Watch out Tria! The SatinLux photo epilator is Philips entry into the home IPL market

Philips foray into the laser hair removal market is interestingly placed between the No!No hair removal device and the Tria laser hair removal tool. It’s great that a well known brand like Philips are entering this market, as they’ll make consumers feel reassured when they embark on a home treatment. As the average cost of one salon session tends to be around £30-£40 for a small area, and you need 6-8 sessions with top ups to notice results, you can see why the home DIY hair removal market is growing. Well Philips newest creation, the SatinLux photo epilator uses Intense Pulsed light to give you a long term reduction in hair growth on the body.

So how does it work?

Well to start with you clean and shave the area, to give the device a nice smooth surface to work on. You place the 3cm square head against the skin, choose a setting (there are five levels) and press go. The light will pulse onto the skin, you’ll sea slight flash and feel a warm sensation, and then you move on to the next area. Because this is suitable for home use you’re using a lower current than you do in the salons, which means it’s safe, and also means you can use it more regularly than salon visits. When visiting a salon you go around every 6 weeks to catch the hair in its different states of growth (anagen,catogen and telogen) but at home it’s more about maintaining a smooth finish than catching everything in the hair growth cycle.

As with all IPL devices you have to make sure you’re a suitable candidate first. As the light is attracted to the melanin in your skin, you shouldn’t use it if you have black skin, or very fair hair, as the light could cause scarring. As long as you have light brown hair you should be fine. The light penetrates the skin to the bulb of the hair, whereupon it converts light into heat energy and vaporizes the bulb and hair shaft.

The battery is rechargeable, but I’m not that impressed that a full charge will last around 15 minutes, as that seems rather paltry– considering it will take around 30 minutes to do one leg!

The SatinLux is rechargeable, and looks very stylish, but time will tell if this is a workable home solution.

£391.49 from Argos later this year

Related: Shiny Video review: The Tria laser hair removal kit