Hi!
Can anyone tell me if the area needs to be shaved before a laser treatment? Will a hair clipper not also do the job? The problem is that after my first treatment which absolutely sucked I am now looking for a good laser clinic. But another real problem is that the hair which grew back in the meantime seems to grow in at a few places. This sucks. This is exactly what I DON’T need especially since the area which I want to get treated is the tailbone area. Ingrown hair on the butt cheeks is not good. Is it also possible to use a trimmer instead and to cut it as short as possible a few hours before the treatment? But this will not be as close as shaving.
Can you please explain why exactly you don’t want to shave? In general, the shorter the hair, the more chance the laser beam will get to the root of the hair instead of energy being absorbed needlessly by the hair above the skin. That being said, it’s good to go for treatment 1-2 days after shaving when there is slight stubble so that the laser operator can see exactly where to treat. ingrown hairs can be avoided as much as possible with proper shaving technique too.
Hi!
But if slight stubbles are helpful then why can’t I simply trim the hair on the same day? Then I would also have short stubbles.
I can only say that after shaving the area I got ingrown hair after a few weeks. The hair there doesn’t grow very fast and after a few weeks I noticed it. I don’t want to get this again. 
you can clip, if it’s close, like I said. just make sure there is as little as possible above the skin’s surface to avoid burns and wasting energy that should be targeted at the root.
Hi!
I was told that the hair should not be longer than 0,5 centimetres. How long is 0,5 cm? I mean what exactly do they mean? 0,5 above the skin or does the hair under the skin also count? How do I know how 0,5 cm long hair looks? I have no feeling for this. I don’t want to do anything wrong and then ruin the effectiveness. Or do you think that they would see if the hair is too long? Or do you think they would not say anything even if the hair is too long and simply not mention it? I don’t know what to do now. If I used a clipper in some areas where I am prone to ingrown hair then I don’t know if the clipper will shave close enough and if it will reach 0,5 cm or if it the hair will be longer than 0,5 cm.
If the hair is longer than 0,5cm will it not work at all or what will happen then?
you’re too worried about this for nothing. you don’t have to measure it. just make sure it’s as short as possible. the shorter the better. and make sure that it’s still visible where to treat (on some people, you can’t see where the hair was when they shave closely).
I shave the area to be treated 2 days before I have my treatment. That way the hairs are visible, but short enough that it won’t disturb the treatments.
Hi!
This is exactly the problem. Last time I shaved the area 2 days before, exactly the way it is recommended, and then you saw nothing! Maybe this isn’t good. After all the hair also doesn’t regrow at the same speed on the entire body. There are areas where it grows much slower and I think that the butt area is such an area. Maybe it’s not even good if I shave it closely 2 days prior to the treatment because when you cannot see the hair at all then how do they even make sure that they get it all?
This is one thing which concerns me. I mean when you get a laser treatment you pay immediately and have NO way at all to estimate wether it was well done or not. This is like getting a hair cut and then not being allowed to look in the mirror. How do I know that the laser woman takes this really seriously and really treats the entire area? What if she doesn’t take it seriously or leaves out spots on purpose to ensure that the customer comes back for more treatments? This is really one of the things which bothers me the most, this feeling of not being able to tell if it’s working or not. It is also possible that I will drop out of my insurance in a few months and this means that I have to try to get as many treatments as possible until this date. This means that I don’t have much time to wait and see if it works. I have to get as many treatments in the remaining months as possible.
what you should do it shave each area depending on how fast the hair grows there, or just clip it short instead. some clinics use a white pencil to draw the area which to treat before the treatment. you can ask for that. some clinics also allow you to come in for a touchup 3 weeks after the treatment which is when you can see what was affected. anything that’s growing as usual at a normal rate and never fell out at that point wasn’t affected.
This is a problem that occurs with a lot of services, not just laser hair removal. You don’t know if you are getting a good service or not until sometime down the line. So how do you handle that?
It is never easy but this is why it is important to talk to a number of places rather than just going with the place that you see first. It is also important to look at the quality of the company. How long have they been around? What kind of systems do they use? What is their attitude about results? Do they seem more concerned about sales or about treatments? Sales are absolutely important, but a company that puts those first is making a statement.
Finally, the reputation of the company and the experience of others (especially friends) matters.
And that is why we say you must shop around and get as many recommendations as you can. It is also why it is frequently well worth it to travel some distance to get reliable treatment by a proven service provider.