DepiCool UK – Blog

Both hair removal with laser and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) require a series of sessions in order for the treatment to be effective and indeed permanent.

A common question we are often asked is how many sessions exactly is this and does it change dependent on the body area being treated?

The Answer:

• On average, for a body zone (this is from the neck downwards) 6-8 sessions of laser or IPL hair removal treatment are needed for a permanent reduction of 80-90% of the hair in the zone concerned.
• If you intend on treating a facial zone: this session amount is increased to 10-12 sessions of laser or IPL hair removal treatment are needed for a permanent reduction of 80-90% of the hair in the zone concerned. The reason for this increase is that facial hair grows far quicker than body hair.

Clients should be aware that these figures are an average estimation but this can be individual dependent on many influencing factors, including genetics, medications and many more. Also conditions such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) can also considerably increase the session amount needed for treatment, as clients with a condition such as this have increased hair producing hormones present in their body. For more information on PCOS and IPL please visit our blog.

How far apart are the sessions?

Usually sessions are separated with a gap of a few weeks, but again dependant on the zone concerned depends how many weeks this gap is:

• For a Body zone – sessions start with an initial gap of approximately 6 weeks
• For a Facial zone – sessions start with an initial gap of approximately of 4 weeks

As the session numbers increase, so does the time frame between appointments. So what would at sessions 1 and 2 be a gap of 6 weeks between the treatment (for a body zone) between session 3-4 and 5-6 this gap would extend to 8 weeks.

In between these sessions some of the hair will re-grow as part of the natural hair cycle. Hairs that may have previously been dormant during your previous laser or IPL hair removal session may now be in the growth phase. This is where the need for multiple treatment sessions arises.

Clients should also be aware that in order to maintain a permanent hair reduction of 80-90% of the hair in the treated zone, some maintenance sessions may be required on an annual basis. These sessions are simply top-up sessions from the original course of treatment to ensure that area remains hair free, and again on average this is 1 or 2 sessions annually. Any hair that is also remaining will be more brittle, thinner and in fact more prone to breaking away on its own.

In essence IPL hair removal and laser hair removal use exactly the same treatment protocols: session amount required and gaps required between those sessions. The end result of both treatments is the same: 80-90% permanent hair reduction. The only differences being is if you are a darker skin phototype IPL is probably more suited for you as it treats phototypes 1-5 whereas laser only treats phototypes 1-4 and with DepiCool IPL is also considerably cheaper than a laser alternative, this is the reason why a lot of our clients use our services: no compromise on client safety, machine quality or end results.


Author: Lauren Taylor – DepiCool UK