Can Laser Hair Removal Cause More Hair Growth?

There are a lot of questions relating to laser hair removal. Some people say that it doesn’t work, while others say that it does more harm than good. Both of these are false. Another common question is whether or not laser hair removal causes more hair to grow. To answer this, it is first important to understand how laser hair removal works and how hair cycles work.

Laser hair removal uses pulsed light or a laser to target a hair follicle. It destroys the follicle, which then causes the hair to eventually fall out. If the follicle is destroyed, the hair will not grow anymore because there is nothing to grow from. Now, hair also grows in cycles. All our hair does not grow at once, but instead grows in phases. Some hair grows out and when it is shaved, other hair follicles begin to grow out. This is why you have to go for several sessions of laser hair removal. Each time you have hair removed by laser; the hair cycle grows new hair. This is one reason why some people believe that you have more hair growth following laser hair removal.

Another reason that people believe that laser hair removal causes more hair growth is because when you have laser hair removal done, you usually get a cream on your skin that opens your pores. When your pores open, hair grows better. So more hair comes up out of the skin and the pores. This does not mean that you have new hair, but you are just having hair you already had growing more. Again, this is why there are several sessions of laser hair removal.

Now, in some very rare cases, mostly in women, laser hair removal does cause increased hair growth but this is very rare and it has not even been medically proven. Typically, it only happens when there is laser hair removal done on a woman’s face. For men, it is usually caused when there is laser hair removal done on their back, shoulders and underarms.

It is also more common to happen on darker skin types with fine hair on low settings from the laser. Again, this is incredibly rare and only happens to a fraction of those who have laser hair removal. The vast majority of people see absolutely no increase in hair growth.

Typically, people only think they have experienced more hair growth because they have gone for laser hair removal and found new hairs growing. Well, they are not new hairs; they are old hairs who are getting their chance to grow now that you have removed the other hairs. Think of it like a forest. When trees fall down, other trees get more light and therefore get more growth. Well, the same seems to happen with the hair on your body. Does laser hair removal cause an increase in hair growth? No. It may happen, to a fraction of people, but you can be assured it will most likely not happen to you.

Read more answers to your questions at our laser hair removal FAQ page.