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You may have heard that laser hair removal doesn’t work very well on people with dark skin.  In this article, I’ll take a few minutes to explain why.  In order to understand why laser hair removal isn’t very effective for dark skinned individuals, I first need to explain to you how laser hair removal works.

All human hair grows from small orifices in the skin called hair follicles.  When laser hair removal lasers are used for hair removal, the laser hair removal technician will shine the laser on the skin.  The hair follicles absorb the heat from the laser light and the result is that the hair follicles are damaged.  This damage results in hair removal.  It also makes it difficult for the follicle to regrow hair.

The best combination for laser hair removal is light skinned people with dark, course hair.  The reason for this is actually quite simple.  When the laser light is used on people who fit this criteria, the darker hair in the follicle absorbs the light in the form of heat and the light colored skin does not.  This is because dark substances absorb light and light substances reflect light.

Herein lies the reason that laser hair removal isn’t as effective on people with dark skin.  When the laser light is applied to dark skin at an intensity level that is sufficient to damage the hair follicle and inhibit future hair growth, the surrounding dark skin also absorbs the light and is usually burned in the process.  If the intensity of the laser is turned down, to prevent skin burning, the lasers don’t produce enough heat to sufficiently damage the hair follicle.

There are specialized lasers that have been designed especially for individuals with dark skin but they still aren’t 100% effective.  It’s likely that many more treatments sessions will be needed for the procedure to be effective on dark skinned people.

To learn more about hair removal, please visit Facial Hair Removal Tips.