Timing is everything when it comes to your laser hair removal!
Are you timing your laser hair removal correctly? Pulse Light Clinic have been performing laser hair removal for over 2 decades, building a wealth of experience in the field. Conducting plenty of research to find the best intervals for you.
It’s interesting to note that different lasers can have different intervals due to the way they work. At Pulse Light Clinic, we use the Candela Gentle Max pro-Alexandrite and NdYag lasers.
As a guideline for you to work on the face, you’ll need to book an appointment every 2-4 weeks to start with for around 10-16 treatments. Hormonal hair, such as those with PCOS or beard hair, will need treatment more regularly to begin with (2-3 weeks) and more maintenance sessions. You’ll find that hair growth on the face is much faster than on the body. It’s hard to believe, but we have 10 times more hair on our faces than our legs!
For the body, we will generally ask you to book in every 6-8 weeks for a session, at least 8 sessions to begin with. The lower body and underarms will tend to work faster as the hair is coarser, and there’s less of it. Areas like arms and back carry more follicles, so 10-16 sessions might be more realistic. The great news is the coarser the hair, the better the laser works, as it has more melanin to target!
You can see results from just one session with laser. Once the results are significant, you can slowly begin to extend the intervals. Eventually, you may only need to visit us every 3 months for the face and yearly for the body. It will depend on your hormones and skin type too.
It’s really important to let the practitioner guide you on your intervals. Different areas will eventually need different intervals as growth cycles, and results across the body will vary. Your practitioner might even ask you to leave a small square with un-shaved hair. This helps to guide the practitioner on the density of your hair and its thickness.
What are hair growth cycles?
Each practitioner is trained to understand the hair growth cycles. Each hair follicle will be in its own cycle, one of three;
- Anagen – growing phase – hair grows in length
- Catagen – transition phase – hair stops growing
- Telogen- resting phase- hair sheds
During the Anaphase, the cells in the hair root divide, causing the rapid growth of the hair. At this time, your hair roots are at their darkest due to the increased melanin.
When the laser hits the hair, it is absorbed by the melanin, which raises the temperature and destroys the cells, damaging the follicle, hopefully for good!
80% of your head hair is in the Anagen phase compared with just 30% of your underarms at any time.
Given the Anagen phase is the most important phase for the successful treatment of your hair, it’s clear that all the hair can’t just be removed in one session.
At your consultation, the practitioner will determine the optimum treatment plan based on your skin type, hair type and sun exposure. To find the best treatment plan for you, book a free consultation at Pulse Light Clinic.
