Question: O.M.G., does laser light penetrate through my thick hair, too?? -ANSWERED!

This is a very common question out there! It's usually followed with "Should I buzz my hair down initially when I'm doing these treatments?"

First, before I answer that, let me "paint the proper picture" here of the mentality you should have about hair loss, because you are much more inclined to be happy when you have (and follow) the right perspective! Let me start by saying this... a chrome dome -of course- would get much more exposure than a head full of bushy hair! That's easy to see... but look, isn't the POINT of any treatment for hair loss to make it so we don't have to do things like buzz our hair down?? Don't we want to have thicker, fuller hair and not be forced by anything to compromise the way we wear our hair?

If you don't know me well yet, I'll go ahead and outright tell you that I wouldn't be the de-facto leader of any movement that involved sacrificing your looks! No way, man! A hair treatment shouldn't devastate your appearance, either by making you shave your head yourself, or by using certain topicals that make your hair look horrible, look greasy, and/or thin out your existing hairs and eat your hairline for the benefit of a few thin, scraggly hairs (like minox does with me). I'm sorry, reality check... that's NOT what I'd call an effective treatment!

I wrote that because hopefully there will be a couple of people out there, struggling with what their current regimen is doing to negatively affect their appearance, that will read this and a loud and a big sound will go off in their heads, and they will say "He's right. What's the point of a regimen that makes me look worse." I've been there, and I've had that wake up call.

Well, trust me when I say that one of the greatest benefits of laser therapy is that it's something (maybe one of the ONLY things) that actually makes you hair look better, not worse! In a pretty short period of time, too, like 3-6 months! AND, AND, AND... I've done tests on myself, and I can tolerate what were formerly damaging substances pretty well now! As you know, minox used to wreck my hair. I used Sinere's Nanominox FMS for over three months -which is long enough for my hair to have started going "south" if it was going to- and it didn't hurt it this time! Sure, different brand, but minox is minox, and I've used enough brands before that I can say that "all minoxes" used to hurt my hair! I still stopped using it, though, because I don't want to use something that used to hurt me like that, and I think I'd be better off focusing on DHT-blocking with my topicals since I can't tolerate fin and dut internally (bad sides!).

Ok, now that we've covered the point that you shouldn't sacrifice your appearance for the sake of any treatment that's alleged to help, lets answer the question! lol... YES! It will definitely penetrate your hair. I understand that if you've never used a laser device before, it's easy to think that hair would block it.

Now, photographing this is a NEAR IMPOSSIBILITY! Trying to clearly show how bright light -that "washes out" a photo anyway- penetrates thick hair isn't the easiest thing to show! lol... But at least I tried with this picture! Don't be too critical, and don't be a jackass.

First, let me point out that this was in "Zone 3", and I have the picture marked to show it. For those of you that don't know, I am an "aggressive temple recessor" with hair that wants more than anything to make a "horseshoe" shape, and although my crown was getting a little thinner... I don't think I had gotten to the point where I was losing hair, it was just thinning out my existing hairs. I say "was" because yes, my laser has completely fixed that, and I can't tell the difference between those crown hairs and the sides and back now.

So what I'm saying is that most of "Zone 3" covers extremely thick hair. Here is my attempt at capturing how it still get's through to the scalp...

It's tough to really see it, but hopefully you can see that the areas UNDER the thick hair still are getting lit up, and that whole area is so completely washed in laser light there is no way it's NOT penetrating! That's a really thick area of hair, too!

So yes, it penetrates the thin areas better, but it still gets through really thick areas very well! On a side note... you can also feel a little secure knowing that the THIN AREAS, the areas that need it the most, are still going to get every bit of that light! If any area has to lose some of the exposure -even if it's just a little bit- thank goodness it's your THICK areas! lol...

Whether or not you can see it in the picture, I hope this post helps to clear up this frequently asked question, as well as helping you to gain the proper perspective on ALL type of treatments!

Also, worthy of mention -VERY worthy of mention- I've seen data that suggests that the actual hair can act similar to a fibre-optic cable. Meaning, the energy will transfer down the hair shaft. I know that sounds crazy, but apparently that was observed, and I will post that info if I find it!

-O.M.G.

PS- By the way, even though light gets through, brush bristles do improve the ability for lasers to penetrate into the thick areas because it does separate the hairs in the thicker areas a little better. My current design doesn't have them, but be assured that my next one will (for this reason, and also to provide more consistent height off the scalp).