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If you’re considering laser hair removal sessions, you need to know what it’s going to cost. And the price of laser is generally based on how large the area to be treated is.

Which helps absolutely no one unless you know what they mean. What’s a small area vs. a medium area vs a large area for laser hair removal treatments?

This post has all the details — what counts as which treatment size, what makes laser hair removal work, and what you need to know to make it last. 

Does laser hair removal work?

Yes…but it’s not magic. 

Laser hair removal does work. It zaps the hair follicles of your unwanted hair and stuns them, making them less likely to grow back. You get multiple treatments in the same area, and eventually the hair follicle just kind of gives up and stops growing hair. 

It’s not 100%! Most people are going to see an 80-95% reduction in hair in the area. Whether you are on the high end or low end of that spectrum kind of depends on you. 

It can’t treat vellus hair — those are the little light, thinner hairs that cover your body. There’s no dark follicle on those hairs, so laser can’t do anything about them.

And, over time the hair will start to grow back. Your tech will tell you to come in for 1-2 appointments every year to maintain your results. Honestly, I think this is overkill! I did laser hair removal on my underarms about four years ago and have been in for no maintenance appointments at all, and I’m just starting to think that it might be time to go back in. Currently, I’m seeing about 20% of the hair that I had originally. More on maintenance appointments in a bit!

A quick note for patients of color

Okay, so a lot of this post is going to talk about Groupon and inexpensive laser hair removal packages, because they tend to be priced by area size. And honestly most of these packages are fine! But patients of color, especially Latina and Black patients, have to be much more discerning in making sure they get a good experience from their treatment package. 

The earliest laser treatment for hair removal only worked on light skin and dark hair. This is no longer the case! Currently, there are lasers that work for every skin tone and hair color, so there are options for patients with dark skin, and also options for patients with light or white hair. However — lots of these Groupon options are working with older laser technology. 

And those older lasers can have possible side effects on a deeper skin color, including hyperpigmentation and burns. So it’s worth spending the time to get a salon that’s going to be able to treat you properly.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t get an affordable and effective treatment package if you have a deeper skin tone!  But you want to make sure that they have experience with patients of color and that they use the right type of laser. That means checking the reviews and asking your network. 

(Honestly most salons will tell you the truth, because they don’t want unhappy clients! But there’s always dishonest people out there too and you want to be super sure before you risk your skin.) 

If there are reviews out there from people with a skin tone like yours (on Groupon, Google, Yelp, whatever), you know that you’re probably good. And if you ask around and find that your cousin went to the place you’re looking at, or someone recommends another place with a similar package price, then you can go into it knowing you’re going to get the best results possible. 

Treatment area sizes for laser hair removal

A lot of packages, whether it’s through the salon website or through a package deal site like Groupon, are priced by the size of the treated area. So larger area packages cost more, etc. 

​What is a small area for laser hair removal?

A small area is supposed to add up to a 2 inch by 2 inch square. Obviously almost no part of our body is actually a 2×2 square! But it’s supposed to be an area of about that size, spread out however you need. 

Small areas for laser hair removal include:

• between the eyebrows
• upper lip
• chin
• sideburns
• abdominal/below the bellybutton
• knuckles of the fingers or toes
• nipples/areola

And if you wanted two of these areas, you’d buy two packages and so on. 

A package will typically include six treatments of that same area! 

(Bikini line was a controversial one — I looked at a half dozen medspas and salons, and most of them listed ‘bikini line’ as a medium area, but some split it into ‘bikini line’ as a small area and ‘bikini line plus’ or ‘bikini line extended’ as a medium area.)

What is a medium area for laser hair removal?

Medium areas are the equivalent of 4 inches by 4 inches for the size of the area!

• bikini area line
• underarms (both underarms are considered one medium area in most places)
• cheeks
• neck (front of neck and back of neck are different areas!)
• lower arms (this area will only work if you have more coarse hair on your arms)
• upper arms
• lower back

Some salons will also combine two smaller areas into a medium area, and that package is usually cheaper than two separate small area patches. So like, upper lip + chin can sometimes be combined into a medium area package. If they don’t advertise it, it doesn’t hurt to ask!

​What is a large area for laser hair removal?

A large area is supposedly 8 inches by 8 inches, but there’s less consistency in this category I think. 

• Brazilian 
• lower legs (both)
• upper legs (both)
• shoulders (both)
• full arms (both)
• buttocks (both)
• full face
• full chest
• full abdomen
• full back

When you’re looking at these categories, bear in mind that laser hair removal services only work on darker hair. So, you can get the full arms treatment, but if the hair on your upper arms is vellus hair, the laser won’t treat it. Some large areas can also be combinations of two medium areas.

