Complete Overview of Laser Hair Removal
When considering laser hair removal it's important to educate yourself, gain all the knowledge that you can to make sure that you're choosing the right alternative for you. Most candidates choose laser hair removal as a last resort after trying nearly every type of hair removal product available on the market. If you're looking for some good information about the procedure, take it from me, I'm a successful patient who chose laser hair removal and it turned out to be the right method for me. I wish I had actually learned about laser hair removal much sooner than I did. I wasted so much time and money on products and not to mention the energy of plucking.
When I first heard about laser hair removal, the term "laser" was one that really didn't click with me. The most common laser lights used are:
- Ruby
- Alexandrite
- Diode
- ND Yag
As you would imagine, each laser differs greatly and is usually used for various skin types.
The Ruby laser can be used on people with light or dark skin, but is best for people with light skin. It's also able to focus smaller areas to effectively remove hair.
The Alexandrite is fast! I don't know if you really know how hairy a man's back can be but this laser treatment performed on the back of a man only takes about 30-40 minutes on average… not bad at all. Because the Alexandrite can be used on such large areas, this essentially means it's customizable and can be used on a variety of hair types resulting in a versatile option of treatment.
The Diode is slightly different from the previous two basically because of the laser light wavelength. The wavelength is much longer meaning it can be highly effective with a variety of skin types.
If you've done any studying into laser hair removal at all, you should know that results tend to vary with everyone, largely depending on the amount of skin pigment the patient has. Laser hair removal, traditionally patients with dark hair and light skin saw the most dramatic results but all things change!
The ND Yag laser gives people with dark skin and dark hair better options with laser hair removal than ever before. People with dark hair and light skin still tend to see "better" results than those with dark skin, the results are still favorable for darker skinned people.
If you don't naturally have dark skin, if you have suntanned skin you can still go on with the procedure but doctors/technicians still recommend that you wait a few weeks just to let the tan fade but it's entirely up to you.
I do want to touch base on some of the most common misconceptions about laser hair removal though.
- It's not only for women.
- It's not extremely painful.
- It's not only focused on facial hair.
- It doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
- Hair doesn't grow back in the treated area five years later.
When I went to the office for my own treatment I saw three men too. Ok, I was surprised but what even surprised me the most was also seeing some of their results. Men have unwanted hair too. Men don't like to shave anymore than a woman does, think of their facial hair and how many men shave every day too! Many men are utilizing laser hair removal and I for one am real happy about that.
Pain is another factor that people are concerned about with good reason, I'm a wuss myself, I went through the scary emotions and I understand completely. Personally, I didn't feel any pain at all but I was using a numbing cream too. Later on in my treatments I didn't use the cream, my skin was completely able to feel any pain and the best way I could describe what I felt was a tiny warm stingy feeling. It was no worse than tweezing and plucking.
