Most women spend a lot of time in their beauty routine removing hair from their legs. Traditional methods, such as shaving, can be frustrating due to problems like nicks and cuts, ingrown hairs and a short window of time before hair starts to regrow and you have to repeat the whole process. As a result, many women search for other ways to accomplish hair removal for their legs. Laser hair removal is one such alternative solution.
Definition
Laser hair removal uses a high-energy light beam that pulsates and destroys the hair follicle deep within the skin. It does this by targeting the melanin, the pigment that gives hair its color and sending the laser energy down the hair shaft to the follicle. The skin, meanwhile, is left untouched by the laser.
Benefits
Some of the advantages of laser hair removal include its long-lasting effects and the avoidance of common problems from other hair removal methods, like ingrown hairs. When hair does grow out again after laser hair removal, it is often lighter in color and finer in texture than the original leg hair was. Because laser hair removal destroys hair at the follicle, this prevents ingrown hairs from occurring when hair eventually does grow back.
Drawbacks
The biggest drawback to laser hair removal is its cost. Compared to other hair removal methods, it is usually quite expensive, generally around $300 to $600 per treatment session, according to Hair Lasers. Inconvenience is another drawback, because laser hair removal for legs requires multiple treatments for it to be fully effective. A common schedule is to have laser hair removal treatments every six to eight weeks, up to eight times total, with occasional maintenance touch-up treatments after that. Each session lasts about an hour to complete hair removal on both legs.
Considerations
Laser hair removal on the legs works best for certain skin and hair types. Because it targets the melanin in hair, the best candidates for this type of treatment have dark hair and fair skin. People with very light colored leg hair may find that laser hair removal doesn't work well for them.
Side Effects
Side effects from laser hair removal are uncommon. Sometimes, people who undergo laser hair removal can have redness and swelling or more rarely slight blistering or scarring. In darker skinned people, there may be some skin lightening associated with laser hair removal. Skin darkening is another rare side effect. There is also the possibility of incomplete hair removal, but this can often be corrected in follow-up visits.
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