Category: Laser Hair Removal

Booking a course of laser hair removal treatments is a big step for many people; not only is it a financial commitment but it can be a little nerve-wracking to embark on a skin treatment with the potential to change your body in such a remarkable way. It makes sense to consider all that laser hair removal involves before you book your sessions and also to plan ahead…in order that you get the best out of your experience and fully reap the rewards that laser hair removal offers.

There are a number of things to look at when planning ahead for your treatments. Whilst laser hair removal is not at all invasive, painful or damaging to your skin there are certain precautions which are important to take before and after a session.

Preparing your skin

It’s advised that you do not wear any sun lotions, moisturising creams or makeup when you’re about to have a laser hair treatment; the chemicals in these can sometimes cause a reaction with the laser light…so stay safe and avoid exposing your skin to any skin lotions for 24 hours prior to your session.

Similarly, stay off the sun bed! Even though you might think that a tan will be just the thing to show off your hairless body, you need to keep your skin in a calm state so it’s not a sensible idea to go on tanning beds just before you have a laser session.

It’s fine to use soap and water in the shower as normal on the day of treatment.

After your session

Your practitioner will give you tailored advice with regards to aftercare when you finish your session but the general advice remains the same for most people.

Do not head straight for the pool or the gym after a laser hair removal treatment; your skin needs time to recover and for any slight redness to fade; saunas and hot workouts won’t help!

Similarly do not expose your skin to the sun…allow it to remain under cover for 24 hours. Some people experience slight redness or swelling following a treatment and it’s advisable to use an ice pack or Aloe Vera gel to cool it down.

How many sessions will I need to get the best results?

Because hair grows in phases and not at the same constant rate, it’s necessary to have several treatments in order that all the hair may be “caught” in its growth stage. Your practitioner will advise you of how many treatments will be needed…upon examining your hair, they will be able to judge in a ball-park fashion the amount of treatments you will require to get the best results possible. Most people need around 4-6 treatments to get a really great result.

Listen to your therapist

When you have your consultation, your laser hair removal therapist will examine the area or areas which you would like to be treated and they will advise you on the best course for you. They will discuss any medications which you are on and in some cases it’s necessary to briefly cease medication before laser hair removal can go ahead; if this applies to you be sure that you speak first to your doctor before stopping your medication.

Listen carefully to your laser hair practitioner’s advice when it comes to after care…it’s vital that you heed their orders when it comes to caring for your skin post treatment.

Laser hair removal can boost your confidence and save you both time and money..

What Is Folliculitis?

Folliculitis is a common skin condition which can be uncomfortable and irritating. It arises from either infection or blockage of the hair follicles when it becomes in-grown. It can develop on anyone, both men and women, although certain factors can make some people more likely to get it.

can laser hair removal cure folliculitis?

Yes it can is the short answer. If it can cure yours would depend on a number of factors. These include the cause of your folliculitus and your suitability for laser hair removal treatment. To fully understand your condition and find out about treatment options keep reading.

Common causes of Folliculitis

These include:

1. Existing acne or dermatitis
2. Having a medical condition (diabetes, leukemia and HIV/AIDS)
3. Medications including steroid cream or antibiotics for acne
4. Clothing such as rubber gloves or high boots which are poorly ventilated
5. Medications including steroid cream or antibiotics for acne
6. Using poorly maintained hot tubs
7. Damaged hair follicles via shaving, waxing or tight clothing
8. Men with curly hair

Symptoms

Initially it may appear around the hair follicle as small red bumps or white-headed pimples. The follicles are the tiny pockets from which each hair grows and where the name folliculitis derives.

Most often it clears up in a few day but in more serious cases they can become infected. The infection can then spread and turn into non-healing, crusty sores leaving scarring.

Usually a condition which is suffered by males, it is caused by a variety of factors and appears in different guises.

Types Of Folliculitis

Folliculitis can be either superficial or deep. Superficial folliculitis involves part of the follicle. Deep folliculitis involves the whole follicle and is usually more problematic and severe.

Superficial Types Of Folliculitis

• Bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus

The most common types include that which is caused by infection of the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus and that which is caused by many ingrown hairs. The appearance of both kinds of folliculitis is very similar with red inflamed pimples appearing on the area of each hair follicle, sometimes with a yellow head present which can be itchy and pus-filled .

