How to Prepare for Laser Hair Removal?

When preparing for your laser hair removal appointment, there are a few things that you should avoid to ensure that the treatment can be as effective and long-lasting as possible while minimizing the risk for skin reactions as much as possible. The laser hair removal treatment requires there to be a presence of hair as well as its hair follicle to be able to distinguish between the hair pigmentation and the surrounding skin and tissues, so it is very important that clients avoid waxing, plucking, or bleaching the hairs for at least 6 weeks before the appointment. To further protect the skin of the area in which the hair is being removed, clients should avoid using any sort of hair removal creams or depilatories, and to avoid tanning both two weeks before and two weeks after the laser treatment. Clients should also arrive to their laser hair removal appointment with freshly clean skin of the areas that are going to be treated, meaning that no topical creams such as moisturizers, oils, or deodorant has been applied to the skin since it was cleansed.

Although it may feel counter-intuitive, clients will be encouraged to shave the body part that is going to be treated with the laser hair removal a day or two before their appointment. The laser will be able to easily locate hairs that are very short or just growing form the follicle better than they would with longer hairs, and will not need to use up as much energy burning away the length of the hairs, making the session go by a bit faster in general. As well, there are fewer risks of the laser causing minor damage to the skin surrounding the hairs if the hairs are shorter as the laser will be able to target only the hairs and the follicles more easily.

The most likely occurrence in those who do not shave before having a laser removal session done includes irritation of the surrounding skin due to the hairs absorbing excess laser energy, leading to an increased risk of blistering or burns. As well, the unshaved, longer hairs increase the likelihood of developing redness, swelling, and sometimes inflammation. The laser works by attacking the closest source of melanin, so recently shaved hair provides just enough pigmentation that the laser is able to target it and focus on it down to the hair root and follicle, but longer hairs force the laser to travel farther down the hair shaft, increasing the amount of energy required to target the entire hair, providing increased opportunity to gently burn surrounding skin.

It is common for clients to experience mild redness and small bumps that may resemble ingrown hairs, but laser hair removal is one of the own hair removal options that does not cause ingrown hairs. This is due to the fact that the laser works to provide long-term hair removal by effectively destroying the hair follicle, preventing hair from growing back and leading to irritation under the skin. There are several factors that lead to the formation of ingrown hairs, all of which require that the hair itself is growing back, which is the case for all other types of hair removal options. In order to achieve a zero percent chance of developing ingrown hairs, the laser treatments must be performed multiple times as this will provide the more permanent results preventing new hairs from growing from the follicles once again.

Before your laser hair removal appointment, make sure you follow the instructions given by your provider to get the desired results and avoid future issues. Contact us for more information or schedule an appointment online. We are located at 877 Embarcadero Dr Suite 2, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762. We serve clients from El Dorado Hills CA, Folsom CA, Clarksville CA, Cameron Park CA, Granite Bay CA, Alder Creek CA, and Orangevale CA.