Though summer is the time when you’re most concerned with banishing unwanted hair, it isn’t the best time to have a laser hair removal. Given that this is one of the longest-lasting methods to remove hair, there’s no need to rush your treatments ahead of beach season.
At South Central Family Practice Clinic in Soldotna, Alaska, our team uses a Medicreations laser hair removal system for our patients seeking long-term hair removal treatments. You can find out more about the process in consultation with our medical aesthetics experts.
This month, we’ll discuss why fall is the perfect time for laser hair removal, so you can look your low-maintenance best next year.
Lasers produce energy in the form of tightly focused, single-wavelength light beams. When a target absorbs the laser energy, light converts to heat, just as a black fabric gets warm under direct sun.
Hair removal lasers are carefully tuned for absorption by hair follicles so that, during your treatment, the temperature of the follicle rises to the point that it becomes inactive. At this point, your body recognizes the follicle as damaged and starts the process of eliminating follicle tissue from your body. It produces no additional hair.
Even though a laser hair removal treatment is a short procedure, the results take time. Fall is ideal, because virtually any hair removal goal can be met before fair weather the following year. Here’s why.
Your body hair grows in a three-part cycle. About one-third of your hair is growing at any one time, and the other two-thirds are in transition and resting stages.
Hair removal lasers are only effective on the third that’s actively growing. The other two thirds won’t be affected.
This means you may need multiple sessions, arranged weeks apart, to meet your hair removal goals. Spacing of treatments depends on your hair type and where on the body it’s located.
Laser treatments make your skin more sensitive to the sun. Scheduling hair removal for the autumn months means you’ll be inside more often, and the ultraviolet components of sunlight are weaker than they are during July and August. Your skin is safer when your laser treatments happen in the fall.
We recommend not shaving or waxing in the four to six weeks ahead of your first laser hair removal session. This ensures that the right hairs are in the right cycle and at the right time.
Instead, shave your treatment areas the day before your laser session to give growing follicles good exposure to the hair removal laser, which works below the skin’s surface. A fall appointment means you can enjoy the benefits of your current hair removal method during the summer before taking a break in preparation for laser treatment.
Contact South Central Family Practice Clinic to set up a consultation with our hair removal specialists. Call or click to book your appointment today.
