It may be a well-kept secret but as women age sometimes they get a few stray hairs, not always on their hairline. Whether the hair is on your chin, your bikini area, or just a mustache that appears to have grown thicker, you can get it removed permanently using laser hair removal. Laser hair removal is the state-of-the-art way to remove hair and it is somewhat painless. The procedure takes multiple sessions and can be more expensive than depilatories and shaving, but it is supposed to make the hair sparser each time, until it is finally gone. There is no guarantee that it is a permanent hair removal procedure, and the FDA only approves it as a hair reduction procedure.
Who Can Get Laser Hair Removal?
Laser hair removal isn’t for everyone. It does work better on darker colored hairs than lighter, blonde hairs. This is because the laser is targeting the melanin in the hair to remove it. Blonde hair has little melanin and the laser doesn’t work well with it. Black people may not be able to get much benefit either. The laser needs a good contrast between white skin and dark hair color to work effectively.
You can do larger areas, but the treatment is not 100% effective. People have to have multiple sessions to thin out the hair and typically use electrolysis to catch the stray hairs that remain. Even afterwards, there are touchup sessions required every six months.
The pain involved with laser therapy is different for everyone. Most people feel a light stinging sensation as the laser pulses and not much else. This can vary from person to person. If it is ever uncomfortable, you need to alert the laser technician so they can adjust the treatment.
How Many Sessions Are Required?
At least six to eight different sessions are required to see results. The reason is that not all hair grows at the same time. Your hair grows in cycles and while one set is dormant another is growing. In order for the laser to remove it, it has to be available to target. Some areas are particularly stubborn like women’s faces and men’s backs. This can get very expensive after time and there are no guarantees that the treatments will be successful.
Price Comparison
In comparison to other treatments, laser therapy is very expensive. You can expect to pay approximately $230 a session. The price does vary with the area being treated, however, it is per session and not for a guarantee of results.
In comparison, electrolysis costs between $45 to $100/hour to do. However, the results are permanent. The cost may be small for areas like the face and increase for larger areas like the back. At the point where you are treating a very large area, then laser therapy becomes more economical in comparison. When you are considering laser hair removal, think about how large the area is your want to treat to determine if the choice is financially good in comparison to other treatments available.