Laser hair removal is one of the most common, popular and effective ways to permanently reduce unwanted or excess hair from the face or the body. It has dramatically risen in popularity due to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Victoria Beckham openly reporting that they swear by the treatment to keep their skin smooth and sexy-looking. At Skin Perfection in the heart of central London and only minutes from Harley Street, we have seen a huge increase in the number of patients visiting us for the treatment, not only because of celebrity endorsement, but for the plain fact that it really works.
Laser hair removal takes some time as a number of treatments will be required before you see maximum effects and this can take a few weeks if not a few months. This means that you might be tempted to use traditional hair removal techniques such as waxing or epilating in-between treatments. If this is the case, you may not get the best results possible.
To understand why, firstly let’s look at hair.
Hair growth follows 3 stages:
• Anagen (Growing Phase)
This phase lasts 2-7 years and determines the length of our hair.
• Catagen (Transition Phase)
This stage that lasts about 10 days. The hair follicle shrinks and detaches from the dermal papilla.
• Telogen (Resting Phase)
This is the resting phase and lasts approximately 3 months. Around 10-15 percent of hairs are in this phase. When the old hair is resting, a new hair begins the growth phase.
Now let’s look at laser hair removal
Laser hair removal utilises a laser (light amplified by stimulated emission of radiation) to pass intensive bursts of specially selected wavelengths of light energy in to the hair follicle. This light energy heats the hair follicle to around 48 degrees, which kills the chromophore inside the follicle, responsible for nourishing hair, and stunts hair growth.
Laser hair removal will only work on hair that is in its Anagen phase. At any one time around 30 percent of our hair is in this phase. This means that each time you have laser hair removal you’ll be affecting 20 to 30% of the hairs.
As the light from the laser hair removal device has to reach the hair follicle root, these roots need to be present to ensure an effective treatment. Waxing and epilating removes hairs from the root, so guess what? No root, no effective treatment!
It’s not all bad news however, shaving and using epilation cream won’t remove the root. In fact, we ask that you shave your treatment area prior to a laser hair removal treatment, so that the light energy will penetrate fully in to the root and not affect the hair above the skin’s surface (imagine the smell of burnt hair? No thanks!).
In summary, waxing and epilating isn’t recommended between laser hair removal treatments. However, if you want to keep your skin smooth between treatments, shaving and using depilation creams is perfectly fine and just think, after a few weeks of treatment with laser hair removal, you won’t even need to think about it!
Laser hair removal London at Skin Perfection
Contact my expert team with any questions or queries you have about laser hair removal in London, or to book a consultation with one of our gold-standard practitioners.
