Despite the undoubtful COVID-19 harmful effects on the beauty industry, the global laser hair removal market is projected to grow by about 15% by 2027. For an aesthetic beauty clinic, a laser hair removal machine is essential, as for many customers this treatment serves as a door for entering the world of aesthetic beauty treatments.
Moreover, until recently hair removal was perceived uniquely as a women’s domain. However, it appeared that quite a large proportion of men resort to hair removal for aesthetic purposes. Therefore, aesthetic clinics should keep up with the latest trends both in consumer demand and advanced hair removal methods to grow their aesthetic business successfully.
What are the best hair removal techniques?
The hair removal practices developed over the years, starting with traditional shaving, waxing, threading or sugaring and ending with the most state-of-the-art techniques like epilation and laser hair removal.
In recent years many have appreciated the benefits of permanent hair reduction ensured by photoelectric or laser technology. The fundamental principle of any epilation technique lies in hair follicle destruction by high light or electric pulse energy. Melanin inside a hair root gets heated, causing hair follicle damage and breaking up a hair regrowth cycle.
The most widespread hair reduction technologies are Intense Pulsed Light (known as IPL) and laser. IPL systems differ from lasers as they deliver multiple wavelengths (within the range from 400 nm to 1200 nm) in a single pulse contrary to lasers delivering only one wavelength. IPL systems use filters to refine the wavelength of the output energy.
More than even in the hair removal field, IPL systems are known for their skin rejuvenation benefits. The signs of sun damage, age spots, acne scars, rosacea, and other skin irregularities are just the tip of a phototherapy iceberg. By trying our IPL+SHR machine you will be able to significantly enlarge the scope of esthetic treatments on the offer.
Hair removal lasers are typically divided into 4 groups:
Ruby lasers with the wavelength of 695 nm, may be regarded as relative old-timers. They have been used for hair removal for a while now. Generally no longer used for this purpose for lower efficiency and smaller treatment spot size as compared to more advanced laser types.
Alexandrite lasers with a wavelength of 755 nm have a lot of benefits and are best suited to treat light skin types and dark hairs. Blond and gray hair is not likely to absorb alexandrite wavelength. In addition, alexandrite lasers are not suitable for darker skin tones.
Still, these lasers work well with finer and thinner hairs, which is oftentimes difficult for other lasers.
Diode lasers with 808 nm wavelength occupy the largest market share in the laser hair removal market as the most effective and safe. Diode laser works best with light-to-medium skin but can perform well on nearly any skin tone. The longer wavelength allows deeper penetration, helps avoid skin damage to darker skin patients, and works well for coarse hair.
The most innovative Nd:Yag lasers with 1064 nm wavelength have poor absorption by melanin (and therefore are mostly safe for dark skin). Unlike other lasers with shorter wavelengths, they target the blood vessels connected to the hair. By producing one of the longest light beams this laser shortens the treatment times, minimizes patients’ discomfort and the risk of complications.
Nevertheless, Nd:Yag lasers are not entirely flawless. Generally, they have low efficiency for fine, blonde, or gray hair. They may feel more painful than other lasers.
How to choose a laser for hair removal
With widely accessible hair removal products and clientele with diverse skin-hair tone combinations, business owners may face a crossroads while choosing equipment for their beauty clinic.
There is a way, though. It would be wise to stick with a machine covering the widest range of skin tones and hair types like a one-wavelength diode laser or the newest mixed technology with a combined laser bar emitting a combination of wavelengths (755, 808 and 1064 nm). With a triple-wavelength hair removal laser , you will be able to make the hair removal process more efficient. For example, take our stand-alone triple-wavelength two-handle hair removal machine with an effective cooling option to increase the patient’s comfort during the treatment. Thanks to different spot sizes, the device can be used to treat both small body zones like hairline, lips, chin, armpits and larger zones like back, abdomen, legs, etc with no need to change the handles.
