SmoothSkin Gold review: The only IPL device worth buying

These days, there are not many beauty-related products which excite me. After a while of beauty blogging you start feeling that everything is much of a muchness. One exception is the latest IPL permanent hair removal system to hit the market, SmoothSkin Gold. Those who have read this blog over the years probably already know how much I love the results I got from the very original SmoothSkin unit that I bought back in 2009. I literally haven’t had to pick up a razor, epilator or hot wax for years.

Quick recap – WHAT IS IPL?

SmoothSkin Gold is designed to help break the cycle of hair growth.

1. The light energy is transferred through the skin’s surface and is absorbed by the melanin present in the hair shaft.
2. The absorbed light energy is converted to heat energy (below the surface of the skin), which disables the hair follicle preventing further growth.
3. Treated hairs naturally fall out over the course of a few days to 1-2 weeks.

(Source: smoothskin.co.uk/what-is-ipl)

Great, but how much effort is required and does it really work?

SmoothSkin Gold is proven to show noticeable hair reduction after just 3 treatments. For best results, weekly treatments over 12 weeks is recommended, followed by monthly maintenance treatments as required.

I personally found these timelines to be accurate. For me, the monthly maintenance treatments became fewer and farther between, until the hairs just stopped coming back completely. I treated my underarms and bikini line and I literally have no hair where I treated… NOTHING has grown back for years, not a single hair.

A treatment involves shaving the hair first – NOTE not waxing or epilating because some of the hair shaft needs to be there to absorb the light energy. Treatment times can be as quick as under a minute for one underarm, and under ten minutes for a leg thanks to a possible 1-second rep rate between flashes. This is a huge improvement from very first SmoothSkin model 5 years ago where I had to wait 6 seconds between flashes!!! I was very persistent, but many others lost patience and gave up. Even the models after that still needed 4 seconds between shots.

What’s new with SmoothSkin Gold?

Since the very first SmoothSkin model, there have been a few “new and improved” versions of it where the available shots/flashes per unit increased and the speed (time between shots) improved slightly. But Cyden, the makers of SmoothSkin, have gone all out for SmoothSkin Gold. It has a much smaller form, boasts the fastest speed in the market, and no longer needs to be used with gel. These improvements are HUGE. Let’s have a closer look at it..

The first thing I noticed is how small the box was compared to that of previous models. It is tiny! And so nice and luxurious to open (not clinical like the old models).

SmoothSkin Gold has done away with the bulky base unit of previous models. All you need is the handset and the power adapter. That’s literally all you need to get going…

Compare it to the previous SmoothSkin Extra which now looks like a big white elephant in comparison.

The SmoothSkin Gold handset is significantly bigger than the handset of previous models as it has to fit in all the technology now there is no base unit. But it is still ergonomically designed and is nice to hold in the hand. It feels like a quality product. The full length of it comes in at just over 21cm.

The treatment window looks different to previous models’ too. It’s hard to get a picture of it, but the glass is set much further back inside the handset, and there’s a reflective hollow area in front of it.

The part of the handset that is in contact with the skin is bigger (although the treatment window is the same size as before). On the previous models, the glass block is in contact with the skin. This isn’t the case with SmoothSkin Gold, which is why the cooling gel is no longer required.

SmoothSkin Gold has a “Detect and Set” feature which detects your skin tone and thus power setting for each and every shot, without you having to do anything. The lights on the side of the unit indicate the power level. There is a “Gentle Mode” button on the handset which reduces the energy output if you find it too much (although going too “gently” will result in slower results).

The front of the handset is removable which makes it easy to clean and to keep the mirrored component as reflective as possible. Although without gel, it shouldn’t ever get too messy.

So… what’s it like to use?

SmoothSkin Gold is AMAZING. Seriously. The speed that the flashes charge up is crazy fast. By the time you’ve moved the treatment window down your leg, armpit or wherever you’re treating, the button is ready to be pressed again. With the old models, it was a case of “place on skin, flash, lift and move down, wait 4-6 seconds, flash, repeat”. SmoothSkin Gold is so fast, you don’t even have to lift the handset off your skin between flashes, you can just glide it along the skin, pressing the button every second.

Not having to use gel is great too.. it makes it a lot easier to get going and there’s no post-treatment clearing up to do either. The fact that the glass is no longer in contact with the skin means that the pain factor is massively reduced too as the glass used to overheat quickly on the old models (think hot rubber bands being pinged on your skin).

How does it compare with other IPL devices on the market?

smoothskin.co.uk has this very handy comparison table:

Basically, SmoothSkin has always been the most powerful device on the market, but it’s now also the fastest. As a side note, I’ve always personally disliked the most well known competitor, Philips Lumea, because I found their marketing purposely misleading. The Lumea was never able to permanently disable hair follicles – it wasn’t powerful enough. It only had enough power to temporarily stunt the growth of hair, but it would grow back in the future. Yet the ad campaigns were cleverly worded to say something along the lines of “permanent hair removal… as long as you keep using the device for the rest of your life”. Those weren’t the exact words, but you get the idea.

Even with the higher specs, SmoothSkin Gold costs less than its competitors, making it a complete no-brainer deciding which brand to go for if you were in the market for a hair removal device.

Any cons of the new design?

I find the larger contact area harder to use on small, bony, non-flat areas like my upper lip because it’s hard to get both contact points on either side of the treatment window touching my skin. Without both contact points on the skin, the unit doesn’t allow you to press the button (for safety reasons). It’s not impossible to use on these areas, it’s just more difficult than with a smaller contact area.

Where can I get SmoothSkin Gold and how much does it cost?

SmoothSkin Gold costs £299 and can be bought direct from smoothskin.co.uk (you can choose to pay in 3 installments and it comes with a 2 year warranty that includes a 90 day money back guarantee), or boots.co.uk. The benefits of buying from Boots include 1196 Advantage points, and often other bonus points offers.

Need more information?

The “Beauty Room” page is a particularly helpful part of the SmoothSkin site.

I’ll also try to answer any questions left in the comments below.

Seriously though, if you have been considering IPL either from buying a device to use at home, or from salon treatments, stop umming and ahhing and just get SmoothSkin Gold… you won’t be disappointed!