How Long Does Laser Hair Removal Take?

We know you lead a busy life — if you’re looking to streamline and simplify your routine, laser hair removal is a no-brainer. This treatment eliminates unwanted hair for the long term, saving you the constant effort of other hair removal methods. 

However, being busy means you need to consider the time required for laser hair removal, from each appointment to the entire process. 

We recently explored how long laser hair removal lasts, so in this guide, we’ll break down how long it takes. We cover appointment lengths based on treatment areas, and give you some hints to help you estimate how long it’ll take to see your desired results.

How Long Do Laser Hair Removal Sessions Take?

So, how long does a laser hair removal session take? An appointment can be anywhere from just 5 minutes to over an hour, depending on the treatment area size.

You can probably guess that tiny areas like the upper lip are faster to treat compared to larger areas like the back or full legs. Here’s how long you can expect laser hair removal treatments to take at SEV, which also includes enough time for your provider to answer your questions and go over key safety details.

Brazilian

Let’s start with the most commonly requested area. How long does Brazilian laser hair removal take? At SEV, this is a 10-minute session on its own. Brazilian laser hair removal is considered a medium area treatment. It includes the bikini line, the entire pubic area, and the buttocks strip.

Underarms

Even though the underarms are considered a medium-sized area, they’re easy to treat quickly thanks to the lack of curves and folds. An appointment only takes about 5 minutes and covers both sides.

Legs

Legs are normally treated either in full or in half. A full-leg laser session at SEV takes about 25 minutes, while half-legs only take 15.

Face

A facial laser hair removal treatment usually takes around 10 minutes. It’s not a very large area, but some parts of it do require a little more finesse.

Bikini Line

A bikini line treatment, which targets the hair growing along the strip where the thighs meet the pubic area, is a speedy treatment that’s usually done in just 5 minutes.

Extra-Small Areas

For extra-small areas like the upper lip or chin, actively treating the skin may only take a minute or two, although we generally dedicate 5 minutes to the process.

Full Body

A full-body laser hair removal session takes the longest, since it covers literally every body part. At SEV, a single full-body laser hair removal session typically takes just a little over an hour to complete on average. That said, with so much variation in bodies and hair reduction needs, there is also a lot of variation in treatment times.

Treatment Length and Type of Technology

Treatment length also depends on the type of technology being used. The laser hair removal machines we use at SEV, the Candela GentleMax Pro and Cynosure Elite iQ, allow for very fast treatments with powerful results.

These machines work by emitting rapid pulses of light, with adjustable spot sizes for each pulse. Both the pulse time and spot size are adjustable based on the client’s unique needs.

By comparison, diode machines have to come in full contact with the skin. The provider uses a gliding motion with these machines, often having to pass over the same area a few times to ensure complete coverage.

This results in slightly longer sessions — an extra small area like the upper lip may still only take a few minutes, but medium areas like the Brazilian area may take as long as 20-30 minutes.

How Long Does Laser Hair Removal Take to Work?

How long laser hair removal takes to work is a more complicated question, because the timeline is so different from person to person.

Some people start seeing a little hair reduction within their first couple of treatments, while others may need more sessions. .

In general, to achieve significant hair reduction, we find that most of our clients need around 8-12 treatments. There are outliers who need more treatments, and others who need less.

Based on that, the entire initial laser hair removal process can take anywhere from 7 months to 18 months. Afterwards, it’s still important to come in for occasional touch-ups, as some regrowth is pretty common.

The first few treatments are the most critical, so it’s ideal to come in on a 4×4 schedule — meaning a treatment every 4 weeks for the first 4 treatments. Afterwards, some providers may recommend you slow down the frequency a little.

The reason why there is so much variation in how long laser hair removal takes is that each client is so different. These are the main factors impacting the timeline:

Treatment Area

If you’re getting treated in multiple areas, it’s very normal that one area will take longer than others. Areas like the legs, arms, or underarms tend to respond a lot faster than hormone-sensitive areas like the bikini area or face, for example.

Gender and Hormones

Hormones, and particularly the male sex hormones, have a major impact on face and body hair growth. If your body has higher levels of androgens, you’ll likely need to undergo laser hair removal for longer, especially for your more hormone-sensitive body parts.

Periods of hormonal fluctuations may also trigger new hair growth, causing you to require treatment touch-ups.

Treatment Settings

When you get laser hair removal, your provider chooses the treatment settings that’ll be most effective while keeping you safe. In general, the more aggressive settings deliver faster results, but with a greater risk of complications.

The selection process mostly depends on your skin tone and skin sensitivity. Those with lighter skin can get treated with more aggressive settings, allowing for faster results, while those with deeper skin tones may need more sessions.

Hair Color & Density

To ensure lasting results, it’s important that the laser completely disables the hair follicle. That’s easier to achieve when the hair is darker, as it absorbs more thermal energy. With lighter hair, seeing your desired results often takes a lot longer, as it requires more sessions to effectively deactivate each follicle.

If you have very light hair (blonde, red, or gray), laser hair removal is not recommended at all.

Bottom Line

There might be a lot of variation in how long laser hair removal takes, but it’s always worth it. In the long run, it’ll still save you a ton of effort, money, and hassle by treating your unwanted hair from the root, even if the process takes you longer than it would for someone else.

While you might achieve significant hair reduction within a few months to just a little over a year, you’ll still want to come in periodically over the years for touch-ups.

If you’re curious to get started, we invite you to visit us at SEV. We do our best to ensure each client sees their best results by using the industry’s top laser technology and following best practices when choosing treatment settings.

If it’s your first time getting laser hair removal at SEV, we’d love to give you your first session for free. Use code HELLOSMOOTH when booking.