL. These include being pregnant, having epilepsy, taking photosensitising medications, having skin conditions, tattoos or after skin peels. Unfortunately, the JOVS user manual is not available online. 

But you can learn more about home IPL contraindications here. 

JOVS also advise don’t tan, and to avoid prolonged sun exposure 24 hours before and for 48 hours after your sessions. You should also use high SPF sun protection (typically minimum SPF 15). And you must not artificially tan your skin during your treatment regimen.

To check your skin sensitivity, test each area you intend to treat. Start at level 1 and zap, then move to the next section and zap at the next level up. Repeat until you’ve zapped at each level safe for your tone (based on the intensity chart in the manual). Wait 2 hours and if your skin is all normal, crack on with your first session (but avoid the test patch area until your next session).

Quality & design

The JOVS Venus Pro IPL device stands out from the crowd. It’s a boxy axe shape, in classic emerald green with gold trims. The build quality is excellent with golden metal buttons and dial, in a seamless shell of smooth metallic-finish plastic. It’s solid and robust, and rather weighty at 465g.

The Venus Pro is mains-powered (although in promo shots it’s rarely photographed with the long cord in place). There’s a short mains cable & plug which attaches to a power pack and a longer cable, which connects to the Venus Pro device. The cord is good quality, thick and flexible.

You get 500,000 flashes from the IPL bulb. This is many more flashes than you’ll ever need to last over 15 years of monthly use. And because your results last longer the more top-ups you do, it’s very unlikely you’ll need to use the device so frequently for ongoing hair removal.

Controls & modes

There’s a long textured golden metallic flash button on the handle front just below the rectangular head. It’s comfy to grip. A gold dial at the top of the handle selects from ‘off’ and 1 to 6 IPL intensity levels. There are dotted cooling vets on the top and side of the head and it also rotates 90° to the left and right, so you can better position the flashes without twisting your wrist to turn the whole device.

On the back of the handle is a round gold mode select button. Press it to cycle through the six different body area modes shown by the light-up icons towards the top of the handle. There’s also a continuous flash mode and ICE cooling mode. Long press the icons for 2 seconds to turn them on/off.

Each body mode configures the intensity and shape of the IPL energy for hair removal in different body areas. JOVS’ tests have found the sweet spot (to within 0.1 J/cm2) for this energy to match the different depths and thicknesses of hair around your body. And the SR mode is configured to target tissues and skin pigmentation for skin rejuvenation. This data is secret-squirrel though, so it’s not published anywhere. The modes work in partnership with coloured filters in the flash windows. There’s more on these later.

Flash windows & ICE cooling head

In the middle of the flat business end is a 12mm by 30mm rectangular opening with the IPL flash bulb recessed inside. A cool-to-touch, large golden-finish metallic surface surrounds the recessed flash window. This is the skin-cooling plate which is cooled by internal refrigeration when cooling mode is turned-on. There’s an angled ridge around the outside which positions the flash widows, with an indent at the bottom to easier grip and remove them.

You get six different flash windows with icons on the top and bottom. Five are for IPL hair removal, targeted to different body areas. The sixth is for IPL skin rejuvenation on your face and body. Each of the flash windows matches the mode (of the same icon) on the Venus Pro IPL device. In combination, the mode and the flash windows configure the IPL flashes to target specific types of hair by body area, and to keep your skin safe and comfy.

The flash windows are different sizes and profiles to fit specific body parts, and with coloured filters too. These are tested by JOVS to target the light energy on the hair root which is at different depths across your body parts. This focuses the hair-zapping power where it’s needed most and removes light wavelengths which are less helpful and can sting.

1. Arm – 1 by 3 cm (3cm²)
2. Leg – 1.2 by 3 cm (3.6cm²)
3. Bikini – 1 by 2 cm (2cm²)
4. Underarms – 1.2 by 3 cm (3.6cm²)
5. Face – 1 by 1 cm (1cm²)
6. SR – 1 by 3 cm (3cm²)

How to use it

Don’t forget to read the user manual and do a skin sensitivity test first!

