“The main benefits are that they are easy to use, painless and accessible. They avoid the risk of nicks and cuts you might get from shaving, and they leave the skin feeling soft and smooth almost instantly,” she says.

• Pain-free
• Accessible
• No nicks, cuts or ingrown hairs
• Instant results

The downsides

Creams kind of are too good to be true, but they’re not perfect. For one thing, the results don’t last long. At all.

“The downsides are that the results don’t last very long, usually just a few days longer than shaving,” says Coulton.

Plus, some people may find that the creams irritate their skin. “Because of the chemicals used, there’s also the risk of irritation, redness or even mild burns on sensitive skin if the product is left on too long,” she adds. “Some people also find the smell of the creams off-putting, and unlike alternative hair removal methods such as waxing and IPL/laser, they don’t help slow down or reduce hair regrowth.”

• Results don’t last long
• Can cause irritation
• They don’t slow down hair growth
• They don’t exactly smell great

IPL

IPL is a professional hair removal technique that works by, essentially, killing the hair in your face. But it’s less scary than it sounds.

“IPL hair removal works by using intense pulses of light that are absorbed by the pigment in the hair. This light converts into heat, which damages the hair follicle and slows down future growth,” says Sharon Bennett, medical aesthetician and founder of Harrogate Aesthetics. “Unlike waxing, which pulls hairs out from the root, IPL is designed to target the follicle itself, meaning regrowth becomes finer and lighter over time, and with repeated sessions, many people see a significant reduction in hair growth altogether.”

IPL is very similar to laser techniques, however, while laser uses a single wavelength of light, IPL uses a broader spectrum of wavelengths.

Who should try it?

Aestheticians typically recommend IPL for people “with fair to medium skin and darker hair,” says Bennett. This is because the light needs to pick up on pigment to work. So, if you have lighter hair, it may not be as effective.

The benefits

One of the great things about IPL is that you won’t have to keep going back to the aestheticians very five weeks.

“Once you’ve had a course of treatments, you’ll usually only need occasional top-ups,” Bennett says.

Another benefit is that unlike dermaplaning or even waxing and threading, you will never have to deal with that awkward regrowth period. “Your skin also feels smoother because you’re not dealing with stubble or regrowth between sessions,” she says.

And another benefit? It doesn’t hurt. “Typically, you feel a quick, warm flicking sensation as the light pulse hits the skin, but most people describe it as mildly uncomfortable rather than painful,” Bennett says. “The treatment is quick, and any redness usually fades within a few hours. You do need multiple sessions spaced a few weeks apart to get the best results, because hair grows in cycles.”

• Long-lasting results
• No awkward regrowth period
• Relatively pain-free

The downsides

IPL doesn’t work on everyone. If you have light blonde or red hair on your face, it might not get rid of all of the hair. It can also be unsafe on very dark skin tones and result in pigmentation changes.

Then there’s the downtime – you may find that you have temporary redness and sensitivity, plus, you’ll need to avoid sun exposure both before and after your treatments.

• Temporary redness
• Not suitable for everyone
• Downtime