What Happens When You Miss a Laser Hair Removal Appointment?

On the long list of appointments you’re missing dearly — manicures, eyebrow threading, spray tans, facials, haircuts — your laser hair removal appointment may be top of mind, especially as we head into summer. For anyone in the middle of a laser hair removal treatment, you know how important it is that you go in every six weeks or so for a session. So, where does that leave you when appointments are abruptly halted and you miss your laser hair removal appointment for four months straight?

Laser hair removal sessions are typically spaced six weeks apart to treat hair during the regrowth cycle. This repeated processes leads to permanent hair reduction. “If appointments are missed or spaced out for too long, such as four months, then on hormonal areas such as face, one may see regrowth,” Christian Karavolas, laser hair removal expert and owner of Romeo & Juliette Laser Hair Removal told MakeupJet. “On nonhormonal areas, depending on what stage the person is with their treatments, the difference should not be too much and can be made up during the follow-up treatments.”

How this long gap between treatments will affect your results largely depends on the individual and how many sessions you’ve had so far. “Long-term results would be affected based on what stage of treatments the person is at,” said Karavolas. “For example, if they did one treatment and came back after four months, the efficacy of the treatment may be diminished.”

Anyone heading back to the salon to resume treatment after this hiatus should be prepared to need an additional session or two, or at least come back with a higher frequency than before.

“For clients who missed sessions due to COVID-19, we may do their spacing shorter and apply a different regimen to give them optimum results,” said Karavolas. “Those on a treatment plan in our facility will be taken care of, so that they get the optimum results from their treatments.”