How do you get rid of pepper spots after laser hair removal?

I had recently had my legs treated with laser hair removal and there are spots all over my legs. Which I am assuming are pepper spots. After reading reviews on them, it should clear over time and most reviews says it takes less than couple of weeks and should see the skin clearing. It has been almost a month and my legs looks the same. I have tried various home remedies and over the counter creams. The spots are still there. Any recommendations? Thank you.

This year, our Beauty Editor has been taking the SmoothSkin Challenge to get hair-free legs for summer. Here’s the verdict!

Our SmoothSkin results are in! To see more of our story, and discover how SmoothSkin works, begin here. To shop SmoothSkin at allbeauty click here.

Reader: I no longer shave my lower legs. Or wax. Or epilate.

I’ll let that sink in….

I began this journey back in February. Back then, if I’d wanted to go bare-legged it meant daily shaving or tights. If I’m honest,  I could have tidied them up a bit come tea time.  But as of today, I’m happy to report my legs can be unveiled at a moment’s notice!!

Ok, let me just modify that a bit. Weekly treatments are necessary for the duration of the 12 week treatment process, to catch all the hairs in the growing phase. Part-way through my 12 week course, I developed a  rather charming cough that made bending over pretty uncomfortable. The result being, I missed around 3 weeks of treatment. Boo. Which means there’s a pesky cycle of hair that I skipped, and so I’m tackling that as and when it pops up. I’m also not perfect so I can see a few hairs here and there that I missed. But we’re talking bits here. All that’s needed is a quick flash of the SmoothSkin device to treat the hairs, and a 10 second flick-over with a razor. That’s all!!! I’m confident that by the end of summer, that will all be gone.

SmoothSkin Results – We Need To Talk About Pepper Spots

If you’re blessed with dark hair and pale skin, you’re probably familiar with those black spots all over your legs that show through, no matter how carefully you’ve shaved. Infuriating aren’t they?  Well, when you have IPL treatment, some of the hair is still under the skin at the time you treat it. And although the IPL system kills the hair, it’s still there, waiting to be pushed out as the skin renews itself. As a result, you get pepper spots ie black dots all over the legs. The only way to get rid of them is to wait for the skin to push them out, and speed this along with exfoliation. It’s a little annoying because although my legs are perfectly smooth, I still have black dots that mimic hairs. But the good news is they are reducing with weekly exfoliation and can be covered with fake tan or leg makeup. It’s important if you begin IPL treatment to be aware of this, and not to worry the treatment isn’t working. Just note that if the hair takes a long time to surface,  that means it’s dead. It’s just your body pushing it out. It’s also commonly reported that this happens less on the face, probably due to a regular skincare routine.

To show you what I mean, here’s a little video I made in 8x close up – don’t watch if you’re squeamish!!

There’s another issue I need to flag up, and that’s dead hair just sitting there (nice!!) Just because the hairs are dead, it doesn’t mean they want to fall straight out. So you will find, even after successful treatment, hairs can sit there for a while. The solution again is exfoliation and moisturising the skin. Here’s another video to show you what I mean – the hair looks very embedded but note how easily it glides out without pulling, and the frazzled (dead!) root:

SmoothSkin Results – What Now?

Well, I still have to catch those few bits I missed, so I’ll keep up with the weekly treatments on my lower legs. They’re super-quick and totally painless, and I can do them while I watch tv. I’ll also be tackling my upper legs and underarms, because why not? I’m super-impressed with SmoothSkin and would 100% recommend it to anyone. I’ve used other IPL devices with some results, but none were as quick or as effective as SmoothSkin. I’d say I started to see results from about 4 weeks, and really by the 6 week mark it was noticeable. My top tips if you’re using SmoothSkin:

• Use a white pencil to make guide marks on your skin
• Don’t miss treatments!! And keep going – the results will come
• Use SPF on the area, while you’re treating it

Have you used SmoothSkin? Tell us your results in the comments below! To shop SmoothSkin online at allbeauty click here.

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