With summer in full swing, you probably want to make the most of the long days and beautiful weather. Time spent indoors shaving, plucking, or waxing is nobody’s idea of summer fun!
The good news is, you can reduce the time it takes to look your best without sacrificing results. The answer? Laser hair removal. The medical aesthetics experts at Rejenesis Health + Wellness in Phoenix, Arizona can help you learn more about it.
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Choosing laser hair removal
Unwanted hair can show up virtually anywhere on your body. While you may have your own least-favored spots, the most common areas treated for hair removal include:
- Armpits
- Bikini line
- Chin
- Forearms
- Legs
- Upper lip
These, however, aren’t the only places you can treat. It doesn’t matter where your problem hair is when it comes to laser removal — except for the area around your eyes — since strong light energy is involved. Knowing how your body hair works can also help you understand the laser removal process.
The growth cycle of body hair
Your hair originates from a tiny, hair-growing factory called a follicle. This is a little sac at the base of each hair. Every follicle goes through a three-stage growth cycle: growing, transitioning, and resting. Follicles work on a staggered cycle, so not all hairs are in the same stage simultaneously.
This influences laser hair removal, since hairs are only vulnerable to laser light when they’re in the growing phase. Fortunately, your follicles and hair are in this stage the longest, and it’s also the reason why multiple laser treatments produce the best results.
Laser hair removal
Lasers concentrate light energy into a single wavelength that can be tuned to match the color of your hair follicles. This is important, because the follicles absorb the energy from lasers the same way a black cloth absorbs energy from the sun. As the follicle soaks up laser light, it warms up and ceases to function.
The brief bursts of the hair removal laser light effectively zap your hair follicles into submission. Over the next few weeks, hairs in your treated area will fall out as your body starts to reject the follicles as damaged tissue.
What you can expect
Hair growth cycles not only depend on the part of your body, but they can also be completely different from person to person, so hair removal results vary widely. For example, your skin tone makes a difference. Those with fair skin generally see better results, although the capability of laser technology improves all the time. Depending on the patient, effective and permanent hair loss can take anywhere from 2-12 treatments. Some people also need follow-up treatments down the road for best results.
Best of all, there’s rarely much discomfort associated with laser hair removal, unlike other methods. Your skin may be sensitive for a few days — like you got a very mild sunburn — but otherwise, side effects are easily manageable.
To learn more about laser hair removal and get a personal assessment of your skin and hair types, call our office or make an appointment online with Dr. Chan and his team at Rejenesis Health + Wellness. Spend your time on things you love — not on hair removal.