Laser Hair Removal Care Instructions
Alpha Pro — 808 nm diode and IPL. Everything you need to know before and after your treatment.
Before your treatment
The single most important rule
- Do not wax, pluck, thread, tweeze, or epilate for 4 weeks before your first session, or at any point during your treatment course. These remove the root, which is the exact target. Without it, the session does nothing.
- Shaving is not only allowed, it is required. Shaving leaves the root in place.
1–2 days before
- Shave the entire treatment area. Hair should be about 1–2 mm at your visit — regrowth just breaking the surface.
- Do not shave the morning of, and do not arrive unshaven. Both make treatment less effective and less comfortable.
In the 3 weeks before
- No sun exposure, tanning beds, or self-tanner. Treating recently tanned skin risks burns and pigment change — we will reschedule rather than treat a tan.
- Stop retinoids and photosensitizing skincare 5–7 days before.
- Cover the area when you are outdoors.
On the day
- Arrive with clean, dry skin — no lotion, deodorant, perfume, powder, or makeup on the area.
- Wear comfortable clothing that gives easy access to the area.
- A patch test is required before your first treatment. If your skin is deeper in tone, we read that test at 72 hours rather than the same day, so plan on two visits to begin.
Please tell us before we begin
- Isotretinoin (Accutane) or tretinoin (Retin-A), currently or recently.
- Any photosensitizing medication.
- A pacemaker or implanted device, pregnancy, or epilepsy.
- Cold sores, if we are treating the face or bikini area.
- Blood thinners, autoimmune disease such as lupus, or immunosuppressive medication.
- Any current or previous cancer, particularly skin cancer or precancerous lesions.
- Tattoos or permanent makeup in the area — we cannot treat over either.
After your treatment
What to expect
- Redness and small raised bumps around each follicle. This is exactly the reaction we want and it settles within a few hours to a day.
- Warmth like a mild sunburn for the first several hours.
- Occasionally the treated area feels tender or itchy as it calms.
The first 24–48 hours
- Cool packs and a soothing or anti-burn cream such as Biaffine, as often as you need.
- No hot showers, saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, or heavy exercise.
- No deodorant for 24 hours if we treated your underarms.
- Loose clothing over the treated area.
- Shower gently. Do not scrub the area.
Between sessions
- SPF 30+ on every treated area exposed to daylight, without exception.
- No sun, tanning beds, or self-tanner for a week after — and for the 3 weeks before your next appointment.
- Shaving only. No plucking, waxing, threading, or epilating between sessions, ever.
- Any pigmented spots we treated may darken and form a small scab. Let them flake away naturally.
That is not regrowth. Over the 1–3 weeks after treatment, treated hairs work their way out of the skin and shed. It looks convincingly like new growth, and it is not — it is the old hair leaving. Do not pluck it. Let it fall out, or shave.
Your course of treatment
- Most areas need 5–10 sessions. Hair grows in cycles and only actively growing hair responds.
- 1st to 2nd session: 5–6 weeks apart.
- 2nd to 3rd session: 6–8 weeks apart.
- 3rd session onward: 8–10 weeks apart, as regrowth slows.
Call us right away if you develop blistering, crusting, pain that escalates rather than settles, or any sign of infection.
For deeper skin tones. A reaction can appear several hours after you leave rather than immediately. If anything develops overnight — blistering, unusual darkening, escalating discomfort — call us in the morning rather than waiting for your next visit.
Aurora MD Aesthetics & Head Spa 21224 Beach Blvd, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 (949) 998-5501 · hello@auroramdspa.com
Questions or concerns at any point in your recovery? Call us. We would always rather hear from you early.