First and foremost: if you had a tan within last two weeks (or plan to get a tan in next two weeks after laser skin treatment) you shouldn’t be treated. Now, a lot of laser hair removal salons wouldn’t ask you or would treat you even if you did, but it’s your skin, not theirs. Of course you will be able to get your money back, but what good these money for if your skin will look 20 years older just because you were too busy to stop and think of consequences?

Second – if you have any kind of skin conditions or allergies you must let the technician know. The reason behind it is not to charge you more for different numbing cream (like some of people think), but to prevent a permanent damage of your skin. It may regrow or it may remain damaged, even doctor is unlikely to predict the outcome, so why risk it?

Third – if you have any other medical condition, you should ask if that might affect your treatment. Laser hair reduction and laser skin treatment are mostly medical, not cosmetical, procedures. Any laser treatment spa or laser hair removal center must operate under a medical supervision, you get skin soothing and numbing medication administered during the procedure, so you should think of it as a visit to a doctor – if you want a proper treatment.

There is a notion, quite noticeable in New York, less so in other places, that laser hair reduction and removal procedures are somewhat similar to hair styling. Like it’s something you can get between a tanning salon and a restaurant date tonight. Quite often it isn’t so, therefore being mindful about the consequences is greatly advised.

We highly recommend visiting a few spots, especially in New York, and provide your feedback. Feel free to tell us what worked and what didn’t.

1. What is my skin type?
Also known as Fitzpatrick skin type, it is basically telling how dark your skin is, its level of melanin and what settings the technician needs to use for your skin. The determination of your skin type is the first and most important step in any laser skin or hair reduction procedure, because almost all the settings are based on that. You might want to write down the type at each place you visit to see how they differ.

2. What is the laser treatment machine you plan to treat me on? Is it approved by FDA?
Depending on your skin type certain laser treatment machines will either burn your skin or just won’t do you any good. What you should expect is an explanation of the quality of treatment. There are many machines for each type of skin, so there could be a case when experienced technician can give you better laser skin treatment on the available laser machine than someone with three hours of the training on the best machine ever. It takes two (machine and technician) to get the best result, so keep that in mind.

3. What kind of pain should I expect?
Depending on the settings – speed, intensity and pain numbing gel applied before treatment your experience will vary. Note, however, that if it doesn’t hurt – you’re doing it wrong. There are, of course, cases, when laser treatment goes lightly on you, but it is not the rule. Your skin should give you some feedback, so if you are treated for the first three times and you don’t feel anything – chances are the technician isn’t killing follicles, but just burning hair on the surface. Which means you will keep coming back for treatments again and again.

4. What are the after-effects for this procedure?
Depending on the procedure, your skin type and amount of hair the after-effects could vary drastically. Ask and compare.

5. What if something goes wrong?
Ask what happens if you get burned (it is usually pretty obvious right away). Does the place have any cream or solution for burned skin? Will the doctor prescribe something or can they administer it right away? Things happen, so be cautious, pay attention to answers.

6. How many treatments should I get? What is your policy if I still have hair after these treatments?
Basically, the hair never goes away completely. After proper laser hair treatment the growth of hair is reduced dramatically and the remaining hair cannot be removed by laser anymore because it gets too light. However, some touch ups might be needed, depending on your individual skin and hormonal features. The way you will respond to treatments should tell your laser technician the outcome.

To conclude – please don’t forget that laser hair removal or reduction, laser skin treatment and other laser-administrered procedures can greatly damage your skin. It is in the hands of the technician who is treating you to give you either a smooth silky skin or burned and damaged one. You have to work with your technician to achieve the best results based on your individual skin features.

Actually, by spending quite some time on both sides of laser machine one could easily come up with things to ask. Think of it as of an interview. You are giving this specific technician your skin. Depending on how professional and knowledgeable they are your skin may look flawlessly great or desperately burning for next couple of weeks. Some procedures actually require the technician to give you a controlled burn, so you have to have trust in that technican. Go for a few smaller-scale procedures first, see how that works out.

Particular to Manhattan there are a few places where you really would pay almost nothing, but if you get just nothing in return – consider yourself lucky. This usually happens because of the business model these NYC laser spas are following. They hire one or two knowledgeable people, promising them everything and a kitchen sink. Then they hire a dozen off-the-street girls who undergo some vendor-based training (which would be a few hours at best) and around a week of sporadic hands-on training by those knowledgeable people. Whom they soon replace – in a matter of two-three months. In the next four to six months they keep treating clients, burning quite a few so that the spa is forced to either provide a money back or free sessions. Once the number of disgruntled clients gets high enough pretty much everyone is fired and the cycle starts again.

Most of these so-called “professionals” have little – if any – understanding of the actual physics of the procedure, therefore lacking the basic knowledge needed to determine the proper treatment. In oh so many cases in Manhattan the sale is made by receptionist who have no idea what exactly is that she’s selling. A lot of NYC laser spas and salons don’t let laser technician speak to prospective clients – because owners are afraid to loose clients to technicians’ side gigs. This rises mistrust between technicians and business owners to such a degree that technicians, in fact, do opt out for doing side gigs on owner’s machine. In these cases tips easily outweight salary while leaving owner totally unaware of the situation.

While not making any recommendations, the general advice here is if you find a laser technician that gives you a result you want – stick with her (or him). There’s plenty of laser skin treatment places in NYC so as long as that person is employed somewhere – you should be fine.