Tell Me Everything About: Laser Hair Removal

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Let’s talk about laser hair removal:. Most Americans remove at least some of their face or body hair regularly, but the practice is tedious, time-consuming, and often messy. (You know what I mean if you’ve successfully Nair’d a cis man’s back, something I’ve done more times than I’d like to admit.). This is where lasers come in. Laser hair removal is for people who want hairless legs and don’t want to keep throwing disposable razors into landfills. It’s for people with curly hair who are sick of ingrowns. And it’s for anybody who is tired of spending time and money in pursuit of hairless skin (over the course of a lifetime, laser hair removal ends up being less expensive and time-consuming than other practices like shaving, waxing, threading, sugaring, or using depilatory creams).

As long as I’ve been a beauty journalist, people have been asking me beauty questions along the lines of: “Does ____ work?” So, this “Tell Me Everything” series is a spin-off of my “Ask A Beauty Editor,” designed to tackle the big, sometimes complicated beauty topics you’re most interested in. I’ll share the latest reporting in these explainers, and update them when there’s new research or breakthroughs (or related questions) that warrant it.

The lasers developed for hair removal emit beams of light that target the melanin pigment in hair. When the light hits its hair, it’s converted to heat, which travels down the hair shaft to the follicle. Then “the heat damages the hair follicle to an extent that either prevents or delays future growth of hair,” says board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Lee, whose practice, Wave Plastic Surgery, offers non-surgical cosmetic procedures including laser hair removal (LHR).

Are you a human who grows hair? Then, yes — with some caveats. If you have broken skin or a skin infection, you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or you are taking certain medications that can make the skin more sensitive to light, then you shouldn’t get LHR. But everybody else, regardless of skin or hair type or color, can be treated. “With the advent of new lasers that bypass the epidermis, all skin tones and complexions can be treated safely and effectively,” says Christian Karavolas, the founder of Romeo & Juliette Laser Hair Removal. That said, lasers are better at detecting dark pigment, so they don’t work as well on hair that’s blonde, red, or light gray or white. However, some clinics with newer lasers may be able to achieve partial hair reduction on clients with light hair. (“New lasers in our facility target less pigmented hair with a unique profile, and we have achieved amazing results on less pigmented hair,” says Karavolas.) It all depends on your provider’s equipment and their experience. Inquire before you book an appointment, or, better yet, stop by the clinic and ask to see examples of their work.

Photo: Liudmila Evsegneeva/Getty Images

Lasers work by targeting melanin, regardless of whether it’s in skin or hair — which means there is a higher possibility of complications such as burns or skin discoloration if you have melanin-rich skin (a.k.a., if your skin is Fitzpatrick skin phototype V or VI, which means it’s medium brown or darker and rarely burns). “To avoid these complications, practitioners will frequently lower the energy they use in a hair removal treatment, but this may also reduce the efficacy of the treatment,” says Lee. That’s not to say you won’t be able to reduce your hair growth if you have a deep skin tone; it just may take more sessions to do so, and you may never be able to achieve complete and permanent removal. But going to a practice or clinic with experience with your hair and skin type (ask to see their portfolio of before-and-after photos) increases your chances for success.

Follow the guidelines of the clinic or physician’s office where you will be treated. Typically, they’ll ask you to shave the area you are having treated a day before your appointment. If you regularly wax or use depilatory cream on the area you are having treated, they will have you stop waxing and wait for the hair to grow in completely, then you’ll need to shave it before having the areas lasered.

During a laser session, your practitioner will give you protective eyewear, clean the area to be treated, adjust their device’s settings to your skin type and tone, do a few test passes, and then methodically move the hand piece across your skin, firing the laser as they go. After one session, your practitioner will likely schedule the next session four to ten weeks later, depending on the area you’re treating and how quickly the hair grows.

“Laser hair removal should not be a painful procedure when done correctly,” says Dr. Azaa Halim, who specializes in aesthetic medicine and is also a board-certified anesthesiologist. The discomfort the laser causes will depend on your pain tolerance, but it should not feel worse than getting snapped with a rubber band (which, tbh, can really sting). For some people, that pain is enough to warrant numbing cream, which may cost extra but will not affect the results of the procedure.

If the pain is worse than a rubber band snap, or the laser feels different than it did in previous sessions, ask the practitioner to stop. It’s possible the laser needs to be recalibrated or serviced. If the practitioner or clinic manager doesn’t have an explanation — or another laser to treat you with — then do not get treated there! Trust your instincts. The Reddit boards are rife with posts from patients who regret their decision to go through with a laser treatment when they didn’t feel comfortable or had a practitioner who didn’t listen to their concerns.

