I’ve had 4 treatments with the GentleLase laser on my back and shoulders. I usually wait 12 weeks or so between treatments as most of the hair is back by then and some quite long. My problem is that I went on vacation to Italy this summer and got quite a tan. If I wait until it fades completely, I’m looking at about 22 weeks or so. I don’t want the hairs to move beyond the anagen phase as this will render the laser treatment pointless.
So I was thinking, what if I got the area waxed. By the time the tan fades, the hairs should be growing back and in prime anagen phase for laser treatment. I know in general they say no waxing during treatment, but this seems to fit well into the treatment schedule. What do you think?
Do not wax. That will throw off the cycles and will make some hairs disappear for many months. Anagen is not that important with laser treatments, and those specific areas should normally be treated at 12-16 week periods anyway. There is no problem with treating in 22 weeks. Just go with that. It might actually be better as it will help you assess true reduction better as well as make sure that the hair has enough pigment.
It depends. I would just wait. At this point, longer spacing can actually help. But if you’re really set on getting a treatment to get the hairless period, you can do GentleYAG IF the hair in question is dark and coarse.