Ulike Air 3 IPL Hair Removal Device

What the regulator says about comfort claims

Comfort is this device’s headline, so it is worth knowing that it sits in the one area of IPL advertising the regulator has been most consistent about. CAP’s guidance for hair-removal advertising records that “painless” claims have been rejected repeatedly, across many years and many advertisers, on the basis that the clinical evidence offered was not robust enough to support them.

The underlying mechanism here is real: a sapphire head chilled against the skin lowers the surface temperature at the moment of the flash, and that measurably changes the sensation compared with an uncooled device. What it does not do is remove the sensation. The honest way to read any comfort claim on an IPL device, this one included, is as more comfortable than uncooled IPL rather than as free of sensation altogether.

Why hair colour and skin tone decide whether it works at all

IPL works because light is absorbed by melanin in the hair shaft and converted to heat at the follicle. Two consequences follow directly, and both are about physics rather than product quality. Hair with little melanin - white, grey, red and the lightest blondes - absorbs too little energy for the process to do anything. And deeper skin tones absorb more of that energy in the skin itself rather than the hair, which is why at-home devices publish a suitability chart and restrict use accordingly.

CAP is explicit that advertisers should avoid giving the impression that light-based hair reduction works for all consumers. Check the device’s own skin-tone and hair-colour chart before buying rather than after, because no amount of consistency compensates for a mismatch.

What “permanent” means here

In 2023 the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint about at-home IPL advertised as “permanent visible hair removal”, taking the view that shoppers would read permanent as meaning regrowth stops, where the evidence showed a reduction in the number of hairs growing back with continued use. That distinction applies to the whole category.

CAP also notes that compliant advertising specifies how often the device must be used, and cites an example requiring treatment every two to four weeks. The practical translation: an initial course, then ongoing maintenance indefinitely. Budget for the maintenance rather than just the course, because that is where the category’s real cost of ownership sits.

The corded design, and what is in the box

The kit is the device, IPL safety glasses, a razor and a power adapter, with three intensity levels and an auto-flash glide mode for covering larger areas. It is mains-powered rather than battery-powered, which is usually listed as a drawback and is worth reframing: a corded device has no cell to degrade, so the usual failure mode of a rechargeable beauty tool does not apply. The cost is that you are tethered to a socket for the length of a session.