Protocol 01
Laser Hair Removal in Gibraltar
Medical-grade laser for face and body, on skin types I to VI. The patch test is free, every price is published, and nothing is treated on your first visit.
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Reviewed by Dr Natalie Olivera, BDS (Hons) MFDS RCS (Eng), general dentist and Level 7 aesthetics clinician · August 2026
The Specification
The specification
- Treatment length
- 20 minutes to an hour, by area
- Number of sessions
- Eight to ten for most people
- Interval between sessions
- Four to six weeks on the body
- How long results last
- Years, with an occasional top-up
What It Does
Four things, and we will not claim a fifth.
Hair grows back finer, slower and patchier, session after session.
Ingrown hairs and shaving bumps settle down, often before the hair does.
Razor rash and the dark shadow under the skin fade.
Most people stop shaving that area altogether, and stay stopped.
Laser is a long-term reduction, not a permanent removal. Anyone who tells you every hair is gone forever is selling you something. A small number come back and a top-up once or twice a year holds it.
How It Works
Only hair in its growing phase can be treated. That single fact is why the number of visits is what it is.
Light finds the pigment. The pigment carries the heat.
The laser looks for melanin.
A single wavelength of light passes through the skin and is absorbed by the pigment in the hair, not by the skin around it. That difference is the whole treatment.
The heat travels down the hair.
It reaches the follicle and damages the structure that grows the hair. The cooled tip holds the skin surface down while that happens, which is why it is bearable.
You come back for the next cycle.
Only hair that is actively growing can be treated, and at any moment that is a fraction of what is there. Eight to ten visits catches the rest of it.
Is It Right For Me
The Fitzpatrick scale describes how skin responds to sun, and it is what the settings are chosen from.
Skin type matters. Hair colour matters more.
We treat every skin type on this list. The settings change, the number of sessions changes, and for some people the honest answer is that laser is the wrong treatment.
Where laser does not work
White, grey and red hair do not respond. There is no melanin in them for the light to find, so there is nothing to carry the heat. Blonde and very fine fair hair respond poorly and unpredictably. We will tell you this at the patch test rather than after you have paid for a course.
We also do not treat over a fresh tan, over recent sunburn, or through a tattoo. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking a medication that makes you sensitive to light, or being treated for a skin condition in the area, tell us and we will work out what is safe.
The Tariff
Every figure below is the figure you pay. Gibraltar charges no VAT.
Every area, and what a single session costs.
| Area | Length | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Underarm | 20 min | £30 |
| Bikini | 20 min | £30 |
| Hollywood | 20 min | £50 |
| Underarm + bikini | 30 min | £50 |
| Underarm + Hollywood | 30 min | £60 |
| Chest | 30 min | £60 |
| Back | 30 min | £60 |
| Full leg + glutes | 40 min | £90 |
| Back + chest | 40 min | £90 |
| Underarm + Hollywood + glutes | 40 min | £90 |
| Full body, female | 1 hr | £180 |
| Full body, male | 1 hr | £200 |
Full body is dearer for men because the treated area is larger. Everything else costs the same whoever is in the chair.
The Course
Ten sessions, at £130 each instead of £180.
| Course | Per session | Single | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full body, female | £130 | £180 | £1,300 |
| Full body, male | £150 | £200 | £1,500 |
Ten full-body sessions bought singly come to £1,800. The course is £1,300, which is £130 a session and a saving of £500. For men it is £1,500 against £2,000, a saving of the same order.
Ten is not an arbitrary number. It is roughly what full-body clearance takes, so the course is priced at what the treatment actually needs rather than at a figure that sounds like a discount.
Laser, Waxing or Shaving
The ten-year figures assume a full body and current Gibraltar prices. They are an estimate, not a quotation.
The question is not what it costs today. It is what it costs by 2036.
| Laser | Waxing | Shaving | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Permanent reduction | Two to four weeks clear | One to three days clear |
| How often | Ten visits, then a top-up | Every three weeks, forever | Every other day, forever |
| Ingrown hairs | Improve, then stop | Common | Common |
| Growing it out first | No — shave the day before | Yes, two to three weeks | No |
| Ten-year cost | About £1,500 | About £8,000 | About £1,200 in blades and time |
| Time over ten years | About 10 hours | About 100 hours | About 250 hours |
Shaving looks cheap because the cost is spread thin. It is the most expensive of the three in hours, and it is the only one that never ends.
Every room here is lit from the floor. It is the least clinical way to light a clinic.
What A Session Is Like
From walking in to walking out.
The patch test, first and free.
Ten minutes. A few pulses on a hidden patch of skin at the settings we intend to use. We then leave at least 48 hours to see how your skin reacts. Nothing else happens on that visit.
Shave the area the day before.
Not wax, not epilate, not thread. The laser needs the root in place and the surface clear. Come with no deodorant, moisturiser or make-up on the area, and no fake tan for two weeks.
