How Many Treatments are Needed for Laser Hair Removal?

One of the important decision factors concerning laser hair removal is the number of treatments that are required to see results. Here is what you need to know:-

How Many Treatments are Needed for Laser Hair Removal?

Area of the BodyHair Growth by Body PartHair and Skin TypeAmount of Hair to be Removed

Age and GenderIndividual Reaction and Type of LaserSummary

In A Nutshell: The number of initial laser treatments required is likely to be between 6 – 8, depending various factors (outlined below). In addition, you will probably require annual top-up sessions or, in some cases, twice a year. This should produce permanent hair reduction of up to 80% (FDA recognised) but will not actually result in permanent hair removal.

However: There is no definitive answer due to the fact that it varies, depending upon a variety of factors:

• Area of the body - normal growth cycles
• Hair and skin type
• How much hair is to be removed
• Age
• Gender
• Individual reaction and type of laser used

Read on to learn more about these factors...

Area of the Body

The normal growth cycle of your hair differs depending on which part of the body it inhabits. There are 3 stages of hair growth, namely the growing stage, otherwise known as anagen, the transitional stage, known as Catagen and finally the resting stage, known as Telogen. For more information see our article: “Lifecycle of a Hair and Electrolysis/Laser Hair Removal”.

Due to the fact that lasers are only effective on hairs in the growing stage, the number of treatments required and the length of time between each treatment will largely depend upon the length of the average growth cycle.

The table shown below gives an indication of the growth cycle for each body part but it must be borne in mind that hair growth is genetically determined and so will differ slightly from person to person.

Hair Growth by Body Part

As a rule of thumb, most people will require between 6 – 8 initial treatments, with a gap of 3 – 8 weeks between each, to achieve significant (up to 80%) hair reduction. Using the table, you can see that the gap will, for example be less for upper lip and armpits than for arms and legs.

Amount of Hair to be Removed

​Unsurprisingly, the number of treatments required to achieve your ideal results are likely to increase in line with the amount of hair to be removed. The initial number of treatments may still be between 6 and 8 but the number of follow up treatments is likely to be more.

This is partly due to the fact that laser hair removal is generally considered to be a permanent solution for reducing rather than permanently removing hair altogether and so, for dense areas of hair you may require more treatments to achieve your desired results.

Another reason is that, although the treated hair follicles may not be regrowing hair, there are some hair follicles that you are born with that lie dormant, and which may spring into life, producing new hairs.

Individual Reaction and Type of Laser

​As previously stated, skin type and hair growth cycles are genetically determined and therefore vary between individuals. This also means that reaction to laser treatment will vary from person to person. The type of laser used, therefore, is very important and it is essential that, when choosing a treatment centre, you base your decision upon the practitioner’s qualifications, experience and reputation rather than cost.

For further information see articles: “How to Find a Reputable Laser Hair Removal Clinic” and “How to Check if a Laser Device is FDA Approved and Safe”