When you go for a wax, the thing you are most worried about is usually the pain. Waxing hurts, a lot. Shaving doesn’t hurt but it is an annoyance that can take up a lot of time if you have to shave every few days. So, this leaves laser hair removal. Now, when people hear that a laser is targeting their skin, their major question is "Will it hurt?" Well, the quick answer is yes there is discomfort and the level of pain you feel depends on your pain threshold. Best case is you feel nearly nothing and the worst case is you feel like a small elastic band is being snapped on your skin over and over.

Thankfully, there is laser hair removal numbing cream. Unlike waxing, which has no cure for the pain, laser hair removal does. Last year, two million people used laser hair removal and naturally with so many people using the technique to remove hair, many of the experts in the field are looking for ways to make the techniques as painless as possible. This is why numbing cream exists and boy does it work well.

Numbing creams work exactly as their name sound. It is applied to the skin of the person receiving laser hair removal, and it numbs the pain of the laser hair removal process. It is essentially localized anesthesia applied to the skin, so naturally after you have it applied you will be numb there for some time before you start to feel anything. Numbing cream is not applied unless you say you want it applied. As was stated before, the level of pain you feel depends on your sensitivity. (Make sure to check out the result of our "How painful was it?" poll.) Some people have described laser hair removal as excruciating and something they do not want to repeat, while others say it hurts less than getting a tattoo. If you have sensitive skin, then you may want to get numbing cream applied before you go through the procedure.

The great thing is that typically the clinic will not charge you for the numbing cream. You are already paying hundreds, or even thousands of dollars for the laser hair removal procedure, so not paying anything extra is nice. Talk to you clinic and find out if they are offering the numbing cream as a courtesy. If they are, then this is probably a good laser hair removal clinic to go through.

The best course of action is to have the procedure done without the cream because the cream can make it a bit more difficult to target the follicles and therefore it takes longer to complete the process. If you find while you are doing the procedure that the pain is too much for you, ask to have the numbing cream put on. It will take a few minutes for it to work, but after that you will not feel any more pain and you will help prevent any burning from happening. Numbing cream is there to help you get through the laser hair removal procedure and it is up to you if you want to use it or not.

Make sure to read our FAQs and laser hair removal articles before going for a laser hair removal session.