Staphylococcus infection is often transmitted from the sufferer’s own nose where this bacteria is usually present; generally the bacteria is completely harmless until it colonises areas it’s not meant to be…i.e. the hair follicles!

• Folliculitis barbae

The other kind of folliculitis, sometimes called razor burns, is caused by in-growing hairs which become twisted within the follicle and cause a nasty pimple; this is usually found in men with curly hair.

It is more common in Asian and African and Caribbean men. The friction caused by shaving can damage the follicle and that’s when folliculitis occurs.

• Hot tub folliculitis (pseudomonas folliculitis

Is caused by pseudomonas bacteria, which is found in many places, including hot tubs and heated pools in which the chlorine and pH levels aren’t well-regulated.

The risk factors for folliculitis don’t only include shaving though…if you spend a lot of time in public baths or hot tubs then you’re at increased risk as bacteria thrives in warm, wet places and this is a common way for people to pick up the bacterial strain of folliculitis.

• Pityrosporum follicculitis

Is chronic, red, itchy pustules on the back and chest and sometimes on the neck, shoulders, upper arms and face. This type is caused by a yeast infection.

Forms of deep folliculitis include:

• Sycosis barbae

Affecting men who have started to shave.

• Gram-negative folliculitis

Develops if you’re receiving long-term antibiotic therapy for acne.

• Boils (furuncles)

These occur when hair follicles become deeply infected with staph bacteria. A red or pink bump or boil usually appears and can be painful.

• Eosinophilic folliculitis

Mainly affecting people with HIV/AIDS.

 

Shaving and folliculitis

As the saying goes prevention is better then cure. Tips for avoiding folliculitis include avoiding shaving if you don’t need to be clean shaven. Not an option for everyone but consider growing a beard if you have suffered from folliculitis and want to lower your risks.

If you must shave do it with care and if you can less frequently. Try and adopt good shaving habits such as washing with warm water using antibacterial soap before you start.Raise embedded hairs with a soft pad by or flannel and apply generous amounts of lotion before you start.

Other tips include:

• Shave in either direction. There is not one rule for everyone. Do what works for you.
• Try not to shave too close either by stretching the skin or using an electric razor.
• If you are shaving manually take care to rinse the blade after each stroke with warm water.
• Applying moisturising lotion after you shave.
• Try not to share razors, towels and flannels

How to get rid of folliculitis

Folliculitis can be prevented by scrupulous bathing and by exfoliation and regular shaving breaks. For some men however, they find that recurrent infection is so regular that the best course of action is to have the hair in the problem area permanently removed with such treatments as laser hair removal.

Laser treatment for folliculitis scars

Laser hair removal will destroy the problem hair follicle safely without damaging any surround skin tissue as well as being able to diminish the appearance of any scarring that may have resulted from folliculitis.

In addition to helping treat folliculitis it will also reduce your chances of developing the skin problem in the future.

Laser hair removal for folliculitis before and after picture

Laser hair removal prices

Prices for laser hair removal start from £22 at Premier Laser. Advanced laser now work on all skin types and tones from light to dark skin and can bring you excellent results and an end to painful folliculitis.

Next Steps if you live in London

If you live in London near one of our 9 clinics why not book a free consultation with one of our friendly laser specialists. Since 2008 we have performed over 500,000 laser treatments on Londoners of all colours and genders and are London’s leading independent laser specialists.

 

 

Having done laser hair removal since 2008, we have got rid of a lot of hair in that time – billions of hairs.! So lets talk about hair!.

Hair is one of those things which we take for granted….unless we’ve got too much or too little of it! It’s a defining feature for most people with many women being extremely attached to their hair or very proud of it.

There are numerous superstitions and old wives tales attached to hair, its growth, its colour and when and when not to cut it. In reality it’s something which is there for a purpose…the hair on our heads provides warmth and some protection from blows; rather like a cushioning surface it dulls any knocks to the head we may suffer in addition to protecting our scalps from the sun’s UV rays.

The hair on our bodies is there for similar reasons but today, we strive to minimise its presence and many people in the Western World prefer a smooth, hair-free finish. The following weird facts about hair are fascinating and incredible…so read on to learn more about something which most people take for granted.

25 Weird Hair Facts

1) Your hair is a sort of recording device and contains much information about what you have eaten and drunk including medications and minerals.

2) Blonde people have more hairs than dark or red haired people. Blondes average at 146,000 hair strands whilst brunettes have a measly 100,000!

