Going through IPL laser hair removal treatment can be intimidating at first, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are not many risks or dangers of this form of treatment, especially if you get your treatments through a professional salon that specializes in this treatment and employs experienced technicians. If you have taken care to get an appointment with a high quality salon and are still a bit nervous, understanding how laser hair removal works may help.

The general procedure for removing hair through laser treatment is as follows:

1. The area with unwanted hair is coated with a special product, which dyes the hair inside the follicle.

2. A handheld device is used to spray intense light over the skin.

3. The dye on the hair follicle attracts the light, allowing an intense level of heat to focus directly on the hair follicle.

4. The intense energy from the light damages the hair follicle, causing it to release the hair already there.

5. The damaged hair falls out of the follicle, and the follicle is unable to produce additional hairs due to the damage.

The thought of your hair falling out from damage to a follicle should not sound alarming in any manner. The follicles do not present any threat to your health or skin, even as they release the hair. The damage is subtle, and simply prevents them from producing another hair in the initial growing stage of development. This stops your skin from getting hairy again in the future.

This does not happen for the majority of people in one session. In order to be effective, the light treatment has to hit the follicles when they are in the initial growing stage. In that stage, the hair follicle is connected in to your blood supply, so damaging the follicle will prevent the body from producing another hair for growth. The light cannot attach to and damage the hair once it has separated from your body and is on its way to being shed.

How many sessions you have to go back in for will depend on your skin. You cannot assume that it will take two sessions or five sessions based on what someone else has experienced. Your skin may be different, either taking more or less time to completely stop the production of new hair. The time period may also depend on the area of skin you want treated. It may take longer to get your full legs free of hair than it would take to keep hair from growing under your arms. The underarms have less surface area than the legs.

It is also important to understand that the results you experience immediately after having your hair removal treatment is not all you will get out of that session. You will continue to lose some hairs in the days following your procedure, as the follicles release the hair that they were holding at the time of the treatment. What is left, as well as what grows back soon after, will be treated the next time around. This continues until this area of your body is free of hair. Once you reach that phase, you can consider yourself rid of hair and you no longer have to worry about treatments, or shaving!