Laser hair removal has been growing in popularity since it first became commercially available in the 1990s. It can achieve permanent hair removal in as few as 3 sessions, although different hair types and densities will have different requirements.

Laser hair removal works by shining a concentrated beam of light into the pore which is absorbed by the hair which has a pigment called melanin.

The light energy which is absorbed becomes heat energy and causes the hair to warm up.

This heat causes damage to the hair follicle, which can cause the follicle to stop growing hair.

This method is extremely effective, but it is important to understand that because hair grows in cycles, not all hairs will respond to the laser therapy at the same time. Therefore, it will usually require multiple sessions to treat all the hair follicles successfully.

Unlike waxing and epilating, laser hair removal will not have immediately noticeable results as it can take a few weeks for the dead hairs to fall out. However, unlike waxing which requires a certain length of hair at the surface for successful results, with laser hair removal you can shave in between treatments as you don’t need to have surface hair for it to work. Shaving is encouraged before a laser treatment because it prevents the hairs from being scorched at the surface.

In-salon laser hair removal can be expensive, with clinics charging about $1000 dollars for 8 sessions to treat smaller areas such as the underarms. That may put some people off, but an alternative to salons is buying an at-home laser hair removal kit. The Tria Laser 4X, for example, can be bought at a fraction of the cost, and you can use it anywhere on the body that you can get treated in a salon. You can treat multiple areas of your body for much less than you would pay for a single area to be treated in the salon.