product review
Me smooth
Gone are the days when only a good old razor and some shaving cream did the trick. Nowadays, the options to remove hair are so many, and many gadgets do the trick. But dark skin is much harder to treat and finally, dark skin and hair have a solution.
The first FDA-cleared device that is ideal for hair removal for women of all skin types, me smooth from Syneron Beauty aims to shatter the myth that there’s no suitable beauty gadget for removing hair from dark skin. The gadget is sleek, beautiful and highly effective when we put it to the test.
How it works
me smooth is powered by a technology referred to as elos (electro-optical synergy) technology, and it works using two effective methods: It combines Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Radio Frequency (RF) energies, and the basic idea is that it selectively chooses the hair follicles and then delivers heat deep into the skin to prevent further hair regrowth.
The elos technology was invented by the co-founder of Syneron Medical, Dr. Shimon Eckhouse, who also invented IPL. This was the technology previously used for hair removal, for a wide range of skin treatments. Now, elos is becoming the standard of hair removal among plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
You’ll need to plug the device in first to charge it. The package comes with an accessory cartridge and a protective cap. What impressed me about me smooth was how little time it takes to treat an area: I could perform the treatment over the full surface area of my legs in as little as 10 minutes.
Elos is already widely used by plastic surgeons and dermatologists, with over three million elos treatments performed annually by professionals around the world. Now the benefits of this breakthrough technology are available to consumers to use in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
Timing and results
The me smooth device is designed for use for seven weeks, and out of several devices that I have used in the past (those with gels, those with longer duration of treatment times, etc.), this was the most painless to use, both in terms of the way it is used in various areas, and also the treatment time. Unlike many other hair removal machines which burn, itch, zap or sting, me smooth actually promises — and delivers — a pain-free process.
The results are not immediate (and you’re advised to shave the area before using) because, of course, it’s all about inhibiting the hair follicle from developing. The device comes loaded with 6,000 pulses and retails for $395, and the replacement cartridge retails for $50.
I began to see results at week four, when I noticed my hair did not grow back as much as it should. And week seven should give you relatively smooth, stubble-free skin (if you have coarser, stubborn hair, you may need to use it again and for an extended period of time. The me smooth instructions advise you to do a patch test on your skin to see if it’s for you, and of course, to not use it on areas where you want the hair to grow back.
On a scale of one to 10, the ease of use and everything else was definitely a nine, and the results were great. I’d give it a strong two thumbs up.
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