4 important things you didn’t know about laser hair removal

#1 You can now have laser hair removal on most skin colours, hair colours, and skin types

Older lasers weren’t very good at subtleties, but more recent lasers have been finetuned to account for every hairy person, not just those with paler skin and darker hair. That’s because there are now two types of laser used for laser hair removal – thosethat target pigment and those that target blood. Pigment-targeting lasers can only treat the pale-skin dark-hair types, where those that target blood can treat all skin colours, since everyone’s blood is the same colour.

We still cannot remove grey or white hair. (We’re working on it!)

#2 Laser hair removal doesn’t hurt anymore (and if it does, they’re doing it wrong)

Newer lasers have an array of settings that can treat different areas of the body with ease (including creases, delicate areas and curves), with cooling tips that ice up or blow cool air (or both) to keep skin chilled. This effectively prevents burning, while the laser can target the hair follicle. Laser hair removal has in the past sometimes been extremely painful to endure, due to inexperienced practitioners and incorrectly set or inappropriate machines. This should never happen now.

Compared with other methods of hair removal, laser hair removal is less painful – if you calculate the time it takes to do, say, electrolysis, tweeze or wax – the time and discomfort saving is vastly improved. Lasers are extremely powerful machines, so make sure you are only getting laser hair removal by trained, experienced professionals (see our Melbourne clinic for laser hair removal experts).

# 3 Laser hair removal will not make your hair grow back more

This is impossible, since you are only born with a certain number of hair follicles, though they are not all active at the same time. (If laser hair removal could make hair grow back faster and thicker, it would be being used as a hair loss treatment, not a hair removal treatment.)

Hair follicles can only be killed during certain phases of growth of the hair, and sometimes hair follicles may only appear at certain times of our lives. The hair we have as children is vastly different to the hair we have as adults, and as we age, hair changes again.

If you kill the hair follicle in the growth stage, it can never produce a hair again, but if you didn’t quite kill it, the follicle will continue to produce hairs. Just 10-30 per cent of all your hair is in the growth phase at any one time (except head hair, which is 85 per cent in grow mode), which is why you need multiple treatments for successful laser hair removal. It also means hair will continue to grow, and may grow after your treatments have finished, from hair follicles that were not active during your treatments or follicles that got missed.

# 4 Laser hair removal is now cheaper than ever

Good razors are not cheap, salon waxing appointments are never-ending and expensive over a lifetime, and creams, bleaches, electrolysis and waxing are time-consuming, unpleasant, and actually not great ways to have smooth hair-free skin. We think laser hair removal is a cost-effective option over the long-term.

We love our laser hair removal lasers!

Contact our Melbourne clinic