Does the hair on your lower legs grow super fast, and/or have a stark contrast in color to your skin tone? If that’s the case, you may be opting for long pants or leggings even in hotter months to avoid having to shave or wax yet again.

Wouldn’t it be more fun to wear capris, a knee length skirt, or another option that keeps you a little cooler? You can achieve a great demure look and not be sweltering. Laser hair removal from SEV Laser gives you more freedom to experiment with your style and feel comfortable about your legs year round.

Leg Hair: Fact or Fiction?

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about body hair, especially on visible areas that require frequent hair removal, like the lower legs. Let’s dispel some of these myths with reality.

Leg Hair Grows Super Fast

It’s a common myth that leg hair grows faster than hair on the rest of your body. That’s fiction. Your hair on your legs may be thicker than on much of the rest of your body, but that’s natural — most people have denser hair on their legs than many other areas.

The reason hair growth appears to be accelerated is usually just an optical illusion caused by shaving — instead of tapering like a fully grown hair, the end is blunt and has corners that catch more light.

Shaving Leads to Rapid Hair Growth

Another fiction is that shaving makes your leg hairs grow faster. Again, this is due to the same optical illusion; shorter hairs can be more visible. If your stubble is eye-catching, you’re motivated to shave again and again, making you feel like your leg hair is growing very fast.

To put a finer point on it, shaving doesn’t make hair grow faster, period. Nothing you do to your leg hair above follicle level affects hair growth. You can shave as much as you want and your leg hair will never grow any faster.

Waxing Eventually Yields a Permanent Solution

Third fiction: Waxing can eventually lead to hair free legs. Waxing does rip hairs out by the roots, which in some cases can damage the follicle. That’s why leg hair may appear to be more sparse after years of waxing.

However, it’s unlikely you can free your legs of hair completely or permanently by waxing, and it takes years to really make a difference. In contrast, laser hair removal can get you hair free as soon as all hairs have been targeted while in active growth phase.

Shaving Darkens New Leg Hair

Here’s a final piece of fiction for you: the myth that shaving makes leg hair darker. Exposure to sunlight can bleach leg hair just like it does scalp hair. After growing a little, the leg hair lightens in the sun, especially in the summer. When you shave it off again, the new hair just looks darker.

No matter the season, having hair free lower legs can make you stop worrying about constantly shaving or waxing below the knee. Laser hair removal is a semi-permanent solution to your problem, giving you plenty of hair free, stress free, days.

Reasons to Remove Only Lower Leg Hair

There are plenty of reasons why women, especially, maye choose to remove hair only from the lower half of their legs. Here are a few of those reasons:

Hair on Your Upper Legs Is Less Noticeable

Many women have thinner, lighter, softer hair on their thighs and hips than they do on their knees, calves, and ankles. The fact that the hairs are less visible is one reason women often remove hair from their lower legs, saving themselves time and hassle.

If this sounds like you, laser hair removal could be perfect for your needs. Lower legs: hair free for good. Time and money saved on shaving: lots. Upper legs: nothing to worry about unless you want to.

Upper Leg Hair Doesn’t Bother Your Partner

A lot of women choose laser hair removal for their lower legs because they habitually shave this area, making it feel prickly after a day or two. Your partner may find leg hair fine in principle, but could find stubble irritating, meaning more frequent shaving or waxing for silky smooth skin.

Laser hair removal on the lower legs ensures your legs stay smooth and soft from knee to ankle all the time. Your partner doesn’t have to deal with your scratchy legs, and you can simply let your upper leg hair grow in without feeling self conscious or bad about it.

You Long for Below the Knee Freedom

So many women only shave below the knee that it’s a running joke.A lot of the time, it feels weird to be out in public with unshaven lower legs, but shaving is such a pain… and opting out means wearing longer, more confining, and even stifling clothing.

Laser hair removal gives you the freedom to forget about your lower leg hair completely. Once all of your leg hairs have been targeted, you can throw away your razor for good and wear shorter skirts and pants whenever you want to.

How Half Leg Hair Removal Works

Now that we’ve established the facts about and reasons for lower leg laser hair removal, let’s take a look at the process.

Prepping for Half Leg Laser Hair Removal

One thing you need to be sure to do before getting laser hair removal is avoid sunlight or other UV rays for at least two weeks. That’s right: you can’t get hair removed using lasers on a whim. Planning is critical, so don’t wait until summer.

You should shave 24 to 48 hours before your session (light exfoliation before shaving is recommended to prevent ingrown hairs.) Shorter hairs mean the laser light has an easier, faster time travelling down the shaft of the hair to the follicle.

You shouldn’t use any products on your lower legs on the day of treatment, though. Skip the lotions and creams beforehand. Moisturizers can mess with laser efficiency, and give you lesser results.

During Laser Hair Removal

Laser hair removal works by sending a beam of targeted light at the melanin in your hairs. The light travels down the hair into the follicle, turning into heat as it does. The tiny pulse of heat damages the hair follicle slightly, making the hair fall out and making a new hair unlikely to grow in.

However, this only works when the hair follicle is in “anagen”, or active growth phase. Not all of your hairs are in a growth phase at the same time. That means multiple sessions spread out over time are needed to be completely hair free.

Laser hair removal shouldn’t hurt (if it does, tell your nurse and they will adjust the laser.) Most people compare the sensation to being snapped with a tiny rubber band. Some people say they don’t feel much of anything, or say it simply “tickles.”

The type of laser used in correlation with your skin type is very important. Some types of lasers only work on light-skinned people. That’s why SEV has invested in lasers that work well on all shades of skin.

Your nurse will mark your lower legs in quadrants to make sure each hair follicle gets the same amount of attention. They’ll also select the best laser for your skin type, and ensure the settings are calibrated for minimum discomfort and maximum effect.

The entire process of laser hair removal for your lower legs should only take about 15 to 20 minutes total. This means you can get your session in before or after work, or even on your lunch break.

After Laser Hair Removal

After your session, your legs might feel a little prickly for a while and could look a bit reddened. Aloe vera gel or a neutral lotion can offer a cooling effect until this goes away. If you have any greater irritation, you can get a hydrocortisone cream to use.

Keep staying out of UV rays for another two weeks, avoiding direct sunlight and covering your legs when you’re outside. After that, you should use sunscreen with at least an SPF of 30 or higher to protect your legs.

Half leg hair removal is one of our most popular services, and looking back at the information shared here, it’s easy to see why. To learn more about laser hair removal for legs, you can watch this video. Then call SEV Laser today. We can’t wait to hear from you!