Why Winter is an Ideal Time for Laser Hair Removal
Dec 10, 2025
Hair removal for both men and women is a huge industry. The cost of razors, shaving cream, waxes, depilatory products, and other techniques for hair removal can add up over the course of a year — and so can skin irritation.
At Leading Edge Dermatology with locations in Plantation and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, double board-certified dermatologist Dr. Elyse Julian and our team offer cosmetic dermatology, including laser therapy treatments. Here’s why the dead of winter is a great time to start the laser hair removal process.
There are many reasons why you might want to invest in laser hair removal.
There is stigma against body and facial hair in many cultures. Hirsutism, or the excessive growth of hair (usually on the face and arms) can necessitate frequent waxing, shaving, plucking, or sugaring — all of which can cause skin reactions. Laser hair removal can get rid of unwanted hair and prevent regrowth.
Some people suffer from acute medical issues like pseudofolliculitis barbae, which can cause severe inflammation around hair follicles, especially after shaving. Laser hair removal can help prevent outbreaks and painful after-effects of shaving, which can help people who are required to stay clean-shaven for work reasons.
Your hair grows and falls out in a pattern. If all of your hair follicles produced a new hair at the same time and the old hairs fell out, you’d be constantly going completely bald, then slowly growing your hair in evenly. Instead, there are four stages of hair growth, staggered so you always have hair.
Anagen is the hair growth phase. Your follicle has produced a hair, and it’s growing steadily. Hair on different parts of your body grows at different rates, and the period of growth is longer for some areas of your body and shorter for others. Most of your hair is in different periods of growth at any given time.
Catagen is the transition phase. The hair follicle shrinks, the hair detaches but stays in place, and growth slows down significantly.
Telogen is the resting phase. Your hair doesn’t fall out yet, but it stops growing completely and the hair follicle gets started on producing a brand new hair.
Exogen is the stage when your old hairs fall out and new ones start to grow in. Only a small number of your hairs are in this stage at any given time.
Laser hair removal uses light energy focused at a certain wavelength and intensity, pulsed gently at hair follicles as the handheld emitter is moved across your skin. This lightly damages your hair follicles, forcing them to release the hair and potentially refuse to make a new one.
This process only works on hairs that are in the anagen phase, and not all treated hair follicles will be damaged enough to not restart the growth of new hair. That means you’ll need multiple treatments spaced several weeks apart over a period of several months to effectively target all hair follicles.
That makes winter a great time to get started on laser hair removal, especially if you plan on being outside a lot come summertime. You can get pretty hair-free before it’s time for the beach. Additionally, you won’t have heat and sweat to deal with while your skin is feeling sensitive from the laser therapy process.
To learn more about laser therapies, schedule a consultation with the team at Leading Edge Dermatology. Visit our contact page to learn more about locations near you, or request an appointment online.