Hey, here’s a question from one our Facebook fans that pops up a lot, so wanted to blog about it:

Good morning Cindy, I have a couple of questions… Does laser hair removal work on all skin and hair types? I am an African American female tired of getting ingrown hair and it doesn’t mater what type of hair removal I use. Will this system remove the hair permanently? Also I heard that with darker skin you have to be much more careful. Thanks Dawn.

Hi Dawn, thanks for reaching out. Hair removal works on all skin types, except for when the hair is lighter than the skin tone. If you are African American you need to go to a hair removal specialist for darker skin to ensure that they are using a specific machine and parameters. The specialist should depict darker skin as a 5 or 6 on the Fitzpatrick skin scale. Have them do a test patch to make sure you don’t have any contraindications. Before you do this, make sure you’re not tanned, you don’t have any oil or moisture on your skin and you are not taking any light sensitive medications. Also, just so you know, darker skin will need more treatments than the standard 6 treatments for lighter skin. You would need 10-12 depending on the area. As for the problem with ingrown hair, laser hair removal is the only method that solves this problem.

At CB we have hair removal specialists that safely and effectively treat all skin types including skin type 5 and 6.

xo cindy

Hi Cindy,

I wanted to know if your laser hair removal can treat a dark skinned Indian male with black hair?  I have heard that laser removal is not effective on dark skin people yet. -Ravi

Hi Ravi,

I’m so happy to inform you that you’ve heard wrong!  There are lasers that treat tanned/dark skin.  In fact, Completely Bare operates a laser that is specially made for darker skin types, as well as for all you sun worshipers out there.  Come in for a FREE complimentary hair removal consultation and test patch!

Thanks for writing,

Cindy Barshop