3) The only information which cannot be identified through hair is sex. Scientists can tell a person’s race, age and what their diet is like but not what sex they are by studying a strand of hair.

4) Hair is very elastic and can stretch up to 30% more than its original length.

5) Hair is extremely strong and a whole head of hair can support 2 tonnes in weight.

6) Red hair is the rarest colour and is found in only 1% of the population of the world.

7) Hair grows in phases and at any one time while 90% of the hair on your head is growing, the other 10% is resting.

8) The Victorians used to make jewellery and keepsakes from locks of hair saved from their dead loved-ones. Saved within lockets and twined into intricate patterns they wore this jewellery as a reminder of their dear departed.

9) In some cultures the hair is never cut when the moon is waning (growing smaller) but only when it is waxing (growing larger) as the belief is that this makes it grow strong and well.

10) Hair covers every surface of the human body with the exception of the palms, the soles of the feet and the mucus membranes.

11) Fetuses have formed all of their hair follicles by the time they are 5 months old.

12) The average woman under the age of 35 spends between £500 and £800 on hair care products per year.

13) The first people recorded as having habitually removed their body hair were the ancient Egyptians.

14) Hair is one of the most commonly used pieces of evidence in forensic investigation.

15) Once hair leaves your scalp, it is dead.

16) Trichotillomania is the compulsion some people suffer which drives them to pull out their own hair strand by strand.

17) Hair does not keep on growing indefinitely if you stop cutting it; most people’s hair has a finite length and will not grow beyond around 3 feet long.

18) Male pattern baldness is inherited from either the male or the female side of the family.

19) We all have tiny mites living in the roots of our eyelashes and while that sounds gross, they are actually helping us out by being there. They eat the shed cells from the area and this helps new eyelashes to grow.

20) The average Caucasian will begin greying at around 34 years old; black people and Asian people don’t begin this process until around 10 years later.

21) Hair takes 6 weeks to grow

22) The hair cycle contains 3 phases

23) You lose around 100-150 hairs a day

24) Hair is the 2nd fastest organ in the body ( after the marrow )

25) A single hair can live for 5 years!

So all in all, hair is pretty amazing stuff; it keeps us warm, it protects us and looks pretty too…it’s no wonder that it’s such a defining feature for many people!

Laser hair removal has been massively popular in recent years owing to more and more people realising what an effective, affordable and successful treatment it actually is. Not only is laser hair removal perfect for the facial area but many people are choosing to have other parts of their bodies treated.

Continue reading “Is Laser Hair Removal Painful for you?”

Since the boom in the popularity of laser hair removal, there has been an accompanying boom in various “home laser kits” which are often sold as “professional” or described as the same technology used in clinics. Firstly many of the machines on the market for home use are nowhere near as precise or as powerful as professional machines and secondly, in order to safely remove hair with laser technology, some quite intense training is necessary!

Continue reading “Home Vs Professional Laser Hair Removal”

If you suffer from excess hair then you might be wondering about a long term solution to the problem. Laser hair removal is one of the most popular solutions to unwanted hair around today and because the technology involved is so advanced, it has become more effective than ever before.

It wasn’t too long ago that laser hair removal was only suited to paler skins…now thanks to newer and more powerful machinery, any tone of skin may be successfully treated with lasers and because the machinery is so precise, the surrounding skin and tissue is not affected by the equipment at all.

Laser hair removal is a long term, non invasive answer to unwanted hair no matter where on your body it’s occurring. Laser hair removal can be used on the face, the arms, legs and bikini areas.

Even coarse, black hair can be permanently ousted thanks to the strong and direct laser equipment now in use in good clinics. The lasers destroy the hair follicles right at their base…making further growth impossible. It will usually take more than one session to completely eradicate all growth but it is indeed possible to achieve.

Waxing, shaving and depilatory creams are fast becoming obsolete as people choose to go down the long term route more and more often.

Men who are tired of their daily shave are opting to get their facial hair treated with lasers and finding it a relief as the hair gradually thins and becomes less over time and women who have visible facial hair are opting for removal with lasers as a more effective way to achieve a smooth and clean look to their skin.

Laser hair removal offers a real and long term solution which does work…no matter how hairy you are!

