At-Home Laser Hair Removal

It’s pretty embarrassing when you think you have gotten every area after shaving your legs, only to get out in the sunlight to discover you didn’t. It’s even worse when you are in a rush to get your little ones to the pool and you notice after removing your cover-up that you missed another area. You may have considered laser hair removal but decided against it because of the expense. One solution is to try an at-home laser hair removal device. Another benefit is that your husband or significant other may get some use out of it, too.

Function

Laser hair removal is one of the most popular of all the cosmetic procedures available in the world, according to The Hair Removal Journal, so it’s no surprise that at-home devices are on the market. It’s best to stick with a product that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves, such as the Tria or the Silk’n. At-home devices typically take longer to achieve your desired results than professional treatments do, but for the price savings and convenience, they are worth looking into.

Features

Laser hair removal works best on people with light skin and dark hair. That’s because this combination makes it easier for the hair to absorb the laser light rather than the skin. Although as long as you have some pigment in your hair, you should be able to achieve favorable results, according to The Hair Removal Journal. People with white hair are not good candidates at all, and blonds may or may not get the hoped-for results.

Considerations

It takes a lot of time and multiple treatments to conduct laser hair removal at home. Because hair grows in cycles, when you start your treatments, you will want to repeat the process every two weeks for the first two or three months. Then you can wait every month for about eight months. After that, you still may need to perform maintenance every six months to a year. Some people can wait several years before they need maintenance.

Warning

Some pain accompanies laser hair removal. When physicians perform this service, they often use cooling sprays or some sort of topical anesthesia. Since you do not have all the anti-pain remedies at home as you would at the doctor’s office, prepare yourself for a sensation comparable to someone snapping a rubber band on your skin.

Benefits

The big advantage of at-home laser hair removal is the long-lasting and often permanent results. It is very useful for removing the hair on women’s legs and on men’s backs. The cost savings between having the procedure done with a doctor versus at-home treatments is great. As of 2008, a treatment from a doctor will cost you around $3,000, compared to around $600, as of 2010, for the Tria and Silk’n, for example. A drawback is that sometimes the hair will grow back. Additionally, the effort involved, especially in the beginning, can be quite intense. If hair does come back, however, it is usually finer and thinner.

Identification

When buying an at-home laser hair removal device, be sure you know which areas of the skin you can use it on. Some products warn against using it on the face, genitals or breasts, for example. Also, avoid performing the removal if you have a sunburn or a dark suntan. A tan increases the risk of side effects such as discoloration or blistering, according to The Hair Removal Journal.