Here’s how I did laser hair removal for cheap, saving me over $5,000.
My hair loves to grow.
I’m the kind of person where if I shaved off my entire eyebrow, it would grow back within a few weeks. I have a lot of hair and it gets everywhere. As you can imagine, maintaining my hair used to take a lot of time and effort.
Many of my friends had raved about laser hair removal. A magical solution that would save me so much time, I had to check it out.
After learning that laser hair removal was relatively pain-free, my next question was price.
It didn’t take me long to discover that laser hair removal is very expensive. Like, thousands of dollars type of expensive.
How much does professional laser hair removal cost?
The cost of professional laser hair removal varies.
In Australia, clinics usually charge $300 – 400 for a full body session. And, you need around 6-12 sessions to get a full result. This means you could be spending $1,800 – $4,800 to get laser hair removal, for your entire body. Of course, this is just an average.
As previously mentioned, my hair is strong, stubborn and grows extremely fast. It’s like all the calories I eat go straight to my hair unlike something useful, like my brain. I had a feeling that it would cost me personally a bit more than that, and I was right.
I spoke to several women with the same hair type and amount as myself. They all paid between $5,000 – $10,000 to get rid of everything. Plus, they had to get maintenance sessions on top of this cost to keep it up!
The cost was far too high for me. It seemed ridiculous to spend thousands of dollars on hair removal when I could invest that instead.
So, being the frugal queen I am, I looked into cheaper alternatives for permanent hair removal.
DIY permanent hair removal
The idea of DIY permanent hair removal really scared me at first.
After all, I had no experience doing something like this and was scared I would burn myself or such. So, I started with doing a LOT of research. I discovered that there were many safe and easy options for at-home permanent hair removal.
After much research, I decided to buy an IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) hair removal device.
At-home Laser and IPL hair removal devices range greatly in price. They start at the $100 mark and some of them are upwards of $1,000 – I decided to go somewhere in the middle.
I purchased the Braun Silk Expert Pro 5 for around $500 as it was highly-rated with great reviews.
My initial concern was if it would actually work. Would it just reduce the hair or actually get rid of everything?
I crossed my fingers and got to work.
The process. Was it easy? Did it hurt?
The process of actually doing the hair removal was pretty simple.
You just need to shave, then zap your skin by clicking the button. There are different modes for how strong you want the laser to be and two different caps to target different areas. The device itself was comfortable to hold, had a long wire and also came in a cute bag for easy storage.
It also doesn’t hurt. Which is fantastic as I still have trauma from waxing.
Sometimes, I felt a bit of a zap especially if I missed shaving a hair but the “pain” was pretty minimal.
I did mess up once and gave myself a tattoo
One time, I did make a mistake with the IPL tool.
On my leg, I missed a few areas so I used some eyeliner to mark them.
So, when I was doing the session I’d know which areas needed extra attention. In the process, the eyeliner I drew with also got zapped by the machine.
And…it just stayed there for months. It sucked as there was a long line across my leg. This was 100% my fault and not to do with the machine – they do recommend using it on clean skin. Luckily, it disappeared after a few months.
Results, did it work? Braun Silk Expert Pro 5 Review
The results were fantastic.
In 12 months of usage, most of my body hair is gone.
However, there were a few bumps along the road.
Braun says this device should give you visible hair reduction in 4 weeks. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for me. Look, I wasn’t surprised knowing how stubborn my hair is. It was still growing as fast as ever at 4 weeks.
At the 12 week mark, Braun suggested to reduce the session frequency to once a month. But, it took me 12 weeks of weekly usage before I actually started noticing changes. So, I kept doing weekly sessions. 12 months later, I still do bi-weekly sessions on more stubborn areas and monthly sessions on areas with finer hair.
I am so pleased with the results.
Yes, it did take a full year to achieve “permanent” hair removal however I still think it is well worth it. The $500 I spent on the device is money well-spent.
Doing DIY permanent hair removal has saved me so much time and money. I have saved thousands of dollars compared to if I had it done in a salon.
Would I recommend DIY laser or IPL hair removal?
Yes, I would definitely recommend it.
Especially if you are someone who can be disciplined with giving yourself weekly sessions. Not only is it 90% cheaper than professional sessions, but there are many other benefits.
It saves time as you don’t have to visit a salon and you can do your sessions when it is easiest for you – even if it’s on a Sunday or 3am. You also don’t need to pay extra for any maintenance sessions as you can keep doing the up-keep with the device you already own.
That’s how I was able to get permanent hair removal for a fraction of the cost. Are you looking into DIY hair removal? Or, if you have had laser hair removal done in a salon, how much did it cost you?
I’d love to hear from you, contact me by clicking here.