Goggles on, gel on, and we begin.
You wear protective goggles. A cool gel goes on. The handpiece moves in overlapping passes and each pulse feels like a warm snap followed by cold air. An underarm takes about three minutes.
You leave, and you carry on.
The skin looks a little pink and feels warm, like mild sun. That settles within a few hours. There is no downtime and nothing to hide. Most people come in on a lunch break.
Aftercare
This is Gibraltar. Sun is not a footnote here, it is the main instruction.
Keep the sun off it. Everything else is easy.
Two weeks of SPF 50 on any treated area that sees daylight. Reapply it. Freshly treated skin pigments faster than you expect, and a patch of new pigment is much harder to undo than it was to avoid.
No sunbed, no sunbathing and no fake tan for two weeks either side of a session. A tan changes the settings we can safely use and will cost you a session.
No hot showers, sauna, steam, gym or swimming pool for 24 hours. Heat and chlorine on skin that is already warm is the usual cause of irritation afterwards.
Shave between sessions if you want to. Do not wax, pluck, thread or epilate. Those remove the root, and the root is what the next session is aiming at.
Hair will appear to grow for one to three weeks, then fall out. That is treated hair leaving, not new hair arriving. Do not pull it.
Who It Is Not For
“If your hair is white, grey or red, laser will not work and I will tell you at the patch test, not after you have paid for ten sessions.”
Who laser hair removal is not for
We do not treat over a fresh tan or sunburn, over a tattoo, or on skin being treated for an active condition in the same area. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding we will ask you to wait. If you take a medication that makes your skin sensitive to light — some antibiotics, some acne treatments, some heart medication — bring the name of it with you.
Some hormonal conditions make hair come back faster than laser can clear it. Laser still helps, but it becomes a maintenance treatment rather than a course with an end. You should know that before you start, not two thousand pounds in.
Dr Natalie Olivera · BDS (Hons) MFDS RCS (Eng)
General dentist and Level 7 aesthetics clinician.
The Record
Quoted verbatim, including the original grammar.
Reviews
5.0 / 329
I’ve had a few treatments with Natalie now and honestly, from the first time I met her I just had a gut feeling she was the right practitioner for me, and I’m so glad I trusted it.
Great. Natalie is very professional and attentive.
Questions
Laser, answered.
How much does laser hair removal cost in Gibraltar?
At SKiN a single underarm or bikini session is £30, a full leg with glutes is £90, and full body is £180 for women and £200 for men. A ten-session full-body course is £1,300, which works out at £130 a session. There is no VAT in Gibraltar.
Does the patch test really cost nothing?
Yes. It takes about ten minutes, we use the settings we would treat you with, and you pay nothing whether or not you go ahead. It is a safety step, not a sales appointment, and we would rather find a problem on a hidden patch of skin.
How soon after the patch test can I be treated?
At least 48 hours, and we usually book the first session a few days later. That gap exists so any delayed reaction has time to show itself. If your skin reacts we adjust the settings rather than press on regardless.
Can I have laser on a tan?
No. A tan puts extra pigment in the skin, which competes with the hair for the light and raises the risk of a burn. We ask for two weeks clear of sun, sunbed and fake tan either side of every session. In Gibraltar that takes planning.
Does it work on dark skin?
Yes. We treat Fitzpatrick types I to VI. On types V and VI we use a lower fluence and a longer pulse, which is safer and usually means a few more sessions. What decides the result is hair colour, not skin colour.
Why will it not work on grey or red hair?
The laser targets melanin, the pigment in the hair. White, grey and red hair contain almost none of it, so there is nothing to absorb the light and carry heat to the follicle. No laser on the market solves this, whatever the advertising says.
Is it safe on the face?
Yes, and the upper lip and chin are two of the most requested areas. Facial hair is treated at closer intervals, usually every three to four weeks, because it cycles faster. We avoid the area around the eye socket entirely.
Can I shave between sessions?
Please do. Shaving leaves the root in place, which is what the next session needs. What you must not do is wax, pluck, thread or epilate, because those remove the target and the following session will find nothing to treat.
What does it actually feel like?
A warm snap, like a rubber band flicked against the skin, followed immediately by cold air from the handpiece. The upper lip and the bikini line are the areas people mention. Nobody needs numbing cream, and most people talk through it.
Will I need to keep coming back forever?
No. Most people finish a course and come back once or twice a year, or not at all. If you have a hormonal condition that drives hair growth, laser becomes maintenance rather than a course with an end, and we will say so at the consultation.
Do you treat men?
Yes, and regularly. Backs, chests, shoulders, necklines and beard-line shaping are all treated here. Prices are identical by area. Full body is the single exception at £200, because there is more of it to treat.
I am coming from Spain. Is it worth the trip?
We are about fifteen minutes’ walk from the frontier. There is no VAT in Gibraltar, so £30 is £30. The team works in English and Español. Book the patch test and the first session close together and you can do both in one crossing.
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