Who Is Not Suitable For Laser Hair Removal?

Clients who are not good candidates for laser hair removal include those with fine or thin hair as well as unwanted hair that is blonde, gray, white or red. Pregnant women should avoid the procedure and those with skin conditions like acne or rosacea should speak with a hair removal professional prior to treatment.

While laser hair removal technology has improved over the years and can treat all skin tones, not all hair types and colors can be successfully treated at this time. Please read on for more details.

Thin and fine hair is difficult for lasers to treat for hair removal

Laser and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) hair removal machines have difficulty killing off thin and fine hair. If you have unwanted hair that matches that criteria, it will be difficult for the machines to treat.

Before you ask how exactly is thin and fine hair defined that’s a great question and one that would be best answered by the clinics you visit to assess whether or not you’re a good candidate.

Laser machines tend to work best for people who have dark coarse hair. It’s easier for the laser to pick up the hair and travel down the hair shaft to the bottom of the hair follicle to zap it.

The good news if you have untreatable thin and fine hair? Thin and fine hair is more difficult to see with the naked eye so it may not bother you or be seen by others. But if you do have unwanted thin or fine hair, you could consider electrolysis as it is not hair type-specific and you can still successfully remove it. Hair type and color don’t matter for this method of hair removal.

Blonde, gray, white or red unwanted hair is unable to be treated with laser hair removal

While thin or fine hair may be up for debate, the color of your hair is not.

Blonde, gray, white or red can’t successfully be treated with laser or IPL for that matter. Traditionally laser hair removal machines (and especially IPL) look for a contrast between skin and hair color. Laser and IPL focus on locating and targeting dark pigment at the bottom of each hair follicle and ignoring pale skin. So laser and IPL naturally and not by design work well on those with lighter skin and dark pigmented hair.

So the ideal candidate for hair removal were traditionally those people who had light colored skin with dark coarse unwanted hair. Over time, newer laser technologies such as Nd:Yag have been designed to help those with darker skin tones safely and successfully.

But to this day, lighter hair that has little pigment in it still generally won’t work with laser for the same reason as before: The laser and IPL machines look past the paleness attempting to find darker pigment which doesn’t exist.

Blonde, gray, white and red hair doesn’t have enough pigment for the laser or IPL light to be attracted to.

One note to consider however: Redheads are often found to have coarse hair which is a good sign for laser hair removal. If you have unwanted red hair that is coarse, you may consider visiting a laser clinic and asking if your particular hair color can be treated. If so, ask to see examples of people with your hair color who have been successfully treated to be sure.

Certain medications can make you photosensitive

A number of medications such as antibiotics and various skin medications can make you more sensitive to the sun and light and should be taken into consideration prior to laser treatment. A good laser hair removal clinic will go over your medical history and ask what medications you are on currently to determine if there could be a reaction or concern you should be aware of.

Blood thinners and retinol are two additional medications to avoid. Speak with your clinic well ahead of time to be safe.

Pregnant women should avoid laser hair removal treatment

Erring on the side of caution and since no specific research has been done to suggest otherwise, laser hair removal should be avoided by pregnant women until after giving birth. Since it’s a maximum of 9 months we’re talking about, it’s best to wait until you are no longer pregnant.

Many hair removal clinics agree and may not even offer the service for fear of a lawsuit should something unexpectedly go wrong.

Unwanted hair near sensitive areas like the eyes can make laser hair removal dangerous

Some laser hair removal professionals may be wary about offering their services around very sensitive body parts such as the eyes or even genital areas. When doing laser or IPL treatment, both the clinician performing the service and the patient wear protective glasses due to the powerful flash of light that is emitted.

If you have unwanted hair around the eyebrows, the bridge of the nose and areas like that, given the size of the glasses covering your face, a clinician may recommend against laser or IPL and suggest you stick with waxing or another method of hair removal such as electrolysis.

Tanning should be avoided prior to laser hair removal

Tanning the skin either from the sun, a tanning salon or from artificial tanning products should be avoided before laser or IPL hair removal. Tanning the skin can negatively affect treatment since the light looks for the contrast between your skin and hair color. The laser may be need to adjusted downwards in terms of its strength which can impair the quality of the treatment increasing both your treatment time and cost.

Clinics will tend to recommend staying out of the sun before and directly after laser treatment. After treatment, the skin can be slightly irritated so it’s best to wear sunblock if treated areas are exposed to the sun for the first few days afterwards.

A good rule of thumb is to try to avoid the sun for two weeks before and after laser hair removal treatment for affected areas of the body.

Certain skin conditions can make laser hair removal more difficult

While lasers are very versatile especially these days where every skin type can be treated for hair removal, some care has to be taken around certain skin conditions and others should be completely avoided with a laser to be safe.

Acne: If you have bad acne around the area you’re planning on having treated, check with your laser clinic first for their advice as to whether or not the area can be treated.

As an aside, if you do get frequent acne, laser hair removal may actually help as it’s often a combination of ingrown hairs, oil and other factors that clog pores and cause acne to break out so removing those hairs can help to unclog pores and prevent acne.

As another aside, you may actually get temporary acne or whiteheads after laser treatment as hairs are dying and haven’t yet fallen out. These blemishes tend to clear up within a few days as I personally experienced with both laser and IPL treatments.

Birth marks: Depending on how dark and large the birth mark is, it’s better to avoid it completely. Laser and IPL can both in extreme and rare cases change skin color slightly so it’s best to avoid lasering over birth marks.

Bruises: Bruises tend to heal unless you have a condition that causes them to appear. Bruises tend to occur due to injury and you don’t want to make the situation worse with laser treatment especially since most bruises tend to heal in days.

Cuts: Cuts should be avoided with laser hair removal and if possible you should wait until they are healed and delay laser hair removal treatment.

Eczema: Eczema is a skin condition that can generally be treated and should be avoided when doing laser hair removal. Avoid laser hair removal during an eczema flare up and wait until you have it under control.

Freckles: You can have laser treatment with freckles but it’s best to avoid lasering over top of them if possible. It may temporarily darken the skin but it should go back to normal after several or more days.

Moles: Moles should also be avoided with laser hair removal treatment.

Psoriasis: Psoriasis is a condition that causes the skin to become irritated, red and scaly and should be avoided for hair removal. With any luck if you have psoriasis it can be treated with medication or will be on areas that don’t have unwanted hair, rendering the point moot.

Rosacea: This is an interesting scenario because IPL is actually used specifically to treat rosacea. IPL was first developed to treat vascular conditions but over time it was discovered that it also had hair removal abilities. If you suffer from rosacea you might consider locating a clinic offering IPL and enquiring about the possibility of hair removal using IPL and asking about how your rosacea may be improved at the same time. So while laser hair removal might not be possible for body parts with rosacea, IPL may be suitable.

Skin tags: Skin tags are annoying little pieces of skin that tend to grow around areas like the neck, shoulders and other body parts that receive friction and rubbing. They tend to get caught on your clothes and may bleed when ripped. Skin tags can be surgically removed or with over the counter medication but should be lasered around and avoided during hair removal treatment.

Varicose veins: Laser ablation is a process that is actually used to treat varicose veins but it’s done in a very specific way and using specific wattage and power that is different from the one used for hair removal depending on your specific case. In that regard, varicose veins should be avoided during laser hair removal treatment.

Vitiligo: This skin condition causes a loss of color in certain parts of the body so laser hair removal treatment should be avoided on affected areas. Laser and IPL have in some cases caused temporary or permanent discoloration so the last thing you’d want to do is exacerbate this in an area that has already suffered from color change.