To those people considering LHR with brown (or lighter) hair I would definitely recommend you do a test patch.
I’m definitely a newbie in LHR. I’m a 30 yr old female, pale skin, burn quite fast without sunscreen and have brownish-red head hair and brown, somewhat coarse pubic hair. I had laser on my bikini area for the first time 7 weeks ago using GentleLASE (don’t remember the joules, sorry, but I definitely felt the ‘rubber band’ snapping effect and had red swelling for a few hours). I did have a consultation first where she looked at my bikini line and said my pubic hair color was fine, not to worry that it isn’t black color, and that i was a good candidate. No test patch first.
Results so far … On the areas with hair that is the coarsest and where the hair is a darker brown (the classic triangle area in the front) I had good shedding and slow regrowth (still very little regrowth after 7 weeks). But on the areas with even slightly sparser amounts of hair (the area edging the front ‘triangle’ area and the area between the legs) I had significantly less shedding.
The hair almost over all has definitely grown back darker, particularly in the sparser areas. I can’t definitely say if it’s triggered additional hair growth or if it just seems that way because the hair is darker and seems thicker too. I wish I had before and after pictures. The hairs also grow back very straight.
Now I can’t decide if i should go back at the 9 or 10 week mark. I could ask my practioner to avoid the sparse hair growth areas. (By sparse, you can see the skin underneath easily, i have no idea how else to define ‘sparse’.) I’m assuming/hoping the she can really contain the area the laser hits if it’s by the mm… Right?! Otherwise, I think it’s too risky.
Anyway, this forum has been so helpful i just wanted to share my own experience with the other paler-heads/hairs out there!