Since the beginning of time, men and women have had a strong desire to remove unwanted body hair. Ancient Egyptians used tweezers made out of seashells in order to remove hair from their bodies. In ancient tymes, hairlessness signified social position and wealth. Today’s most popular hair removal options include waxing, threading, shaving and electrolysis with laser hair removal the only one able to reduce hair on a permanent basis.
The very first laser designed to destroy hair folliucles was invented by Theodore H Maiman on July 7, 1960. This ruby laser was inefficient and slow; it was able to minimize hair growth but also resulted in severe damage and burns to the skin. It could only target a few hair follicles at a time making hair removal a very tedious process.
The very first alexandrite laser was developed in the 1970’s. Although these lasers were much safer than the first one, it did not provide adequate heat to destroy the hair follicle. As a result it would have taken years to achieve permanent results.
The YAG laser was the very first laser approved by the FDA for hair removal in 1964. This laser was able to reduce hair growth but unable to remove hair on a permanent basis. In 1975, Harvard dermatologist Dr Thomas B Fitzpatrick created the Fitzpatrick phototyping scale which offers classifications for human skin color. It is used today in order to determine suitable candidates for laser tretment. Not everyone is able to benefit from laser hair removal since darker skin tones can absorb the laser’s heat causing in skim damage. In 1983 scientists were able to develop a laser which utilized a pulse duration in order to target the hair follicle. As a result it was possible to target the follicle without damaging the skin.
It took nearly 40 years for scientists to develop an efficient laser system for hair removal purposes.
In 2008 the FDA approved the very first home laser hair removal system; the Tria Laser 4x. The Tria laser utilizes the same diode technology used at professional clinics while allowing consumers to remove hair permanently from the comfort of their own home.
Since then many at home laser hair removal machines have been approved by the FDA for permanent hair reduction. The majority of home removal hair systems on the maket today are IPL based while the Tria is the only on.
