Do you have to shave before IPL & laser hair removal?

Shaving your hairs before home laser or IPL sessions gives hands-down your best results. But for some people it’s just not practical. You’ll understand why if you’re left with angry-red red shaving rash, lumps and bumps, or itchy irritation. And, being a lady, it feels uncomfortably masculine to shave your face.

So, are there other options? Let’s find out. In this article you’ll learn:

Why is shaving best?

Most people turn to home laser or IPL because they want to stop shaving. So, it’s a tad frustrating you can’t avoid it during your first sessions. But it really is worth the short-term pain for the long-term results.

This is why is works best:

Shaving cuts your hairs super-close to your skin. Therefore, there’s no hair on the surface to absorb the pulses or flashes of light energy. It’s all directed down the hair shaft, deep inside your follicle where it needs to be. There, it converts to heat and damages key areas of the follicle, which stunts your hair growth and keeps it in a dormant state. So, you enjoy smooth skin everyday.

TIP: You can also shave as much as you need in between IPL/laser sessions.

So don’t be tempted to leave your hair there. Oh no.

What happens if you laser or IPL without shaving?

Nothing good is the short answer. And in more detail:

#1 The first thing you’ll notice is a hot pain where you flash, as the light energy burns the surface hairs. And this causes a stinging sensation, or can simply burn your skin. It’s very, very unpleasant. Owie.

#2 The next thing you’ll notice is the foul, lingering stench of burning hair. No one in your home will thank you for this.

#3 Then you’ll notice bits of burnt-on hair welded to the flash window. They look like large black spots and are tricky to impossible to clean off without damaging the window.

#4 is the most important reason. It won’t work. If there’s hair on the surface, a lot less light energy makes it deep into the follicle. Those key areas of the hair follicle remain cool and untouched, so they go about their business building and growing your hairs.

So, that’s why you really must remove those surface hairs before laser and IPL. It means the IPL flashes and laser pulses can do their thang.

But do I have to shave my face?

So, shaving your body hair gives your very best results. But shaving your face is so masculine!

I know. In the past, I’ve shaved my face several times before zapping my unwelcome chinny hairs. And it’s not something I like to remember or repeat. But thankfully, there is another painless and effective option.

Instead of shaving your face I recommend dermaplaning.

A dermaplaning tool is a teeny hand-held foldable plastic knife with a sharp stainless-steel blade behind safety guards.  It’s a very quick and irritation-free way to remove unwanted hair on your face. It also exfoliates your skin removing the outer dry layer. So, it feels touchably smooth and is extra absorbent for your skincare products. Whoop!

How to use a dermaplaning tool

1. Wash & dry your skin
2. Hold the blade at 45 degrees against your skin.
3. Gently stroke your skin in short downward motions to remove hair, peach-fuzz, and dead skin cells.

It’s easy to stroke away peach-fuzz. You’ll even see the tiny hairs piling-up on your skin and the blade after each stroke. Simply wipe them away. On thicker hairs it drags a little but doesn’t scrape or hurt.

It works on your upper lip, chin, jawline, sideburns, and cheeks. No water or foam needed. And it’s excellent to tame your eyebrows for a quick shape and tidy-up. Hairs grow back at your usual rate, but they feel softer than with shaving. For me, my thick whiskers feel much less sharp and stubbly, and I’ve no irritation in using the tool the next day on the same hairs.

Each tool stays sharp for around 2 to 3 months, which is long enough to see you through your start-up treatment schedule.

I like dermaplaning because:

• No need to lather up your face with foam.
• The tool is small and easy to manoeuvre.
• It’s discrete (fits in a bag)
• Doesn’t feel or look like a man shaving.
• It’s quick, painless and effective, without any nicks or cuts.
• You can use mid-session on stray body hairs.
• Hair grows back at your natural rate, but feels softer than with shaving.
• You can also use the tool daily in between your zapping sessions until you don’t need to anymore.

I think dermaplaning is THE perfect companion to laser and IPL hair removal on your face.

However, if your facial hairs simply grow too quick, dermaplaning may not be athe answer. You may wish to continue your daily plucking routine alongside a home device until your hairs slow and stop growing.

