Maintaining a beard isn’t as straightforward as growing the hair and leaving it alone. Once you’ve grown it, you need to learn how to shape a beard. If you don’t want full facial coverage, you may need to shave around the borders of your beard. But shaving opens the doors to razor burn or painful ingrown hairs. Plus, a mistaken slip of the razor can potentially mess up the look of your beard.
Depending on your style, you may need to frequently trim and shape your beard. You may also need to shave the area around your beard daily, irritating the sensitive skin on your chin and neck. People with thick beard hair may struggle with dry, itchy skin beneath the beard.
Beard shaping with laser hair removal can make beard maintenance significantly easier. At Laser by Monica, we use state-of-the-art laser hair removal technology to precisely shape your beard and give you the look you want without complex beard grooming.
What Is Laser Beard Shaping?
Laser beard shaping uses laser hair removal technology to remove unwanted hair on your face. The treatment precisely removes hair in the areas around your beard, eliminating the need to shave.
The borders of your beard will look defined, with fewer stray hairs visible. Laser treatments can reduce hair volume to prevent your beard from becoming too full or bushy.
How Does Laser Hair Removal Work?
Laser hair removal is an FDA-approved technique for removing unwanted hair on the face and body. It’s safe and effectively removes hair on the cheeks, chin, upper lip, and neck. This treatment is also effective on all skin tones and hair colors. At Laser by Monica, we use a 755 Alexandrite for lighter to medium skin and a 1064 Yag for medium to darker skin tones.
The process involves using a laser device that targets small areas of the skin on your face. The laser emits a concentrated light beam, which heats up the pigments in the hair follicle. The heat damages the follicle, preventing or delaying future hair growth.
Although the treatment effectively removes unwanted hair, most people need a series of treatments to achieve full results. The number of sessions you’ll need depends on your hair removal goals and how your skin responds to the treatment.
Treatment is performed in clinics or salons, and you can be awake for it. Most people don’t find the process painful. It feels like being lightly snapped by a rubber band. If you have sensitive skin, you may want to use a numbing cream to reduce discomfort during the treatment. Your appointment will take about an hour, depending on the size of the area to be treated.
There is no downtime after laser hair removal. The process does not damage the skin and may, in fact, help you avoid skin irritation down the road. You might experience mild redness, swelling, or soreness immediately after treatment. But the discomfort usually disappears within a few hours.
How Long Does Laser Hair Removal Last?
Results may take several weeks to be noticeable, and you will only see partial results after the first treatment.
Because hair grows and rests cyclically, each treatment will only affect hairs that are in the new growth stage. You will need additional treatments to catch hairs that were previously in a resting phase. It may take several treatments before you see a significant difference in your beard.
Once you have achieved the hair removal you want, the results will last for several months or up to several years. If hair does grow back, it tends to be lighter and thinner. If you want to remove regrowth, you can return for more treatments without any risk.
How to Shape a Beard With Laser Hair Removal
Laser beard shaping is ideal if you prefer a shorter beard style, such as:
- Goatee
- Soul patch
- Mustache
- Horseshoe beard
- Circle beard
- Balbo beard
- Van Dyke
- Chinstrap or jawline beard
- Stubble beard
- Ducktail beard
- Square beard
Even if you like having a full beard, laser shaping can remove hair from areas where you don’t want beard growth, such as the neck or upper cheeks. This allows you to skip shaving those areas while maintaining a neatly groomed appearance.
You can also use laser beard shaping to thin down a full or bushy beard. A laser hair removal treatment can reduce the number of follicles without removing all of them, allowing you to grow a full beard with a manageable volume.
If your beard has a patchy appearance, laser treatment can thin hair in heavier areas of growth for a more even look. To learn more about laser beard shaping at Laser by Monica, request an appointment online or call us at 646.701.2774 to set up an appointment.