Provided is a laser processing method in which a laser processing head for irradiating, with at least a short-pulse laser, a processed article having a protection layer laminated to a metal layer is used to process the processed article, whereby high-quality, highly accurate processing is possible by means of a short-pulse laser processing step for irradiating the protection layer with the short-pulse laser and ablating the protection layer, and a metal layer processing step for ablating the metal layer in the area that was ablated during the short-pulse laser processing step.