Page 101 - Blog Posts v1

A30 - Why can’t we treat blonde and grey hair using light?
Well, in fact, we can. Here’s how...
Hairs contain melanin. But the concentration of melanin varies enormously. Dark hairs have a high concentration while white/grey hairs have a low concentration. Blonde hair has slightly more melanin than white or grey, but nowhere near as much as dark hair.
In treatments, this melanin absorbs red light and generates heat. The more melanin in the hair, the more heat is generated. So, if a hair has a low concentration of melanin, then it will need to absorb a lot of energy to generate a decent temperature, to cook the germ cells.
In reality, we CAN cook blonde hairs - they just need a helluva lot of energy! If we applied that amount of energy to the skin we would most likely damage it.
So, while we can treat lighter coloured hair using lots of energy, the price is too high. We just choose not to...
Red hair is a bit different though. Red hair has a higher proportion of pheomelanin compared with the other hair colours. This pigment reflects red light. As a consequence, it cannot absorb sufficient red light energy to generate the required temperatures. Even “dark” red hairs are difficult to treat. They are “dark” because of the high concentration of pheomelanin - they will still reflect red light!
Hope this helps, Mike.
Mike’s Blog Posts 101