How soon before laser hair removal should I shave?

We advise our patients to shave at least 24 hours prior to their treatment. It is very important however not to wax or pluck hairs, as we need them to be intact in the follicle for the procedure to be effective. I think it is important to understand that if the hair is long, treatment can damage the surrounding skin which is why, after assessing the areas to be treated, we shave the hair to reduce potential injury to surrounding skin, while maximizing treatment effectiveness.

These are the instructions we give our patients:Prior to laser treatment, it is
important to shave the area. Otherwise hair gets pressed to the surface of
your skin. When the hair shaft is destroyed by the laser it can injure the surrounding
skin. Shave a day prior to your appointment, so if you nick yourself, the area
will not be bleeding during your procedure. Either shaving or depilatory
creams can be used up to the day of the laser treatment as they do not remove
the entire hair shaft. Other methods of hair removal such as waxing or tweezing
will remove the deeper portions of the hair follicle which contain the
"target pigmentation" and will render laser hair removal ineffective
for at least two weeks.