Laser Hair Removal

The laser diode glides across the skin, constantly cooking with its chilled ICE tip. The laser light travels down to the hair follicles where the melanin (pigment) in the hair absorbs the laser light. This light is then converted to heat in the melanin, which in turn heats up the inside of the hair follicle. While the skin is kept cool, the inside of the hair follicle is heated up enough to destroy the growth mechanism within the hair shaft, and damages the blood flow to the follicle meaning that the body is unable to produce hair. Only hairs in an active growth phase will be destroyed, although hairs in other phases of the hair cycle may also be damaged. This leads to some hairs being destroyed completely, and others regrowing much softer and finer, so an improvement is seen with each treatment.

We all have a series of hair cycles, meaning that just one treatment will only remove one of the hair cycles. Al hair cycles must be targeted in order to get a good long-term result. We all have at least 8 hair cycles, most of us have more, and some body areas take more treatments than others – be very cautious if a clinic tells you that you only need 4 or 6 treatments! At Xodos we recommend a minimum of 8 treatments, as on average this can give up to 70-80% permanent reduction in any area, however as we only charge a per-treatment rate, you will never be committed to more than you need. The most important thing is to keep the right gap between treatments, which will be advised by your clinic – too long between treatments will meant hat the next hair cycle will start to come through before the previous one has been treated, and too short a gap will mean that not enough hair will have regrown from the last treatment. If a clinic tells you that you should be having body hair treated at 4 week gaps, they are misadvising you. Usually faces are treated between 4-6 weeks and body areas are between 6-8 weeks. This is only adjusted based on the individual.

The skin is shaved for a treatment, the smoother the skin the more comfortable the treatment will be. For a few days, the hair that is treated will start to be pushed out of the hair follicles so will appear to be continuing to grow. At around 10-19 days, all of the hair in the treatment area should fall out*. Around 15-20% of the hair follicles in any area should be permanently destroyed, and the rest of the actual hair will fall out as well. You should then be left with a period of around two weeks where you will have lovely smooth skin with no hair in this area, and then you will notice the next hair cycle start to emerge. After another two weeks or so, the hair will be ready to treat again.

(*response on the face may not appear in the same way, but results are still the same)

As it is important to regulate the hair cycles, and that it is the hair itself that causes the results to occur, it is vital that hair is not plucked, waxed or threaded between treatments. This disrupts the hair cycles, so more treatments will be needed, and the results of each treatment will be reduced as the hair will not be in the hair follicle to be treated. If hair has been regularly waxed or plucked, it will be necessary to leave the hair to regrow for a few weeks before starting on treatment, but it is fine to shave it during this time.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of pigment in grey hair and white hair, we will not be able to treat this colour of hair. Individual assessment is always worth doing, as a percentage of up to around 40% grey/white to dark hair is still often enough to give an acceptable result – and many people often realize that if they don’t start treating it now, the rest will inevitably follow as time goes on!

Blonde and fair hair colours unfortunately can also be difficult to treat for the same reason as grey hair, and also that fair hair is often finer and softer, meaning that there is less space for pigment, so less heat is able to build up in the follicles. It is usually worth doing a patch test to see what kind of response someone is likely to get. We will always advise whether we recommend continuing with treatments, and the pay-per-session basis at the clinic means you are never left with a glut of treatments that you cannot use up.

The design of the Soprano Ice is such that it would be virtually impossible to burn the skin – the treatment is very gentle, with the heat gradually building up, whilst keeping the skin chilled.

No! Most people comment that it feels like a warm massage, and we regularly have clients fall asleep during treatments! Occasionally one hair follicle may heat up more than the others and a small prickle can be felt, but nothing like the ‘hot rubber band snap’ of IPL treatments and other lasers. We constantly talk to our clients throughout a treatment, so they can tell us if it is getting warmer than they would like.

In short, Yes!

There has been much discussion about the efficacy of laser hair removal compared to more old fashioned electrolysis, and IPL. However the advances in lasers, specifically our amazing Soprano® ICE laser platform, have meant that long term results with laser hair removal are now showing to be more effective than electrolysis in most clients. Additionally, the Soprano has the advantage of being virtually pain free, and skin is not left red or sore after treatments, and there will be none of the scarring that can occur with electrolysis, and the risk of burning is virtually zero – something that cannot be said for most other laser platforms.

Prices vary depending on body area. The smaller the area, and the quicker the treatment, the lower the price. Our per-session payments mean that you only pay for the areas you need. However the more treatments that you add, the cheaper they become – so for example, a full leg is £199, and as a second area, an underarm treatment is £65, however if you come in just for the underarm, it is £79. So the more areas you book, the cheaper it becomes. We did this to move away from upfront block bookings and big payments, and financially it works out similarly over time now compared to our previous block prices. To make things easier we can offer a monthly payment plan, to spread the cost a little for you. Please ask for details!

In short no – the hairs that are destroyed with each treatment are permanently destroyed. However, the body has many potential hair follicles that it may never choose to use, but as we are genetically programmed and hormonally driven to grow hair in certain places, no one can predict what your long term results will be. The key is to be persistent in the early days to get fully on top of it which will lead to much better long term results than just having a few treatments at sporadic intervals. Many people have an initial block of 8, then perhaps add a top up block of 3, which then will take them to needing only occasional top ups – often leading up to a lovely summer holiday! Faces an be a little more stubborn, as the body’s ability to grow hair here is much greater, and it seems much more determined to do so.

If you are still unsure, read some of our reviews – we will always be as honest as we can about what you can expect, but generally speaking our clients are delighted with the results that they get. Our testimonials speak for themselves!