1. First, shave your body hair. Ensure your skin is clean and dry, with no lotions or potions. You can try dermaplaning if you don’t want to shave your face.
2. Get a comfy set-up in a well-lit room where you won’t be disturbed. A full-length mirror and extension cable is handy.
3. Put on the safety glasses.
4. Turn the intensity dial to your best intensity level (see the table below). The cooling fan starts and the device lights up.
5. Rotate the head to best fit your treatment area.
6. Attach the best flash window for your treatment area.
7. Select the best mode matching your treatment area.
8. Long press the flash button for 3 seconds to turn on auto-flash (optional).
9. Place the window against your skin, and after the flash slide 1cm to the next spot, and repeat.
10. Continue and cover your treatment area skin in flashes.

JOVS Venus Pro Intensity usage chart

This is the chart printed in the user manual. Use it to see which intensity levels you can use, matching your skin colour and hair colour, and if you use the special flash windows or not.

Ease, comfort & precision

The Venus Pro is not only an alternative, striking-looking IPL device, it’s also quite different to use compared to rival IPLs. So, next, we’ll look at how easy, precise, and comfortable it is, and what it feels like too.

Safety glasses & skin contact sensor

The first and most obvious difference is, you must use the safety glasses provided. The reason for this is some light flashes escape from the smaller cooling vent and can dazzle you. Also, the skin contact sensors work slightly differently from other devices.

Like other devices, you can’t flash the device into open space when you press the flash button. This protects your eyes. It must have skin contact before the device will flash. However, unlike most other devices it doesn’t need full skin contact covering the whole flash window opening. So, you can partially cover it, or even accidentally touch the end with just a finger, and the Venus Pro will flash. Without the glasses, this escaping light could hurt your eyes. So, be sure to wear the glasses and protect your precious peepers.

The glasses are a good size and shape, lightweight, and have a comfy and flexible fit (if a little flimsy for the price of the kit). They’re also a very dark green tint, and at first, I felt dubious I’d be able to see what’s what. However, your eyes adjust quickly.

Wearing the glasses you can easily see the lit-up mode icons and the ‘ready’ light around the intensity dial. However, you can’t make out the selected intensity level number. So, drop the glasses down your nose a tad to double-check before you start zapping.

Comfort

The device itself is surprisingly comfy despite the rather chunky, angular shape. The handle is the perfect diameter for an easy grip, and the auto-flash mode means you won’t feel any strain from pressing the flash button. And it allows you to grip the handle in different ways, as you work around your body.

You can zap around your entire body without straining your wrist too. That’s because you can rotate the head instead of holding your arm or wrist at an uncomfy angle. If you don’t use the rotating head, you’ll find the large device rather cumbersome and hard to manoeuvre.

With the JOVS Venus Pro, work in strips up and down your skin. Turn the head instead of pivoting your arm or wrist. Turn the head horizontally on your armpits, upper lip, chin, tummy and legs. Turn the head vertically on your bikini line, inner thighs, under your jawline and on your neck.

And it’s heavy. It’s not an issue when balanced holding it upright, or resting the weight on the top of your legs. But whilst zapping the back of my knees and calves in a sitting position, I find it comfier to grip it further up the handle or even with two hands. If you do this too, take care not to press and alter the mode buttons on the handle!

It’s very easy to get a flash both with or without the flash windows. The gentle curves on the leg, arm and underarm windows don’t make it any easier, but they do help with closer skin contact so you’ll see less escaping bright light.

Precision

Covering your skin is easy enough, but you can’t tell exactly where you’re zapping. This is because the end of the treatment head is very large with a relatively small flash opening in the middle. It’s bulky because of the cooling plate on the business end. More on this later. 

Therefore, you must roughly guess where the flash window is. Because of this, the Venus Pro doesn’t feel as precise as some other rival devices.

