Why Higher Laser Settings Don't Always Mean Better Results

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Published in The Renew Clinical Journal™

A publication of Renew Laser & Aesthetics

Originally published July 13, 2016 · Reviewed and updated August 2026

One of the most persistent misconceptions about laser hair removal is that a higher laser setting automatically produces a better result.

It doesn’t.

Effective laser hair removal is not about using the highest amount of energy a person can tolerate. It is about selecting the appropriate combination of laser parameters for the individual being treated—while delivering sufficient energy to the intended target and protecting the surrounding skin.

Laser Hair Removal Is More Than One “Setting”

When clients hear practitioners discussing laser settings, they are often referring to much more than a single number.

A professional laser treatment involves several variables, including:

• wavelength

• fluence, or energy delivered

• pulse duration

• spot size

• epidermal cooling

• skin type and current pigmentation

• hair color, thickness and density

• treatment area

• the skin’s response during treatment

These parameters work together.

Increasing one number without considering the others does not necessarily make a treatment more effective—and inappropriate settings can unnecessarily increase the risk of burns, blistering, pigment changes or other adverse reactions.

Why Skin Type Matters

Before laser treatment, the practitioner must consider the amount of melanin present in the skin as well as the pigment contained in the hair.

The Fitzpatrick Skin Type system is one tool used to help assess how skin typically responds to ultraviolet exposure:

Type I: Very fair skin that burns easily and rarely or never tans

Type II: Fair skin that usually burns and tans minimally

Type III: Light-to-medium skin that may burn and gradually tans

Type IV: Olive or light-brown skin that rarely burns and tans readily

Type V: Brown skin that very rarely burns and tans easily

Type VI: Deeply pigmented skin that rarely burns

Fitzpatrick type is useful, but it is only part of a proper laser assessment. Recent sun exposure, tanning, medications, treatment area, hair characteristics and the individual skin response also matter.

The Goal Is Selective Heating—not Maximum Energy

Laser hair removal works by directing a specific wavelength of light toward melanin within the hair and follicular structures.

The objective is to create enough controlled thermal injury in the appropriate target to produce progressive hair reduction while limiting unnecessary heat exposure to the surrounding skin.

This is why two people receiving treatment on the same body area may appropriately be treated with different parameters.

It is also why comparing your laser “number” with a friend's—or asking a practitioner simply to turn the laser higher—is not a meaningful way to judge treatment quality.

Higher is not automatically better. Appropriate is better.

Hair Growth Cycles Matter, Too

Even perfectly selected laser parameters cannot treat every hair during a single appointment.

Hair follicles move through different phases of the growth cycle, and laser hair removal is most effective when suitable pigmented hairs are in an active growth phase and connected to the structures being targeted.

This is why properly timed treatment intervals and a series of sessions are necessary.

Increasing the laser energy cannot compensate for treating hair at the wrong point in its growth cycle.

What I Look for During a Laser Treatment

After more than two decades working in aesthetics and more than a decade specializing in laser hair removal and electrolysis, I do not evaluate a treatment by asking, “How high can I set the laser?”

I evaluate the individual in front of me.

Skin tone, recent sun exposure, hair thickness, density, treatment area, previous response and the immediate clinical response of the skin all help guide treatment decisions.

The objective is not to make a treatment unnecessarily aggressive. It is to deliver precise, appropriately selected energy that produces the desired response while respecting the skin.

At Renew Laser & Aesthetics, laser hair removal is performed using the Candela GentleMax Pro, which incorporates 755 nm Alexandrite and 1064 nm Nd:YAG wavelengths along with integrated epidermal cooling. Treatment parameters are selected individually rather than using a one-setting-fits-all approach.

So, Does a Higher Setting Ever Matter?

Adequate energy matters enormously.

A treatment that does not deliver sufficient thermal energy to the intended target may not produce the desired reduction. But there is an important difference between using adequate, clinically appropriate energy and simply pursuing the highest possible setting.

Laser hair removal requires balance.

The wavelength, fluence, pulse duration, spot size, cooling, skin pigmentation, hair characteristics and clinical response all have to be considered together.

That is why the quality of laser hair removal cannot be judged by a single number on the screen.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to laser hair removal, more energy does not automatically mean more effective treatment.

The goal is the right treatment parameters for the right person, at the right time in the hair-growth cycle, with careful attention to the skin’s response.

That combination—not simply a higher setting—is what makes laser hair removal both technically sophisticated and highly individualized.

About the Author

Ashley Serveta is the founder and practitioner of Renew Laser & Aesthetics in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. A dual-licensed Electrologist and Cosmetologist and Certified Laser Safety Officer with more than 20 years of experience in aesthetics, she specializes in laser hair removal and electrolysis and personally performs each treatment at Renew.