For underarm treatments in particular, you’re required to get six to eight treatments with six weeks in between each session to allow for each follicle to be targeted in the right stage of its growth cycle. The sessions themselves take five to 10 minutes of actual laser zapping. While laser hair removal can work on any body part you wish to remove hair from, it is especially effective on the bikini, lip, chin, and underarm areas.
As state-of-the-art as the procedure may seem, laser hair removal is actually quite simple. Lasers emit pulses of light energy deep into the skin, where they destroy the hair follicle.
Once the follicles are destroyed, hair can’t grow back.
Hair grows in three stages – the active growth stage, the transition stage, and the resting stage. Laser hair removal is only effective when hair is in the growth stage. When hair is transitioning or resting, the laser can’t damage the root.
To make sure laser hair removal is effective and targets the growth phase, clients need to have multiple treatment sessions spread out over a series of weeks. That gives the body time to rest and allows the laser technician to target hair follicles in the growth stage.
What to Expect During Treatment
Everybody wants to know the answer to one question: Does it hurt?
There is minimal pain during underarm laser hair removal. In fact, many patients are surprised when the process is over.
The most common comparison we hear is that the laser feels like getting a rubber band lightly smacked against your skin.
Some people experience skin irritation after treatment, and it is common to see redness and swelling, which typically disappears within a few hours. Applying an ice pack is usually all that’s required to dull minor pain.
Aside from the destruction of the hair, some people may experience a temporary change in skin pigmentation. Skin color may darken or lighten, but for most people, this returns to normal after a few days.
In rare cases, some people experience more severe reactions, such as scarring, blistering, and changing of the skin’s texture. These side effects, though they can occur, are extremely rare.