Gadget: Philips Lumea - Intense Pulsed Light Shaver

Of the things that make me glad I'm a man, one of them is that I'm not expected to wax, pluck or epilate the hair from my body. Apart from a daily shave, society is happy to embrace me as hairy as nature intended.

For women there are a number of gadgets already on the market, claiming to rid one forever of the chore of shaving or waxing. The reality of friendly-sounding gadgets such as epilators came as a bit of shock to me. Mechanical hair rippers, by their more accurate description, are surely a relic of the 20th century. Philips agree, launching the Lumea to prove it.

Based on seven years of research and development, the Lumea uses Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) to zap hair into submission, or more scientifically, it uses focused pulses of light to target the melanin in the hair, making the follicle go into a resting phase.

There are five adjustable light intensity settings depending on your skin type. It's worth noting that it doesn't work on white, light blonde or red body hair, or very dark skin tones. Thankfully, for once, I read the instructions.

My girlfriend undertook the role of gadget guinea pig this time. In our tests, it took about half an hour of clicking and flashing to completely zap a leg; the only tricky bit was remembering where we'd been. Apart from the odd bit of warmth on her underarms my subject reported that using the Lumea was an entirely pain-free experience. Philips claim the Lumea prevents hair regrowth for two weeks or more.

Our initial tests seem to back up this up. The question is whether the pain and hassle of shaving and waxing is worth waving goodbye to for 400? As a guy, I'd have thought it definitely was. However, my tester wasn't quite so convinced.

This article was first published in The Scotsman on 15 May.