I bought this in May 2021, with the naive hopes that I’d not have to shave if we ever had a British summer. I have dark brown hair, medium to coarse, and have light to medium skin. I’m really quite hairy, and my legs are stubbly again in the evening after a morning shave.
Week 1: I patch tested and had no reaction. The following day I did my legs, armpits, “moustache” and a small area of bikini line. I was filled with excitement, and looked for new areas to treat!
Week 3: second application on all of the above. Still really excited, but not seeing a huge difference. I felt I had slower leg hair growth but wasn’t sure if it was just wishful thinking. I’d realised by this stage that I wouldn’t be hair free by summer but I was prepared to commit to have a shaveless summer 2022!
Week 4: no treatment, but I realised my hair on my legs was not only growing back more slowly, but the hairs that I had were just falling out. I stopped shaving my legs as I realised the hair was so sparse that it wasn’t actually noticeable anymore. Added my “beard” to the list - maybe 6 scattered hairs.
Week 5: flashed all previously mentioned areas with the lumea. Started to find it somewhat time consuming, so watched telly whilst robotically using it.
Week 7: time of writing this review. I’ve just treated all the same areas again.
Legs: hairless
Moustache: hairless (I nearly forgot to do it as it’s such a non issue!)
Beard: still present but I’m a couple of sessions behind.
Bikini line: hairless
Armpits: still hairy. I have darker pigmented skin here, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it never worked but I shall keep going.
It turns out they weren’t naive hopes after all!!
I find it painless, but it can get a bit hot sometimes. When that happens I pull it away for a couple of seconds and then carry on. I find it awkward to use in certain areas - backs of legs for example. Maybe I’m not very flexible, but sitting on the sofa watching telly and contorting to get a large “travel hairdryer” sized machine into the nooks and crannies can be tricky. It also gets … not heavy exactly, but slightly tiring to hold and press if you’re doing a large area. I tend to use it for about half an hour in total each session. Personally, I found all of these minor niggles were irrelevant compared to the benefit of never shaving again.
Conclusion: an amazing gadget! Definitely worth it, but you need to carefully consider hair colour and skin tone. You MUST be dedicated; don’t get one if you’re the sort of person who flakes and doesn’t have follow through and commitment.
| Product Name | Philips Lumea Prestige IPL Hair Removal Device with SmartSkin Sensor, 4 Intelligent Attachments for Underarms, Bikini, Body and Face + Satin Compact Pen Trimmer, BRI949/00 |
|---|---|
| Units | 1 count |
| Brand | Philips |
| Country of origin | Slovenia |
