Long-term hair reduction, any skin tone
For laser hair removal, we use the Candela GentleMax Pro: a 755 nm Alexandrite for lighter skin, a 1064 nm Nd:YAG for darker skin, and a cooling spray before every pulse. You’ll typically need six sessions, 4 to 8 weeks apart, or more for hormonal areas. At Skinovatio Lincoln Park, we recommend starting a course in fall, when sun exposure is lower, so it finishes before summer.
$75
to start
At a glance
Laser hair removal- Appointment
- 10 minutes for a lip to about an hour for full legs, no numbing
- Downtime
- Red and warm around the follicles for 1 to 3 days
- First results
- Shedding at 1 to 3 weeks. About 10 to 25 percent fewer hairs after session one
- Full results
- After the full course, judged at 6 to 12 months
- Sessions
- Typically 6, spaced 4 to 8 weeks apart, more for hormonal areas
- Cost
- From $75. Financing available.
What to expect
What the appointment is like
Before your visit, shave the area within 24 hours, ideally the night before. Please avoid waxing or tweezing for 4 to 6 weeks before, because the follicle needs a hair in it, and keep sun and self-tanner off the area for 2 to 4 weeks. Come with clean skin, no lotion, and no deodorant on underarms.
Consult
We’ll talk through hair color, skin type, tanning, waxing, medications, cold sores, hormones, and whether your hair is dark enough to respond. If it isn’t, we’ll let you know before booking a course.
Prep
You’ve shaved the night before. We cleanse the area, cover tattoos and moles, and set the wavelength: 755 nm for lighter skin, 1064 nm for darker skin.
Treatment
A test pulse first, then a grid across the area, with a cryogen spray before each pulse and a snap with it. Ten minutes for a lip, up to an hour for full legs.
Before you leave
Cool gel or a compress, sunscreen on anything exposed, and your next visit booked 4 to 8 weeks out by area. You can shower tonight, just not hot.
Your results
A predictable timeline
Session one takes 10 to 25 percent of the hair, per the AAD, which is why we don’t recommend a single session for most areas. By session three, most people notice they’re shaving much less often. After the course, most of the reduction is in, and regrowth is finer and sparser.
Day 0
Red and warm around the follicles. A cool compress helps, and it’s best to skip hot showers and the gym.
Days 1 to 3
Redness fades, and normal activities resume.
Days 5 to 14
The shed. It may look like growth for a few days, then it’s gone.
Weeks 4 to 8
Your next session, timed to the area. Face at 4 weeks, legs and back at 6 to 8.
After session 3
Noticeable thinning. Shaving drops to occasional.
After session 6
Most of the reduction is in, and regrowth is finer and sparser. Hormonal areas may need more.
Months 6 to 12
We assess your result, on the same timeline the FDA uses. One or two maintenance sessions a year.
What it costs
Clear pricing, planned by the visit
A few things shape your cost: the size of the area, the number of sessions, whether you combine areas in one visit, a package versus single sessions, and maintenance later. A Brazilian counts as its own area.
- The size of the area
- The number of sessions
- Whether you combine areas in one visit
- Maintenance later on
At Skinovatio Lincoln Park
Laser hair removal
$75
to start
- Small areas
- $75
- Medium
- $109
- Large
- $142
- Full body
- $500 per session
- Consultation
- $50
- Financing
- Cherry, Affirm, Afterpay
A course is typically six visits 4 to 8 weeks apart, and the package prices below reflect that. Six sessions of underarms is $654, and six of a full Brazilian is $850.
Book your Laser hair removal appointmentSimilar purpose, different options
Laser hair removal or something else?
IPL photofacial is broad, filtered light, and here we use it for sun spots and redness, not hair. Lasers have the long-term hair reduction evidence and IPL doesn’t, per Haedersdal and Wulf, and IPL isn’t safe for hair on darker skin.
Dermaplaning uses a blade for the fine vellus fuzz on the face. It’s the right tool for peach fuzz, which the laser can’t target, but not for coarse dark hair.
Waxing pulls out the follicle the laser needs, so it’s one or the other. When you’re ready to start, switch to shaving 4 to 6 weeks before your first session. At-home devices run at a fraction of the power, and the 2013 review says the research isn’t there yet.
Is it right for me?
Who it’s for, and who it isn’t
Laser hair removal is a good fit if you have dark hair, skin that can stay untanned for the length of the course, and time for a visit every 4 to 8 weeks from October to May. Light skin with dark hair is the simplest case. Darker skin with dark hair is a good case too, on the 1064 nm, starting with a test spot. Please let us know if your skin has ever darkened after a rash or an injury.
