The truth about IPL Hair Reduction Treatments ~ you get what you pay for!

A recent client story, Realskin Clinic had a male client, Dave, visit the clinic for IPL hair reduction treatment, full chest and abdomen. The charge was $500, when Dave asked why the cost is so much, it was explained that ‘we provide a meticulous service’. Four weeks later Dave returned for his follow-up treatment with little to no hair regrowth (yay us, amazing results). The same evening following Dave’s second visit, another male client, Tom, booked for the same service. Tom had an IPL treatment 4 weeks ago at an unnamed clinic here in Queensland. The hair regrowth was a patchy mess (pictured, right). Sadly, the only way to improve Tom’s visible patchiness was to ‘patch treat’ him to catch up the missed hairs. Unfortunately, this process will cost Tom more money and more time to achieve an even hair reduction.

Recently our director Sevine Forster found herself in a discussion with a client about IPL hair reduction treatments and made the statement, ‘With regards to IPL, we are expensive and for good reason.’

The clients’ response was, ‘No, you are not expensive. You are adequately priced. It’s just that everywhere else is offering average and charging cheap for it.’

This conversation left Sevine confident with what she has always believed to be the truth within the IPL industry; ‘you get what you pay for.’

Have you heard of ‘shot allocation’?

IPL shot allocation means that some IPL treatments may allocate a specific amount of shots (zaps) per area. For instance, the underarms maybe allocated 14 shots, 7 for each underarm. Meaning despite the size of your treated area, you will only be treated with the specified amount of shots, potentially impinging on your results. Hence, some treatments can be offered cheaper because you get less treatment. At Realskin Clinic, ‘shot application’ is not used. If there is hair in the area to be treated, they will be zapped, with no hair left untreated.

Are you sick of paying cheap for IPL hair reduction that simply doesn’t work?

Or are you receiving patchy results?

Why are you doing 11-15 treatments, when your friend is doing 6-8 and getting the same, (if not better) results?

What would you do if your GP told you that you needed to have knee surgery? Would you;

A) Start phoning around, price shopping and pick the cheapest?

B) Assume since a company mostly markets surgery that they must be good – (in a situation where many clinicians offer the treatment – think about who would be preforming this treatment and how would it be supervised. For example, would you want your GP to perform your knee surgery or the orthopedic surgeon)?

C) Or, choose a smaller specialist team with years of experience, where only 1-2 clinicians would preform your treatment?

When deciding which company to have your IPL hair reduction treatment with, here are a few things to consider.

Firstly, you will need an initial IPL consultation and test patch. A test patch must be conducted on a separate day to the actual treatment appointment. In addition, an IPL test patch allows a little time for your skin to response and ensures this is a safe treatment choice for you.

Being aware of how many treatments you require is imperative to managing your expectations. At an IPL consultation your technician will establish a realistic treatment plan.

For you to achieve optimal results from your treatment plan, you need to start using the prescribed pre treatment homecare to prepare your skin for the heat and light therapy.

During the test patch, an IPL ‘end point’ will establish a setting especially for you! This is a customised setting to suit your Fitzpatrick skin type (skin colour), hair colour and hair density (thickness); IPL is not a one size fits all.

If an IPL end point is not established especially for you, it is likely that you are not being treated with the settings you require for the best result. Which could mean needing more treatments, therefore, more cost and more time.

When deciding which company is best for you to book your IPL treatment plan, consider the relationship you have with your IPL technician.

Word of mouth is always a safe bet. When phoning around, do not price shop, or go for the cheapest offer. Look for value and the quality of information. After all IPL is a paramedical treatment. Ensure you feel comfortable, entrusting your service with a company that offers a professional IPL procedure and a valued service.

The bottom line is, when is comes to IPL hair reduction treatments – you get what you pay for!

*client names have been change for privacy