I guess the easiest way to explain Laser would be via this FAQ index page so that you can peruse through the various topics and read just that which interests you .... don't worry about the fact that I've spent MONTHS getting all this updated and together, not having ANY social life and practically having to remain sober whilst doing so ... nooooo, you just read the one or two points that interest you.
Laser - Most Common FAQ
- So what is laser technology ?
- How does laser hair removal destroy my 'root' ?
- Effectiveness of laser hair removal
- IPL
- The difference between LASER and IPL.
- Care - After a laser treatment.
- Zaque gets a laser.
- So why laser ?
- How the technolgoy works to eradicate your pelt.
- Different applications for laser technology.
- The main types of hair removal lasers - summary.
The consultation
- How do I know what skin type I have ?
- Why do I need a laser patch test ?
- Do I need to do anything special before being treated ?
- What can I expect from a consultation ?
- Before patch test, before treatment, during treatment and after treatment.
- Does it hurt ?
- Why do I need a series of treatments then ?
- How much does it all cost, do I have to refinance my house ?
What are your options for hair removal ?
There are several different methods of hair removal for you to consider :
- mechanical : such as an epilady, hedge clippers, mowers
- chemical : depilatory creams, acids, nuclear effluent
- technological : LASER or IPL, genetic engineering
- physical : shaving, plucking, gnawing
Laser hair removal is simply a process of getting rid of any unwanted hair growth by means of using light to destroy the root of the hair.
How does laser hair removal destroy my 'root', so to speak ?
Before I go any further though it may be best for me to point out here that if you’ve got hair that’s blonde, white, sparkles (grey), or even some of the finer ‘carrot’ type it won’t work and your best option would be electrolysis. Nothing personal, just that both lasers and IPL target Melanin.
The laser projects an intense beams of light at a specific wavelength that penetrates the hair follicle beneath the skin. Targeting the pigment (melanin) of the hair, this light is converted to heat through a process called photothermolysis and damages the living shit out of said hair root by coagulating the surrounding hair-generating cells which inhibits future hair reproduction and without damaging the surrounding skin tissue. BAM !
Melanin is the stuff that gives our skin and hair its colour and it’s this melanin that’s the target of the laser light’s wavelengths that are emitted by the laser. These wavelengths are quickly turned to heat and travel down the hair follicle to its root and blasts the shit out of that poor ol’ unsuspecting root. Sounding more like a night out on the town ?
The result is the root has a dummy spit throwing its skirt over its head and running away hopefully never to reappear as the heat has killed the growing cells that give birth to the hair.
Hair has to be alive though for it to work and therefore must be in the Anagen, or first phase of hair growth. Basically, if the hair isn’t connected to the root at the time of being treated then the papilla won’t be damaged. For a better understanding follow this link
To get the best out of a laser treatment then, would be someone that has white skin and black hair but really as long as there is a difference between skin colour and hair colour you could be a candidate.
Because skin contains melanin, if the hair and skin colour are very similar you run the risk of the skin absorbing the energy as well as the follicle, umm …. NOT a good thing. Darker skin needs ‘long-wave’ lasers like the Nd:Yag laser, they’re safer as they won’t ‘burn’ the skin whilst trying to target the hair although having said that, burning from any laser or IPL device is a possible side effect.
Effectiveness of laser hair removal
Does it work?
I'd have to say that YES it does. From my own experiences with just a couple of clients being in to their 3rd treatment, I can honestly say that there has been significant hair reduction. There's a few that I'd like to see better results on, but as we're only 2 treatments in, it's hard to tell at this stage. It's just as frustrating for me as it is for the client ... everyone is different I get that, different skin type, different hair type not to mention hair cycles so results will always vary. Just because your mate got a fantastic result it doesn’t mean that you will as well.
I'm sure I've mentioned it somewhere else already but it's late, my eyes are hanging out of my head and the screens all-a-blurr but, there's this girl that works in my favourite fish 'n' chip shop and because I turned up wearing my scrubs she wanted to know what I did for work. I told her and then for some reason she felt compelled to tell me that she had had 12 IPL treatments on her legs, spent just on $ 3000.00 and nothing, still hairy. For a moment there I though she was going to drop her strides to prove a point but fortunately for me and my appetite she didn't. Although she did pose the question that she should come in and try out my laser in case that was better than the IPL .... I was quite surprised that after $ 3000 she was still willing to try again .... such is the desire to be hairless for her, WOW. Another client came to me for a wax and before I even started to wax he was telling me of his IPL experience. He had his back, chest and shoulders IPL treated about 10 times he reckons and had found similar negative results. "Don't ever get laser" he was telling me .... damn, I looked at my newly acquired diode laser machine from Germany and told him "um, a bit late mate, I just got one and already I have seen good results" It was then that I had to remind him that he had had IPL treatments and NOT laser ones, there's a difference.
Individual results will ALWAYS vary, and I have no idea of anything else about these people, maybe they were doing stuff in-between treatments that helped negate their results, chopping and changing clinics or practioner.... who knows.
One has to be educated about their hair growth as there are several possible reasons such as type and texture of your hair and/or hormone levels but does it work ? Yes.
Don’t forget guys, it definitely works :
- Works best on dark hairs against a lighter coloured background and won’t at all on white/grey, blonde or red hairs.
- It’s difficult too to treat those fuzzy bum fluff hairs found on the sides of the face or your bum … maybe that’s why they called it bum fluff ?
- Multiple treatments will be needed as you have to catch the hair in its active growth phase so a repeat treatment will be about 3 – 6 weeks apart.
- Each body area has a different growth rate as you may have experienced when waxing several areas and the hair returns at different times to others so you may have to stagger treatments to make sure you catch the optimal growth phase.
