How long does your hair have to be for laser removal?

[Areyanna]

Hi,

I know that you have to grow your hair out a bit before you can have laser hair removal, but does anybody know how long your hair has to be? I think it has to be less than a millimeter, but I'm not sure if there is a minimum length as well. If it helps, the laser I'd be using is one of the Light sheer models.

Thanks in advance.

[spam removed]

 

[TracyDobbins]

I don't have an at home hair removal thingy, I go to a medspa. The hair has to be shaved just before treatment and it needs to be dark in color. Blonde hairs won't be affected by the laser. The darker the hair color the better the treatment takes. So hair length isn't the issue, it's the hair color. Hope that helps.

 

[imonabhaute]

I've had quite a bit of hair removal; all done using lightsheer.  I've always shaved in the morning and my appointments were in the afternoon.  There isn't a minimum, but if you have a bit of hair exposed and they were to zap you instead of shaving it first, it will hurt REALLY bad.  The skin behind the length of hair on the surface will get quite hot.  I just experienced more redness and pain when I'd missed some hairs.

 

[Annelle]

Typically they'll have you shave just before a lasering appointment.  The laser pinpoints the pigment in the hair, and you want to target the root of the hair.  So if you have any hair above skin level, is just going to be a waste of a laser, since it's obviously not a part of the root.  What you don't want to do, however, is do any sort of hair removal that will affect the root itself (epilating, tweezing, waxing, sugaring, etc), because you'll not have the roots there for the laser to target.