Laser hair removal is the process of hair removal by means of exposure to pulses of laser light that destroy the hair follicle. It had been performed experimentally for about twenty years before becoming commercially available in 1995 and 1996.
If you're not happy with shaving, tweezing, or waxing to remove unwanted hair, laser hair removalmay be an option worth considering.
Laser hair removal is one of the most commonly done cosmetic procedures for hair removal. It beams highly concentrated light into hairfollicles. Pigments in the follicles absorb the light. That destroys the hair.
Lasers are useful for removing unwanted hair from the face, leg, arm, underarm, bikini line, and other areas.
Hair color and skin type influence the success of laser hair removal. The basic principle is that the pigment of the hair, but not the pigment of the skin, should absorb the light. The laser should damage only the hair follicle while avoiding damage to the skin. Therefore, a contrast between hair and skin color — dark hair and light skin — results in the best outcomes.
Benefits of laser hair removal include:
Precision.
Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.
Speed.
Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hairs at the same time. The laser can treat an area approximately the size of a quarter every second. Small areas such as the upper lip can be treated in less than a minute, and large areas, such as the back or legs, may take up to an hour.
