IPL or Diode Laser: Which Do You Actually Need?

People ask which is better. The honest answer is that they do the same job by different means, and the right choice depends on your hair rather than your budget.

The mechanical difference

IPL fires a broad spectrum of light across a wide window. A diode laser emits a single wavelength, 808 nm, through a smaller aperture. Broad light scatters as it travels; a single wavelength does not. That is the whole difference, and everything else follows from it.

Choose IPL if

• Your hair is fine to medium and dark
• You are treating large areas such as legs, arms or back
• You want shorter sessions and do not mind more of them
• You want the lower price

Choose a diode laser if

• Your hair is coarse, dense or deep-rooted
• IPL has already failed you
• You are treating smaller, stubborn areas
• You want fewer sessions overall

What neither will do

Neither works on white, grey, red or fine blonde hair. Neither is suitable for very deep skin tones. Neither is permanent removal — the accurate term is permanent reduction, and you will need occasional maintenance sessions indefinitely.

Anyone selling you either as permanent removal for any skin tone and hair colour is not being straight with you.

Comfort

A diode with contact cooling is usually more comfortable than uncooled IPL, despite being more powerful, because the sapphire tip holds the skin surface near 5 C while it fires.

Compare both technologies, or take the Routine Finder Quiz.