Laser hair removal on the face (lip, chin, sideburns): what's different from the body

“It's just my upper lip, that should be quick, right?” Partly, yes. The areas of the face — upper lip, chin, cheeks, sideburns, jawline — are small, and a session there takes a few minutes rather than an hour. But “small” doesn't mean “simpler”. The face has its own habits, its own relationship with the sun and, quite often, hair that looks nothing like the hair on your legs or underarms.

The device and the ground rules are the same as for the body. What changes are the details around them. Here's what's worth knowing before booking a facial area at SHAY Esthétique, in Ahuntsic.

What doesn't change: the hair, the device, the logic

The Elite iQ™ laser targets the melanin in the hair to slow regrowth, whether that hair grows on a leg or above your lip. And everywhere, the same rule applies: hair only responds during its growth phase. Since your hairs aren't all in that phase on the same day, several spaced-out sessions are needed, each one catching a new wave.

The number of sessions depends on your hair and on the area. It's estimated with you at the consultation, never promised in advance, and hair reduction is progressive: it varies from person to person. The face is no exception. A clinic that gave you a number for your chin without looking at it would be giving you an advertising answer, not an answer about you.

Small areas, short sessions

This is the most concrete difference. A session runs from a few minutes for a small area to about an hour for a large one. The upper lip, the chin or the sideburns sit firmly on the few-minutes side: it's an appointment that fits into a break, not half a day blocked off in your calendar.

The face is also split into several distinct areas, and that's deliberate: you treat what bothers you, nothing more. Upper lip, chin, cheeks, sideburns, jawline, or full face. Several areas treated on the same day can be bundled into a package set at the consultation, and the price of each area is listed on the Prices page before you even talk to us.

The sensation stays brief and is generally well tolerated, with cooling built into the handpiece. It varies by area and by person. What we won't tell you is that you'll feel nothing: nobody can promise that on your behalf.

Tweezers: the first habit to put away

On the body, people shave or wax. On the face, there's very often a pair of tweezers within reach, next to the mirror, for that one chin hair that keeps coming back in the same spot. It's the most natural habit in the world — and it's exactly the one to drop for the whole course.

The reason is simple: tweezers, wax and epilators pull the hair out at the root. If the hair isn't in the follicle on the day of your session, the laser has nothing left to target. If you remove facial hair some other way that takes it out by the root, mention it at the consultation: that's the kind of detail that changes an instruction.

What stays allowed is the razor, any time. It cuts the hair flush with the skin and leaves the root in place. Shaving your upper lip or chin may feel unusual, but during a course of laser sessions, it's exactly the right move.

Facial hair isn't leg hair

The laser targets pigment. On the face, though, you often find two very different kinds of hair: a few darker, coarser hairs, the noticeable ones people usually pluck, and a fine down, sometimes very light, spread over the cheeks or above the lip.

The Elite iQ™ has two wavelengths, which allows different settings depending on your complexion and how thick your hair is. But hair colour has its limits: very light or white hair limits how well the laser works, because there's little pigment left to aim at. If that describes some of the hair on your face, we'll tell you straight, area by area, rather than offer you sessions that wouldn't get anywhere.

Before the first real session, a patch test confirms the setting suits your skin. On the face as anywhere else, it's the only step that truly answers the question “will this work on me?”.

The sun: your face doesn't get covered up

The instruction is the same everywhere: sun exposure is avoided before and after the session, and a session on recently tanned skin is pushed back rather than done. Legs get covered without a second thought for much of the year. Your face stays uncovered in every season, on a patio in summer as much as outdoors in the middle of winter.

In practice, that means thinking about your face around each session, and flagging a sunny trip when you book rather than when you arrive. You leave your first appointment with precise instructions. A postponed session is still a session; a session done on skin that isn't ready for it isn't.

The face is often the area people worry about most, precisely because it can't be hidden. The consultation at the clinic is there to look at your hair up close, area by area: its colour, its thickness, your complexion, and what you currently do to remove it. The patch test confirms the setting, and you leave with a clear answer — even if it's no for one area. Prices are on the Prices page, and the treatment page details the device, the steps and the instructions you're given at your first appointment.