Here’s how I do it:

For your legs, rest the full weight of the device on the tops of your legs with the head horizontal. Work in an upward strip from your ankle, sliding roughly 1cm between flashes. Then, move the head 3cm to the adjacent spot and do a downward strip. Repeat in up-and-down 3cm strips until you’ve covered your entire lower leg. 

For your upper leg, repeat the 3cm wide up-and-down strips starting at your knee, sliding 1cm between flashes. It’s much easier to rotate the head to the vertical position for the very tops of your legs and your inner thighs. Depending on how flexible you are, you may find it easier to stand up and twist around to reach the backs of your knees and legs, sliding 1cm between the flashes.

For arms, I prefer to use the head vertically and work in 3cm wide strips up and down my lower arm, sliding roughly 1cm between flashes.

Underarms are easy. Look in a mirror and, with the head horizontal, do one strip downwards, sliding 1cm between flashes. Then move the head 3cm to the adjacent spot and do another strip upwards covering your entire pit, again sliding 1 cm between flashes.

For my bikini line, I use the head vertically to follow the contours in this area. But note, the window is only 2cm wide, so work in smaller 2cm wide strips, still sliding 1cm between flashes.

The face flash window is a very small 1cm square. Looking in a mirror, I use the head turned horizontal on my upper lip and chin, but vertical under the jawline and on the neck. It’s a very small 1cm movement between flashes.

For skin rejuvenation on my face, I turn the head horizontal and work up and down my skin in 3cm wide strips, sliding 1cm between flashes. You can only move as far as the glasses allow on your cheeks.

Once you get used to it, sessions are easy and fast. But it’s less about precision and meticulously placed flashes, and much more about speed.

Speed

The Venus Pro flash rate is quick, especially if you’ll use it on lower intensity levels. 

On level 1 it flashes roughly every 0.7 seconds and gets slightly slower as you move up the levels. Each flash is just over 1 second on level 3, then up to a fraction over 1.5 seconds on level 6. 

On all levels 1 through 6, and when using the auto-flash mode, it’s easy to pace the flashes as you slide the device over your skin. It’s smoothest on levels 1 and 2, and more of a flash-slide-pause on level 6. However, the rate stays steady and consistent so it’s easy to get into a productive rhythm. 

And I love the auto-flash mode. You get 15 consecutive flashes, then simply lift slightly from your skin, reposition and continue. It’s a really neat feature that balances speed and control.

On level 6, it takes a while to zap my full leg, at around 16 minutes. It’s much faster on level 1 which takes around 10 minutes.

JOVS say you can flash your whole body in 10 minutes with the Venus Pro IPL. I found this a tad optimistic if you want to get good coverage, even on the low IPL intensity levels.

For my full body – that’s full legs, underarms, bikini line, and face – it takes me around 40 minutes on level 6, and 25 minutes on level 1. The highest intensity levels safe for your skin tone will give the best results, so you should use the highest level you can. It’s not the fastest at-home IPL on the higher levels, but it’s still very good. You’ll be finished before getting tired or bored.

Sensation

You’ll hear the cooling fan as soon as you turn on the device. It’s rather noisy throughout the session but it’s necessary to stop the device from overheating. If it does overheat the device won’t give out any flashes.

The flashes are a soft ‘pah’ noise on level 1, and more of a loud ‘pop’ on level 6. You’ll see some light escaping against your skin. Wearing the dark green-tinted glasses makes this light look a pleasant pinky colour. 

Some bright light also escapes out of the smaller dotted air vents on the top of the device. Depending on which way the head is rotated, you may find this annoying. But you can simply rotate the head the other way to fix it.

The ICE cooling mode feels very pleasant indeed. It’s a lovely cold sensation as you glide the head over your skin. However, note you must use it WITHOUT the flash windows. So, you won’t get the benefit of the additional body area filters.

