Real Talk

ABOUT ME: I am in my early 40s, and of Pakistani heritage, so have mid-olive skin (albeit with a warm [red/orange/yellow] base tone, rather than cool [blue/purple]). The closest European approximation is a southern European person in a sunny climate, not suntanned to nut brown, but definitely not white! This is an important prerequisite because many IPLs won’t work on darker skin tones. This was one of the main things that swayed me to the SS brand – you really can be quite brown to use it (plus it’s beautifully designed and lovely to look at).

Much of this review will be about the *original SS Gold* device because I owned and used. In terms of the new smaller SS Black Bare device, I would say on results so far:
– just as good and as potent as the SS Gold (if not more…?)
– much faster than the SS Gold (hurrah!)
– fantastic value as number of flashes are unlimited I think? Unlike the Gold
– *much* easier to handle and use on tricky areas like upper lip and chin and armpits.

I will now review the SS Gold and then mention the new SS Bare. First of all, to say that the original SS Gold device was life-changing for me is not an exaggeration. I bought it principally to win the battle against chin and upper lip hair. Ladies, you know how it goes…mid-thirties onwards or after kids, the unwanted facial hairs start rearing their horrid little heads, and tweezing goes up from once a month to once a week – or worse. One day it occurred to me that I should fix the problem once and for all, before the darn things turn white (and useless for any IPL device), and I end up with a white goatee to rival Tom Jones’s. I also thought I may as well sort out armpits and lower legs with the SS device as well (I am otherwise more or less hairless on my body but get awful ingrown hairs on my legs and dark shadows in my armpits when shaving).

I used the SS Gold as instructed, and after about two months, I ceased shaving my armpits (only a few fine hairs left), my legs had huge
patches totally devoid of hair so mostly sorted, my arms were almost hair free, and all but the most stubborn of my facial hair has gone. What more can I say? My skin is baby smooth. It has been AMAZING and transformative. The only place where I’ve found hair is more resistant, bizarrely, is my thighs. My leg hair there is very fine anyway and maybe that’s the challenge. I don’t know… I’m still trying to zap.

Now the new device, which I was sent to consumer test, WOW! Now my lower legs are devoid of all hair *after one use* – this is not an exaggeration (remember my baseline was nearly all hair gone with the Gold device). And I’ve managed to catch the last little hairs in my armpits and on my chin and upper lip. My theory is that the new Bare device is easier to manoeuvre so no hair can escape its beam on curved body parts.

Drawbacks of the new device: as with the old one, it won’t work on my bikini line because my natural skin tone there is too dark from years of too much hair removal. If you’re tanned and buying mainly for your bikini line, you might be disappointed if you are darker ‘down there’. That’s not the device’s fault, it’s Mother Nature’s (or my own!). The only other drawback is that I find the light pulse much brighter with the new Bare device, so I have been wearing sunglasses when using. But not an issue at all for me.

Finally, just to say that compared to other devices on the market, the SS ones are as beautiful to look at as they are to use. Absolutely fantastic all round, I love, love, love, both devices! At £199 and unlimited flashes, this one I think is an absolute steal.