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Is Philips Lumea suitable for all skin and hair types?

Published on 01 October 2024

Philips Lumea is not suitable for all skin and hair types. Find out here which skin tones and hair types Philips Lumea is suitable for.

Skin tone and hair suitability for Philips Lumea

IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatment works when the energy of the light is absorbed by melanin (a type of pigment) in the hair. Since light blond, grey and white hair do not contain any or enough melanin, IPL treatment will never work on these hair colors. Red hair contains a different type of melanin, which is also not responsive to IPL.

Philips Lumea is also not suitable for dark skin tones, as it can cause skin damage such as burns, blisters or discoloring.

How does the IPL technology in Philips Lumea work

Check the skin tone/hair color chart

Lumea Prestige series is suitable to use on skin type one to skin type five. Lumea Advanced and Lumea Essential series are suitable for skin type one to skin type four.

None of the Lumea models are suitable to use on light blond, white, grey or red hair.

Philips Lumea skin tone and hair color chart

Use the skin tone sensor

Some Philips Lumea models come with a skin tone sensor; this sensor ensures that a pulse will be emitted only on suitable skin colors.

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