Is Laser Hair Removal Worth The Money?

For many people, women and men, hair removal is one of the hardest parts of personal grooming. For those of us who aspire to smooth and hairless skin, the options for hair removal are often not appealing. Women, more so than men, spend a great deal of time removing unwanted hairs from their bodies. Shaving and waxing are the most popular ways for removing hair. A lot of people get ingrown hairs and little red bumps after shaving, which is both painful and very unattractive.  Waxing is especially painful and certainly not something that anyone looks forward to doing. In any case, after three or so days, your hair starts growing back and you have to wait two to three weeks before you can wax again. Many people choose to use a razor or a hair removal cream, but the downside of this is that, as with shaving and waxing, those unwanted hairs start growing almost as soon as they are removed. It is like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Laser hair removal is a very attractive option and one which we will explore in this article. 

Laser hair removal works by emitting pulses of highly focused light from a laser into your hair follicles. Your hair follicles’ pigment absorbs this light and that causes the hair to be destroyed. Approximately 90% of laser hair removal patients who qualify for the treatment achieve permanent hair loss after an average of three to six sessions. So as you can probably guess, the biggest advantage of laser hair removal is that the results are permanent after only a few sessions of the procedure. 

The costs of the procedure declines from the first session onwards. The reason that sessions are staggered and broken up into an average of three to six sessions, is to accommodate the stages of hair growth. Hairs have a growth cycle that incorporates phases of growth, resting and falling-out. So, for instance, there are hairs you don’t see because they are at the resting phase. Also, it’s important to note that hairs respond differently to pulses, necessitating multiple sessions, spaced about a month apart, which is the length of the average hair growth cycle. 

There are a number of DIY laser hair removal products, from the Tria 4X to the IluminageTOUCH, but the convenience of at-home laser removal treatments is outweighed by the risks. People must be cautious about using at-home products because, even though the laser is less intense than those used in office lasers, but, used wrongly, at-home lasers can do a lot of damage if you double or triple pulse the wrong areas. Typically, people tend to use at-home laser removal products very aggressively because they think that is the best way to achieve fast results, and they reap horrific results. It is much safer to see a dermatologist in order to achieve the best laser hair removal results. 

Laser hair removal is a relatively painless experience. What pain you will feel occurs in areas where there are thin skin, like your nose, chin and temples. Lasers with cooling mechanisms will tend to reduce the pain of the procedure. As the name suggests, lasers are very precise, killing hair follicles and hair bulbs without damaging the underlying skin. Each session takes between a minute and an hour, depending on the size of the area. The procedure is also very safe. Your hair simply needs to be dark enough to draw the laser. Finally, laser hair removal doesn’t result in ingrown hairs, which in itself is a huge achievement!