I'm planning to start treatments soon but I'm confused about the preparation. I've read that you're supposed to shave before each session, but I've also seen advice saying not to wax or pluck for weeks beforehand. Can someone explain why these different hair removal methods matter for the laser treatment? Also, should I avoid tanning or is that just a precaution?

The reason they want you to shave before treatment but avoid waxing or plucking is because the laser needs the hair follicle to be intact beneath the skin surface. When you wax or pluck, you're pulling the entire hair out including the root, which removes the target that the laser needs to focus on. Shaving just cuts the hair at the surface level while leaving the follicle intact underneath, which is perfect for laser treatment. The laser energy is absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle, which heats up and damages the follicle to prevent future growth. As for tanning, you definitely want to avoid it because the laser targets pigment. If your skin is tanned, there's more pigment in your skin cells, which increases the risk of burns or discoloration. Most places recommend avoiding sun exposure for at least a week before treatment and using sunscreen religiously.

All of that is spot-on advice. I made the mistake of going to the beach about four days before my second session and got a bit of a tan. The technician wouldn't treat me that day because my skin was too dark and it would have been unsafe. I had to reschedule for three weeks later once the tan faded. So definitely take the sun exposure warnings seriously. As for shaving, I usually shaved the night before or the morning of my appointment. They told me that having stubble that's one or two days old is ideal because it gives them a visual guide of where the hair grows while still allowing the laser to penetrate to the follicle. The whole preparation process is pretty straightforward once you understand the reasoning behind it. The place I went for facial laser hair removal for men gave me a detailed list of pre-treatment and post-treatment instructions that made everything really clear. Following those guidelines carefully definitely contributed to getting better results and avoiding any complications.