With the special filters, the flashes feel warm on the low, and hotter on the higher IPL intensities. The flash window metal surround also heats up gradually to your skin temperature as you zap away. But using the Venus Pro with the relevant mode and flash window, I experience no stinging or burning sensation. Even on more sensitive areas where the hair is thicker such as around my bikini line, and the tops of my legs (which I often find far too zingy). So, I do feel the modes and flash windows on the JOVS Venus Pro offer enhanced zapping comfort.

Skin redness is a common skin reaction to IPL. Your skin may also feel a bit hot and tingly. It’s normal and should wear off within 24 hours. Cool it with a damp face cloth or ice pack. Cooling water sprays are good too, Aloe Vera gel or a non-scented moisturiser.

Cover up and avoid tanning and sun exposure after your session. If you don’t there’s a higher risk you’ll experience the rare home IPL side effects.

Schedule, effort & results

Home laser and IPL devices demand effort and commitment. There’s a start-up routine to get you to smooth, and then top-up sessions maintain your results.

The JOVS start-up schedule is more frequent than most others. You do 3 to 4 sessions per week for the first 4 weeks. Then 2 to 3 sessions during weeks 5 to 8. Then, you can switch to maintenance sessions doing 1 every month, or 1 every 2 weeks as you need them.

So, you must commit and make time for your regular sessions to see your best results.

Negatives

There are a few negatives with the JOVS Venus Pro IPL.

First, the cooling fan is rather noisy. And you must wear the safety glasses provided. This put me off at first, but the glasses are comfy enough and do a good job at shielding your eyes. Just remember to pop them back on if you take them off mid-session i.e. after you’ve changed modes and flash windows.

Second, there’s no skin tone sensor. Most other rival devices have a skin tone sensor which scans your skin tone and determines if it’s safe for you to use IPL. If your skin tone is too dark, they won’t flash. Some even select the best match intensity level for your skin tone. The Venus Pro doesn’t have this. This won’t affect you if you have fair skin because you can use all the intensity levels anyway. But if you have darker skin tones IV and V, you MUST reference the intensity chart guide printed in the user manual. This will keep you safe.

It’s also safest to use the special flash windows as these filter light energy which can hurt your melanin-rich outer skin layers. If you’d prefer a foolproof device with a skin tone sensor, check out my top IPL recommendations here.

I have a few niggles with the shape and design also. The rotating head does a grand job of keeping it comfy as you work around your body. But it still feels heavy and chunky in a few tighter spaces, such as behind your knees and legs if in a seated position. I sometimes need to use two hands or hold further up the handle for balance. And this causes another problem.

Because the cooling and auto-flash icons are also touch buttons, you can accidentally turn them on or off as you work. I do this when I alter my grip on the handle, especially when working around my legs. I’ve also knocked and altered the intensity dial a couple of times too.

Next, I like the idea of the ICE cooling head, but much less so when you realise you can’t use it with the special flash windows. And that’s a little confusing because, if you use the special flash windows, you can use higher IPL intensities – even on medium and dark skin tones. And the higher IPL intensities give better results. So, I don’t know why you would choose not to use the flash windows. 

The special flash windows (along with the targeted modes) are the key selling point of the Venus Pro. Therefore, the cooling mode (for use without them) seems a little redundant to me. It’s a shame you can’t use them all together because the cooling sensation does feel rather nice.

And of course, there are more frequent sessions during your start-up stage. Rival devices suggest 1 session every 1 or 2 weeks to start. But JOVS suggest several more at 3 or 4 per week for the first month. This is to ensure you zap all the hairs in the treatment areas over the first few weeks. So, you must make the time for these regular sessions, and you’ll need plenty of it especially if you’ll zap large areas like your legs.

And finally, the Venus Pro is expensive and there’s no money-back guarantee. I love a good money-back guarantee, and all the top home IPLs have them. So this irks me. But if you like the idea of the JOVS’ unique features, hair removal, and IPL skin rejuvenation in one, you can buy it with my special discount voucher below.

JOVS Venus Pro deals

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