Do you want to feel skin like butter? Smooth to the touch and hairless? And do you also know that laser hair removal can give you this dream skin? But the pain that comes with laser hair removal makes you afraid and avoid the treatment you have been wanting for years.
Let us inform you that you do not have to avoid laser hair removal just because it is painful. Rather, there are many options to relieve that pain and go through your laser hair removal sessions comfortably.
Therefore, let us find the ways and options to make laser hair removal less painful and more comfortable here.
Table of Contents:
- Part 1: What Can One Expect In Terms of Pain or Discomfort When Undergoing Laser Hair Removal?
- Part 2: What is the Intensity of the Pain of Laser Hair Removal?
- Part 3: Why is Laser Hair Removal Painful?
- Part 4: How to Make Laser Hair Removal Less Painful?
- Part 5: The Relatively Less Painful Alternative to Laser Hair Removal
1. What Can One Expect In Terms of Pain or Discomfort When Undergoing Laser Hair Removal?
Have you had an experience of accidentally pinching yourself with a pin? Did your rubber band ever snap against your wrist? Or have you even pricked yourself with a needle?
The experience of laser hair removal resembles the small accidents we have in our daily lives. Therefore, whether you feel discomfort or pain during such events, you are going to feel the same while undergoing your laser hair removal treatments.
2. What is the Intensity of the Pain of Laser Hair Removal?
The pain intensity of laser hair removal depends upon a few factors. These are given as,
- The area of the skin under treatment: Laser hair removal is more painful on areas like the bikini line and face.
- Type of laser hair removal machine used: Ruby laser is the most painful machine while Soprano laser offers comfortable treatments.
- Condition of the skin: Laser hair removal sessions are gentle on healthy skin as compared to skin with a damaged barrier.
- Preparations made to reduce the pain: Pain intensity in laser hair removal greatly depends upon whether or not you have taken medicines to reduce the pain.
- Pain tolerance or threshold: Skin sensitivity and pain threshold varies from person to person and so does the intensity of hair removal sessions.
Depending upon all the factors mentioned above, a person experiences 2 to 7 levels of pain on a scale of 10.
3. Why is Laser Hair Removal Painful?
Our skin has nerve endings, especially near the hair follicles. The heat that is generated in the hair follicles when laser rays during hair removal, is directed towards the skin and also stimulates some nerve endings present in the skin.
Also, laser hair removal turns out to be a high-energy-emitting procedure too with intense energy output. This makes laser hair removal a painful semi-permanent treatment to get rid of unwanted hair.
4. How to Make Laser Hair Removal Less Painful?
There are certain things you can do at each step of your laser hair removal treatment to reduce the pain. Let us discuss those things here.
Tips to Prepare Your Skin Before Laser Hair Removal Session
Laser hair removal starts when you book your hair removal treatment. So, its preparation should be started at that time as well, right? Here is what you can do before your treatment to tackle the pain.
1. Go For Laser Hair Removal Machines with Ice-Cooling Technology
Traditional laser hair removal machines have no specific technology to make the procedure comfortable for the patients.
Advanced machines for laser hair removal such as the Soprano laser employ ice-cooling technology in order to ease pain during laser hair removal sessions and provide an almost painless laser hair removal experience.
For these reasons, it is advisable and worth the extra cost to use machines such as the Soprano laser or its equivalents rather than the old traditional laser machines.
2. Let the Hair Grow and Shave Right Before the Session
For a laser to be effective on the hair follicles, hair strands must be present in the follicles. However, the hair should not be so long that it will only singe the hair above the surface of the skin causing unnecessary discomfort.
So, grow your hair for 2 weeks before your session and shave it 12 to 24 hours before going for the treatment. In this way, the laser becomes both more effective and comfortable.
3. Step Up Your Skincare Routine
Regular skin exfoliation helps in removing dead skin cells and hair that are shed. Moisturization strengthens the skin barrier. Sunscreen prevents tanning. Thus, consider these factors in your skincare routine while preparing for laser.
4. Go for Your Session Bare Face
Remove any makeup or cosmetic products applied to the desired treatment area before beginning your hair removal session. Use micellar water and a gentle face wash to do so.
