Why We Book More Full-Body Consultations in January Than July (And Why Winter Is the Right Answer)

By Valeria Tartacovschi, cofounder, V&P Laser Hair Removal & Skin Care, 1317 N Larrabee St, Old Town, Chicago

Our consultation calendar has a shape to it. The first three weeks of January fill faster than any other stretch of the year, and full body is the request that drives it. July is the opposite. In July, people call about underarms and bikini line, small areas they want handled before a weekend, and almost nobody asks about a full course.

The January crowd has the right instinct. They are also, for full body, about ten weeks late.

The short version

If you want to be finished with full body laser hair removal by the time Chicago gets warm, you need to start in October or November. A January start is workable, but it pushes your fourth through seventh sessions into May, June, July and August, which are the four months when your skin is least cooperative and your schedule is least cooperative.

Winter is the right answer. January is just the last acceptable version of it.

What January actually looks like on our calendar

People book in January for two reasons. One is the obvious one. The other is a trip.

The resolution crowd wants a project. Full body is a satisfying one because it has an endpoint. Most clients reach 75 to 95 percent reduction somewhere between session six and session nine, and after that they come in once a year or not at all. It is one of the few things on a January list that actually finishes.

The trip crowd is different. They booked something in June and did the math backward, sort of. They know laser takes multiple sessions. They usually think it takes three or four, spaced a month apart, which would put them done by May. That is where the conversation gets uncomfortable, because it does not take three or four.

July callers are a third group entirely. They want one session before Saturday. We say yes to the session and no to the expectation, which is a conversation nobody enjoys having in a consultation room.

Why the laser works better on winter skin

The GentleMax Pro Plus we use has two wavelengths, a 755nm Alexandrite and a 1064nm Nd:YAG, and the machine is FDA-cleared for permanent hair reduction across all six Fitzpatrick skin types. That range is what lets us treat deeper tones that older single-wavelength machines could not handle safely.

What the machine cannot do is tell the difference between the melanin in your hair and the melanin sitting in your skin because you spent Saturday on a rooftop in River North. Both absorb the light. When your skin is carrying extra pigment, the safe energy setting drops, and a lower setting means less heat reaching the follicle. The hair survives. You paid for the session anyway.

This is the single most common reason people come to us after a disappointing course somewhere else. Not bad technique. Just months of undertreatment because the technician kept dialing the settings down to stay safe on skin that had a tan on it half the year.

In January and February your baseline pigment is as low as it gets in Chicago. We can run the settings where they should be. Do that for six consecutive sessions instead of three, and you finish the course closer to the 95 percent end of the reduction range than the 75 percent end.

The other half of this is what happens after the session. The American Academy of Dermatology is direct about post-treatment sun exposure: avoid direct sunlight on treated skin and stay off tanning beds and sun lamps entirely. In February, following that instruction requires nothing from you. You are wearing a coat. In June, it requires you to skip the beach for a week after every session, and most people do not.

The arithmetic nobody does before booking

Here is the part that changes people’s minds in the consultation room.

Full body at our clinic covers face, neck, underarms, chest, stomach, arms, hands, hips, buttocks, full Brazilian, full legs and feet in one visit of 90 to 120 minutes. Full back is priced separately. Most clients need six to nine sessions. Early sessions sit about four to six weeks apart. Later ones stretch to eight or ten weeks as the growth cycles spread out.

Run those numbers and a full course takes eight to fourteen months. Not four.

Now overlay the calendar.

Start in late October. Sessions one through five land between November and April. Every one of them happens during a stretch when you are covered up, untanned, and not planning anything that involves a swimsuit. Sessions six through nine spread across May to October at widening intervals, by which point you are already in the range where regrowth is sparse and fine. You are functionally done for your first warm season.

Start in January. Sessions one through three land January to April, which is fine. Sessions four through seven land May to September. Those are the months when we have to check your skin for sun exposure at every visit, when a Fourth of July weekend in Michigan can force a reschedule, and when a lower setting may be the only safe call. You still get there. It takes longer and costs more in reschedules.

Start in June. You will be in the middle of your course next June.

A six-session full body package runs $11,800, and a single session is $2,000. The full price list is published on our prices page with three-pack and six-pack rates for every area. Timing does not change what you pay us. It changes how many of those sessions are worth what you paid.

