Can Dark Skin Be Treated with Laser Hair Removal?

Advanced laser technology has made it possible to treat all skin tones with laser hair removal, although the procedure is only effective for dark hair follicles regardless of skin tone. If you have light brown, gray, or white hair, unfortunately, you won't be able to benefit from laser hair removal as the laser won't be able to detect melanin in the hair follicles. In the past, laser hair removal wasn't considered safe for people with melanin-rich skin because the first laser models weren't created to differentiate between the melanin in the skin and the melanin in the hair follicle. It's important to note that waxing should be avoided as it removes the entire hair follicle and, for the laser to work, you will need a little hair since the laser detects the pigment in the hair follicle.

Charles, laser hair removal is very safe and has minimal side effects, provided that the person doing it uses the correct laser and understands the mechanics of treating darker skin. Although laser hair removal has been found to dramatically reduce hair growth, it's important to emphasize that it's really like permanent hair reduction - it won't eliminate everything, says Dr. However, with new lasers created specifically for melanin-rich skin, such as those with longer wavelengths, longer pulse duration and more efficient cooling devices, this is changing. Charles recommends a wavelength of 1064 nanometers for laser hair removal on dark skin.

The biggest problem when performing laser hair removal on dark skin comes from the heat that lasers produce, says Dr. To find out which laser works best on dark skin, it's worth understanding how hair removal lasers work. Murphy suggests asking the laser specialist how long they have worked in the field of laser hair removal, approximately how many patients they have treated with a dark skin type and how satisfied those patients were with the results. Because dark skin is more sensitive than fair skin, Karavolas recommends asking the laser hair treatment center to see before and after photos of patients with a dark skin type who have undergone a laser procedure.