How Does Laser Hair Removal Work? – An Analysis

 The magic of laser hair removal.

In this article we will look in more detail at the technology and attempt to answer the question one of the most basic questions on how the laser hair removal devices function; we will look at both home based systems and professional systems.

Laser hair removal revolves all around hair follicles so we should learn a little about them don’t you think?

Hair follicles are an organ which produce hairs. No new hair follicles are formed after birth but its behaviour changes throughout its life. Hair growth follows the 3 following cycles. It is these cycles which add complexity to laser hair removal.

 

• Anagen Phase – This is the growth phase. It starts at the base of the follicle. The longer the hair is in this phase the longer and faster it will grow.
• Catagen Phase – This phase allows the hair to renew itself. While in this phase the hair bottom of the hair follicle detaches itself from the hair strand by removing it from the blood supply.
• Telogen Phase – In this phase the hair remains dormant for several months. Once the hair is rested the Anagen phase begins again.

How does laser hair removal work?

So how does all that information help us answer the question of  if it works or not? Well laser hair removal systems basically disrupt this process.

As you probably know a lasers two main outputs are heat and light, both of these are used in disrupting and destroying hair follicles. A laser over the area you want to rid of hair will send a beam to the area with enough power to disable (or destroy) the root.

The skin around the root will not be harmed in any way; it’s not targeted.  This is because it uses a process called photothermolysis.

This is where the laser targets the darkness of the hair; the melanin.

Therefore because the skin is usually lighter than the hair the skin is not targeted at all. The hair however absorbs the heat & light, takes it down to the base of the hair follicles, and destroys or damages the root. The more treatments you have the more damaged the hair follicle will become, and eventually they will be so damaged they get destroyed. And this means that hair will not  grow from that follicle for a very long time.

For these reasons laser hair removal works best on dark hair and light skin because it can easily distinguish between skin and hair. Most systems have safety features to make sure you have the correct skin type, so there is no chance of using a hair removal on the wrong sort of skin and burning yourself.

A burn could result from the device not knowing what is skin, and what is hair. This is why safety features are essential. However if discomfort is felt around the skin, cooling cream, cooling gels or numbering solutions can be used in order to reduce any discomfort.

Conclusions

Overall it may sound like burning your hair follicles completely & destroying them is dangerous and painful. However the process is much more efficient, safe and painless than that sounds! In reality the pain is no worse than a sharp poke, flick or jab; it doesn’t last very long either.

If you are going to hurt from it, most likely it will be from tender skin after you have given yourself the laser hair removal treatment. So the short answer to the question of if laser hair removal works or not is that it damages the hair follicles in your skin so they no longer produce hair.

If you have a question which isn’t answered on this site already, please feel free to get in contact with the at home laser hair removal team.