Frequency of Laser Hair Removal Treatments

When most people begin their quest to find out more about laser hair removal one of the first questions they ask is what is the expected frequency of laser hair removal treatments? Most people who consider using lasers for hair removal purposes recognize that there is no such thing as a single treatment to remove all of one’s hair. Every single hair on our bodies grows in cycles which essentially means some hairs – especially the ones you see – are active and growing. Meanwhile, other hairs may be entering a resting phase. Hairs in the resting phase have stopped growing, but may still be attached to the hair follicle and visible above the surface of the skin. Finally, the third cycle for the hair is the dormancy phase whereby the hair actually falls out and stops growing. Each of these cycles plays an important role in understanding the effectiveness of laser hair removal. The only phase of growth that effective hair removal can be achieved in using lasers is the active growing phase. This is when the root of the hair, or the follicle, is filled with pigment and actively growing new hair.

Body Site Dictates Frequency of Laser Hair Removal Schedule

We established above that to achieve any sort of success with lasers for hair removal purposes, the hair has to be in the actively growing phase. While this is rule number one of laser hair removal, different body sites have a different duration of that active growing phase. Effectively what this means is frequency of laser hair removal treatments varies from body site to body site. A qualified laser hair removal practitioner will know exactly what the time frame between treatments should be. If is also important to know that while timing of laser hair removal treatments is important, it is not so precise that deviating for a week or two here or there is going to adversely affect your hair removal treatments.

Below is a guideline that one can follow for the typical timeframe between laser hair removal treatments for most body sites:

• Facial Hair Removal: Approximately every three to four weeks
• Underarm Hair Removal: Approximately every four to six weeks
• Bikini Line Hair Removal: Approximately every four to six weeks
• Arm Hair Removal: Approximately every six to eight weeks
• Leg Hair Removal: Approximately every six to eight weeks
• Torso (Back/Stomach/Chest) Hair Removal: Approximately every six weeks

How Many Laser Hair Removal Treatments Will I Need?

While frequency of laser hair removal treatments is pretty much universal for hair removal because it is dependent upon the growth cycle of that body site, the number of treatments necessary is entirely dependent upon the type of laser hair removal technology used. It is important to understand that not all lasers for hair removal are created equal, meaning some are designed for temporary hair removal, some will provide long term hair removal, and still other, more advanced technologies can provide permanent hair removal.

In addition to the frequency of laser hair removal treatments needed, most people are also concerned about the financial cost of such a quest. As far as laser hair removal is concerned, there are generally two pricing schemes that one is likely to encounter—per treatment pricing and package pricing. If you find a price per treatment, you should typically expect an indefinite number of treatments necessary. That is because “per treatment” pricing is largely based on temporary hair removal only. To the uninformed, this option can appear tempting because the per treatment fee for laser hair removal is often quite low. If your goal, however, is long term or permanent hair removal, expect to find “package pricing” per body site. These packages will provide a defined number of treatments for a specified price and usually one should expect these packages to include six to eight treatments. If you are treated on an advanced laser technology for hair removal, it is entirely possible that you can be permanently hair free is eight sessions.