Most of the questions I get after a laser session arrive by WhatsApp that same evening. Can I shower. It has gone pink, is that right. I have the gym booked for tomorrow, do I cancel. None of it is complicated, but nobody tells you properly on the way out of the door, so here is the whole thing written down.
This is what I ask my own clients to do after laser hair removal at House of Glam HQ in Southsea. The first 48 hours do most of the work. After that it is mainly sun, and shaving rather than waxing, until I see you again.
Laser hair removal aftercare in one line
Keep the area out of heat and sun for 48 hours. That is the rule the rest of this article unpacks, and if you remember nothing else, remember that one.
Heat means a hot bath or shower, a sauna, a steam room, a sunbed and a hard gym session. Sun means direct sun on the treated skin. Both do the same thing: they add heat to skin that has just absorbed a lot of it, and that is what turns a settled area into an irritated one.
The first 48 hours, step by step
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Straight after, in the room | I cool the area before you leave. You can ask for longer if it still feels warm. |
| The first few hours | Cool cloth or a wrapped cool pack if you want it. Loose clothing over the area. |
| That evening | Cool or lukewarm shower. No hot bath, sauna or steam room. |
| Day one | No gym, no swimming, nothing that makes you sweat into the area. |
| Day two | Same again. Keep it out of the sun. |
| Day three onwards | Back to normal, with SPF 30 or above on anything the sun reaches. |
| Two to three weeks | The treated hairs shed. Gentle exfoliation helps them along. |
| Two to four weeks | Next session. Shave the area 24 hours before. |
What is normal in the hours after a session
Redness and a feeling like mild sunburn for a few hours is the usual response. Sometimes there are small bumps around the follicles, and those settle within a day. The area can feel warm to the touch for a while after you get home. All of that is the skin doing what it is supposed to do.
What I want to hear about is redness that lasts beyond a day, or anything that blisters. Message me if either happens. It is uncommon, and it is far easier to sort out early than a week later.
Can I shower after laser hair removal?
Yes, the same day. Keep it cool or lukewarm rather than hot, and pat the area dry instead of rubbing it. It is the temperature that matters, not the water.
Can I go to the gym after laser hair removal?
Leave it 48 hours. This is the one people push back on, and it is not about the exercise itself. It is sweat sitting in a warm, freshly treated area, usually under tight gym clothing, which is how the skin gets irritated. Swimming is out for the same 48 hours.
If you train most days, book your session for an evening when the next morning is a rest day. Clients who plan it that way never have to choose.
Can I shave after laser hair removal?
Yes. Shaving is the one form of hair removal you should be doing between sessions, and you can shave as soon as the area feels comfortable, which is usually after the first couple of days. Use a fresh blade and go gently.
What you must not do is wax, pluck, epilate or thread. Those pull the hair out at the root, and the root is the thing the laser needs to find at your next session. Four weeks of that before a session and we are treating an empty follicle.
Should I shave before laser hair removal?
Shave the treatment area 24 hours before your session. Not on the morning, if you can help it, because freshly shaved skin is slightly more reactive. The hair needs to be gone from the surface so the energy goes into the follicle rather than burning off the hair above it.
The rest of the preparation is the same every time: no waxing, plucking or epilating for four weeks beforehand, no fake tan, and keep the area out of the sun. If this is your first appointment, the £15 patch test and consultation covers all of it in person.
Why it looks hairier a week later
In the two or three weeks after a session the treated hairs push out and shed, and while they are on their way out the area can look as though it is growing back. It is not. They fall away on their own, and gentle exfoliation helps them along.
This is the single most common message I get from new clients, usually around day ten, and it is almost always the shed rather than regrowth. If you are not sure which you are looking at, send me a photo.
Sun, fake tan and SPF between sessions
Keep the area out of the sun and use SPF 30 or above between sessions. No fake tan for four weeks before a session, and no sunbeds at all while you are on a course.
The reason is the same one that governs the whole treatment. The laser reads pigment. Tanned or fake-tanned skin gives it more pigment to read in the wrong place, which means I have to drop the settings to treat you safely, and lower settings mean a weaker result. A summer holiday in the middle of a course is not a disaster, it just needs the session moved rather than squeezed in.
What aftercare should you follow to get the most from a course?
The honest answer is that aftercare protects the result rather than improves it. What actually drives the outcome is turning up every two to four weeks for six sessions, shaving rather than waxing throughout, and keeping the area off the sunbeds so I can treat you at proper settings every time.
Aftercare is how you avoid the two things that cost people sessions: an irritated area that has to be rescheduled, and a tan that forces me to treat you at settings lower than your skin can take.
What aftercare will not do
It will not speed up your results. Nothing you put on the skin afterwards makes the follicle respond faster, and there is no cream that adds a session’s worth of progress.
It will not change the number of sessions you need. That is set by your hair growth cycle, which is why a course is six sessions rather than two.
And it will not get you to no hair at all. What laser gives you is permanent hair reduction, typically 80 to 90 per cent, with what does come back finer and slower. Most clients then book a top-up every 12 to 18 months.
What is the downside of laser hair removal?
The aftercare itself is the smallest of them. The real ones are worth knowing before you book.
It takes a course. Six sessions, two to four weeks apart, because only hair in its growing phase responds and six sessions catches most of the follicles across the cycle. You cannot compress that, and the full result is months away rather than weeks.
It ties up your summer a little. Sun and fake tan have to stay off the area throughout, which is a genuine inconvenience if you are treating legs between May and September.
And it does not respond to every hair. Laser reads the pigment in the hair, so grey, white and very pale blonde facial hair does not respond reliably. Hormonal growth, PCOS included, does respond well, but it needs maintenance sessions after the course. I would rather tell you that at the patch test than take your money for six sessions that were never going to work.
Do you tip after laser hair removal?
No. I am asked this often enough that it is worth answering plainly: there is no tipping here, and nothing is added at the till. You pay the price on the booking page and that is the whole cost.
When to message me
Message me if redness lasts beyond a day, if anything blisters, if the area is still sore on day three, or if you are not sure whether what you are seeing is shedding or regrowth. I carry out every laser session at House of Glam HQ personally, so you are messaging the person who treated you and I have your settings in front of me.
Laser hair removal prices in Portsmouth
Every area sits in one of four price tiers, and a course is six sessions. Every price is published, where most Portsmouth clinics quote only after a consultation.
| Area tier | One session | Course of six |
|---|---|---|
| Mini, such as top lip or chin | £26 | £125 |
| Small, such as underarm or bikini line | £45 | £216 |
| Medium, such as half leg or Brazilian | £65 | £312 |
| Large, such as Hollywood or full leg | £85 | £408 |
| Patch test and consultation | £15 | Once only |
The £15 patch test and consultation is one appointment and one charge, and it comes off your first treatment. Klarna spreads a course over three monthly payments on treatments. If you want several areas in one appointment, the laser hair removal packages work out lower than booking those areas separately, and the full laser hair removal price list for every area is on the treatment page.
Laser hair removal at House of Glam HQ is for women only. If you are weighing up whether it is going to be uncomfortable, I have written honestly about what a session actually feels like, and if ingrown hairs are the reason you are considering it, that is covered here too.
Book laser hair removal in Southsea, Portsmouth
New clients start with the £15 patch test and consultation. I check your skin and hair, set the SMARTDiode for you, test a small patch, and the £15 comes off your first treatment.
If you have already had your patch test, book your next session on Fresha, message me on WhatsApp, or call 07831 846273. House of Glam HQ, 1A Auckland Road East, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 2HA.
