Remove Hair From Upper Lip Safely
If you are removing your facial hair with a string or shaving then there are no real dangers. Using a string to pluck hairs from upper lips or shaving has no risk to your health. But if you are planning to do a laser hair removal at home, and upper lip hair is one of your needs then there are a few things you should learn in order to be on the safe side.
Laser or IPL are both using light energy which turns into heat, and it zaps the hair in the follicle until it dismantles it. The zapping it self is not pleasant but it is bearable pain most people can stand. The main dangers when doing facial hair removal with laser home systems is that the laser can be very dangerous to the eyes!
Beware Of Eye Damage Treating Upper Lips
Though the upper lip skin is not too close to the eyes, it is sure closer than the legs.. When treating the legs or arms, the laser beam is faced downward and away from the eyes. When doing a facial treatment with a a home laser device, the laser tip is facing the eyes!
Most home systems at Amazon using laser or IPL (intense pulsed light) have a skin contact sensor which will avoid the device to flash laser (or intense light) unless the tip is pressed to the skin:
- TRIA Laser
- Silk’n SensEpil & Silk’n Flash & Go
- Remington IPL
- Me my ELOS Pro Ultra
These devices are by far more safe for home facial use.
There are some professional laser hair removal systems at Amazon, which are designed to be used by a beauty technician and they DO NOT have that sensor!
- Avance DM 9050 Laser
- Avance DM 7050 Laser
These systems are faster because there is no skin sensor lock which needs to released before each pulse of light. So unless you plan to open a home clinic and treat others do not purchase a professional kit for home use.
You should use safety goggles when treating the face so no accident is even possible. You will see the “frequently bought together” for each of the devises at Amazon is safety goggles. The Me my ELOS Pro Ultra comes with dark safety goggles included.
Beware Of Light Zapping Your Lips
The second danger to watch out from, is the effect laser and IPL have on pigmented lips. All people have lips darker than the upper lip surrounding skin. When using laser and IPL, the light is attracted naturally to the dark pigments and creates heat.
When trying to remove upper lip hair with laser, if the laser zaps the lips skin, there might be an immediate burn of the flesh. The light instead of heating the hair will burn the lips skin!
There are two ways to reduce this danger.
Use The Right Hair Removal System
The first thing is to use a device with smaller tip, so the light window do not overlap lip’s skin at all. The TRIA laser and TRIA Precision Laser have both a very small tip. This is a huge pro for facial hair removal, but a real con when legs hair removal is needed. The Silk’n Flash & Go has a small lamp window as well, which is nice for upper lip but a drawback for full body hair removal.
The Remington IPL and Silk’n SensEpil have a large lamp window, they are more appropriate for legs and body but less for facial hair, more care is needed when using them on upper lip.
The Me My ELOS Pro Ultra comes with a facial attachment which narrows down the flash to a smaller area. When not treating the face, the attachment can be removed and a wider window suitable for fast full body is available.
Protect The Lips With Masking Tape
It is recommended to mask the lips with tape to make sure the upper lip is not exposed to the light. You can do it yourself with any masking tape, it is best to use a white tape. The second solution is to use a white pencil concealer to cover the upper lip. The Me My ELOS comes with a white pencil for covering lips skin or pimples and moles when treating facial skin.
Make sure you use your home device safely. Read the safety manual before using the home system. Follow their guidance and do not try to do shortcuts. These safety procedures have a reason, to keep you smooth and safe.