Most of the women who ask me about laser for facial hair have been dealing with it for years before they book anything. Some have a PCOS diagnosis. Some suspect it and have not asked a doctor yet. The question underneath is the same either way: will this actually work on my hair, or am I about to spend several hundred pounds finding out that it will not.
Here is the answer I give in the room, with the prices attached, including the parts that are not what you want to hear.
Does laser hair removal work for PCOS?
Yes, in the way that matters day to day. A full course reduces the hair, thins what grows through and turns a daily job into an occasional one. Across a course of six you are looking at permanent hair reduction, typically 80 to 90 per cent, and the hair that does come back is finer, lighter and slower.
What it does not do is switch off the reason the hair is there. PCOS raises androgens, androgens keep telling follicles to grow coarse dark hair, and the laser has no opinion about your hormones. It treats the hair that exists now. Your hormones carry on as before.
So the honest version is this. Laser works well on PCOS hair, and PCOS keeps handing the laser new work. That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to go in knowing that the finish line is maintenance rather than a final session.
Why hormonal hair does not behave like ordinary hair
The laser reads the pigment in a hair and heats the follicle it is attached to, and it can only do that while the hair is in its growing phase. That is why any course is spread out, every two to four weeks, six sessions to a course. You are waiting for each batch of follicles to come into growth so the laser can reach them.
With hormonal growth there is a second thing happening. Follicles that have been sitting quietly can be switched on later by the same hormones, so hair can appear in places that were clear a year ago. The laser has not failed and the treatment has not worn off. That is new growth, and it is treated the same way the first lot was.
Facial hair is also simply harder work than a leg. It sits deeper, the skin is more sensitive and the chin and jaw are the two areas that respond slowest on almost everyone.
What laser will not do
It will not treat PCOS. I am an aesthetics practitioner, not a doctor, and the hair is a symptom. If you have irregular periods, unexplained weight changes or you are trying to conceive, that conversation belongs with your GP, and it is worth having whatever you decide about the hair.
It will not clear every last hair for good. Nothing I offer does. Electrolysis is the method that can finish individual hairs permanently, including grey ones, and it is not something I do here.
It will not work on grey, white or very pale blonde hair, because there is no pigment for the laser to read. If that is what your facial hair looks like, I will tell you at the patch test rather than sell you a course of six.
And it will not stop new hair being triggered later. Anyone promising you that the hair is gone for good is selling you something.
Can I have laser hair removal if I have PCOS?
Yes. PCOS is not a reason to turn anyone away, and it is one of the most common reasons women come to me for laser in the first place. Laser hair removal at House of Glam HQ is for women.
Two things I ask about before we start. Tell me what medication you take, because a few medicines make skin more sensitive to light and that changes how I set the machine. And tell me if there is any chance you are pregnant, because that changes the conversation entirely, and I have written separately about laser hair removal during pregnancy.
Which hair removal is best for PCOS?
Shaving costs nothing and does nothing to the follicle, so you are doing it again tomorrow. It is also perfectly fine between laser sessions, and it is what I ask you to do the night before.
Waxing and threading pull the hair out at the root, which buys you three or four weeks, but on coarse facial hair they leave the skin sore and they are a common cause of ingrown hairs along the jaw. They also rule you out of laser for a month, because the laser needs the root in place to work. No waxing, plucking or epilating for four weeks before a session.
Hair removal creams are a reasonable stopgap on a leg and hard on facial skin, particularly if you are already irritated from shaving.
Laser is the one that reduces how much hair there is rather than removing what is there today. For a large area of coarse dark hair that keeps coming back, it is the option that changes the amount of time you spend on it.
How many sessions will I need?
A course is six sessions, two to four weeks apart, and that is how the pricing here is built. On hormonal growth I would expect the chin and jaw to need the full six before you see the result properly, and some people want more than six on the face.
After the course, ordinary hair needs a top-up every 12 to 18 months. Hormonal growth is different: expect a maintenance session every eight to twelve weeks. That sounds like a lot until you compare it with shaving every morning, and a single facial area is £26.
I will not put a number on your face before I have seen your hair and your skin. That is what the patch test is for, and it is also where I would tell you if I did not think a course was worth your money. There is more detail in my guide to how many laser sessions you actually need.
What it costs in Portsmouth
These are the areas women with hormonal growth ask about most. Every price is published, where most Portsmouth clinics quote only after a consultation.
| Area | Single session | Course of six |
|---|---|---|
| One facial area, top lip, chin, cheeks or between the brows | £26 | £125 |
| Upper lip and chin | £45 | £216 |
| Upper lip, chin and cheeks | £70 | £336 |
| Full face and neck | £65 | £312 |
| Neck on its own | £45 | £216 |
| Stomach or chest | £65 | £312 |
A course of six is 20 per cent off the single-session price, and Klarna spreads a course over three monthly payments on treatments. Every area on the menu is priced the same way, and the full list is on the laser hair removal page with a booking link on every row.
Darker skin, and the laser I use
Plenty of women are told they cannot have laser because of their skin tone, usually after an IPL appointment somewhere. The laser here is a medical-grade 808nm SMARTDiode, and it is safe across Fitzpatrick skin types I to VI once it has been set to your skin at the patch test. That setting is the whole job, and it is done again at every session as your hair reduces rather than left on a standard protocol.
If you have been turned away elsewhere, this is the technology that treats darker skin safely, and I have written about it in more detail in my guide to laser hair removal on dark skin.
The patch test, and what I will tell you straight
Everyone starts with the same appointment. It is £15, about fifteen minutes, and it is one appointment and one charge rather than a consultation fee and a patch test fee. The £15 comes off your first treatment.
In it I look at your skin type, your hair colour and what you have been doing to the area so far, set the machine for you and test a small patch. It is also where you get the honest answer. If your facial hair is too pale to respond, I will say so. If I think one area is worth treating and another is not, I will say that too. I would rather lose the course than take your money for a result I do not think you will get. There is more on what happens in my guide to the laser patch test.
Booking it in Southsea
House of Glam HQ is at 1A Auckland Road East, Southsea, Portsmouth, PO5 2HA, with free street parking nearby. I carry out every treatment myself, so the person who sets the laser at your patch test is the person you see at every session after it.
Start with the £15 patch test and consultation. You can book the patch test on Fresha, message me on WhatsApp at wa.me/447831846273, or call 07831 846273 and ask me anything on this page before you commit to a course.
If the facial hair is the part that bothers you most, my guides to upper lip laser and facial hair removal for women cover the same ground area by area, and every facial figure sits in one table in my guide to facial laser hair removal cost.
