What Happens After Your Laser Hair Removal Treatment
Once you have completed your laser hair removal treatment, you may be wondering how your body will react and what results you will get. Here is a complete breakdown of what to expect after your laser hair removal treatment.
First of all, you may experience swelling and sensitivity in the areas that were treated, with the potential of folliculitis as a reaction. Folliculitis is actually a very good reaction to have after laser hair removal because it means that the hair follicles have swelled from treatment. Folliculitis will look like all bumps on the surface of the skin, and it should subside within 48 hours. Folliculitis is a good reaction because it means that the laser energy penetrated the hair follicle to kill it completely, which is what you are hoping for in your laser hair removal treatment. If you do have any other reaction that lasts for a longer period of time, make sure to contact your laser hair removal treatment center immediately so that they can help you as needed.
After your treatment, it is important to begin to exfoliate and moisturize the surface of the skin right away to see long-lasting results. If you have dense and dark hair, you may notice that the hair looks like pepper underneath the surface of the skin. As the body begins to push out the dead hair follicle, it will look like the hair is still growing, but it is not. You may notice that you can take a tweezer or your fingers to gently pull out the hair, and it will slide right out of the follicle. If you notice hair that is still growing in the area that was treated, it is important to contact your laser hair removal center right away because it could be a missed spot. A missed spot can happen if the patient was jumpy during the treatment or breaks needed to be taken. Your laser hair removal center will be able to offer you a follow-up treatment to target all missed spots completely.
As you began to exfoliate, it will work to push out the hair trapped underneath the surface of the skin more quickly. Moisturizing is also necessary because it keeps the skin in balance, and it will allow for greater results in removing the dead hair underneath the surface of the skin. It is recommended to exfoliate with a glycolic acid facial cleanser or body scrub, which will gently eat away at dead skin cells to push out the dead hair underneath the surface even faster. You also can shave any of the dead hair pushing out if necessary, whether it be on your underarms or bikini area. The important to keep in mind is that the hair is dead as it pushes out, and it is not still growing.
Once the hair has pushed up completely, you will have a hair free period. It is so important to track your hair free period so that you can answer the questions pre-treatment upon your next laser hair removal treatment. Your laser hair removal technician will want to know how long your hair free period was because it determines how effective the treatment was on your body. If you had a hair free period of two weeks within your first treatment, those are still good results to have. As your treatments progress, your hair free period will get longer and longer. When you reach your fifth or six treatment, nearing the end of your treatment series, you can expect to have a hair free period of up to three or four months!
To conclude, it is necessary to schedule your laser hair removal treatment weeks apart as directed by your laser hair removal center because your hair grows in cycles. If you treat too close together, it will be a waste of time and money, especially since not all of the hair may have grown back to be treated. If you want to see the best results in your treatment series overall, make sure to stick to the timelines provided to you, meaning that initially, your treatments will be closer together, and then they will start to spread farther apart as your series progresses. Toward the end of your treatments, they should be up to 16 weeks apart to make sure that all dormant hair can grow in to be killed by the laser. This will give you the best results in complete hair removal in all areas of your body for smooth and silky skin!
This article was written by Bethany North. Bethany is a licensed esthetician with experience in hands-on experience in chemical peels, microdermabrasion, facials, laser hair removal, makeup applications, skin analysis, waxing, spray tanning, and product ingredient assessment. She has also worked as a salon sales and training consultant, as well as a consultant for beauty and hair care product lines in branding and marketing.