The lasers used in treatments for skin tend to work most effectively on people with dark hair and light or fair skin. This is because the laser specifically targets melanin, which is a pigment found readily within darker coloured hair. However, melanin is also present in darker coloured skin, which is why if you are dark skinned you should be cautious about using laser treatments as the laser will target your skin as well as your hair. This may lead to pigmentation problems within your skin.
Personally, I find that having a laser treatment was no where near as painful as waxing, but you should bear in mind that you will probably find it more painful than using a depilatory cream or a pair of tweezers, especially in your first few treatments. To be honest, its not really painful as such, its more of a tingling sensation thats hard to explain until you have experienced it yourself. Having a laser session can be extremely quick, for instance it takes about 10 minutes to treat the upper lip and chin area, obviously it takes slightly longer on larger areas where there is more hair growth, such as the legs and bikini line for instance. You should expect to have around 5 or 6 treatments spaced about a month apart; unfortunately though laser hair removal can be quite expensive. A treatment session generally costs anywhere between $150 – $200 depending on the location of the salon.
Before having your treatment you may have to shave the area in order for the particular machine being used to work, however the brilliant thing about laser skin treatment is that the hair will fall out within about 10 to 14 days after the treatment. After having laser treatment you will find that the hair will usually grow as usual for a few days, however with a bit of gentle exfoliating it will all fall out within the 14 day period. If you have particularly fast growing hair, you may experience a bit of coarseness, as the hair grows, but do not worry because this will soon disappear when the hair falls out.
Some people may be worried that shaving hair will make it grow back thicker. This is an urban legend and is not true at all. Hair that has never been shaved has softer, finer ends. When the hair is shaved, it grows back with ends that are much coarser, which is why the hair appears to be thicker. Of course, because every person is different, everyone will see slightly different results based on factors such as their skin type and hair type, however you should expect at least an 80% reduction in hair growth following your laser treatment. In some people the reduction may be slightly less, whereas others may see much better results.
One final piece of advice is to find yourself a reputable aesthetician from a trustworthy salon. Before you start your treatment, make sure they have the appropriate credentials and licenses so you can be pretty sure that they will be using modern machines that are the top of the range. Be cautious of salons offering heavy discounts as in my experience they offer a poor quality of work. It may be worthwhile checking the City Search website which has a section about salons where users can rate the salons in their area.
Comments on this entry are closed.