Laser treatments for Dark Skin

Laser treatments is increasing in popularity all over the world, with lots of women ditching their waxing appointments for this easier, less painful and more permanent option. When hair laser removal first came to the scene, the perfect patient had fair skin and dark hair, so the machine could easily detect along with contrast and target merely the pigment within the hair. This meant at first, patients with dark or black skin were warned that this treatment wouldn’t be as effective in it. But with advancements in technology, hair laser removal is currently a safe and secure and effective alternative for all skin tones. Here we’ll explain all you need to learn about hair laser removal for dark skin.

Skin tones Explained

Firstly, let’s look into your skin. A common method of managing your skin type is with the Fitzpatrick scale, which talks about your skin tone’s reply to UV light. Before technologies were introduced, skin tones 4-6 were at risk of skin damage, or otherwise achieving their desired hair thinning. These skin tones usually belong to people of Latin, Mediterranean, Indian or African backgrounds.

The Fitzpatrick Skin-Typing Scale
Type of skin Skin Colour Response to Sun
1 Very white or freckled Always burns/never tans
2 White Usually burns/sometimes tans
3 White to olive Sometimes burns/always tans
4 Brown Rarely burns
5 Dark brown Hardly ever burns/moderately pigmented
6 Black Highly pigmented

Is It Safe for Dark Skin?

The reason that skin tones 1-3 were the most effective candidates for laser hair removal for brown skin is because of the contrast between their hair and skin colour. Given that the darker the head of hair, the more light it is going to absorb, fair skinned patients may be treated in a higher intensity without any risk that the skin would absorb a few of this light. Lasers couldn’t decipher between the pigment in hair and also the pigment in skin, so patients with skin tones 4-6 were previously susceptible to burns, hyper-pigmentation or other skin damage. However, hair laser removal is currently a powerful alternative for all skin tones, because of new technology and therapists which were trained properly to take care of dark and black skin.
What Laser is the most suitable?

Lasers with long wavelengths are best to take care of dark skin, since the laser can bypass the darker epidermis and penetrate deeper in to the skin where hair follicles reside. This significantly cuts down on probability of damage to the epidermis (surface of the skin). At Simply Laser, we make use of the ND YAG machine, that is created to take care of dark skin. However, if you’re still concerned that the skin won’t react well to hair laser removal, your therapist can conduct a patch test on a small division of your skin to ensure you’re very pleased with the result.

The amount of Care is Needed?

While the amount of treatments required differs from individual to individual, you may need 6-10 treatments every 6 weeks for hair on your body, and each one month for undesired facial hair. Facial hair might be hormonal, which is the reason you may need more frequent treatments with this area.

It’s important to note though, that hair laser removal can improve or even eliminate a lot of the skin conditions that dark skinned women face using traditional traditional hair removal methods like shaving, waxing or plucking. Quite a few patients have seen enterprise folliculitis (your skin layer condition that creates bumps, ingrown hairs, papules and pustules from traditional hair removal) because of regular hair laser removal treatments.

Continue to have Questions?

In case you still need any questions or concerns about hair laser removal for dark or black skin, feel free to make contact with us. Either Leona a treadmill of our own highly trained beauty specialists will be more than very happy to provide you with information specific for your skin and hair type. Simply Laser is focused on giving the latest and very better of cosmetic laser treatments to its customers, in order to feel comfortable knowing that you’re in good hands with Leona and also the team.
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