A good fit for
- Coarse, dark hair anywhere you’re tired of shaving
- All skin tones, the 1064 nm wavelength is safe on darker skin
- Ingrown hairs and razor bumps (pseudofolliculitis barbae)
- Anyone who can stay untanned and come in every 4 to 8 weeks
Not recommended
- White, gray, red, or very light blond hair (no pigment to target)
- Fine peach fuzz (dermaplaning fits better)
- Tanned skin or self-tanner. We’ll reschedule
- During pregnancy, or over an active cold sore or infection
The accurate term is long-term reduction, not permanent removal. Most people keep a maintenance session or two a year, and hormone-driven areas need the cause managed and more upkeep. A rare paradoxical increase in hair can occur, mostly on the face and neck of darker skin, which is one reason we favor the Nd:YAG there.
In detail
What it treats
We treat dark hair on any area and any skin type, I to VI. Here’s how we group it when you book:
This covers the upper lip, chin, sideburns, and neck, about every 4 weeks because facial hair cycles fastest. Chin and jaw hair in women is often hormonal, and hormonal hair takes more sessions and more upkeep. We’ll plan for that at your consult.
Underarms take about 10 minutes and are the usual first area. A bikini line covers the hair outside the underwear line. A Brazilian is everything, front to back, with a strip or triangle left if you’d like one. We’ll confirm what’s included before treatment starts. Bikini and Brazilian sessions run 6 to 8 weeks apart.
Full legs are the longest appointment, close to an hour, and the area that sees the most sun, so we recommend starting a legs course in fall and finishing before summer.
Our full body packages combine areas into one long visit or two shorter ones, whichever suits you. Spacing follows the slowest area, usually 6 to 8 weeks.
The 1064 nm Nd:YAG is the wavelength for skin types IV to VI, and it’s cleared for pseudofolliculitis barbae, the medical name for razor bumps, per the FDA clearance for the GentleMax family. A disabled follicle can’t grow a hair that curls back in, which helps if you’re prone to ingrown hairs.
Back and shoulders are the biggest area we treat, at 45 minutes to an hour, 6 to 8 weeks apart. Chest and stomach are often a thinning request, and fewer sessions leave finer, sparser hair instead of bare skin. The neck below the beard line is a common area for razor bumps, which the 1064 nm treats. We don’t remove beards. For the schedule, the evidence, and maintenance in visits per year, see the men’s post.
How it works
The pulse is absorbed by melanin in the hair shaft and follicle. The follicle heats and is disabled, while Candela’s Dynamic Cooling Device sprays liquid cryogen onto the skin before each pulse to protect the surface, per Candela’s patient page. A hair between growth cycles has no shaft to absorb the light, so it’s skipped. That’s why we plan a series, per Haedersdal and Wulf’s evidence review.
Two wavelengths, one machine
The 755 nm Alexandrite is absorbed strongly by melanin, which makes it efficient on light skin with dark hair. Darker skin has melanin in the skin as well as the hair, so a wavelength absorbed that strongly would heat the surface and risk a burn. So for skin types IV to VI, we switch the machine to the 1064 nm Nd:YAG, which is absorbed less at the surface and reaches the follicle deeper down. A 2013 review calls the Nd:YAG the best laser system for pigmented skin, per Gan and Graber. The GentleMax Pro is FDA-cleared for hair reduction on all skin types, I to VI.
| 755 nm Alexandrite | 1064 nm Nd:YAG | |
|---|---|---|
| Skin types | I to III | IV to VI, tanned skin, razor-bump-prone skin |
| How it finds the hair | Strong melanin absorption | Deeper penetration, less surface absorption |
| Sensation | A snap, cooled by the spray | A deeper, warmer snap |
| Best areas | Any, on lighter skin | Any, plus beard line and neck for PFB |
| Paradoxical hair growth risk | Higher in reported series | Lower |
Skin types
- 755 nm Alexandrite
- I to III
- 1064 nm Nd:YAG
- IV to VI, tanned skin, razor-bump-prone skin
How it finds the hair
- 755 nm Alexandrite
- Strong melanin absorption
- 1064 nm Nd:YAG
- Deeper penetration, less surface absorption
Sensation
- 755 nm Alexandrite
- A snap, cooled by the spray
- 1064 nm Nd:YAG
- A deeper, warmer snap
Best areas
- 755 nm Alexandrite
- Any, on lighter skin
- 1064 nm Nd:YAG
- Any, plus beard line and neck for PFB
Paradoxical hair growth risk
- 755 nm Alexandrite
- Higher in reported series
- 1064 nm Nd:YAG
- Lower
What the evidence shows
Controlled trials show alexandrite and diode lasers produce partial long-term reduction beyond six months, and there’s no evidence for complete and persistent removal. A Cochrane review put short-term reduction at roughly 50 percent, from low-quality trials, per Haedersdal and Gøtzsche. The FDA’s definition of permanent hair reduction is a stable drop in regrowing hairs at 6, 9, and 12 months after the course, per a hair removal clearance. So the goal is long-term reduction, measured at a year.
