There are a lot of myths out there about laser hair removal because it is a new technology that many people do not always trust. However, these myths are just that, myths, and you should not be worried about laser hair removal. It is safe, efficient and nearly painless. Some of the myths you may have heard include: It is harmful to the health of the organs: This is completely untrue. The laser does not penetrate more than four millimeters into the skin and goes no farther than the hair follicles. The beam is not damaging the skin, it is simply moving along the skin. The worst that usually happens for most who get the treatment is redness that lasts only a few hours. It causes scarring: This is not true at all because the laser does not breach the skin. There is no scarring at all, unlike what can happen with electric hair removal, which uses a needle touching the skin. It is very expensive: Yes, there is a higher cost associated with laser hair removal. If it costs $400 a session and takes fie sessions, then it will cost $2,000 but you have to look at how much you are spending on shavers, creams, foams and more over the course of 10 years. Read more about laser hair removal costs. It hurts a lot: How much it hurts depends on how much a person can take in terms of pain. Most consider it to be very mild in terms of pain and nowhere near the pain caused by waxing. As well, you can ask your technician to put on anesthetic cream to dull any sort of pain or discomfort that may be felt. Read more about laser hair removal pain. It is 100 percent effective: If any clinic promises you this, then they are lying. Hair is prevented from growing with laser hair removal, but it is not eliminated completely. Hair can still grow in the future, new hairs will pop up, and this is why it is important to have annual sessions to touch up any areas that may have new hair growth. Laser hair removal causes increased hair growth: This is not the case at all. Only people with light skin and dark hair can get laser hair removal: While it works best with people who have light skin and dark, course hair, they are not the only ones who can get the treatment done. New lasers have been made that can be used on people who have dark skin and dark hair, and some lasers will even work with light hair and light skin. It should be noted however that dark skin/dark hair and light skin/light hair patients may require more sessions and each session may be longer. There are so many myths out there associated with laser hair removal that it can be hard to know the truth from the fiction. Suffice to say, laser hair removal works and it works well. It is expensive, but it is efficient and it will keep you from having to shave for years. This is why it has become so popular.
Posts Tagged ‘Hair Follicles’
Laser Hair Removal On African American Skin
Laser hair removal works best on white skin and dark hair. The reason for this is because the technician has to target each hair follicle individually and if they have trouble seeing the hair, it can be difficult to target and remove. This presents a problem for people with light hair and white skin, or people with dark skin and dark hair.In regards to the last one, there are additional challenges for laser hair removal technicians when dealing with African American skin. The reason for this is because of pigment and the laser (read more at our Laser Hair Removal FAQ page).To target the hair follicle, a laser has to go through the upper layers of the epidermis and hit the dark follicle. The wavelength is absorbed by the dark follicle and therefore the intense light destroys the follicle. However, with African American skin, there is a chance that the melanin, which is what gives skin its pigment, will absorb the laser light on the surface of the skin before it can ever get to the follicle. This not only prevents the best results from the session, but it can also injure the epidermis of the patient.This does not mean laser hair removal is impossible for African Americans. There are methods like cooling the skin that can prevent the skin from being injured. Technicians can also use longer wavelengths. The reason for longer laser wavelengths is that melanin will absorb the short wavelengths, but allow longer wavelengths to pass through the skin to destroy the follicle.Of course, if you are African American and you are thinking of laser hair removal, then you need to look at getting an experienced technician. The experienced technician will not only know what wavelength and laser to use, but how to target your hair follicles without damaging your skin. They will be able to make the procedures shorter and you will probably have fewer procedures. This means you get through the entire laser hair removal treatment faster, and that will save you money, which is always important.You should make sure the technician uses a Diode Laser like Light Sheer, MedioStar, LaserLite, Epistar, Apex 800, F1 Diode, or SLP1000. These will provide good results but 10 or more treatments will be needed. For the best results, a Nd:Yag laser needs to be used including CoolGlide, MedLite IV, Varia, Athos, Lyra, or Image.Laser hair removal is always improving and just a few years ago it was impossible for African Americans to have the procedure done. However, as time goes on, new technology comes out and more and more people can get the benefits of laser hair removal for themselves. As time goes on, you will see that it is easier to have the hair removed by laser and it will cost less as well. In the meantime, make sure your technician uses the right laser and has the right experience to make your laser hair removal experience much easier, quicker and, by extension, cheaper for you.
Brief But Interesting History Of Laser Hair Removal
Laser hair removal is not a new process but it has taken a long time for the process to iron out the problems and make it efficient and safe to use. Through 40 years of research, it has been possible to make a laser that is safe to remove hair follicles. Last year alone, 2,000,000 Americans had laser hair removal done on their bodies with minimal side effects. As we move into the future, the technology of laser hair removal will continue to change and improve.Laser hair removal history in reverse chronological order:•  The Wave 5 Laser was released in 1997 and was cleared by the FDA for use to target melanin in the hair. The Wave 5 Laser was easy to use, had epidermal cooling in it, and greatly reduced the risk of any side effects, making it safe and effective to use. Wave 5 Lasers are the ones currently in use around the world by millions of people who get laser hair removal done on their bodies each year.•   The Wave 4 Lasers were released in the mid-1990s and this is where laser hair removal comes into its modern form. The 1995 form of the laser was the first to be cleared by the FDA for use. These lasers would use a carbon-based lotion as a chromophore. The laser would heat the carbon and release a shock wave to the follicle to destroy it. Unfortunately, that wave could also damage nearby cells in the skin.•   In the 1980s, the Wave 3 Lasers were invented. While these lasers were better at targeting hair, they were still too tedious to use for laser hair removal and were ineffective, which resulted in them being removed from the market.•   In the 1970s, the Wave 2 Lasers came into being. These lasers allowed for the targeting of individual follicles with a targeted laser sending a beam of energy through a fiber-optic probe. Sadly, this was sent to market without any testing done and it was marketed as painless even though it was not. The FDA stepped in and removed it from market because it was difficult to use and ineffective for what it claimed.•   In the 1960s, the first lasers were called Wave 1 Lasers and they emitted a continuous wave of light rather than pulses. As a result, they were no good for removing hair because the beam could not be controlled. As a result, there was too much risk to the skin being damaged. The Q-switch allowed for a shuttering of the light but still, it was not practical for laser hair removal.Everyone thinks of lasers are new and futuristic, and when people think of laser hair removal, they think the same thing. The truth is that laser hair removal processes, and lasers for the skin in general, has been around for many, many years. Longer than most of the people getting laser hair removal done have been alive.
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