What to expect during a laser treatment

Step 1: Signing laser treatment consent.

Every professional laser treatment facility should have a consent for you to read and sign. It protects you and the technician, and is an absolute must. 

Step 2: Prepping the skin for laser treatment.

Clothing and jewelry should be removed and free from any hair. Prior to the laser treatment, shaving with a razor may be necessary by the technician to ensure that the surface skin area is completely clean and hairless. 

Step 3: Conductive gel is squeezed onto the area to be treated by laser.

The conductive gel cools and protects skin from the heated light. 

Step 4: The laser treatment procedure begins.

Protective eyewear must be worn by both the patient and the technician. Once the laser light is discharged, you will feel a sensation like a rubber band snapping against your skin. The pain is not extensive or harsh at all - nothing like the searing pain of waxing. With each pulse of light, you feel that slight snap. For larger areas, expect the technician to make a crisscross pattern in an effort to not leave treatment lines. 

Step 5: Clean up after laser treatment.

After the laser treatment is completed, the area is cleansed of the conductive gel, and a calming spray or lotion may be applied if necessary. This is not unlike handling slight sunburn; the area may be pink for an hour or so. 

What to expect:

Two weeks later the hair in the laser-treated area should be falling out and a new hair growth cycle will begin. You can check to see which hairs responded to treatment and which ones didn’t by doing the fingernail test. Try to pull a hair out using your fingernails. If the hair comes right out, the follicle was destroyed. If not, then hopefully the next laser treatment will get it.