 

IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) and Laser Hair Removal are often confused by those who aren’t familiar with the finer points of the treatments. While both treatments can disrupt the growth of hair with no effect to surrounding tissues, IPL is not the best treatment for hair removal as it is not as precise or as powerful in general.

How Lasers Work

Laser hair Removal machines work by producing one single wavelength of light in an extremely concentrated beam; this beam is able to precisely target the melanin within the hair and then destroy the follicle.

Depending upon your skin and hair colour, the tuning of the machine will be adjusted to be the perfect strength for your requirements…the wavelengths must be correct to accurately destroy the follicle without causing damage to the surrounding skin and tissue.

The heat of the laser is only absorbed by the follicle and not by the surrounding tissue so there is no pain…but the treatment is highly effective.

Different wavelengths are used for different skin tones. Light skin uses the Alexandrite 755nm wavelength while dark skin tones use the Nd:YAG 1064nm wavelength. Laser hair removal for men and women use the same wavelengths as the hair is the same in both sexes although mens may be thicker and coarser.

How IPL Works

IPL works in a very different way to laser though the treatment is still light-based. The light produced in IPL is broad spectrum…like a light bulb but more powerful…and it’s excellent for the treatment of pigmentation or broken blood vessels but because it cannot be concentrated into a fine, direct beam like lasers can, it isn’t so successful in the treatment of excess hair.

IPL also penetrates on a much shallower level and wider area….making deeply set hair impossible to reach and for this reason in addition to its lack of concentrated energy it’s not suitable for hair removal.

In general laser treatment is more costly than IPL but this is due to the fact that the equipment used is much more specialist and the training necessary is more in-depth; that’s not to say that just anyone can operate IPL equipment…this also requires a high level of training for its various uses.

IPL for dark skin tones is not recommended

As mentioned the light penetrates over a wider area and at a much shallower depth then lasers. This means that people with darker skin tones who require the laser to penetrate at a deeper level, with the Nd:YAG 1064nm wavelength, should avoid IPL as it can affect the pigment in the skin causing hyperpigmentation issues due to the IPL not going deep enough and affecting the skin around the hair. This is avoided using Nd:YAG lasers.

Conclusion

Both treatments are excellent in different ways and for different issues…but for hair removal, true laser hair removal is the clear winner in terms of effectiveness and safety, especially if you have a darker skin tone.

If you live in London are and looking for safe laser hair removal then please contact us for a consultation. We are experienced in performing laser on people with all skin types and tones and are London’s largest independent laser hair removal specialists.

Laser hair removal has grown in popularity over the last ten years but for some people it’s still a mystery. They hear of people undergoing treatment for the removal of unwanted hair but assume it’s hugely expensive or just for those with health or hormonal problems which result in an overgrowth of hair in unwanted places.

However the truth is that many people, both male and female are using laser hair removal in the same way that others might go and have a manicure…it’s not a big deal because it’s relatively inexpensive and it works!

If you usually shave, wax or use depilatory creams and if you’re tired of these rather outdated methods of hair removal that take up a lot of your time then it’s time you learned more about laser hair removal!

 

Is Laser Hair Removal Expensive?

No. Laser hair removal treatments have dropped considerably in price since the first clinics appeared on the high street. Laser hair removal is actually cheaper than other methods of hair removal such as waxing and long term you can actually make quite a saving.

Does Laser Hair Removal Hurt?

The systems now in place are so advanced that they offer a virtually pain-free treatment. Some have a built-in cooling device which blow a constant stream of cold air on the skin being treated; this prevents the “hot” sensation which is sometimes reported by those having treatment. Many people report that laser hair removal feels like a mild prickling sensation that is slightly discomforting but would not describe it as painful.

Is it Safe?

Laser Hair Removal is an FDA approved treatment and is very safe. The medical industry has been using lasers to treat a variety of skin issues for many years with no adverse results reported.

Can Men Have Laser Hair Removal Done?

Yes…in fact many men today are opting for laser hair removal on their face and body and are very happy with the results. Shaving on a daily basis is a bind for men; razor burn and dry skin are just two of the uncomfortable results of scraping your face with a blade every day! Laser hair removal is a fantastic opportunity for men to finally throw away the razor.

What Is A Patch Test And Why Do I Need One

A patch test ensures your safety – by using the laser on a small patch of your skin before the main treatment the laser settings can be tailored to your unique requirements.

Next Steps…

The road to a smoother skin is as simple as picking up the phone and booking a free consultation.