Blond hair and hair removal

by Kevin

I have back hair that I would like to be rid of. The problem is my hair is “white” (blond) in colour. Some people have told me that no treatment except waxing will remove it. Is this the case? If not can you please advise.

Response from Carl: I suspect you’re considering IPL and/or laser hair removal treatment. Traditionally, these light-based technologies did tend to work well on darker coloured hair (ie. hair with more pigment) so blond hair tended not to be removed very effectively with these methods unfortunately. The same went for grey and red hair too. Furthermore, light-skinned people tended to have the best results with these technologies.

New technologies however have improved the ability of these and other hair removal options to treat patients with blond, red and grey hair as well as people with darker skin tones. It’s likely that these technologies will continue to be improved over time too. It really depends on your personal situation (ie. the amount of hair to be removed, your hair colour) as well as the actual type of technology the clinics local to you currently use (ie. do they have new technology that can treat light-haired people?)

The best thing you could do is speak with local clinics who offer these services (if that’s what you’re considering) and ask to see actual pictures (or better yet to speak with actual patients) who are similar to you ie. have blond hair. This way you’ll be able to see the results they experienced and how happy they were with them. You can also ask the clinics you visit to comment on their machine’s ability to remove blond hair and see what they say.

Short of that, the older options like waxing are certainly available too! It’s cheaper although the results tend not to last as long.