- Hair can only be successfully treated and nuked if it’s actively growing and somewhere close to the surface of the skin. If you’ve ripped out the full shaft of the hair by plucking, or whatever, then there’s no conduit for the energy of the laser or IPL to reach the root of the hair.
- As we all get older, yeah, life’s a bitch ….. As we all get older, different hair follicles will mature and produce hair. So, treating hair on your shoulders when you’re 25 isn’t going to get rid of the hair that’ll be on your back when you’re 55 and NO, just in case for some reason you’re thinking “what if I get my whole back done when I’m 25 so that it’ll also kill any hairs that may grow when I get in to my 50s
- Don’t forget guys, if you have a tan, stay away from any kind of laser or IPL. For some places it’s between 2 – 4 weeks because the wavelengths can target the melanin in the skin and may cause scarring, this also applies for self-tanning products.
- I know a lot of you guys out there are certainly practicing but using the wrong ‘orifice’ when applying your techniques, but should you be a woman reading this then if you’re pregnant or breast feeding using laser or IPL is NOT advisable.
- Medications such as acne medications i.e. Accutane, certain antibiotics and antidepressants, some supplements and natural remedies like St. John’s Wort will cause hypersensitive skin so hair removal is again, not advisable.
Can I use other methods of hair removal while having laser hair removal ?
NO ! no waxing, tweezing, plucking etc etc.
I’d certainly wait a week or more until your skin has settled should you want to remove any hair that comes up before your next appointment with your razor. Shaving is the best method but any methods that rip out the hair from the root will negate the effect of laser hair removal. 4 – 6 weeks would have to pass before commencing treatment if you had recently waxed the area for example.
Preparing for my 1st treatment after the patch test results.
Don’t be surprised if you do get some regrowth over the next several years. Within weeks of having had a laser treatment though, you will notice hair ‘growing’ but what is actually happening is that it’s starting to ‘shed’.
It’ll look like it’s growing back but it’s just being pushed out of the follicle, I’ve seen clients shedding within a week but you can expect it to start happening around the 2 week mark and lasts for another couple of weeks. If you like you can start scrubbing gently in the shower to speed up the process but otherwise it’s nothing to be alarmed about.
The same goes for those tiny black dots that appear, called ‘pepperspots’ they too will eventually shed as they’re just caramelised hair follicles and will also shed eventually.
Is it true that lase hair removal can stimulate hair growth on some areas ?
No-one could really answer this for me or maybe they didn’t want to answer it so I was left having to search forums and discussions about people’s experiences on the net for this one. Some people have reported that finer hairs treated with laser have become more prominent and more numerous.
It appears that some people have reported this happening to them but it’s so hard to know what is really going on with them as you can never know what it is that the person ISN’T telling you such as are they pregnant, are they suffering hormonal imbalances, do they have thyroid problems etc. An interesting comment that I would agree with as a practioner was the question “are you absolutely sure these hairs weren’t there before ?” When one has decided to start getting an area treated, be it waxing or laser, whatever, one starts paying a LOT more attention to that area scrutinising it more intensely than ever before. Maybe the hairs weren’t noticed before because you weren’t ‘looking for them’ ?
It’s a rare occurrence which only seems to happen when treating fine hair, women’s faces and men’s upper arms, shoulders and upper backs in particular and seems only a concern when treating sparse hairs so if you only have 23 hairs over your back that are pissing you off would you really get them treated ? This I’ll have to look further in to. Darker skin types appear to be more susceptible with experiencing laser-induced growth but from what I’ve read this is a rare occurrence a risk like so many other possible side effects.
Synchronising hair growth cycles
It’s very important that you treat your hair follicle during the active growing phase, or anagen cycle as this is when the follicle is still connected to the root and has the greatest chance of destroy the cells that generate new hair. For a better understanding of the hair growth cycle click here.
Risks and possible side effects
The most common side effects of laser hair removal include:
- Pain
- Some people might feel discomfort during a treatment depending on the area but from my own experience most of my clients on a scale of 1- 10 sit at around 3 or 4.
- Skin irritation
- Temporary discomfort, redness and light swelling that may look like little mosquito bites or goose bumps. The signs typically disappear within several hours to a few days.
- Pigment changes
- Your skin might darken or lighten from the use of laser or IPL. Usually this is temporary but may take some months to disappear … Skin lightening usually affects those who have darker skin.
- Blistering, crusting, scarring and other skin textural changes may be experienced but these are rarities.
Side effects in greater detail.
IPL works like a camera flash light sending out light waves of between 500 and 1200 nanometres scattering through the skin. Now I’m going to create an argument here by saying that IPL is far less effective than Laser as I’ve seen some great results achieved by IPL but from the research I did, and considering that I’m specialising in just hair reduction with the genitals as my focus, so to speak, Laser was really the only option.
As with all light based treatments, IPL does its stuff by emitting a wavelength into the skin.
For further reading on the comparisons follow the link.
IPL technolgy in greater detail
The difference between LASER and IPL ?
LASER stands for ‘Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation’, now you know why they just call it LASER. IPL, on the other hand stands for ‘Intense Pulse Light’ and I’m sure you can already tell by their full names how different they are.
In a nutshell, lasers used for targeting hair removal have just one specific wavelength emitted from the diode whereas IPL has multiple wavelengths between 500 and 1200 nanometres, that’ll scatter into the skin.
The difference between laser and IPL in greater detail
Zaque
0413 520 420
Buffed Body Hair Management Melbourne, Australia
This is a professional body hair management clinic and in no way do I offer, or provide, sexual services.
Site Last Updated: 19/04/2016
