How Laser Hair Removal Prices Are Determined
You may think that laser hair removal is expensive because you’ve never seen an exact price. The cost of any particular laser hair removal treatment does vary according to the following factors:
- The clinic’s location: Laser hair removal costs tend to be higher in Beverly Hills than in Carlsbad. This is because the price at any given location is largely determined by the relative prices of laser hair removal services in your area. If a provider offers the same services for too low a price, you may worry that the provider does a poor job. At the same time, laser hair removal services can’t be priced out of your reach. For these reasons, prices for a given area’s provider tend to reflect what the competition is charging.
- The type of facility: Clinics, med spas, dermatologists’ offices, and cosmetic surgical providers all offer laser hair removal services, but their prices vary greatly. Cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists tend to charge the highest rates. Yet the quality of treatment you get from them may be no higher than what you would get from a clinic or medical spa.
- The area to be lasered: Laser hair removal on legs and other large areas require more laser coverage, which increases energy demand and the cost that goes with it. Your upper lip and other small areas require less coverage.
- Your hair and skin type: Darker hair and lighter skin respond better to laser wavelengths. If you’re like this, you’ll likely get good, long-lasting results. Clients with darker hair and light skin will require fewer laser hair removal treatments because each successive treatment will achieve better results.
- The time a session takes: As with the size of the area to be treated, the time a treatment takes is directly proportional to the number of times the laser fires. For this reason, it is a good indication of how much the treatment will cost. Some providers charge by the time it takes to perform the procedure. Others may charge according to the size of the area treated, the density of hair in that area, or the number of times the laser fires during a session.
Regardless of how a laser hair removal provider calculates prices, it is always good to know in advance what to expect in case you want to try to get a better deal elsewhere. A personal consultation is an ideal way of finding out how much treatments will cost according to your assessed needs.
Dermatologists agree that laser hair removal is a safe, efficient, and convenient way of permanently reducing hair. Shaving, waxing, electrolysis, and plucking are other popular methods, but they have their drawbacks. Laser hair removal, on the other hand, can permanently reduce hair by 80% after only four to six treatments.