Afterwards
Downtime and aftercare
Expect some redness and warmth around each follicle for 1 to 3 days, per the American Academy of Dermatology. Patients on RealSelf describe it as a day or two of sunburn.
Day 0: cool compresses help. It’s best to skip hot showers, the sauna, or hard workouts for 24 hours, and deodorant on treated underarms that night.
Days 1 to 3: redness fades. You can wear makeup on a treated face from the next morning, and get back to workouts from day 2.
Days 5 to 14: the shed. Treated hairs push out and fall away. For a few days it can look like regrowth, but these are treated hairs shedding. Avoid plucking them.
Between sessions: shave as often as you like, but skip waxing and tweezing. Pause exfoliating acids for a few days, and use sunscreen and keep direct sun off the area for two weeks.
Why here
Why Lincoln Park
Timing matters with this treatment. In Chicago, legs and arms get the most sun from late spring through Labor Day, and tanned skin can’t be treated. So we start courses in October and finish in April or May. Summer works for a maintenance session on an area that stays covered.
For a wedding, we avoid sessions in the final two weeks, so plan for your last one about a month before.
You’ll find us on Lincoln Avenue just north of Wrightwood, a block up from the Apollo Theater. Take the Brown Line to Diversey, then head south on Lincoln, or the Red, Brown, or Purple Line to Fullerton, then head north. The 11 Lincoln bus runs right past our door. Underarms take about 10 minutes and legs about 45. There are meters on Lincoln, free spots west of Clark (check the street cleaning signs), and the Lincoln Common garage. Your laser treatment here is done by our medical esthetician, and the map and hours are on the page for our Lincoln Park med spa.
Questions
Common questions, answered
Months to years, with maintenance. After a full course the American Academy of Dermatology says most people see no hair on the treated area for several months or even years, and what regrows is finer and sparser. The FDA measures permanent hair reduction at 6 to 12 months after the course, and it means reduction, not removal. Many people keep up with one or two maintenance sessions a year.
The laser pulse is absorbed by melanin in the hair shaft and follicle, which heats and disables the follicle while a cryogen spray protects the surface. Only follicles actively growing a hair respond, so each session catches a fraction and a course of about six, 4 to 8 weeks apart, catches most. On the Candela GentleMax Pro the 755 nm treats lighter skin and the 1064 nm treats darker skin.
A few things shape your cost: the size of the area, the number of sessions, whether you combine areas in one visit, a package versus single sessions, and maintenance later. Session one takes 10 to 25 percent of the hair, so packages of six are the usual choice. We’ll go over your cost at the consult.
No. There’s no safety data for laser hair removal in pregnancy, and hair growth changes on its own during and after it, so a course started now would need redoing anyway. If you’re mid-course, we’ll pause and resume afterward.
Everything: the front, the labia, the perineum, and between the cheeks. A bikini line is only the hair outside the underwear line. You can keep a strip or a triangle at the front. We’ll confirm what’s included before treatment starts. Sessions run 6 to 8 weeks apart.
Yes. Full body is booked as a package, either one long visit or two shorter ones, with spacing set by the slowest area, usually 6 to 8 weeks. It runs October to May, because every area needs to stay untanned.
The 1064 nm Nd:YAG. It’s absorbed less by the skin’s own pigment and reaches the follicle deeper down, so it treats skin types IV to VI without heating the surface the way the 755 nm Alexandrite would. A 2013 review by Gan and Graber calls it the best laser system for pigmented skin. We start with conservative settings and a test spot.
Yes, within 24 hours, ideally the night before. The laser needs the hair in the follicle, not above the skin, so shaving works and waxing doesn’t. Please avoid waxing, tweezing, or threading for 4 to 6 weeks before the first session and between sessions.
Yes, on both ends. We avoid sessions in the two weeks before a beach weekend or a wedding, since the area needs two weeks with no sun after each visit. We’ll also hold off for the two weeks after a beach weekend, because tanned skin can’t be treated. The last session before a June wedding lands in May.
Not that day. It’s best to skip hard workouts, hot showers, and the sauna for 24 hours, because heat and sweat on fresh follicles raise irritation. You can resume on day 2. If you’re training for a race, we’ll keep legs sessions at least ten days clear of race day so compression and chafing land on settled skin.
Permanent hair reduction is the goal of the treatment, so it can’t be undone. If there’s a chance you’ll want the hair later, such as along a beard line or hairline, it’s best not to treat that area.
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Start with a consult
Tell us what you’d like to work on. We’ll assess your skin and goals, walk you through your Laser hair removal options, and give you a clear plan and price before anything begins.
Afterpay and Klarna are available at checkout for eligible treatments.