I just had a Laser Hair Removal treatment and my hairs are all still there.

A couple of my clients have called me a day or two after their IPL or Laser hair removal treatment to complain that all their hairs are still there and growing.

If you have not had a permanent hair removal treatment before, you may expect it to be like waxing or sugaring and think that at least some of the treated hairs will be gone completely right away. This is not the way it works.

Firstly you need to shave 1 or 2 days before your appointment, so only the little black dots are showing. You may ask why?:

How does IPL and Laser hair removal works?

The machine have a headpiece that emits light at different frequencies. These light waves will be attracted to the melanin (the colour) in your hair.

In contact with the hair the light gets converted in heat energy and travels through your hair to the follicle, destroying the follicle.

If your hair is long most of that energy would be wasted on your hair instead of the follicle. You could also cause damage to the skin surface that is in contact with the hair.

If your hair has been shaved the energy has to travel a very short distance to the follicle and the treatment is more effective.

Why you can still see all your hair after the treatment and they even appear to be growing?

IPL and Laser hair removal does not vaporise the hairs. After the treatment all the hairs remain there and they are a few millimeters deep into the skin.  Even when the hair follicle has been destroyed, to your eyes it looks like if the hair is still growing because the skin is slowly shedding the dead hair.

It usually takes about 7 days for the skin to shed dead hairs. You have also to consider that IPL and Laser are only effective on hairs that are in the anagen stage (growing stage) and not all hairs grow at the same time. Only 15-30% of the hairs are in the anagen stage at any one time.

If you are going out and don't want to show a hairy skin, you will need to shave. It is not good to wax or pluck your hairs in between treatments because you disrupt the natural growth of the hair and your treatment will not be as effective.

When would I see results?

You will start to see clear patches after the second or third treatment.


It takes 6-12 treatments (depending on the area to be treated) to achieve an 85-95% hair reduction.  Results vary from person to person. Sometimes hormonal imbalances can make the cells produce new hair, it is also possible that some treated follicles regenerate.

How do I know if IPL or Laser hair removal will work for me?

When you go to your initial consultation, the therapist will evaluate the area to be treated as well as your medical history to determine if the treatment is suitable for you.

Some medical conditions such as hormonal imbalance, Polycystic Ovary disease or Hirsutism can cause abnormal hair growth. IPL and laser do not produce permanent results on people with these conditions.

If your hair is very light or very fine, it may also be difficult to achieve permanent reduction.

There is also the possibility that even though your hair is dark and coarse and you don't have any medical condition, the treatment may not work for you. In this case you won't know till you try it.

Many years ago the treatments were very expensive and you ran the risk of loosing quite a bit of money if the treatment didn't work for you. Today IPL and Laser hair removal treatments are very cheap. Most clinics offer specials once or twice a year and they tend to work out at almost the same price than waxing. If you can afford waxing, you can afford trying IPL or laser because if it works, you won't have to worry about the hairs anymore.