I’m not putting pictures of my armpits on the internet. But I used to be an aesthetic dermatology nurse who performed IPL facials and laser hair removal on the human body.
Anything light-based requires the light or laser to be attracted to melanin to work. Thus, the darker the hair, especially if the root bulb is black, the better it will work. Similarly, the light is attracted to pigment in the skin as well. So when setting up the laser we had to find a setting that was strong enough to attack the hair root but not so strong that it would burn the skin.
The people with the best results from laser hair removal or IPL would be those with dark black hair and light fair skin.
Light fair skin with blonde, red, grey, or even light brown hair won’t burn the skin, but also won’t kill the hair. Melanated skin (tanned, sun exposed, shades of brown or black) and dark hair also won’t have the best results because the light/laser would attack the skin in addition to the hair. You might kill your hair, but be left with scars on your skin.
IPL isn’t as strong as laser and is generally safe at home if you don’t have super dark skin. However you’ll want super dark hair.
I am fair with fair hair. I could crank up the laser to the highest level, my skin never felt a thing, and my hair barely reacted. I kept doing it while I worked in the industry because the laser at least “stunted” the hair and made it grow back more slowly.
Now that I’m out of the industry I am a fully hairy beast just like someone who never had a single laser session. Thus, I wasn’t expecting IPL to truly keep me from growing hair back, but instead to just stunt it and make it slower.
I decided to only IPL the left side of my body. Treat the Left arm pit, left lower leg, left bikini area. Leave the right side alone.
Hair grows in phases, so you have to treat every couple of weeks for months to be able to treat each hair follicle when it is in the growth phase. If you just treat yourself for one month, then hairs that were sleeping that month and take 6-8 weeks to wake up will wake up next month, and you’ll wonder where they came from.
After about a month and a half of treating once a week, I can see a slight difference on my left side. I still have lots of hair but it is growing in slower and spottier than the right untouched side.
Similarly to how the hair responded in laser treatments, the leg reacted and slowed down first, then the armpits. The bikini area takes forever to react if it reacts at all.
Hope that helps. Good luck my fellow hairy beasts!