Laser hair removal is an effective solution to unwanted body hair, employing laser light to heat and damage pigment in hair follicles in order to stop further hair growth.
But sometimes this doesn’t work as expected, likely because our hormones influence how hair grows.
1. Your hair follicles are in a resting phase.
Do not panic if hair begins to sprout after laser hair removal; it doesn’t indicate that the treatment has failed or that your body has rejected it! Instead, this is part of the natural catagen phase process and shows your treatment has worked effectively! In fact, it should be seen as evidence that it worked!
Before beginning laser hair removal treatments, make sure you shave the area being treated. This will enable the laser beam to target hair follicles more effectively, and reduce discomfort during your sessions. Also avoid waxing or plucking any nearby hairs as this could impede its effectiveness. Lastly, topical anesthetic may help ease pain during sessions.
Laser treatment is a handheld device that utilizes quick pulses of heated light to target areas. The sensation similar to hot rubber band snapping against skin may be uncomfortable for some patients; typically treatments will last between ten minutes for smaller areas like arms and up to 45 minutes for large ones like backs.
Once the heat from a laser has damaged hair follicles, your body begins to push out dead hairs that remain inside each follicle and pushes them out through exfoliation and moisturizer treatments. As this can leave areas itchy from being rid of hair follicles, it’s important to avoid picking, plucking or pinching as doing so could irritate skin further – for best results, use gentle exfoliators like glycolic acids on affected areas and moisturize to keep skin nourished between treatments.
As it takes time for laser therapy to damage and kill off hair follicles completely, it is imperative that patients follow an intensive plan with multiple sessions every four to six weeks in order for these follicles to die off completely and may never come back strong or full again – any regrowth should be finer in texture and lighter in hue than before.
2. Your hair follicles are in a growth phase.
Contrary to waxing, shaving or depilatory creams which only remove hair on the surface, laser treatment kills hair follicles in their anagen growth phase – meaning when these revive post-treatment they won’t be capable of producing hair again; most people experience permanent or near-permanent results after four or six laser hair removal sessions.
Anagen growth phase hair contains its highest concentration of pigment, making it the ideal time for laser treatments to damage melanin responsible for its color and signal follicles to shed their hair follicles – this usually happens one to three weeks post treatment and may appear as stubble or blackheads; don’t be alarmed, this is completely normal and an indication that everything is going according to plan!
However, this does not guarantee permanent hair reduction; some of the hairs that survive your treatments will have entered a phase called catagen or transitional growth, where they produce new hair growth at a rate significantly slower than anagen hairs – this explains why more than six laser hair removal sessions may be necessary in order to reach permanent or near-permanent results.
In these instances, it will still be apparent that any hairs growing are finer and lighter in color; this is due to them having been forced out of their original thicker and darker growth phase by anagen hairs that were destroyed with each laser treatment session.
As such, it’s imperative that you maintain your treatment schedule. Missing one treatment could allow hair follicles in the transitional and catagen phases time to regrow full and thick again before you can effectively treat them with laser. Furthermore, picking, tweezing or shaving hair that grows back after laser therapy treatments may speed up its natural removal faster – and help speed up its natural cycle of removal from your body.
3. Your hair follicles are in a telogen phase.
Laser hair removal works most effectively when your hair is in its anagen growth phase; however, it can still be effective during catagen and telogen phases of its cycle. Therefore, many individuals experience sheding in the days or weeks following treatment sessions – this shedding should not be taken as an indicator that their treatment was ineffective! It’s important to remember that any experience of shedding after sessions are completely normal; any sign that treatment was ineffective must not be seen as such an affront!
Your body naturally releases dead hair follicles killed during your laser hair removal treatment in 5-14 day periods after each session, so any attempts at speeding it up should be avoided such as waxing, plucking or picking at your hair as this could push hair back into its follicles and force further growth of unwanted strands. Instead, opt for gentle scrubs with cortisone if necessary as this will assist your process more successfully.
At this stage of your hair cycle, no visible growth of hair occurs and therefore laser treatments cannot effectively destroy them at this time; as a result, multiple sessions will likely be necessary to achieve desired results.
Your body still produces hair in its telogen phase, though at a much slower and sparser pace than usual. As such, you may notice your locks becoming lighter or thinner than usual – don’t panic; this is completely normal and over time your locks will return to their fuller natural state.
As soon as your hair begins to grow back after laser treatment, it will likely be much sparser and lighter in color than its former self. This is because any new growth has likely been forced into anagen phase by telogen hairs that remain.
Laser hair removal treatments may take multiple visits before they produce the results you are seeking, yet are generally safe and effective. A laser is used to target and destroy individual follicles in order to stop their production of new hair; unfortunately, however, due to space restrictions this cannot happen simultaneously for all hair follicles in your body; some will remain damaged while some will begin producing again after being targeted with treatment.
4. Your hair follicles are in a resting phase.
Laser hair removal is a safe, effective method for permanently eliminating unwanted body hair. It works by using pulses of laser light to destroy hair follicles and stop them from producing new hair growth; unlike shaving or waxing which only remove the tip of a follicle and allow regrowth; laser hair removal uses precise energy targeting the exact location where hair growth starts; eliminating all potential sources.
Once the damage to a follicle has been completed, it will tell your body to shed dead hairs and cease growth cycles – this explains why hair begins falling out several weeks post laser hair removal, with multiple sessions recommended for optimal results.
Laser hair removal should take place when hair is in its anagen phase of growth; visible on the surface, making laser targeting much simpler.
Depending on where your hair is in its growth cycle, laser therapy may have difficulty targeting it effectively and most people need multiple sessions and maintenance treatments every few months for lasting, effective results.
At a laser hair removal session, your doctor will use a handheld laser instrument to press against your skin. As they apply the cooling device on its tip or apply cool gel directly onto your skin, you may feel an intense heating sensation from its laser beam passing through your skin to reach hair follicles and deliver heat that damages or destroys them – signalling to your body that the hair follicle will no longer produce new hair growth.
laser hair removal does not guarantee permanent hair reduction, as some finer, lighter-colored strands will grow back over time after multiple treatment sessions. Please remember that laser hair removal cannot guarantee permanent reduction and your original hairs may eventually return over time.
