Is Laser Hair Removal Painful?

By Mary Basiadima, 29 January 2023

Laser hair removal has been massively popular in recent years owing to more and more people realising what an effective, affordable and successful treatment it actually is. Laser hair removal is a popular choice for both the face and body, with many men and women seeking treatment for conditions too, such as PCOS. 

However, with such popularity, the questions, Is laser hair removal painful or does it hurt, are two of the most often asked questions in our London clinics. 

There’s no clear answer as it depends on the areas treated, laser technology users and your personal pain threshold. We explore these areas in our guide below!

Not Pain Free but Pretty Close

In most cases, more pain is usually experienced from tweezing, shaving and most of all waxing. Having laser hair removal has been described as having an elastic band flicked against your skin. Something most people can tolerate. Different areas of the body will be more painful than others. Underarms can be more painful than legs, for example. Pain levels also depend on the thickness of the skin in the area being treated. 

Laser can also be more painful during periods, when women’s skin may be more sensitive.

There’s nothing to be afraid of when it comes to having laser hair removal, here’s an overview of the process: 

The process of this treatment is as follows;

Does the area treated affects pain levels?

The laser can cause slightly more discomfort on areas with thinner skin, such as the upper lip and temples.  To put it into perspective, in terms of pain laser hair removal is a lot less painful than waxing and less painful than tattooing or the dentists, so there is really nothing to worry about.

 

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*Topical numbing cream when applied can reduce the pain levels for any area down to 1/10 to 3/10. Although this will add time to your visit to your clinic as the numbing cream can take up to 30 minutes to be effective.

Everyone is different and can tolerate pain differently. Women are known to tolerate pain better than men.

With laser hair removal, some people do not notice a thing while others will have their fists tightly clenched with every zap of the laser.

Modern lasers have cooling devices attached, Fat Freezing blowing ice cool air on the skin.

Other laser brands like Soprano ice use a cooling gel over the skin.

This can get messy though and most prefer the cooling air. Also, numbing cream can be applied 30 minutes before your session by your practitioner to reduce the pain.

Does technology make a difference to the pain levels?