Add up all the mornings you’ve spent shaving in the shower, the money that’s gone on waxing appointments and the razor bumps that seem to show up right before a beach day, and laser starts to look less like a treat and more like plain common sense. What tends to surprise first-timers isn’t the treatment itself, though. It’s the calendar.
Smooth skin with laser happens over a series of visits. Laser hair removal sessions come as a package deal, and below we’ll get into how many you’re likely looking at, what you’ll notice after each round, ballpark pricing, and why we keep nagging people to start in October.
Skimming on the subway? We do every session on the Lumenis Splendor X, and most folks need six to eight visits, every month or month and a half for the face and every six to eight weeks for the body. Your underarms will have you in and out in ten minutes, full legs closer to an hour, and the end game is long-term reduction plus a top-up now and then.
Why It Works as a Series
Your hairs are on totally different schedules from each other, kind of like coworkers who never take lunch at the same time. Each follicle cycles through anagen (growing, and the only point where the laser really gets it, since the hair’s still plugged in and loaded with pigment), then a quick pit stop called catagen, then telogen, where the old hair drops out and the follicle basically naps before starting over.
So on any given Tuesday only a chunk of your hair is in the growing stage. We zap that chunk, then a few weeks later a new crowd has woken up and we get them, and so on down the line, which is exactly why when you come back matters as much as how many times.
The Sommelier Team says: “When results seem to slow down partway through, it’s usually just timing: a session got pushed back, or the gap between visits stretched a bit longer than planned. Life gets busy, that’s completely normal, and once we get back on schedule the next wave of hairs gets treated and progress picks up again.”
So, How Many Laser Hair Removal Sessions?
If you came here wondering how many laser hair removal sessions you’re signing up for, most of our clients end up somewhere around six to eight. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that most people need several treatments, and in our own experience, getting full and lasting results on the body usually takes closer to six to eight. Where on your body we’re working makes a difference (underarms and bikini often respond fast, while the face can take longer), and so does your hair, since dark, coarse hair responds best. Your skin tone affects which settings are safe and how quickly we can turn things up, and hormones play a part too, because conditions like PCOS can stimulate new growth and add a few sessions to the plan.
That’s why when somebody sits down and goes “okay, how many sessions of laser hair removal do I need, really?” we give a range on day one and then tighten it up after we’ve watched your first couple of rounds.
Spacing It Out
People also ask how often laser hair removal should be booked, and honestly it depends on how fast the hair grows back in each spot. Here’s the laser hair removal schedule we tend to sketch out for people, give or take:
| Area | Interval between sessions | Typical course |
| Face (upper lip, chin) | 4 to 6 weeks | 6 to 10 sessions |
| Underarms | 4 to 6 weeks | 5 to 7 sessions |
| Bikini and Brazilian | 6 to 8 weeks | 6 to 8 sessions |
| Legs, arms, back | 6 to 8 weeks | 6 to 8 sessions |
Laser Hair Removal Before and After, Session by Session
So what does laser hair removal before and after actually look like in real life? Here’s a pretty realistic progression, although everybody’s a little different.
Sessions 1 and 2: Shedding and the First Smooth Patches
About one to three weeks after a treatment, the treated hairs start falling out. This laser hair removal shedding can look an awful lot like regrowth, and people panic about it, but it isn’t, it’s just the hair being pushed out of a follicle that’s been damaged. You might start to notice small smooth patches here and there.
Sessions 3 and 4: Thinner, Slower Regrowth
What grows back comes in finer, lighter and slower, and most people find they’re reaching for the razor a lot less by this point.
Sessions 6 to 8: Long-Term Reduction
Most of the treated area stays smooth, with only the odd fine hair here and there, and these are the laser hair removal results most people have in mind when they first book.
Results by Area
Brazilian laser hair removal is one of the most popular things we do, and for good reason, since it means no more ingrown hairs or razor bumps in a very unforgiving spot. Laser hair removal Brazilian sessions usually take about 15 to 20 minutes.
Laser hair removal underarm treatments are quick, they work well, and they’re often the first area people try before deciding to go further.
Laser hair removal face treatments on the upper lip and chin respond nicely, though hair that’s driven by hormones may need some maintenance down the line.
Laser hair removal legs appointments buy you back the most time overall, and yes, full legs eat up a longer chunk of your lunch break, but think of all the nicks on your ankles you’ll never have again.
Laser hair removal for men is a bigger slice of our book than people expect, usually tidying the beard line, the back of the neck, the back or chest, and that thick dark hair tends to respond like a dream.
Why We Push October So Hard
If you’re wondering about the best time to start laser hair removal, the calendar makes a pretty strong case for October. There’s less sun around, for one thing, and tanned skin soaks up more laser energy, which raises the risk of burns and pigment changes, so laser hair removal in winter and late fall is simply easier on your skin. The math works out nicely too. A full course usually takes somewhere between about seven months at the quicker end and up to a year at the longer end, depending on the area, how many sessions you need and the spacing between them, so an October start lets a good part of that time fall in the cooler months. And there’s less pressure, since long sleeves and tights make those in-between weeks, when you can’t wax, a whole lot easier to live with.
Can you do laser hair removal in summer? You can, as long as you’re strict about sun protection and skip tanning, but you’ll often have to pause sessions after a vacation, so fall is just smoother all round. We explain the same seasonal logic for skin treatments in our article on microneedling in the fall and in our guide to chemical peels in the summer.