A two-handle one-wavelength diode laser may be a nice alternative to the triple-wavelength one if you would like to save some budget as generally the one-wavelength series costs 20% less. You won’t lose the equipment efficiency, however there is some chance that you will have to add more sessions to a customer’s treatment protocol or choose more individualized parameters for treating sensitive customers. If you run on a tight budget, you still have a lot of powerful options to choose from. Whether you opt for a one-handle stand-alone or portable hair removal laser , you will still be able to satisfy your customers’ demands in a proficient and effective manner. If you decide to settle on an IPL technology, you may get two for the price of one: hair removal treatments and a range of skin rejuvenation options. Due to its broad scope of light, IPL is very effective in treating hyperpigmentation, acne, thread veins, sun damage and other skin conditions. Often IPL is more affordable than laser hair removal, so your budget here also enters into the equation. Generally, IPL is a less effective hair reduction option compared to lasers. But when it is combined with “in-motion” technology like in our IPL+SHR machine , you may get great results. In-motion lasers deliver lower energy compared to traditional techniques but with a very high pulse frequency. The handpiece glides over the skin numerous times to heat a hair follicle gradually unlike heating with a single powerful shot in many lasers. It gives greater comfort to clients, especially for those having darker and thicker hair.
Warranty, maintenance and consumables
Lasers for hair removal do not need any consumables. These are highly automated systems with intelligent software to control any system failure. The preset treatment programs with widely adjustable parameters make the lasers easy to use not only by business owners with many years’ experience under their belts but by rookie beauty entrepreneurs as well.
Moreover, you can benefit from free video instructions on how to use or troubleshoot and maintain the lasers available on request.
Powerful cooling system allows back-to-back session booking with no downtime for 12 hours.
High lifespan ensures long-term flawless operation. You may replace worn or broken parts free of charge under a two-year warranty (upon 1 year expiry the delivery costs are covered by a customer).
Every machine comes with protection glasses for a customer and a client, you may order extra glasses when needed.
FAQ
What are the components of laser hair removal cost?
Typically, the expense for a hair removal session includes:
- Materials: topical anesthetic for pain relief before the treatment, post-session soothing creams and sunscreen, wet wipes or towels to remove the excess of cosmetic preparations or for hygienic purposes;
- Power costs: average power consumption is 3000 W per hour;
- Operator’s wages.
How many sessions are needed for hair removal?
Permanent hair reduction is not a one-and-done process. For maximum results with IPL you will need to book about 12 sessions with a total treatment length over 4 to 8 weeks. Laser hair removal is generally a shorter option and takes from 6 to 10 sessions. Still it highly depends on a customer’s skin-hair profile, the body area treated, and the expertise of a laser operator.
What is a hair removal session cost?
When it comes to session cost, it greatly varies depending on geographical location, treated zone size and number of sessions required. As a rule smaller areas are going to be less expensive: from 20 EUR per session for lips, chin, between eyebrows, forehead to 30 EUR per session for underarms and 50 EUR for lower legs. Full body treatment may reach 350 EUR per session with some 20% or 30% discount for a package deal.
The best practice is to research the competitors’ offer at your location and form your price-list based on your costs and an average price tag.
Are there any risks and pitfalls connected with laser hair removal?
There always will be some customers ineligible for laser hair removal, so an operator should be careful and refrain from offering treatment to people with contraindications to laser treatment. Laser treatment may cause potential pigmentation issues. Light skin-dark hair is the best laser hair removal profile ever. When a customer has dark skin and dark hair, a laser may also target melanin in the skin and generate burns and hyperpigmentation. Therefore, an operator has to use lower treatment energies to avoid these issues. Lower fluencies produce less efficient results and involve more sessions to reach the desired outcomes. By the way, a similar situation is with very light hair. It requires more treatments as less pigment does not allow to absorb the necessary energy to destroy a hair follicle. A patient faces temporary discomfort and inconvenience . Some time before and after the treatment a customer should avoid sun exposure and use sunscreens to prevent skin pigmentation. Laser treatment may cause some limited side-effects like swelling, slight redness and irritation of the skin. Certain customers may experience blistering, crusting, scarring or change in the skin structure. You should explain to them that these effects are not long-term and in most cases are not serious. A customer should also know that there will be in-between periods when hair should be allowed to grow back without waxing or any other way of hair removal. Potential inefficiency. Genetic, nutritional or even medical factors may influence the laser treatment results. For instance, people taking testosterone, may not boast long-term hair reduction results.
