What is Laser Hair Removal?

It is very common for us to worry about having too much hair. Last year men and women spent $8 billion removing it with razor blades alone, reports Gillette. And that is not taking into account waxing, depilatory creams, electrolysis, and the gold standard of hair removal, that by lasers.

Human beings' hairy preoccupations are curious because, compared with their closest animal relations, humans have very little hair to begin with. Hair is unique to mammals, and is one of the most obvious and defining characteristics of the group. A scientist might argue that humans are not, technically, “hairless”. Many have the same density of hair follicles as an ape of the same body size would have. But human hair is generally fine and short, and so humans look naked compared with their closest animal relations. How bare they are, though, does vary racially—which may explain why a Thai lady may request that her European boyfriend should have his entire body waxed.

Hairiness is also related to the level of a predominantly male hormone. Hence, being less hairy may be a sexual signal of femininity. The message is clear: if you don't want to look like a dirty man in a hygiene-obsessed world, get rid of your body hair. And as the fashion for revealing clothing and microscopic underwear spreads, so too does the desire to show only smooth, naked skin—a desire often reinforced by society. Consider the outcry when Julia Roberts waved to a crowd and revealed, to the horror of many, a hairy armpit.

Laser hair removal has become one of the most common cosmetic procedures performed globally, ranked second among cosmetic procedures behind only Botox injections in frequency of procedures performed. Laser hair removal utilizes beams of highly concentrated light designed to selectively penetrate into the hair follicles. The heat from these lasers seeks out brown and black pigment (so they don’t see blonde and grey hair). When it finds the brown or black hair, the heat goes down the hair shaft into the follicle to destroy it. As hairs grow in cycles every four to six weeks, you will not get them all first time. You have to laser each cycle of hair growth. You usually get about a third of them at any one time, so you will need a minimum of three to four sessions to get the best result. After that your hair should stay away, and if any do come back they will be much finer, not coarse and dark.

Light-based hair removal devices have revolutionized long-term hair removal. results last much longer than shaving and waxing and can cover areas that would take too long with electrolysis.