Hair Removal 123

Laser hair removal and melanin have a very intimate relationship to one another. Melanin is the substance that causes skin and hair to have color and this can have an impact on laser use on the human body.

When a light skinned person tans, the melanin in their skin increases the production of melanocytes, providing the tan color. A person with blonde hair has little melanin in their hair. A person with darker skin or dark hair has more melanin in their skin and/or hair.

In order for laser hair removal to work, the laser energy must penetrate the epidermis and reach to the follicle of the hair which is underneath the skin. When the laser encounters melanin in the skin or in the portion of the hair that extends down toward the follicle, some of the laser energy is absorbed by the melanin. The darker the skin color, the more melanin is in the skin. The darker the hair color, the more melanin is present. Therefore, the more laser energy is removed before the energy reaches the follicle of the hair.

Melanin is more concentrated in hair than it is in the epidermis of the skin. Most people have darker hair than the color of their skin and this is the reason. Even people with black skin frequently have skin that is actually brown in color and hair that is much darker in color. This fact is exploited when using lasers to remove hair because the laser energy is absorbed by the melanin which is present in much greater quantities in the hair than the skin. However, in the case of dark-skinned people, the differential in coloration is not as great as in people with lighter skin colors and medium to dark hair colors. However, people with light skin and light color hair have a similar people in that there is not a large difference between the skin and hair color and therefore not a large difference in the small quantities of melanin present.

Frequently cooling, in the form of cooling sprays, chilling of the skin or application of cold compresses prior to laser hair removal allows the laser to deliver energy to the skin and hair follicle but allows the skin to cool must more quickly, leaving the heat energy of the laser in the hair. This helps destroy the hair follicle and prevent hair from growing back again.