I received the Silk’n Flash & Go from London Drugs a few months ago for testing. I’ve heard about at-home permanent hair removal tools but I’ve always been too afraid to try it because I have heard that it might be painful or not be effective, so I’ve always stuck to waxing or epilating. My body hair is extremely resilient for some strange reason, and even though I wax and epilate (which remove the hair at the roots), it still manages to grow back at an alarmingly fast rate. I wanted to try laser hair removal but it does get extremely expensive, and there is no guarantee that it will work, which is why I jumped when I was offered an opportunity to try the Flash & Go from London Drugs.
Flash & Go uses a HPL (home pulsed light) technology that basically looks like flashes of light, to stop hair growth. In order for it to be effective, the roots of your hair has to be visible, as in you can’t use it after you’ve waxed, only after shaving so that the roots are still there. The reason being is that the light emitted from the device targets the dark pigmentation that is present in hair roots, and basically “freezes” it so that it stops growing (this is my understanding after reading up on this, please correct me if I’m wrong!).
I used Flash & Go for a few treatment sessions; one treatment is effectively going over the entire surface area where you want the hair to stop growing, and there is a 2 week period in between each treatment. From what I understand, it should take anywhere between 2-4 treatments for it to be effective, with “touch-ups” in the future as needed. As I mentioned before, my hair is very resilient, so even after a few sessions, there are still bits that manage to resist the treatment and grow out, however I have noticed that most of it has stopped growing, at least it is not growing as fast as it used to before using the Flash & Go.
One question I received when I first posted about using this is if it is painful. There are three settings on the device and you can adjust the strength of light based on your pain tolerance and also how dark your hair is. I started off using the lowest setting and moved up to the highest and I did not notice any pain or discomfort during any of my treatment sessions. That being said, I have a pretty high pain tolerance threshold so what works for me may not work for you. It’s better if you start off at the lowest setting and then move up depending on your comfort level.
At the end of the day, do I recommend? Yes and no. I feel that if your hair normally grows slower, or if you don’t have as much hair you want to eradicate, this would be a good permanent solution to your problems. However if you are like me and have hair that are like weeds and never go away, then you would have to weigh the pros and cons of purchasing this device for $300 and then taking the risk that it may not be as effective as it would be for other people.
The Silk’n Flash & Go is available at London Drugs for $299.99 and contains the main device and two light cartridges. You can purchase additional light cartridges for $34.99 at London Drugs.
*Maddy Loves 