The part about winter that is genuinely worse

I would rather say this than have you discover it in February.

Chicago heating season is brutal on the skin barrier. Forced air, low indoor humidity, hot showers because it is twelve degrees outside. By January a lot of our clients arrive with skin that is drier and more reactive than it was in September, and dry skin is more likely to feel the pulse and stay red longer afterward.

This is manageable but it is not nothing. It means moisturizing consistently in the two weeks before a session rather than the night before. It means the ceramide-heavy, fragrance-free options rather than whatever smells nice. It means telling us if your skin has been flaking, because we will adjust rather than push through.

There is also a scheduling problem that is specific to this city. A February session followed by a polar vortex week is not dangerous, but skin that is already irritated by wind exposure does not recover as quickly. We have moved appointments for weather more than once. We would rather move it.

None of this outweighs the pigment advantage. It does mean winter laser requires slightly more from you at home than summer laser does, and anyone telling you the winter start is free of tradeoffs is selling something.

What we tell people who walk in during July

We treat them. A July session is not a wasted session.

What we do not do is let someone book a six-pack in July believing they will look different by Labor Day. The honest version is that a July start means your visible results arrive next spring, and if that is fine with you then July is a perfectly good month to begin.

We also cover the same ground we would in any month: shave the area the night before or that morning, no waxing or tweezing for three weeks prior, no self-tanner, stop retinoids on the area fourteen days out. The full rundown is on our pre-laser preparation page. The self-tanner rule is the one people break in summer, and it is the one that gets appointments rescheduled at the door.

We reschedule tanned clients. Even when the package is already paid for. Even when they are visibly annoyed. That policy costs us revenue every August and it is not up for discussion.

Booking a winter start in Chicago

We are at 1317 N Larrabee St in Old Town, on the Near North Side. Most of our full body clients come from Lincoln Park, the Gold Coast, River North, West Town, Wicker Park, and the West Loop, all within about a ten-minute drive. We also see clients from Oak Park and Cicero who pass closer clinics to get here.

The Sedgwick Brown Line stop is a four-block walk, and there is free street and garage parking near the building. We are open Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, by appointment only. A 90 to 120 minute full body session fits into a weekday evening more easily than most people expect.

Every first-time client comes in for a consultation and patch test before we treat anything. Our technicians are licensed Family Nurse Practitioners, and Illinois APRN licenses can be verified through the state’s public license lookup. We speak English, Romanian, and Russian.

If you are reading this in the fall, book now. If you are reading it in January, book this month rather than next. If you are reading it in July, come in anyway and let us give you an honest timeline instead of an optimistic one.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to start laser hair removal in Chicago? Late October through January. Your skin carries the least pigment during those months, which lets us run higher energy settings safely, and the post-session sun restrictions are easy to follow when you are already dressed for a Chicago winter.

How long does a full course of full body laser hair removal take? Eight to fourteen months for most clients. Six to nine sessions, spaced four to six weeks apart at the start and eight to ten weeks apart later on, gets most people to 75 to 95 percent reduction.

Can I get laser hair removal in the summer in Chicago? Yes, with conditions. You cannot be tanned, you cannot use self-tanner, and you have to keep treated skin out of direct sun afterward. If you can hold to that, summer sessions work. Most people find it easier in winter.

Will my skin be too dry in winter for laser? Usually not, but Chicago’s heating season does thin the skin barrier. Moisturize consistently for two weeks before each session with a fragrance-free ceramide cream, and tell your technician if the area has been flaking or irritated.

What if I have a wedding or vacation in June? Count backward. To be substantially finished by June you want to start the previous October. A January start will get you partway there, which is often enough for a noticeable difference but not a completed course.

Is winter better for darker skin tones specifically? It helps. Lower baseline pigment widens the safe energy window on every skin type, and on Fitzpatrick IV through VI that margin matters more. The Nd:YAG wavelength is what makes deeper tones treatable in the first place, and starting in winter lets us use it at full effect.

Ready to start?

V&P Laser Hair Removal & Skin Care 1317 N Larrabee St, Chicago, IL 60610 (252) 557-7113 Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. By appointment only.

Book a consultation, or read more about laser hair removal in Chicago and everything we treat.