As we get ready to re-open our clinic safely, we keep hearing the same questions from our laser hair removal clients: ‘I’ve missed laser hair removal sessions because of lockdown – does this mean I’ve wasted my money?’ ‘Will a long wait between laser sessions affect the results I get in the long-term?’
The good news is ‘No, you’ve not wasted your money’. Relax. Breathe deeply. It’s all good. Read on and we’ll tell you more.
We know you’ll have been disappointed if you’d booked a course of treatments and then lockdown arrived. Maybe you were looking forward to low-maintenance, hair-free legs for the summer or a smooth, hairless chin and upper lip? But even if you’ve only had one or two sessions, the good work of our top-of-the-range, medical-grade lasers has NOT been wasted.
Will I get poor results from laser hair removal because I’ve missed appointments?
Not at all! The reason that we say most clients will need at least six treatments, four to six weeks apart for your face or six to eight weeks apart for your body, is because laser treatment works best when hairs are in the early stage of growth, known as anagen. This is when the hair is visible above the skin and the hair shaft is firmly attached to the follicle.
On any given day the hairs on your face and body are all at different stages of growth. Even after just one laser hair removal session, our gold-standard lasers will have zapped the roots of some hairs that were in the anagen phase and they will never able to re-grow.
As a general guide, eight treatments can permanently reduce the number of regrowing hairs by up to 80%. Everyone is different and hormone levels in your body will affect the results you get.
Will hair grow thicker or faster because I’ve missed laser hair removal sessions?
No! One of the reasons we LOVE laser hair removal, is that it not only reduces hair permanently over time, but hair that does grow in treated areas is usually fairer, finer and less noticeable.
Lockdown has made us all take a break from laser hair removal, but there may be other times in life when you need to pause sessions – if you get pregnant for instance. But the good news is that you can re-start sessions after your baby is born and carry on the great work. Obviously, pregnancy makes lots of different hormones flood around your body, so you may notice hair growing in new places or changing texture. That’s down to your hormones, not the starting and stopping of laser treatment.
Also, if you stop laser hair removal and then start taking supplements or birth control pills, or follow a diet that alters the levels of hormones in your body, you might find that hair grows longer or thicker. Stress can also affect hormonal levels – and we’ve all had a bit of that in recent months!
Is it a problem if I do some emergency home waxing while I wait for you to re-open?
No, you go for it, if that’s what you need to do to feel good.
Waxing will not make hair grow back thicker. It’s painful, of course, because it rips the hair out from the roots. This disturbs the natural growth cycle of the hairs, so you may need to delay your next laser session to make sure you are having laser treatment when it will do the most permanent damage to those pesky hairs and give you the best value. Just make a note of when you last waxed – or for facial hair when you last attacked it with the tweezers – and our expert technicians can help you plan the optimum time for your laser hair removal sessions to re-start.
Using a razor or an electric shaver is fine. You can do that as often as you like. Those methods only slice the hairs off at the skin’s surface. Shaving doesn’t do anything to the roots or interrupt the growth cycle. We actually ask you to shave before laser hair removal so that the beam of energy from the laser just targets the hair shaft under the skin and not any hair above the surface.
Laser hair removal sessions are quick and clean and you can be out of the clinic in next to no time – ready to get on with your busy life with no down-time.
We can’t WAIT to see you all for a proper catch-up as soon as we’re able to re-open.
If you are new to laser hair removal, we always offer a free patch test and consultation so you can find out how it feels for you and discuss the results you can expect.