Laser hair removal is becoming an increasingly popular option for those wanting to remove hair permanently and to avoid the hassles of an everyday shave and scars or salon visits for a painful wax. Lasering has proven to be quite effective with permanent results particularly for those with the combination of lighter skin and darker hair. However, those with similar tone hair and skin have needed more sessions to see the same results, until the new technology, Motif, was introduced.
How is the new technology different from the current one?
Traditional laser hair removal is a technique that uses beams of highly concentrated light to penetrate the hair follicles. This light is absorbed by pigments in the follicles and destroys the hair within them. In most cases, lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.
However, darker skin has a tendency to catch the laser and become discoloured if burned, damaged or manipulated if not done well. This is because when the skin colour is dark and hair is also dark, the pigments on the skin surface will compete with the hair to absorb the laser beam. To get to the follicle pigments, if we set the energy too high it may burn the skin, whereas if the energy is too low to avoid skin pigments, the hair won’t come off as easily, which is why dark-skinned individuals often need more sessions to get rid of the hair.
How is Motif different?
Motif Hair Removal, powered by Elos technology, is safe and effective on the widest variety of skin and hair types because it combines diode laser along with bi-polar radio frequency technology together to selectively target the hair follicle and shaft while protecting the surrounding tissue.
The diode has a long track record of success, but also has a record of scabbing, and even causing changes in the skin’s pigment. However, the diode laser is believed to be the best wavelength for laser hair removal, because it goes right to the target, where the hair pigments are. The heat from the radio frequency allows the laser to go directly to the hair root, without requiring increased energy that may burn the skin. This combination of diode laser plus bi-polar RF also allows each session to be quicker (20 minutes instead of an hour) and less painful.
Would you recommend everyone to go for the Motif hair removal over the traditional laser option?
Not necessarily. If you have dark skin or light hair, then Motif is definitely a much better option.
For those with light hair, Motif is a better option because the laser is absorbed by dark material in the skin and if your hair isn’t dark it’s difficult to target. With much more speed and intensity, the dark target matter can be artificially introduced, but this may require more time per session and more sessions to finally be hairless in the treated area.
With Motif, you’ll need much fewer sessions to get the same results. For those with lighter skin and dark hair, laser hair removal works just fine, unless they don’t mind paying more for quicker and less painful sessions.
How is the Motif procedure priced in comparison to the usual laser hair removal?
Since Motif is a new technology, it is more expensive than the traditional laser hair removal per session, but because the number of sessions needed is reduced particularly for light haired or dark skinned individuals, the average cost of the entire procedure is likely to end up being roughly the same.
Plus it’s ultimately less time-consuming and definitely a whole lot less painful.
