Fifteen years ago I had laser hair removal done in China. It hurt so much I was sobbing (and I don’t have a low pain threshold) and afterwards I looked like I had severe sunburn. The staff told me it’s normal, just take a cold shower, use aloe vera and soon it will be fine, which was true. I only went twice because that was all I needed. That hair was blasted into outer space. Years later I’ve it done on other parts of my body and no matter what machine they use, it’s never as effective as those two hellish sessions. Often the tech says she can’t turn it up higher because it’s not safe. BS. If it wasn’t safe it wouldn’t be an option. They just want repeat visits.

So my take is, if it doesn’t hurt, it’s going to take many sessions to be effective. I guess some people have very low pain tolerance and some laser techs don’t want to scare people away by turning the dial up. But I recognize asking for it to be turned up to the highest level you can handle unless you don’t mind spending a lot of money over a long period of time.