How to Prepare for Your First Session
Some homework, nothing too painful. Shave the night before or that morning, because we want the root under the skin and not a forest on top of it (long hair just soaks up heat and makes it sting more). Put the wax strips and tweezers away about four weeks out, since they yank out the exact root we’re trying to hit. Skip the beach and the bronzer for a couple of weeks before, as even a light tan makes us dial the settings down. Bring your med list, too, because some antibiotics, acne meds and even a few supplements can make skin touchy around light. And come in with clean skin, meaning no deodorant on the underarms and no lotion or makeup on the area we’re treating.
What Happens During a Session
First we take a proper look at your skin and hair under a good lamp and settle on the settings, then you pop on some goggles that make everyone look like a welder. The specialist glides the Splendor X handpiece over the area in rows while its cooling tip does its thing, maybe a dab of soothing gel at the end, and for small spots you’re back on Austin Street running errands before your parking meter runs out.
The “Will It Hurt” Question
Does laser hair removal hurt? Ask ten clients and most will say it’s a quick snap, a bit like a rubber band against the skin, followed by some warmth. The bikini line and upper lip are usually the most sensitive spots. The Splendor X has built-in cooling, which makes a big difference to how it feels, and sessions on smaller areas are over in minutes.
What About Deeper Skin Tones?
With the right device it works nicely. A lot of older lasers had a hard time with deeper skin tones (Fitzpatrick types IV to VI, if you like the dermatology chart) because they couldn’t really tell the pigment in the hair apart from the pigment in the skin around it. Here at Skincare Sommelier we use the Splendor X by Lumenis, which pairs two wavelengths, Alexandrite (755 nm) and Nd:YAG (1064 nm), and for clients with deeper skin tones we lean on the Nd:YAG side, which is generally considered the safer choice there. Settings get dialed in person by person, never one preset for everybody.
Forever, or Just for a While?
Technically what you get is called “permanent hair reduction,” which is a mouthful. So is laser hair removal permanent, like every last hair gone for life? Not quite. But does laser hair removal work for the long haul? It does, and most of our clients hang on to the bulk of their results for years, maybe popping in once or twice a year when a few stragglers show up.
The catch we always mention: the laser chases pigment, so platinum blond, gray, white or red hairs mostly shrug it off.
Let’s Talk Money
How much is laser hair removal going to run you? Mostly that comes down to how big the area is and how many rounds it takes. Laser hair removal cost per visit is lower for a little patch like the upper lip or underarms and climbs for full legs or a full body, and buying a package knocks the laser hair removal price per visit down a fair bit. You can see our current packages on our laser hair removal page.
Laser Hair Removal vs Waxing
| Laser | Waxing | |
| How long results last | Years, after a full course | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Ingrown hairs | Greatly reduced | Common |
| Pain | Quick snaps, cooling | Pulling, every visit |
| Long-term cost | One course plus occasional touch-ups | Ongoing, for life |
The laser hair removal vs waxing comparison mostly comes down to how far ahead you’re looking, since waxing is cheaper this month and laser is cheaper over the next five years.
Side Effects and Aftercare
Most laser hair removal side effects are pretty boring, some pinkness and little goosebump-looking bumps around each follicle that calm down within a few hours, a day at most. Once in a blue moon you can get pigment changes or a blister, and when that happens it’s usually down to a tan or settings that weren’t right for the skin. If anything looks off in the days after a visit, just give us a call and we’ll take a look.
Laser hair removal aftercare isn’t complicated. SPF 50 on the treated spot daily, no sunbathing, tanning beds or fake tan for two weeks either side of a visit, hands off the wax and tweezers between sessions (razors are totally fine), and give hot baths, the sauna and your spin class a miss for a day.
What Clients Ask Us
Can I shave between sessions?
Yes, and we actually recommend it, because shaving leaves the follicle intact for the next treatment. Just avoid waxing and plucking.
Why is hair still growing after my third session?
Those are follicles that were resting during your earlier sessions, and they’ll get treated as they move into the growth phase.
What if I want to start in July?
You can, we just make you promise to be a vampire about the sun on that area. Fall and winter are a lot less fuss, though.
My hair’s blond or going gray. Will it work?
Laser works best on darker hair, since it needs pigment in the hair to lock onto, so with very light or gray hair we’ll tell you honestly at the consultation what kind of result to expect.
How much time should I block out?
Ten minutes or so for little areas, up to an hour for big ones like full legs.
Planning Your Start Date
Successful laser hair removal sessions come down to three things: the right device for your skin, the right spacing and finishing the full course. For us, that device is the Lumenis Splendor X, and starting in the fall means more of your sessions land in the low-sun months.
Maybe every “laser hair removal near me” search keeps showing you big laser hair removal NYC chains. A smaller med spa clinic offering laser treatments in Forest Hills might suit you better. Many of our laser hair removal Queens clients like that sessions are short and easy to fit around work. Laser hair removal Forest Hills appointments are often available early in the morning or later in the day, too.
Here’s a simple way to start: book your consultation and plan your first session for the fall or winter months, when there is less sun and more of your course lands in the cooler season. At that first visit we’ll look at your skin, hair and the area you’re treating and give you a realistic estimate of how many sessions you’ll need and roughly when your course should wrap up. Our laser hair removal team in Forest Hills will check your skin and hair type and put every session on the calendar for you, so all you have to do is show up.
