Unwanted hair is often associated with the inconveniences of shaving, waxing, ingrown hairs, increased skin sensitivity and itchiness. Laser Hair Removal technologies had a revolutionary impact on the effectiveness of permanent hair reduction. The aesthetic and beauty industry has been transformed (sadly, not always in a good way) by cheap daily deals offering bargains on various treatments, including laser hair removal. Beware when you see an IPL hair removal course is being sold as ‘a laser hair removal’ treatment. IPL (Intense Pulse Light) is not a laser. It has nothing to do with a laser. The technologies are totally different due to the type of the beam that these two machines produce.
IPL delivers a scattered beam while a laser produces a focused type of beam (if you ever went to the Greenwich observatory to see the Zero Meridien, you know what we are talking about). When the laser type of beam reaches a follicle, the power of the heat stays the same once the beam is issued, unlike the IPL type of the beam that gets scattered by the time it hits a follicle. This property directly affects the quality and the timing of the results of your treatment.
For comparison, 10-12 sessions of IPL are required to see any difference in hair reduction. With the right laser, you may need as little as 4 sessions to get rid of your unwanted hairs permanently. A laser is, therefore, much more powerful. Having said that, not all laser machines do the same job. That is why, it is worth while doing a little bit of research before investing in your laser haireremoval treatment.
Each type of laser has a certain wave length designed to effectively perform a certain type of procedure. That is why a good clinic when offering various types of laser treatments, such as laser skin resurfacing, laser hair removal, laser thread vein removal, etc, should have different laser machines for each of those procedures. In theory each laser can do all of the above treatments, BUT with a different level of effectiveness.
What can happen? If a laser is not specifically designed to kill a follicle for the first time, the follicle will keep producing hair, sometimes even more actively than before. This can happen because the blood supply will not be cut off from the follicle, and with extra heat from the laser, it can stimulate the hair growth. You may even end up struggling to remove your hairs later with the right laser as the melanin in the hair can fade after your numerous treatments previously. The follicle will become invisible for the laser “to see” the hair in the follicle as a laser targets hair through the dark melanin contained in it.
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