Are there ways to slow the growth of facial hair?

Shaving hair especially manually may irritate the hair follicles, causing inflammation known as folliculitis that appears as small swollen and tender bumps that look like acne. Technically, folliculitis is not considered acne per se, as the inflammation is centred around the hair follicles only, while in acne, the inflammation is centred around the pilosebaceous (oil) glands. Folliculitis refers to a skin condition in which hair follicles become inflamed, commonly due to a bacterial or fungal infection. Folliculitis may present with small red bumps or whitish pimples around hair follicles.

During fractional CO2 laser treatment, hairs around the treatment area are indeed singed. However, fractional CO2 laser treatment does not damage the regenerative parts of the hair apparatus so new hairs will grow eventually. The regenerative parts of the hair apparatus are located about 4mm below the skin, while fractional CO2 penetrates up to 2mm below the skin. The likelihood of permanent damage to the hairs after fractional CO2 laser treatment is therefore highly unlikely.