It’s a wonderful feeling to be rid of your excess body hair after completing a course of laser hair removal – you can forget about waxing and shaving, and constantly worrying about regrowth. But now you’ve been told that you’ll need to keep up with a regular schedule of maintenance sessions. Obviously, you want to know why.
Laser hair removal maintenance
Laser hair removal is one of the most successful techniques for dealing with unwanted body hair, but to maintain that super smooth feeling, it’s sometimes wise to go for follow up sessions to catch any few hairs that put in a late appearance. For some people, this isn’t a problem, but others the appearance of occasional hairs is something that happens. This is because when you have laser treatment, it only works on hair that are in the anagen growth phase. Not all your hairs are in this phase at once and this is why you need to have several sessions to start with. Maintenance sessions are good for catching any rogue hairs that were missed during your initial treatment sessions. Most maintenance courses require just three or four sessions spread over a longer time period.
Can my hairs regrow?
Once again, we need to emphasise that everyone is different, but for some people hormonal changes can cause hair regrowth. This is down to the development of new hair follicles in areas where laser treatment has effectively dealt with the existing follicles. The sorts of conditions that might cause this include hormonal issues such as polycystic ovary syndrome, or pregnancy and having recently given birth. If these might be relevant to you, talk to your practitioner about scheduling a planned maintenance programme to deal with the issue.
Completing the job
In the long-run, most people find that they could do with a few maintenance sessions to complete the removal of body hair. There is little point in having gone through the initial course of treatment, to then have to continue shaving or waxing because of a few stray hairs that grow back later. A well-timed maintenance course of laser hair removal can make sure that you get the best possible result that will last for the longest amount of time. There’s never a 100 percent guarantee that you’ll be rid of every single hair for ever – but by completing your first course of treatment and then cementing it with a period of ongoing maintenance, you stand the best chance of eliminating virtually all of the hair you don’t want.
How many maintenance sessions will I need?
Your practitioner will make an individual assessment about this, based on the amount of regrowth you experience in the first few months after completing your first course of laser hair removal treatment. It should be very little, and for most people three or four maintenance sessions are enough to mop up the few hairs that weren’t in their growth cycle at any point during your first batch of treatment.
If you have any questions about laser hair removal and the need for follow-up maintenance, talk to your practitioner, who can assess what level of maintenance you’re likely to need.