5. Consume a Non-prescription Assorted Pain Killer – A Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory drug
Taking over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers greatly performs preparatory work because these drugs inhibit the production of pain nerve endings stimulating substances.
So, if you are leaving your house for the laser salon, take some aspirin, ibuprofen, or paracetamol.
What to do During the Session to Reduce Pain?
The duration of the laser hair removal session is the time when you feel most discomfort. So, let us discuss tips to reduce the pain.
1. Avoid Laser Hair Removal Sessions Around Your Period
The skin is sensitive and tender during these periods. Although it is common on the pubic skin, the pain threshold of the skin on other regions also gets low.
Therefore, it is best to plan your laser hair removal sessions 1 week before or after your period.
2. Self-Relaxation
The fear of pain from laser hair removal sessions makes your brain assume that the treatment is going to be unbearable. If you relax your mind and instruct it that the discomfort is less than what it perceives, it eases the challenge of handling pain effectively.
Therefore, during the session, occupy your mind by either thinking about something pleasant or meditating, or taking them both. Additionally, inhaling and exhaling deeply is beneficial as well.
3. Local Anesthetic Drugs
In cases where one’s threshold for pain is not high, most likely, over-the-counter analgesics will not help much.
Talk to your laser expert and ask him about the application of some anesthetic or numbing cream to reduce the pain.
Topical lignocaine gel or other anesthetic agents give skin a soothing experience and greatly reduce the intensity of pain during laser.
4. Use Your Mobile Phone
At times, it becomes difficult to control your mind with breathing exercises or meditation. In such cases, distraction is the ultimate solution.
In case your laser hair removal treatment involves wider regions such as legs, you may engage with your phone by scrolling through Instagram. Additionally, it is possible to listen to an audiobook while having laser hair removal done on your arms and face.
How to Alleviate Discomfort Following the Treatment?
The annoying snapping feeling is only felt on the skin during the procedure. However following the procedure, the skin will be red and swollen which will be painful. To ease the pain, the following procedures can be observed,
1. Cool Compresses
The first and foremost thing you should do after your session or when you are back home is to take a piece of clean cloth and place ice in it. You can also get a cold compress from the grocery or drug store.
Place the ice pad nicely on the skin without pressing, and move in circular motions to ease the swelling, pain, and redness.
2. Dress in Non-constricting Garments
The feeling is even worse when the clothes come into contact with the skin even after the removal of hair by laser. Hence after your treatment session, it is best to put on some clean, soft, airy, and light clothes.
It will ease the tension of the skin and allow it to ventilate. In turn, this will lessen the feeling of discomfort.
3. Pain Relieving Drugs
In case the pain is not alleviated by the above steps, the next step is to take another analgesic. Additionally, topical numbing cream can be applied after the procedure.
However, ensure that there is an interval of at least 4 hours between your before and after over-the-counter painkiller doses.
5. The Relatively Less Painful Alternative to Laser Hair Removal
Envision spends countless dollars for a non-invasive surgical procedure that will be quite painful and has numerous aftercare instructions solely to aid in managing the pain. Anyone would be afraid, right?
Well, if you do not want to take any medication or topical numbing agent, we suggest you try some other hair removal method with similar effects but a better experience.
For example, the Ulike Air 10 IPL hair removal handset has built-in advanced ice-cooling technology that makes the treatment window cool for upto an hour and makes the treatment super comfortable and nearly painless.
Also, its results are apparent in only 2 to 3 weeks in contrast to laser which takes around 3 months to slow down hair regrowth. Not to mention the price factor as the price of the Ulike Air10 unit is 10 to 20 times less than that of laser hair removal sessions.
Conclusion
Laser hair removal acts on the hair follicles and triggers the nerve endings surrounding the follicles making it painful for the consumers. It is also well known that the degree of pain threshold is subjective and varies at different parts of the skin.
In laser hair removal, you should not be apprehensive about the complications of pain since they can be easily managed. We have mentioned the techniques to reduce pain caused by laser hair removal sessions in detail above.
Lastly, you can do your laser hair removal sessions at home comfortably with a Ulike Air10 IPL device.
