If you shave your bikini line or your underarms, you will know the bump that turns up two days later. A sore red lump with a hair curled under the skin, in the spot you were trying to tidy up. Most of the women who ask me about ingrown hairs have been managing them for years with exfoliating mitts, tweezers and a few days of covering up.
Laser is where people land when the managing stops working. It helps, and for a lot of women it helps a great deal. But it is worth knowing what it actually does before you pay for a course, because it does not work the way most pages make it sound.
Why you get ingrown hairs in the first place
An ingrown hair is a hair that has grown sideways or curled back into the skin instead of coming through it. Shaving and waxing both make that more likely, and they do it differently.
A razor cuts the hair off at an angle and leaves a sharp tip sitting at or just below the surface. That tip can catch on the wall of the follicle on its way back out and turn in on itself. Waxing, plucking and epilating pull the hair out at the root instead, and the new hair that grows to replace it has to push through a follicle that has partly closed over.
Coarse or curly hair ingrows far more than fine straight hair, which is why the bikini line and the underarms are the usual trouble spots. Sweat, friction and tight clothing straight after shaving all add to it. The same three things are what I ask you to avoid for 48 hours in my laser hair removal aftercare guide. So does shaving dry, and so does going over the same patch four or five times to get it smooth.
One thing worth separating out: if an area is hot, swollen, full of pus or spreading, that is an infection rather than a simple ingrown hair. That needs a GP, and it needs to settle before anyone puts a laser near it.
Is laser effective for ingrown hairs?
For most women, yes, and the reason is simple. Laser reduces how much hair is growing in the first place. The pigment in the hair absorbs the laser light, which heats the follicle and damages its ability to grow another hair. Fewer hairs growing means fewer hairs that can curl back under the skin.
There is a second reason that gets talked about less. Once you start a course you have to stop waxing and plucking, because the laser needs the root in place to work on. Shaving becomes the only hair removal you are allowed between sessions. For anyone whose ingrown hairs came mainly from waxing, that change on its own does a lot of the work.
A full course of six gives permanent hair reduction, typically 80 to 90 per cent. Sessions run every two to four weeks, six to a course. I use a medical-grade diode laser and it is suitable for all skin tones.
What laser will not do for ingrown hairs
This is the part I would rather you read before you book.
It will not get rid of an ingrown hair you already have. Laser works on hair that is growing in the follicle. A hair already trapped under the skin has to come out on its own. Digging it out with tweezers is how a bump that would have cleared in a week turns into a mark that lasts six months.
It will not clear the dark marks left behind. Years of ingrown hairs often leave flat brown or grey patches where the inflammation was. That is pigmentation, not hair, and the laser here is a hair removal laser only. There is no pigment laser and no IPL at this clinic. If the marks are the thing that actually bothers you rather than the hair, a course of chemical peels is a different conversation and a different price list.
It will not do much for hair with no pigment in it. Blonde, red, grey and very fine white hair gives the laser almost nothing to absorb. If that is the hair causing your ingrowns, I will tell you at the patch test rather than take your money for six sessions. There is more on that in what laser can and cannot do with blonde hair.
It will not be a hundred per cent. Typically 80 to 90 per cent after a full course, and most people come back for a top-up once or twice a year. Anyone promising you permanent removal is overselling it.
And laser hair removal at House of Glam HQ is for women. That is not true of everything I do here, but it is true of this one.
Where ingrown hairs show up, and what each area costs
Every price below is the real price for one session and for a course of six, which is 20 per cent off. Every price is published, where most Portsmouth clinics quote only after a consultation.
| Area | One session | Course of six |
|---|---|---|
| Bikini line | £45 | £216 |
| Underarms | £45 | £216 |
| Neck | £45 | £216 |
| Extended bikini | £65 | £312 |
| Brazilian | £65 | £312 |
| Half leg | £65 | £312 |
| Hollywood | £85 | £408 |
| Full leg | £85 | £408 |
| Chin | £26 | £125 |
The bikini line and the underarms are where this comes up most, and they are both £45 a session. If you want both done in one appointment, Brazilian and underarms together is £95, or £456 for a course of six. The full list of areas and what each one costs is on the laser hair removal page, with a booking link beside every area.
