Answers up front.

Yes — shaving is the only hair removal method you should use during a laser course.

Shaving cuts the hair at the surface and leaves the follicle and root intact, which is exactly what the laser needs to find at your next session. Waxing, plucking, threading, epilating, and depilatory creams all remove or damage the root, which removes the target. Doing any of those within four weeks of a session wastes that session.

Shave the area 12 to 24 hours before, avoid waxing or plucking for four weeks, and arrive with clean skin and no self-tan.

In more detail: no sunbeds or deliberate sun exposure for two weeks beforehand, no self-tanner for two weeks (it absorbs laser light exactly like real melanin), no makeup, deodorant, or lotion on the treatment area on the day, and no retinoids or acid exfoliants for five days if we are treating your face. Tell us about any medication you are taking — some antibiotics and acne treatments make skin photosensitive.

The patch test is free, takes about fifteen minutes, and is required before your first treatment.

We fire a small number of pulses on a discreet area at several energy levels, then wait to see how your skin responds. That tells us the settings that are both effective and safe for you specifically, and it catches the rare adverse reaction on a patch of skin the size of a coin rather than across a whole leg. We book the first full session at least 24 to 48 hours later.

Most clients need 6 to 8 sessions spaced 4 to 6 weeks apart for 70–90% permanent hair reduction. Facial and male hormonal areas usually need 8 to 12.

Hair grows in cycles, and laser only destroys follicles that are in their active growth phase on the day you are treated. That is why the spacing between sessions matters as much as the number of them. At your free patch test we give you a realistic figure for your hair type and the area you want treated, in writing, before you pay for anything.

Most people describe it as a warm rubber-band snap rather than pain, and rate it 2 to 4 out of 10 on the body.

Our diode handpiece cools the skin to about 4°C as it fires, which makes the biggest single difference to comfort. Coarse, dense areas like the bikini line and Brazilian are more intense than legs or arms, and free numbing cream is available for those — apply it 30 minutes before your appointment. Sessions also get noticeably easier as hair density drops through the course.

It is permanent hair reduction, not permanent removal — a distinction that matters and that regulators are strict about.

A completed course typically destroys 70–90% of the follicles in the treated area for good. The follicles that survive produce finer, lighter hair than before. Most clients need one or two maintenance sessions a year afterwards, and more if their hair growth is hormonally driven. Anyone promising 100% permanent removal is overselling.

Yes. Our 808 nm diode laser is safe and effective across Fitzpatrick skin types I to VI, including deeply pigmented skin, when the settings are correct.

The risk on darker skin comes from lasers that cannot distinguish between melanin in the hair and melanin in the skin. Longer wavelengths bypass more of the surface pigment, and contact cooling protects the epidermis while the follicle heats. What matters more than the machine, though, is the operator: every client gets a patch test first, and we record the exact settings your skin tolerated so every subsequent session is calibrated to you rather than to an average.

No. Laser targets melanin, the pigment inside the hair shaft, and hair without enough pigment cannot absorb the energy needed to destroy the follicle.

That rules out white, grey, and most blonde and red hair. Electrolysis is the only method that works on unpigmented hair, because it uses an electrical current rather than light. We will tell you this at your free patch test rather than sell you a course that cannot work.

We do not treat during pregnancy. There is no evidence that laser hair removal harms a pregnancy, but there are also no controlled studies establishing that it is safe, and we are not willing to be the ones testing it.

Pregnancy hormones also drive unpredictable hair growth and make skin more prone to pigment changes, so results during that period would be unreliable anyway. Breastfeeding is generally fine for areas other than the chest. If you become pregnant partway through a course, we pause it and hold your remaining sessions indefinitely at no cost.

Yes — tell us about everything you take, including supplements, at your patch test.

The main ones are isotretinoin (Accutane), which requires a six-month gap after finishing, photosensitising antibiotics such as doxycycline and tetracycline, St John's wort, and some diuretics and retinoid creams. Active infections, open wounds, recent chemical peels, and cold sores in the treatment area mean we postpone. Tattoos and permanent makeup cannot be lasered over — we work around them. If you have epilepsy, a photosensitivity disorder, or a history of keloid scarring, tell us before booking.

Single sessions at our clinic run from $49 for the upper lip to $189 for full legs, and courses of six are priced at roughly a 15% discount. Every price is published on our treatments page.

Buying a course is almost always cheaper than paying session by session, because nobody gets a lasting result from one session. Courses are valid for 18 months and are transferable between areas of equal value. Payment plans are available on courses over $500, with no interest on our in-house instalments.

Unused sessions from a package are refunded at the difference between the package rate and the single-session rate for the sessions you have already had.

In plain terms: you pay the normal price for what you used, and get the rest back. We would rather do that than have someone feel trapped in a course that is not working for them. Courses are also transferable to another person or another treatment area of equal value.

For 48 hours: heat, sweat, and friction. That means no saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, hot baths, swimming pools, or intense exercise.

For two weeks: SPF 50 on any treated skin that will see daylight, and no sunbeds or self-tanner. For five days on the face: no retinoids, AHAs, BHAs, or scrubs. Use unscented moisturiser, wear loose cotton clothing for the first day, and expect mild redness and small raised bumps around the follicles for a few hours — that reaction means the treatment worked. You get a written aftercare card at every session.

It is not regrowth — it is shedding, and it is the sign the treatment worked.

Treated follicles push the dead hair out of the skin over roughly one to three weeks after a session. It looks and feels exactly like stubble coming back. Do not pluck it; gentle exfoliation from day seven helps it clear and reduces ingrown hairs. You will see genuine density loss after the shed completes, not before.

We are at 210 Bernard Ave in downtown Kelowna, BC, with a ground-floor entrance and no stairs.

The fastest way to book is our online booking page, which shows live availability, including the free patch test. You can also call or email during opening hours. Street parking is available on Bernard Ave, and the Chapman parkade is one block away.

We ask for 24 hours' notice to change or cancel an appointment.

Late cancellations and no-shows are charged 50% of the session price, or deduct one session from a package. We know that sounds strict, but treatment rooms are booked one client at a time and a same-day cancellation is a slot nobody else could take. Genuine emergencies and illness are handled case by case — just tell us.