The laser emits a beam of light that attacks the melanin, pigment in skin that gives it a color. Laser hair removal works best when the hair on the skin is dark and the skin is light-colored due to the fact that the laser beam destroys the hair as black color of hair absorbs the laser energy and destroyed while white or light colored skin does not absorb it and remain unaffected.

The laser beam or a light pulse works to destroy the hair bulb itself. Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged. Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hairs at the same time, small areas such as the upper lip can be treated in less than a minute and large areas such as the back or legs may take up to an hour. Ninety percent of patients have permanent hair loss after an average of five to seven sessions