There is more detail on the individual areas in laser on the bikini line and pubic area, underarm laser and laser on the legs.
What disqualifies you from laser hair removal?
Not much, but the list is worth knowing before you book rather than after.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding. I do not treat during either, for caution rather than known harm. There is a fuller answer in laser hair removal while pregnant.
- Broken skin, an active infection or a flare-up of eczema or psoriasis in the area. These need to settle first.
- A real tan, a sunbed in the last fortnight, or fake tan still on the skin. Pigment in the skin competes with pigment in the hair.
- Roaccutane in the last six months.
- Some photosensitising medication, which is one of the things I check at the consultation.
- Hair with no pigment in it, as above.
- Under 18.
That is what the £15 patch test and consultation is for. I go through your medical history, look at your skin and hair type, test the laser on a small patch and tell you what a realistic course looks like for you.
Can laser get rid of facial hair permanently?
Not permanently, no. The honest word is reduction, and on the face it is typically the same 80 to 90 per cent after a full course, with top-ups after that.
Facial ingrown hairs on the chin and jaw are usually coarse and often hormonal, which means the hair can keep being driven back by the same thing that caused it. Chin is £26 a session and £125 for a course of six. Half face is £45 and full face and neck is £65. If the hair arrived with a diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome, laser hair removal with PCOS covers what to expect, which is good reduction but more maintenance than average.
How long do laser results last?
The reduction from a completed course is permanent, in the sense that the follicles the laser destroyed do not come back. What does happen is that follicles which were dormant during your course can start growing later, and hormonal changes can wake others up. That is why most people book a single maintenance session once or twice a year rather than another full course.
For ingrown hairs specifically, that maintenance matters more than it does for someone who just wants smooth legs. A handful of coarse hairs coming back on a bikini line is enough to bring the bumps back with them, and a £45 session once a year is usually all that takes.
There is a longer answer in is laser hair removal permanent.
Shaving between sessions, and what to stop doing
Shaving is not only allowed between sessions, it is required. The laser needs the hair root in the follicle and no hair above the skin, so I ask people to shave the day before they come in.
What has to stop for the length of the course is waxing, plucking, threading and epilating, because all four pull the root out and leave the laser nothing to target. If you are coming off years of waxing, laser against waxing sets out the difference properly.
The rest of it is short:
- Shave with a clean sharp razor, in the direction the hair grows, with something slippery on the skin. Not dry, and not four passes over the same patch.
- Leave the scrubs and exfoliating mitts alone for 48 hours after a session. After that, gentle exfoliation two or three times a week helps keep the follicles clear.
- No sun, sunbeds or fake tan on the area during the course.
- Loose clothing for a day after a bikini or Brazilian session. Friction on a freshly treated area is what makes it feel worse than it is.
- A cool pack and a plain unscented moisturiser for the first evening if the area feels hot.
- Leave existing bumps alone. They will clear on their own, and a tweezer will leave a mark that does not.
What the first appointment actually is
It is a £15 patch test and consultation, and it is one 15-minute appointment and one charge, not two fees. That £15 comes off your first treatment. It is not a treatment appointment, so you will not be lasered properly on the day. There is more on what happens in the patch test for laser hair removal.
I carry out every House of Glam HQ treatment personally, so the person who patch tests you is the person who does your course.
| What you book first | Price |
|---|---|
| Patch test and consultation, one 15-minute appointment | £15 |
| Bikini line, one session | £45 |
| Bikini line, course of six | £216 |
| Klarna on that course, three monthly payments | £72 a month |
Booking
Klarna is available on treatments over three monthly payments. The clinic is at 1A Auckland Road East, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 2HA, with parking on the road outside.
Book a £15 patch test and consultation or book bikini line laser at £45 on Fresha. If you would rather ask something first, message me on WhatsApp or call 07831 846273.
Every area and every price is on the laser hair removal page.
