Laser Hair Removal for Women
Laser hair removal is one of the most effective methods of depilation for women’s problem areas. Not as painful as electrolysis, laser treatment can be semi-permanent after you’ve had several treatments.
Laser hair removal won’t work at all, however, unless your hair is darker than your skin. That’s due to a well-known principle of heat:
Darker objects absorb heat. If your hair is lighter than your skin, you simply can’t use laser therapy. It will burn the skin rather than the hair follicle. If you have dark hair and light skin, laser treatment may work very well for you.
One thing women need to know is that laser doesn’t remove all hair during the first treatment. You'll need to stick to a strict once-a-month schedule at first, because laser treatments don’t get all the hair and the hair they miss grows on monthly cycles. And for several months you’ll tend to get fuzz where you had the treatment. Don’t mix laser with waxing—the laser won’t be able to find the hair if you wax it.
This is because of the way hair grows.
Every hair is formed inside a bulb inside a hair follicle. The hair sprouts through the skin, grows long, and eventually falls out. The follicle rests for a little while and then the growth process starts again. This is the hair cycle.
Laser hair removal only works if the hair is darker than the skin. That’s because darker objects absorb more light than the lighter objects around them. Rest hair follicles, or tiny, new, white or blond hairs, aren’t affected by the laser. They survive to grow long and dark.
Or if you are relying on electrolysis, there’s simply no way the technician can see the hair if the follicle is in its resting phase.
Any time you schedule a laser or electrolysis treatment, about 20 percent of the hair is in the new growth (anagen) or shedding (telogen) phase. In a few weeks, these hairs will need another treatment. Complete removal of hair can take six to eight treatments over the course of almost a year.
Laser hair removal isn’t cheap. A $150 to $200 session is only enough to treat underarms or bikini line. Legs may require two treatments—that’s up to 16 treatments for more or less permanent hair removal.