And what if you can’t shave beacuse of irritation? Let’s see what your options are, next.

Can I pluck, wax, or epilate instead?

Most brands recommend you shave (or dermaplane) your hairs before your sessions. However, a few do say you can wax, epilate or pluck your hairs beforehand. Here’s a quick table comparison of shaving vs pluck/wax/epilate for all devices I’ve reviewed:

IMPORTANT: DON’T USE HAIR REMOVAL CREAMS because most brands suggest they may cause skin reactions with the light energy.

Let’s now look at the devices which say you can wax, epilate or pluck your hairs before your sessions.

Philips say you can pluck, wax or epilate before your sessions. However, you must then wait 24 hours before zapping your hairs. This allows any skin redness and irritation to fade, and for a tiny bit of hair to regrow in your hair follicles.

This tiny bit of hair absorbs the IPL flashes and damages a small area called the dermal papilla, at the bottom of the hair follicle where your hairs grow from. If the damage is big enough, the hair enters into a dormant resting stage. And during subsequent sessions you’ll zap any newly growing hairs inside your follicles too.

Braun say you can “use your preferred hair removal method.” But they don’t offer any further guidance as Philips do. It’s likely it’ll work in the same way as Philips suggest, so it’s probably wise to wait 24 hours before zapping freshly waxed or plucked skin.

Smoothskin only recommend you shave your hairs. However, the Pure’s specification is similar to the Braun Pro 5. Therefore, you could try the Pure if waxing, epilating or plucking 24 hours before zapping. They give a reassuring worldwide 90-day money back guarantee too.

👉 But it’s also important to understand that you’ll have much slower results with these devices than if you shave. And especially if you’re using the lower intensity levels on dark skin up to type V.

This means a longer start-up phase and more frequent top-ups. That’s because there’s just a tiny hair root and so much less melanin in the hair follicle versus the entact shaft of a shaved hair. Therefore, they’ll be much less of the crucial damage needed to the key growing areas of the follicle which inturn ensure longer-lasting hair removal.

And it’s also important to note that for both Philips and Braun devices, plucking, waxing and epilating were not part of their clinical tests. But there is one brand which does have clinical proof of effective hair reduction on plucked hairs.

Let’s look at these next.

Iluminage devices proven to work on plucked hairs

The Iluminage Touch and Precise Touch are clinically proven effective on fair hair (blonde and red) if you pluck, wax, or epilate immediately before your sessions. This helps the IPL work on hair colours without the melanin pigment found in dark hair. Instead, the IPL energy targets the small blood droplets left behind in the follicle after it’s pulled out.

This clinically proven fair hair regimen also means you can wax, epilate or pluck dark hairs too. Yay! So, this makes the compact Iluminage Precise Touch a versatile option if you want to continue daily plucking of facial hairs. And for larger and small areas, the design of the Iluminage Touch is better.

However, be prepared you’ll likely need more than the advertised seven sessions to see results. That’s because to start, there’s just a teeny droplet of blood in your follicle for the IPL to work on. Then, as your dark hairs grow in your follicle there’s more melanin to target during subsequent sessions. It’s likely to take somewhere between 7 to 14 sessions to get smooth results.

Here’s a comparison table of the treatment schedules for each device where you can pluck before sessions.

To sum up & devices you can choose

Here’s a quick roundup for those who skipped straight to the end.

• If you can, shave your dark hairs immediately before your session.
• I recommend dermaplaning facial hairs before your sessions.
• Dermaplane away any speedy, rogue growth inbetween sessions too.

And if shaving is intolerably bad for your skin so you must wax, epilate or pluck before your sessions:

• Check out the Iluminage Precise Touch for face and small areas.
• Or the Iluminage Touch for larger body areas.
• Both Iluminage devices are clinically proven to work on hairs removed at the root.
• But it may take slightly longer for you to notice results
• Or take more frequent sessions to maintain your smooth.

Here’s a quick comparison table of the best devices you can choose as mentioned in this article, for shaving, waxing, epilating or plucking your hairs before your IPL session.

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