It seems like everyone is talking about laser hair removal. There have been plenty of claims about this procedure, in particular that it's extremely effective at removing hair permanently. However, this is a generalization, and if there's one thing that's certain about laser hair removal, it's that every person is different! Every person will respond differently to the laser hair removal process.

In fact, it's important to start by determining whether or not you're a good candidate for laser hair removal. You can be cynical and think that all that's required is to be able to afford the multiple treatments. After all, laser hair removal sessions cost around $500 on average, and you can usually expect to have up to four treatments.

But financial resources aren't the only thing you need to consider. In fact, your pigment is even more important. It's pigment that gives color to your skin and hair. The fact is, laser hair removal is effective when the color of the hair is darker than the skin surrounding it. So, if you have dark, coarse body hair, with light skin, chances are laser hair removal will be very effective for you. If, however, you have very fair hair and dark or tanned skin, it may be a waste of your money.

The pigment that gives hair its color is called melanin. Melanin surrounds the structure inside the hair follicle that is responsible for germinating hair. The melanin needs to absorb the energy produced by the laser, which also generates a considerable amount of heat. Once enough laser energy is absorbed to destroy the melanin, the hair germination structure is left unprotected. This means that the heat generated will then damage the structure - and that means that future hair growth from that follicle is stopped.

Dark or tanned skin contains lots of melanin, and that means that a lot of the laser energy will be absorbed into the surrounding skin, not into the melanin inside the hair follicle. The more the skin absorbs the laser energy, the less effective the laser hair removal process becomes. One way to minimize the amount of laser energy absorbed by the skin it to use cold compresses to keep the affected area cool during the hair removal process. This will help the laser to bypass the colder skin and give it a better chance of reaching the melanin in the hair follicle.

Another way to keep the skin cool is to use multi pulsing laser technology, which is a fairly recent development. In this process, the laser energy is interrupted or pulsed, rather than streamed. Because of this, the laser delivers less heat each time, so the skin keeps cool and is better protected. There are also other types of lasers available, including: Diode, which is generally used on darker skin; Ruby, which has red laser beams capable of targeting melanin; Alexandrite, which is a long pulse laser; and Q-Switched Nd:YAG, which produces two different wavelengths to work on hair follicles that are both deep and close to the surface.