Most good salons will tell you this when you come in for your first session, but if you’ve already bought the package online it may feel like wasted money. 

What is an extra large area for laser hair removal?

Not all spas do this, but some do!

An extra large treatment area might include:

• Full legs
• Chest + abdomen
• Brazilian + buttocks

Some places will also do a full body package–it’s quite rare to find that on Groupon. I would say that that’s probably only worth it if you have more coarse hair covering most of your body. If your upper arm and upper leg hair, for example, is light vellus hair, it’s probably not worth the expense for you. 

Laser hair removal tips 

There is one laser hair removal tip that is sooooo much more important than all the others that I have to talk about it separately: 

You do not pluck or wax in the treatment area for the whole time you’re getting laser. If you do, you’re messing up your results. 

I know it’s super hard. I know lots of people choose laser because they get ingrown hairs when they shave. And I know unwanted body hair is the worst. BUT if you pluck a hair, you’re basically making it impossible for the laser to treat that hair in your next session. The laser cannot zap a hair that you just plucked out. 

It sucks, but you have to deal with it in the short term. 

That is the biggest and most important tip to make sure you get optimal results from your treatment. If you want the full benefits of laser hair removal, drop the tweezers and cancel your wax appointment. Forget all hair removal methods except shaving and products like Nair. No threading, no epilating, no nothing. The hair has to grow in order to be treated with the laser. 

Other tips:

• Shave as close to the appointment time as possible. People always think that if they let the hair grow out they’re going to get a better result somehow, but you actually want as much of the laser to hit the follicle as possible. So a close, fresh shave. (If you show up unshaven, the tech is going to have to do it, and that is not appreciated! 
• If possible, start your laser hair removal in the fall or winter. You want skin that has no sun exposure or tan so that you have maximum contrast between the skin and hair. So, especially if you’re working on exposed skin like the lower legs, you want to let your summer tan fade and then start before you’ll be out again. 
• If you’re worried about pain, plan to take a painkiller like ibuprofen before your first time. It doesn’t feel like a zap, it feels like getting snapped with a rubber band. You’ll probably find that you don’t even need to bother the second time. 
• Don’t expect to see results before your second appointment. If you’re not seeing anything by your third (6-8 weeks after starting your treatments), you should probably check in with your tech. 
• I found that exfoliating well at the midway point between treatments (2 weeks after each) helped the hairs fall out when they were ready to. I just used a sugar scrub in the shower. They’ll fall out just fine on their own, but this was really satisfying. 
• And about maintenance treatments: they might try to get you to schedule one during your last appointment. I would encourage you not to do that! At a year out from my last appointment, I was seeing no hair regrowth at all in my underarms and it would have been a waste of money. Wait until you’re starting to see regrowth, then schedule a maintenance treatment. If I had gone as soon as I saw a few hairs, that would have been three years. It didn’t start to bother me until recently, about four years out. And when I say ‘bothers me’….I just counted and it’s 31 hairs that are much finer than the ones that were originally there. 

Is laser hair removal worth it?

Honestly I think that depends on you. 

For me, getting it in my underarms has been super worth it! I had dark, thick underarm hair that easily got ingrown. And because I teach in a school where they blast the heat starting November 1 whether we need it or not, I wear sleeveless tops almost year-round. I was sick of the pain, discomfort, and self-consciousness of the ingrowns. 

If I could have shaved my underarms in the shower, spending two seconds once a week, and had that be a solution, I probably would have said it was not worth it. But since shaving was not an easy option for me, the laser was absolutely worth it. 

​I also think laser can be a cost-effective option if you currently get waxed in a salon. The discount laser hair removal packages make it so cost-effective that your six sessions of laser might cost the same as 2-3 waxes. However: if you’re currently waxing, plan to stop 2-3 months before you start laser hair removal. (The salon will tell you 2 weeks, but think about how little hair growth there is after 2 weeks when you’re waxing consistently. You are going to see the best results if you’re back in a normal hair regrowth pattern. I honestly think that if you had a wax 2 weeks before your first appointment, that first appointment was basically wasted.)

If I was getting it for free, I’d laser my bikini line and my lower legs in a heartbeat. But right now, it just isn’t enough of an inconvenience to be worth the money. I shave my legs once a week during my everything shower, and I do what I call “the coward’s bikini wax” once a month. Even for a couple hundred dollars at the groupon price, it doesn’t seem quite worth it to me. 

But for someone else who is dealing with ingrowns, or who needs to shave more often? If you think it’s going to improve your quality of life or make you feel better about yourself, go for it. It’s safe, relatively inexpensive, and very little pain.