Priorities
Unwanted hair
Unwanted hair, constant shaving or waxing, ingrown hairs, and razor bumps.
Unwanted hair most often affects the underarms, bikini line, legs, face, and chin. Frequent shaving can cause irritation, razor bumps, and ingrown hairs, and regular waxing adds up in both time and cost over the years.
Laser hair removal works on dark hair but not on light hair. Beyond hair color, good results depend mostly on timing your sessions well.
What we'd want you to know
Grey, white, and blonde hair don't respond to laser
If your hair is brown or black, we’d suggest laser hair removal on the Candela GentleMax Pro. Our medical esthetician treats small areas in minutes and full legs in up to an hour. For most people, six sessions, four to eight weeks apart, takes care of most of the hair.
After the series, a maintenance session or two a year helps keep it that way. Hormonal areas like the chin, or a PCOS pattern, need more frequent touch-ups.
How we decide
We’ll look at your hair and the skin under it. Dark hair on lighter skin is the easiest case and gets the 755 nm alexandrite setting. For darker skin, we use the 1064 nm Nd:YAG, which passes through the surface pigment and is the setting the GentleMax Pro clearance names for all skin types I to VI. Both wavelengths are in the same machine.
Laser can’t treat hair without pigment. Grey, white, blonde, and red hair have no melanin for the laser to target. Fine peach fuzz doesn’t respond well either, but for that, dermaplaning works well.
Timing matters too. The plan is six sessions spaced weeks apart, no sun on the area for two weeks around each, and no waxing or plucking between them (shaving is fine). Starting in September or October means a bikini or underarm series can be finished by summer. Starting in May makes it difficult to keep the area out of the sun between sessions.
The evidence supports reduction, not removal. A Cochrane review found roughly 50 percent short-term reduction with alexandrite and diode lasers up to six months after treatment, per the Cochrane Library, and the American Academy of Dermatology says regrowth tends to be finer and sparser. Individual results vary.
Your questions, answered
Is laser hair removal permanent?
Not quite. The FDA’s phrase is “permanent hair reduction,” defined as a stable reduction in the number of hairs regrowing at 6, 9 and 12 months after the series. Most people go months to years without seeing hair in the treated area, and what comes back tends to be finer.
When should I start to be done by summer?
Ideally by October. Six sessions at four to eight week intervals runs five to eight months, and the last one needs two sun-free weeks after it. Our Buffalo Grove and Palatine timing guide shows how to choose a start date based on when you want to finish.
Does it help ingrown hairs and razor bumps?
Yes, it can. The 1064 nm setting is cleared for pseudofolliculitis barbae, the razor-bump pattern, and reducing the hair reduces the ingrowns along with it. The bikini line and men’s necks are the most common areas treated for this reason.
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