In the mid 1990s, just as galvanic electrolysis was becoming popular again, the first laser machines appeared. Like x-ray in the 1920s, laser was the fast, modern technology. Without the deadly side-effects of x-ray, it quickly swept away other forms of hair removal while competition and cheaper machines developed in China drove treatment costs even lower. Like thermolysis, laser worked by generating heat in the hair to kill it. Where thermolysis heated individual hairs via the moisture surrounding them, laser turned light into heat as it passed through light coloured skin and struck dark hair. It was able to do this several square centimetres at a time and not just follicle by follicle.
Laser treatment was still not without its limitations and side-effects. Without high colour contrast between skin and hair the method simply did not work and, with nothing else to absorb the laser energy, could result in skin burns if attempted on unsuitable skin. Also, like thermolysis and blend before it, laser was still not a permanent treatment for hair removal and hair would grow back within 12 months forcing clients to return regularly to keep unwanted hair at bay.
For clients with hormone-related hair growth, the consequences of laser treatment could be even worse. Excess androgen production combined with the stress of laser treatment, could trigger follicles growing vellus hair, the fine peach-fuzz hairs covering most of our body, to start producing dark, thick terminal hair leaving clients with more unwanted hair than before the laser treatment commenced.