The laser treatment only kills the follicles that are in the active growing stage. That is why you need more than one treatment, because not all follicles are growing at the same time. The ones that you have to shave between treatments are the ones that have not been killed from previous treatments.

You usually have about 2-4 weeks of time after a treatment where there is no growth, because of the growing cycle. The active ones have been killed, and the next group of follicles don’t become active for a few weeks. And shaving is the only hair removal method allowed, you are not allowed to use anything that dissolves the hair, such as Nair, or that pulls it out, such as waxing or plucking, because it disrupts the growing cycle.

By the way, where you are being treated will determine how many treatments are needed. The chin is the most difficult to treat because it is influenced by hormones. I’m about to call for my 8th treatment.

It’s difficult to assess a new hair removal method that claims to be eternal. Several people presume that after a specified amount of time, it’s doubtful that a hair will ever come back. That’s why quite a lot of people, myself as well, have suggested a specific definition of “permanent hair removal “. Generally of these definitions seem not good enough to me. One maker claims their method is permanent based on results after 8 weeks.
That’s comical. Waxing can last that long, and it’s been clinically proven to be temporary.

Permanent hair removal
For the purposes of hair removal, our explanation of “permanent” is being able to go a year after your last hair removal cure without having to use one more technique of hair removal. Bear in mind that a year might not be long enough to reveal factual permanence, but quite a few consumers would be content to have one treatment a year.
The sole method of clinically established  lasting for ever hair removal is electrolysis. Some lasers and flash lamps have been able to achieve permanent hair reduction, as discussed below.

Long-term hair removal
A different undefined term is “long-term” hair removal. Once more, it depends on what your definition of “long” is. Our definition of “long-term” is being able to go 7 months after your final treatment without having to use a new method of hair removal. Your definition may differ, but I don’t deem 8 weeks to be long-term. I subjectively decided on 7 months as a apt definition, because most hair growth cycles will have finished in 6 months.

Hair reduction vs. hair removal
Permanent hair removal has been accepted as the absolute destruction of a hair follicle’s capability to regenerate and grow hair.
Several lasers have verified permanent hair reduction in clinical studies and are allowed to make this claim by FDA.
The word “reduction” adds another term that is ambiguously defined. FDA has acknowledged the definition of reduction as a steady reduction in the number of coarse dark hairs. Some lasers have demonstrated in clinical testing that they can reduce the size of hairs and lighten the color. In some patients, this reduction appears to be everlasting.

In the real world, prices will only soar and are unlikely to do down, but the opposite is true for laser hair removal. Fifteen years ago, you will be paying double of what you pay today to have unwanted removed using laser. Fierce competition has been driving the price down and this has greatly benefited some 6 million consumers ever since.

The FDA has approved this treatment to be safe enough to be used on any part of the body including the face and private parts as long as not near the eyes.There are no known side effects with laser hair removal. Most patients will experience redness and some tingling sensation that will gradually dissipate. To avoid post treatment irritation, you will be provided with topical cream to use as and when necessary.

Before laser hair removal was largely used, electrolysis is used as a permanent solution to rid unwanted hair using low level of electricity. In this process, small probes have to be inserted to each hair follicles to kill them. Since this is a labor-intensive procedure, only a small area can be targeted at one time. On the other hand, in laser hair removal larger areas such as the back can be treated at the same time.

With electrolysis, your skin is hair free but you’ll also experience bumps and skin inflammation afterwards. So far, no other hair removal service can match the result produced using laser. Patients can expect up to 100% reduction in hair and the dead follicles will not likely to produce new hair growth in the future, making laser hair removal the permanent solution to rid unwanted hair.

It only take less than 10 minutes to treat both armpits or about 60 minutes to treat both legs with laser hair removal. This is why it’s been dubbed the ‘lunch time’ treatment.

No one can tell if you’ve had laser hair removal. That’s because you can resume working rightaway, experience no pain, require no bandage and there’s no recovery time frame. This quick treament can be done in the physician office or spa under the supervision of a qualified therapist.

The people who went through electrolysis will tell you that it is painful. Laser hair removal on the other hand, are mostly absorbed by the hair melanin which then convert the light to heat and self destruct. That is to say, the amount of heat endured by the surrounding skin is minimal. You will feel some heat and pinching sensation but it will be reduced by the cool tip of the laser.