Question
I am going in for my FIRST EVER laser hair removal treatment- I am doing the full Brazilian - considering I am in NYC & sunbathing season is FINALLY approaching, I will be tanning at the beach regularly over the next few months.. My friend told me that you are NOT ALLOWED to have sun exposure throughout the duration of the treatment. Obviously, I understand that the skin will be extremely sensitive the day of treatment & a day after, but should I really not be in the sun for this entire summer as go through all 6 of my treatments???

Answer
I am going in for my FIRST EVER laser hair removal treatment- I am doing the full Brazilian - considering I am in NYC & sunbathing season is FINALLY approaching, I will be tanning at the beach regularly over the next few months.. My friend told me that you are NOT ALLOWED to have sun exposure throughout the duration of the treatment. Obviously, I understand that the skin will be extremely sensitive the day of treatment & a day after, but should I really not be in the sun for this entire summer as go through all 6 of my treatments???

Answer
You do not want to have sun exposure to the area that is being treated. If you are doing a brazilian, that might not be a factor unless you are tanning in the nude.
A big reason for staying out of the sun is that you tanning skin increases in the dark pigment. If you've got a tan, the laser will tend to focus on the dark pigment in the skin rather than the hair follicles. This will result in an increased chance of burning. In fact, there are places that won't do treatments if you've been exposing the treated area to the sun. So, you'll need to weigh the odds -- tan or be hairless.

Answer
From what I have heard, simply having a layer over a body part will not protect completely from tanning, you can get burned and tanned (to a much lesser extent) through your clothes, so why take the chance if you really want the teatments to be most effective? Perhaps a thick towel over the area would be a good compromise...

Answer
if you're looking to spend that much money on this and actually see results and not get burns, you CANNOT tan at all. If you can't stay away, wait until the summer is over to start. Laser targets dark pigment, so it will work on light skin and dark hair. If your skin is dark, the energy will be used to burn your skin by it, not kill the hair.

Answer
I've never heard of someone getting tanned or burned underneath clothing. Just because I've not heard of it, doesn't mean that it isn't so. From my experience, I've spent a lot of time in the sun. I've spent a lot of time in a very sunny and warm area. I used sunscreen for areas that were exposed and, of course, I had other areas covered with clothing. The sun has not been an issue because there wasn't any tanning in areas that were treated.