Understanding Laser Hair Removal

If you have heard about laser hair removal, then you are likely to be one of the many that believe it is an easy way to get rid of unwanted hair.  Although many people do find great success with the treatments, others will need several to succeed.  And, there is no real way to know how you will react to the laser treatment until you have it.

Who Should Have It?

The ideal candidate for laser hair removal is the person who has dark colored hair.  The darker the hair the more likely it is that the laser can remove it permanently.  With that goes the pigment color of the skin.  Individuals who have a dark complexion will not be ideal candidates because the hair is harder to see.  Light skin, dark hair is the best situation to find yourself in.

You will also need to have a good budget.  Sessions of laser hair removal can last upwards of several hours and will require several thousand dollars to complete.  If you need multiple treatments, that too can become even more costly.  The average is four visits per person.

Melanin is the pigment that gives hair color.  You will need the melanin to be able to absorb the energy from the laser and then incorporate the heat into the follicle.  The heat will actually kill off the follicle, making it impossible for hair to re-grow.  Also, those who have a dark colored skin tone have more melanin, it is necessary to insure that the process will still work well.  To help this, a cold compress will be used to keep the affected area cool.  The laser will not target the cold areas which are important for it to work properly.

The skin can be kept cool in another way as well.  This is multi pulsing laser technology. Laser energy is pulsed or interrupted, rather than streamed. That means there is less heat which helps to cool and at the same time, protect the skin. Other laser removal devices include: Alexandrite, a long pulse laser; Diode, which generally is used on darker skin; Q-Switched Nd:YAG, which delivers two wavelengths that work on both deep and near-surface follicles; and Ruby, that as the name implies, consists of red laser beams capable of targeting melanin.

There are a number of excellent resources on the internet that will help you to discover why or why not laser hair removal is the right solution for you.

Some of the world's leading dermatologists explain laser hair removal. What to expect, how it works