What is Laser Hair Removal?
Laser Hair Removal safely and quickly reduces excessive, dark hair from your face or body. Lasers use pulses of light to target the pigment of individual hairs, heat the hair follicle, and kill its root without harming the surrounding tissue or skin. By killing the follicle, a hair can no longer grow from it, preventing future hair growth.
Factors That Affect Laser Hair Removal
False Hair Regrowth
When dormant hair follicles grow in the same area that was previously treated, some people believe that the same hairs are coming back. However, factors like DNA, heredity, hormones, PCOS, weight, medication, stress, and other unknown factors can also influence hair growth and trigger dormant hair follicles. So when dormant hairs do grow back in the same area, they’re new, untreated hair follicles.
True Hair Regrowth
Sometimes a hair follicle is damaged but not destroyed during Laser Hair Removal treatment, so the hair will eventually regrow. It can be challenging to destroy every single hair follicle, so most clients will see true hair regrowth. In this case, the same follicle may need to be treated several times before it is destroyed. Most clients find that when hair regrows, it’s lighter and less obvious than it was before. This is because the laser may damage the hair follicle even when it unsuccessfully destroys it.
Hair Growth Cycles
Hairs have a unique growth cycle and at any given time a random number of hairs will be in 1 of 3 phases: anagen (growth), catagen (shed), and telogen (regrowth). As a result, only half the hairs in a treated area will be visible to the laser. Only hairs in the anagen stage of hair growth can be completely destroyed at any one given time. As a result, multiple treatments are necessary.
Hair Color & Skin Type
Because Laser Hair Removal targets the pigment of the hair, but not the pigment of the skin. Therefore, a contrast between hair and skin color — dark hair and light skin — results in the best outcomes.
Untreatable Hair
In some cases, hair may be too light, too short, or resistant to treatment. In these cases, I recommend electrolysis to remove the stubborn hair that laser couldn’t get. Come in for a free consultation and I will come up with a personal and confidential treatment plan that addresses all of your needs.
Because of all of these factors, it is important to be consistent with regular appointments and continue with treatments until you reach your hair removal goals.
