Lasers play an integral role in sci-fi movies and books, and can even be used medically – including laser hair removal treatments.
At treatment time, a doctor presses a hand-held laser instrument against your skin. Sometimes cooling devices or gel may also be added at the tip of this instrument in order to reduce discomfort and protect your skin.
How Does Laser Hair Removal Work?
Laser hair removal is a noninvasive procedure that uses precise technology to destroy hair follicles responsible for unwanted hair growth, making the treatment fast, safe and virtually pain-free for patients of all ages and skin types.
At a laser hair removal treatment, your doctor will press a laser instrument against the surface of your skin and may apply a cooling device or gel to shield you from its heat. While you might feel some pinpricking from the laser instrument and cold sensation from its cooling device, overall the experience should be tolerable; small areas like upper lips may only take minutes while legs might take over an hour for full coverage. It’s important to remember to avoid plucking or waxing any of the targeted hairs as this will negate their absorbence by energy of laser treatment.
Select a clinic with medically trained technicians with extensive knowledge and experience treating your specific skin type. Based on your skin and hair colors, different lasers will be utilized for maximum efficacy – for instance those with darker skin and lighter hair could benefit from using longer wavelength lasers that more effectively target pigmented hair follicles.
Once a hair follicle has been destroyed, its hair won’t regrow from that site again; however, as it is impossible to destroy each individual one completely and sometimes regrows but thinner and lighter than before.
Follow your doctor’s recommendations regarding how many treatments will be necessary; after six treatments, most people can expect to be hair-free in the area being treated. Some patients may require further treatments in order to decrease re-growth or treat resistant hair follicles. It is also essential that maintenance treatments continue as fluctuating hormones may cause hair regrowth despite multiple treatments; but by sticking with maintenance treatments without plucking or waxing hair that reappear, then these should become much lighter and thinner over time.
How Long Does Laser Hair Removal Take?
If you’re considering laser hair removal to permanently reduce unwanted body hair, the process is relatively quick; sessions typically last only minutes to hours depending on which area is being treated. Protective goggles must be worn during this process to shield eyes from laser light beams while your doctor may also administer topical anesthetic to ease pain during this procedure.
Laser light pulses destroy hair follicles and therefore prevent further growth of new strands of hair. Keep in mind, however, that hair grows in cycles; before laser therapy can be used again to treat new growth, growth must resume before being treated again with lasers.
Select a qualified doctor or technician when seeking laser hair removal. Be wary of spas and salons that permit nonmedical personnel to perform this service as they may not have proper training on how to perform laser hair removal procedures.
Prior to initiating laser hair removal, your doctor will conduct a detailed medical history assessment in order to rule out any conditions which may be contributing to hirsutism. She’ll also evaluate your hair pigment and skin complexion to select an effective course of treatment tailored specifically for you, while taking note of any medications or supplements which could influence how effective your treatments might be.
Laser treatment typically works well for dark-colored hair on light skinned patients. The laser’s light beam targets melanin in hair follicles to reduce or lighten its hue; for lighter-colored locks, your doctor may suggest waxing or plucking between laser sessions to get optimal results.
Most people require 4-6 laser hair removal sessions to completely eradicate unwanted hair. Sessions will vary according to how fast your hair grows in each area being treated; for instance, areas like your upper lip that experience rapid hair growth might need treatment every four to eight weeks while other parts of the body where hair growth is slower may need multiple sessions every 12-16 weeks.
Will Hair Grow Back After Laser Hair Removal?
Laser hair removal goes further than shaving, waxing and plucking in targeting each unwanted hair at its root, so once damaged hair follicle germ cells, laser can stop new growth from appearing for extended periods. Although several treatments may be required before you see desired results; once they do grow back again it should usually have lighter color and texture than before.
Understand that laser treatments only target anagen phase hair follicles; thus requiring multiple sessions for best results. Each session targets a different cycle of growth and shedding; after 6-8 sessions you should see significant reduction in hair growth in your targeted area.
One reason your hair may return following laser treatments could be hormonal imbalance, particularly if you suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS has been linked with excessive facial and body hair growth; experts speculate that elevated testosterone levels caused by PCOS cause this increase.
Another potential factor contributing to your hair regrowing after laser treatments could be incomplete treatment of all your follicles. Laser treatment might only affect those in their resting or telogen phases; therefore, having an organized treatment schedule is crucial.
Once hair regrows after laser treatment, it typically appears lighter in texture and color compared to before, and may even become finer. Because of this, it is crucial to choose an experienced laser technician. A good tech will assess both skin type and hair type before suggesting an optimal number of treatments for maximum effectiveness.
Laser treatment stands out as an ideal method for hair removal that’s safe for all skin types and colors, including those with blonde and gray locks. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t tend to work on dark or wavy locks, and bleaching before treatments could interfere with its effectiveness. To optimize results of laser hair removal sessions it is advised that bleached locks be left undyed as this will enhance its efficiency.
Will Laser Hair Removal Work on Blonde Hair?
Being blonde comes with its own set of challenges: silly blonde jokes, the difficulty in finding the ideal purple toning shampoo and laser hair removal that works on blonde locks are among them. Yet blondes do enjoy themselves; advances in laser technology have made it easier for people with light or blonde locks to access this procedure safely; though its effectiveness remains lower compared to people with darker locks.
At each session, your technician will use a handheld laser instrument to press against the area that needs treating and activate it, emitting an intense beam of heat which damages or destroys hair follicles, stopping their reproduction and ultimately inhibiting new hair growth. Although you may feel discomfort similar to pinpricking when first activated, pre-treatment with numbing cream should help mitigate such feelings of pain.
Prior to laser hair removal treatment, it is wise to avoid other methods of hair removal such as shaving, waxing and tweezing in the targeted area. Doing so could disturb hair follicles and make laser treatment more ineffective against unwanted hair growth. If necessary, hair removal methods should be utilized as minimally as possible in order to maximize desired results from laser therapy treatment.
Blondes often struggle with laser hair removal because their lack of pigmentation prevents lasers from targeting them effectively. Lasers require that there is enough dark melanin pigment present in hair follicles for them to damage and stop growing hair follicles from producing further hair growth.
Laser treatments aren’t as effective at targeting blonde, red or grey hairs than they are on dark ones due to their longer wavelengths, which may trigger skin reactions in some individuals and thus negate its effectiveness. Therefore, electrolysis provides another viable hair removal option which has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