There’s no easy answer for this one. Let’s say your practitioner uses an Nd:YAG laser (more on specific lasers, below), and you have light skin with fine, dark hair, and you’re treating a non-hormonal area like your legs. In that case, it will likely take four to six laser sessions for you to experience up to a 90 percent reduction in hair that lasts more than a year, according to research. But please notice how many variables there are in the previous scenario. The laser, your genetics, your hair and skin type — all these factors will affect your results.

Not always. There are not a lot of long-term, multi-year follow-up studies on LHR to give you hard numbers on all the possible scenarios and variables, but there are plenty of people who are able to remove their hair permanently from non-hormonal areas of their body. (I count myself among them. I did about five sessions on my lower legs more than ten years ago, and hair no longer grows there.) Other areas — especially your face and other spots where hormones affect hair growth — will be dependent on factors such as your “metabolism, hormonal predisposition, hair type and density, and lifestyle and habits,” says Karavolas. (I’ve had my underarms treated about eight times, and some hair still grows there.) Another factor is where you go for hair removal and what laser the practitioner uses.

The answer here is dependent on your specific skin and hair type and the experience of the practitioner. But, generally speaking, if the person getting lasered, “is light skinned — Fitzpatrick skin type 1, 2 or 3), we suggest an Alexandrite 755 nm wavelength laser. If they are dark skinned — skin type 4, 5, or 6 — we suggest a Nd:YAG laser with a 1064 nm wavelength,” says Karavolas. As for the laser brand, he says, “It would be unfair to paint just one laser as the best in its class, as customers have favorites — it’s like choosing between a BMW and Mercedes.” Karovalas’s clinic, Romeo & Juliette, has been in operation 23 years, and his list of top lasers includes the Again Pro by Deka, Elite IQ by Cynosure, GentleMax Pro Plus by Candela, and Clarity II by Lutronic.

Anytime I’ve asked a physician to answer this question, they usually say they advise patients to see a board-certified physician for LHR. I think part of the reason is because laser-hair-removal regulations vary widely depending on where you live. In California, where Lee practices, he says “the clinician performing laser hair removal must have at least the credential of a registered nurse, and they must be performing the procedure under the supervision and oversight of a physician.” But in New York State, cosmetic laser hair removal is not regulated, so a practitioner doesn’t need a license to perform it. However, in most states, including New York, med-spas, aesthetic clinics, and appearance-enhancement businesses do need licenses to operate. And most lasers used for hair removal are medical devices and can only be sold to licensed practitioners. But none of the above means that if a business is open and owns a hair-removal laser, you can automatically trust they have experience using it. You’re going to have to do some research.

Unfortunately, there’s no central directory of all the states and municipalities and their local licensing boards for cosmetologists, aestheticians, and health-care providers who perform aesthetic procedures. The best way to research the regulations where you live (and find out whether or not a business complies) is to visit your state government’s official website and search for laser hair removal there. When considering where to get your treatment done — whether it’s a physician’s office, clinic, or other business — you should also check reviews online. And when you call to book a consultation, ask questions like: How many years have you been in business? Are you experienced with all skin tones? What type of equipment do you use? If they won’t or can’t answer those questions to your satisfaction, go elsewhere.

If you live somewhere with a high cost of living, or in a state or municipality that requires people performing cosmetic laser hair removal to have more extensive training and certification, the procedure is going to cost more. I’ve seen prices ranging from as little as $30 for one upper-lip session to $620 for one back session. The average cost of skin laser treatments including (but not limited to!) laser hair removal is $582 , according to the 2022 American Society of Plastic Surgeons procedural statistics report, for which 483 physicians self-report their fees. (But that’s when it’s performed by a physician and doesn’t give details on which body area. Your cost might be less.)

To make sure you’re paying a fair price, check a few businesses and doctor’s offices in your area to get an idea of what’s reasonable.

And if one session of laser hair removal costs less than getting the same area waxed, that’s a red flag. As you do your research, you’ll probably notice spas that charge less for laser than you’d pay for waxing, says Karovalas. But, he explains, those businesses often use aggregators to sell packages as a way of bringing clients into their business, and they may spend less time on each client, which leads to rushed service and complications. Laser hair removal is not a cosmetic treatment you should shop for by price. “Always do your research before committing to a facility,” Karovalas says. I couldn’t agree more.

For any of your more personal beauty questions, or things we don’t cover here, you can always email me at AskABeautyEditor@nymag.com.