Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Laser Hair Removal Permanent?
Yes, it is. The hair that is killed during a laser hair removal session is dead and will never grow back. And nowadays new technology is capable of giving over 80-90% or better permanent reduction for ALL skin types, male and female, for ALL parts of the body, except around the eyes.
However don't forget that you have a lot more hair on your body than you probably imagine (hair grows in cycles so you actually never get to see all your hair at any given time) and it takes multiple sessions to kill 80-90% of this total hair. Another thing to keep in mind is that your body, as long as you are well and alive, will produce new hair. None of us had hair as babies or children but our bodies grew and shed hair over our lifetimes. This process will continue despite laser hair removal and the growth of new hair is actually why you need clean up sessions once or twice a year.
1b. Is it a Laser Hair or IPL you use for Removal?
Medical Grade Polaris NdYag Laser - never IPL. IPL we've tried almost 20 years ago and more recently but we feel its best used for pigmentation and superficial vascular never for hair as the results with the NdYag laser speak for themselves!
The nature of lasers means that laser hair removal devices can focus light down into the pores of the skin, getting closer to the follicle to treat it and ultimately prevent regrowth.
This can mean that laser hair removal can achieve much quicker results than IPL because single hairs are heated to damaging temperatures quicker. Therefore, you may need fewer treatments of laser hair removal to achieve the same results.
Being more specific also means that laser hair removal can be more suited to people who have darker skin. This is because darker skin also absorbs more light than paler skin due to the amount of melanin (pigment) it contains, like darker hairs absorb more light than paler hairs.
Therefore, there is a risk that the darker skin can be heated up. The nature of lasers being more focused, smaller areas of light mean that they are more suited to treating people with darker skin because they greatly reduce the risk of burning compared to IPL.
2. How many sessions do I need to achieve a smooth skin?
Most people will need 6 to 10 treatments. In some areas, such as the legs, faster results will be achieved. Within three treatments, at least 50 percent of your hair will be gone forever.
Within six treatments 90 percent, or higher, results will be achieved. You can expect similar results for the bikini area, under the arms, on the arms, and the facial and chest areas. The back area of men is usually more challenging and may take a few extra treatments. The results will of course vary from person to person based on age, gender, punctuality with appointments, hair colour etc.
3. How long do I wait between each session? How do I know when to come for my next treatment?
We like to do the first 3-4 treatments within specific intervals (4-6 weeks depending on what area it is) because we like to catch the majority of your hair in its growth cycle and kill it. After you lose more than half your hair, it is wiser to go by observation of new hair growth: when you start to see new stubble (new hair growth), you can make an appointment within the week and this time frame will vary from person to person as well as from area to area.
4. Will I have hair between the sessions? How will I look?
Your treated area will be cleared of most of the present hair during the treatment, while the rest of the treated hair will shed in two weeks leaving the area smooth and clean. Depending on the area, the skin will remain clean and smooth for around 6 to 8 weeks in total, starting with the treatment date; and the time for your next session will be when you see little fine hairs growing again. By repeating the sessions on time the area will remain hair free throughout the entire multiple session procedure and you will not need to maintain it by shaving, tweezing, waxing etc again.
5. How soon do I expect to see results? How do I know it is working for me?
You will see results starting with your VERY FIRST session. The hair growth will be less and the hairs finer and weaker; your skin will become smoother; and the hair pores on your skin will become less visible after each session. The results will become more impressive with each following session. You may feel 3 sessions in that your hair is re-growing and previous results have been lost - but this is not the case, as part of the process some hairs will have been dormant and are now growing to anagen and ready for elimination.
6. What are the risks or possible side effects involved?
You will not experience any damage to your skin. All the possibilities are short term reactions such as a redness and follicular edema (which is a temporary swelling of the hair root sac with a similar overall appearance as goosebumps). These may take a few minutes to several hours to fade away. A very small percentage of people do have adverse reactions such as hypo or hyper-pigmentation which is why we do a patch test. Most people can get treated during their lunch time and there will be no visible indications of a treatment when they return to their office.
7. Does Laser Hair Removal hurt?
It's described more as uncomfortable rather than painful by most.
If you have tried any hair removal solution such as waxing, tweezing or electrolysis, along with any type of other laser and flash-lamp equipment, you will marvel at how painless our Polaris lasers are combined with the ice air jet. Any of the methods mentioned above is more aggressive, damaging and painful than a laser hair removal session with new and improved machines will be.
However there is some slight discomfort associated with it and this is why we recommend getting the free patch test to experience it for yourself and see if it is within your comfort levels.
8. Is Laser Hair Removal for everyone?
Laser hair removal will NOT work on white, grey, light red or light blond hair follicles.
The main effect of an NdYag is to completely eradicate a follicle and the aim of the treatment is complete hair removal. Some clients though opt for just a few sessions but we cannot guarantee uniformity of hair reduction - some areas in this scenario may appear hairless and others patchy. It's generally best to consider completing treatment courses. However some clients opt for chest, leg or back hair in this scenario where in general the result appears as if the hair is less.
10. I have in growns on my face, legs, bikini area and back. Would laser help?
Absolutely.
Even after one treatment you will notice that most of your in-growns will be terminated. Within few weeks, the area will be smooth and the colour of your skin will return to your original skin colour.
11. How are the treatments priced?
Prices are usually given per area per session.
This is for the convenience of the clients of course, since as a consumer you will always have the option to stop after the number of sessions you believe are enough for you. However, multiple area and multiple treatment discounts are also available and can be discussed in your consultation.
12. What should I do before/after laser hair removal?
Your hair needs to be as short as possible for this treatment to be effective.
Therefore we do recommend you to shave at least a day or two before. Since we will cover the entire area in each of your sessions (except for clean-up sessions) we do not actually need to see the hair. Shaving it removes the surface debris and allows the laser beam to penetrate and kill the root as it should. 2-4 weeks prior to the laser treatment sun bathing must be avoided - we cannot treat you with an active tan.
You must also inform us if you've been taking medications - even ones that you don't class as medicine like anti-histamines very importantly.
After the treatments we advise you to treat your skin with care for the next 24 hours. Taking showers with boiling hot water, sweating excessively, rough exfoliating or products that contain a lot of chemical ingredients should be avoided since they can cause itchy, sensitive skin. After this period of time you can return to your daily habits with no danger whatsoever. You will receive full aftercare instructions after treatment.
13. How about tanning? I keep hearing how it is bad for you if you are doing laser.
A lot of people think tanning is dangerous combined with laser because the darker your skin, the riskier the treatment. This is completely false.
We treat African & Asian skin types every day, so dark skin is really not the issue here. The real problem is that tanning is a process that causes a lot of heat to accumulate on your skin. Laser, even though you won't feel it that way, is a source of heat as well. Therefore, you must space out tanning and laser sessions to avoid the overheating of your skin. In other words, tanning and laser are perfectly compatible as long as you make sure there is enough time between them (usually 4 before weeks is enough and going on holiday 2 weeks after is the general rule).
