In the run up to your removal of hair by laser appointment, in particular your very first one, the pressure and excitement can cause you to forget something. Here is a handy list:
Four weeks or more before your appointment
Talk about pain relief with your laser clinic for hair removal and decide on whether to use topical or oral pain relief, or both.
There are topical anesthetics such as EMLA, which you apply to the skin. These products are very valuable if you are worried about soreness during the treatment, however do be careful if you are applying it to large areas of skin as the chemicals are absorbed into the bloodstream. Be sure to follow the instructions closely.
Decide if you wish to take photos of the parts of the body you are having treated to keep track of your progress. The clinic might do this but even so you might want to take your own.
Stop sugaring, using depilation creams, epilating, waxing and tweezing at least 2 weeks before treatment, and if possible a month or more before. These depilation methods interfere with the follicle that the hair laser removal treatment needs to attack.
Stop sunbathing! The paler your skin is at the time you undergo your hair laser removal treatment, the more effective and permanent the results from removal of hair by laser are likely to be.
About a week before
For the vast majority of laser hair removal appointments, you will be able to go directly back to your job or whatever your usual activities are, immediately afterwards. However, if you are planning facial hair removal by laser, then you might wish for some privacy afterwards to wait for the redness to go away. So – if you need to arrange to take a day off your job, now is the time to take care of that.
24 Hours to go!
The night before is a perfect time to shave the parts of the body you are going to have laser hair removal performed on. If you shave within 24 hours of the treatment you will experience less pain and it can also be more effective because less of the laser energy is used on burning the hair above the skin, meaning more energy is directed where it is needed, at the follicle, to kill it off.
Just a few hours to go
If you are having your underarms lasered, don’t apply any deodorant. Just wash the underarms with soap and rinse thoroughly. If it’s really hot and there’s a danger you might get too sweaty before the appointment, you could use unperfumed baby wipes to ward off any smells.
For any parts of the body, don’t put creams or lotions on before removal of hair by laser.
The last 20 minutes
For those of us who get a bit stressed at the thought of soreness from laser hair removal, taking two pain killers at this point seems recommended – just to be on the safe side!
Wishing you a successful and stress-free hair laser removal treatment!
Ingrid Preube
