Laser needs pigment, and pubic hair eventually loses it. A Chicago laser technician on what changes after 40 and how to plan around it.
Most of what gets written about laser hair removal seems to assume a client in her twenties or thirties. Plenty of women don’t think seriously about a Brazilian until their 40s or 50s, around the time a lot of other things in their bodies start to shift. According to the National Institute on Aging, most women begin the menopausal transition between 45 and 55, and the average age of menopause in the United States is 52.
Valeria Tartacovschi, a certified laser technician who co-founded V&P Laser Hair Removal & Skin Care in Chicago, says women in that age group tend to ask her the same thing first: is it too late? Her answer depends mostly on hair color.
I talked with her about what changes in the bikini area after 40, and why the timing of a Brazilian matters more at 45 than at 25. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Is there an age when it’s too late for a Brazilian?
There’s no age cutoff. What matters is whether the hair still has pigment. The laser works by heating the dark pigment in the hair, so a woman of 55 with dark pubic hair can get a very good result, and a woman of 40 whose hair has already gone white can’t get any result from laser at all.
Does pubic hair go gray at the same time as the hair on your head?
Not necessarily. I see women with a lot of gray on their heads and pubic hair that’s still mostly dark, and the opposite too. The only way to know is to look at the area itself.
There’s very little research on when pubic hair goes gray, because the large studies of graying look at scalp hair. One worldwide survey of 4,192 people, published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2012, found that 74 percent of people between 45 and 65 had some gray hair, but only 6 to 23 percent, depending on ethnic background and natural hair color, were at least half gray by age 50.
What happens when it’s a mix of dark and gray?
That’s the normal situation at this age. The laser clears the dark hairs and leaves the gray and white ones exactly as they were. So for a lot of women the plan has two parts: laser first, because each pulse covers many follicles, then electrolysis for whatever’s left, which works on any hair color but treats one hair at a time.
Doing electrolysis first means paying to remove hairs one by one that the laser could have cleared in a few sessions. When we can’t tell whether a hair has enough pigment, we look under magnification, treat a small test patch, and count what grows back at about eight weeks.
So is that why timing matters?
Yes. Every year, a few more hairs lose their pigment. If you start while most of the hair is still dark, the laser does most of the work. If you wait, more of it ends up as electrolysis, which takes longer. And a Brazilian series isn’t quick to begin with. Most people need six to eight sessions spaced weeks apart, so it runs most of a year.
In Japan, women’s magazines and clinics have a name for doing it with later life in mind: kaigo datsumo, or “nursing-care hair removal.” The idea, which those articles describe mostly among women in their 40s and older, is that a bare area is easier to keep clean if someone else ever has to help with care. Those articles make the same point about timing, since laser can’t treat white hair.
What does perimenopause do to hair in the bikini area?
For most women, pubic hair gets thinner and finer as estrogen drops. That sounds like good news, and partly it is, but finer hair is harder for the laser to treat, so sessions can do less than they would have ten years earlier. Hormonal shifts can also wake up follicles that were quiet, so some women see stray coarse hairs appear even while the rest thins out. I tell people in their late 40s to expect touch-ups, maybe once or twice a year, while their hormones are still changing.
A 2009 review in Maturitas describes the hormonal side: as the ovaries wind down through a woman’s 40s and 50s, levels of both estrogens and androgens fall, and the effects it lists include loss of pubic hair and changes in the genital tissues.
Does the skin change too?
It can. After menopause the skin in the vulvar area often gets thinner and drier. That doesn’t rule out laser, but I want to know about it. Tell whoever treats you about dryness, irritation, or any skin condition your gynecologist is treating. Everyone should get a patch test first anyway, and with thinner skin it matters even more. If the skin is irritated or broken on the day, the session waits.
What about hormone therapy?
Mention it, especially if you’re starting, stopping or changing it. Some formulations, particularly those with testosterone, can drive new hair growth, and that changes what results to expect and how sessions should be spaced.
Are there changes that should send someone to a doctor instead?
Yes. Slow change over years is ordinary. Hair that shows up heavily over a few months, especially with a deeper voice, thinning hair on the scalp or new acne, can point to a thyroid, adrenal or ovarian problem, and it needs a doctor before it needs a laser. I’d rather someone come back after a checkup than treat something that has a medical cause.
Anything else women in their 40s and 50s should bring up?
Their full medication list. People take more prescriptions as they get older, and some common ones make the skin more sensitive to light. A good provider will ask, but it helps to bring the list.
If a woman is 45 and on the fence, what would you tell her?
Look at the hair in good light, or have someone look at it under magnification. If it’s still mostly dark, laser can do the bulk of the job. If it’s already mostly gray or white, laser is the wrong tool and electrolysis is the right one. Either way, plan for some maintenance while your hormones are still shifting.
This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor about sudden or unexplained changes in hair growth.
