Laser hair removal, for me, was life-changing – and not in the exaggerated beauty jargon sense. It’s not a mascara that made my lashes look fake, a conditioner that gave a gorgeous shine or a highlighter that made me glow from within. It’s a cosmetic procedure that can cause lifelong change and, in my case, could almost be counted as a medical necessity.
At 12-years-old, I had my first lip wax. I know, eyebrow raise. But after years of torment from kids at school and a nasty nickname – ‘Na-tash-a’ – my mum stepped in before I took a Gillette to my face. Off to the beauty salon I went, every six weeks, to stave off my moustache. Long before body hair was normalised and even celebrated, I navigated the exhausting expectation to have dolphin-smooth skin.
Bạn đang xem: Wait, is laser hair removal making some people smell?
Many of us will know, however, that an excess of body hair rarely keeps to one place. I certainly wasn’t willing to wait until my armpits, bikini line, or legs grew out enough to be ready for a wax, so a razor featured regularly in my routine. And with very light skin, thick, dark curly hair and a teenage tendency to strip away even a slight sign of stubble, at 16, I was sat in front of the GP crying over cyst-like ingrown hairs that were so painful I’d wince when putting pants on.
After numerous creams and excruciating exfoliators, laser hair removal was suggested. And nearly 10 years after my first session, and three years since my last top-up, I’m still reaping the rewards. I would recommend it to almost anyone in a similar situation, but there’s one major side effect that still plagues me to this day. And now, a number of TikTok users seem to be in a similarly smelly situation.
How does laser hair removal work?
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Developed in the 1960s and becoming popular in the 00s, laser hair removal is an (almost) permanent hair removal procedure. “Laser hair removal works by directing concentrated light beams at the hair follicles,” explained Marianna Vlachos, Senior Practitioner at Pulse Light Clinic. “These beams emit a specific wavelength of light that is absorbed by the melanin in the hair. The energy reaches the deeper layer of the skin, known as the dermis, heating the hair shaft and damaging the hair follicles without harming the surrounding skin.”
“This delays and prevents future hair growth, resulting in the removal of unwanted hair,” added Dr Munir Somji, Aesthetic Doctor and Founder of Dr.Medispa. Although the number of treatments needed to achieve a desired result can vary dependent on skin tone, hair colour and age.
The TikTok Turning Point
The spoken-about side effects of laser hair removal are few and far between, aside from a few harrowing, albeit rare, accounts of serious burns. Finding a safe, well-trained practitioner is incredibly important – the other risks seem relatively small. “Laser hair removal can cause some slight redness and irritation immediately after the treatment, but this generally goes down after a couple of hours,” shared Dr Somji.
So, stumbling upon a TikTok correlating laser hair removal with excess body odour truly caught me by surprise. And it didn’t take long to find a fair few more very similar videos and countless comments from people all sharing the same issue. One user shared that after laser hair removal, they noticed they smelt worse than normal after working out. Another shared that they had laser hair removal years ago yet never correlated it to her body odour until seeing these TikToks. And another said their underarms smelt so bad they could “literally knock themselves out with their scent,” all because of lasering.
This got me thinking. Could lasering be the reason I wear three layers of deodorant when leaving the house? While I wouldn’t knock someone out on the tube with my smell, I definitely wouldn’t go to work without re-applying throughout the day and do get told by my girlfriend, on a near-daily basis, that I smell so bad I need to take a shower. And, tracking it back, this increase in body odour definitely falls within the (although very long, thank you hormones) time period of my laser treatments.
So, does laser hair removal really make us smell?
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Well, the answer isn’t so straightforward. When asking the experts about the correlation between laser hair removal and increased body odour, Simone Shoffman, Head of Training at Laser Clinics UK shared, “This is not something we have received complaints about. In theory, laser treatment should help with persistent odour in an area. Hair can physically trap odour, specifically in the underarm area meaning when we reduce the hair this should lessen.”
Vlachos added, “There isn’t any direct correlation between laser hair removal and increased body odour. However, if individuals are experiencing this, one possible explanation can be increased sweating after the treatment. When laser hair removal destroys the hair follicles and removes the hair, it disrupts this natural thermoregulatory mechanism. So, it is not the laser causing the increase but rather than lack of hair post-treatment.”
However, Dr Somji’s answer correlated with a handful of medical studies. “The key question of body odour is that the heat from the laser disturbs the balance of bacteria in favour of odour-producing bacteria. Essentially the microbiome is disturbed.” Although Dr Somji stressed this shouldn’t last longer than a few months and doesn’t seem to be a common occurrence.
“The best way to combat this is to use pre-biotic and probiotic skincare in the area. Also taking oral supplements such as kimchee and kefir helps to balance your microbiome,” Dr Somji shared. And when choosing a laser treatment, “opt for a clinic that has more sophisticated lasers that use multiple wavelengths, such as the Soprano Ice titanium- they reduce this risk as there is less need to increase heat exposure.”
Is it a side effect you should fear? As there’s no way to tell who it will and won’t affect, and it’s a lesser-known ramification, it’s likely your practitioner won’t mention this as a cause for concern. Because laser hair removal is still a relatively new treatment and advancements are being made in the technology quite regularly, it seems there’s more research to be done into finding links between laser a lesser-known results.
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