Keeping your skin soft after hair removal

After your successful IPL hair removal treatment is completed, you will want to keep your skin soft and silky especially for your legs and face, so here are some tips on doing just that:

• Always drink plenty of water to hydrate the skin. Water really does help your skin retain its elasticity and softness and flushes away impurities that can clog up the pores.  There is a small chance when having IPL that ingrown hairs may form, these are hairs that may grow the wrong way out of the follicle and cause infection and irritation. Drinking plenty of water does help stop this and limits the chances of any ingrown hairs coming through after treatment.
• Use a hydrating lotion around the hair removal site even if it does not look dry – it will keep your skin silky soft. Don’t however use a greasy product such as petroleum jelly or any product based on animal by-products because these will clog up your skin pores and cause infections and spots. Moisturising with a good quality, non-animal based product around the hair removal area will help prevent ingrown hairs from forming after treatment.
• Always remember to exfoliate your skin before having IPL hair removal because exfoliation as you probably know, removes dead and dry skin cells from the surface of the skin.  This will help lessen the likelihood of clogged pores and ingrown hairs. Exfoliating is well known to help skin softness and always leaves your skin feeling clean and fresh. If your skin is soft, the IPL hair removal treatment will work much better.
• Keep your skin cool after treatment – IPL hair removal machines do usually have self-cooling systems built in the applicator tools, but keeping your skin cool after treatment will ensure it does not go red and blotchy and looks its best.
• Keep to a healthy diet with plenty of exercise to keep your skin (and the rest of you) looking at their very best. Keep away from greasy, fried foods to keep your skin looking at its best.
• Keep your skin scrupulously clean, by cleansing every day.
• Avoid soaps as these can dry out your skin, instead use a cleanser and toner followed by a good quality moisturiser and build this into your daily routine.
• To keep ingrown hairs at bay, when you cleanse and moisturise the areas where you have had hair removal, use a circular motion – this apparently prevents the growth.
• Use gentle formula moisturiser and cleanser – stay away from the stronger, heavily scented products if you can.
• If you are unlucky enough to develop an ingrown hair, you will be able to identify it because they look like little red bumps that can sometimes be itchy and painful. The best way to deal with them is to visit your GP who can give you antibiotics to stop any further infection and also can provide you with anti-inflammatory skin preparations.