I will be living in L.A. from March to July 2007. I’m looking for advice on permanent hair removal in the area.
I’m a 28 years old male and I believe my skin is of type III (Fitzpatrick scale) and my hair mainly brown.
I have sparse hair on my shoulders and the top of the back that I would love to get rid off.
I had them lasered a couple of times and would like to continue the job.
Electrolysis or laser? Which laser? Who would you suggest? I read good comments on Dr. Babapour.
I would also like to thin (make less thick) my chest hair. Do you think it is possible to get a natural result?
Which is the right way to achieve this?
I’m also considering working on my hairline. Dispite I have no hair on the temples, the central part of my hairline is
low on the vertical part of the forehead. Do you think it is possible to correct this with laser or electrolysis?
The hairline need very good skills and aesthetic sense. Can you refer someone (on the basis of previous experience)
for this kind of work?
we would need to see pictures of your shoulders and back to tell you whether laser or electrolysis is appropriate there. for your chest, laser would be best and yes, even reduction is possible with 3-4 treatments at most, as long as the operator knows what they’re doing and are overlapping etc.
hairline should only be done with electrolysis. too much precision is necessary there which isn’t possible with laser.
I agree with the hairline for electrolysis. I find doing back, shoulders and upper arms with electrolysis works well also, but the client needs to come weekly if they are covered with hair from neck to belt, until they are clear. For patches of hair, no problem. Get it off fast and keep it maintained every 2-3 weeks until there is no hair to treat BECAUSE IT IS PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL (oh,my gosh, really!) The secret lies with a practitioner that uses microflash thermolysis and is not afraid to use the correct amount of intensity, the biggest possible probe, autosensor mode, hair must slide out and client must shave three days prior. Oh, and of course, the client must show up for their appointments that are spaced properly apart.
Thank you for your competent advice. I uploaded some pictures here: http://lyxus.net/fxm . I hope they are clear enough to assess the situation. Note that I shaved my shoulders and top of the back a few weeks ago. This area have been lasered with LYRA a couple of times at six months interval (I waxed in the meanwhile, and I read that is wrong).
Any operators that you would recomend for the treatments I need in the Westside area?
you are a good candidate for laser. You are also light, so you can use the best laser, alexandrite type like GentleLASE. Make sure that when they treat the shoulders and back, they ONLY treat those ares with the dense coarse growth. It looks like you have patches of that, which is good for laser. You want to avoid touching areas with vellus and finer hairs there as to not stimulate those follicles to grow in stronger.
Lyra is a Yag and not a good laser for you, plus it’s not a good Yag due to the small spot size.
Most places are in Beverly Hills and a few in Santa Monica. You shouldn’t be concerned with how far they are (within 30 min drive in LA is normal anyways), but rather with someone who knows what they’re doing. You also need to stay away from the sun the entire time and absolutely no waxing. Treatments should be spaced 8-12 weeks apart.
You should start having consultations. Check out the cosmetic enhacements forum. There are several people who have recently been checking out a bunch of places in LA. you can also have a consultation at Dr Babapour to start where I had my treatments. He uses GentleLASE.
Thanks for your suggestions lagirl! I took the pictures in front of the window without the flash as it makes the skin look darker.
I will schedule my fist consultation with Dr. Babapour. Would you recommend the same kind of laser also for reduction on the chest? With a spacing of 8 weeks, I will be able to get three treatments during my stay. In case I will need more, I hope to find a skilled operator with the same kind of laser back home.
As for the hairline, any recommended electrologist in the Westside?
Yes, alexandrite laser is best for you on all areas (such as GentleLASE). You can use the link on the manufacturer website (Candela corporation) to find providers with that machine near you.
Every 8 weeks should be good. you might even need them less often, around 10-12 weeks. You will haev to see how the shedding goes and how much hair you have grow in after that at that time.
I go to Tina Reynolds in Westwood for electrolysis. She’s great, but you can try a few others in that area. There are 3 in Westwood that I know of. Robin is good too. Check out the electrolysis section of this forum and run a search on LA. There is an entire thread dedicated to electrologists in LA.
Just a quick question due the fact that I`m not familiar with the U.S. system. Tomorrow afternoon I will have a consultation with Dr. Babapour. I was wondering if hair removal consultations (in general and with him in particular) are free or about how much they can charge me. Hope this message is not impertinent.
it depends on the clinic. this doctor doesn’t charge for consultations. for others, you should ask when you’re booking. personally, i don’t believe in paying for consultations. they’re trying to win your business, so it doesn’t make sense to me.
I had my first American hair removal consultation. I got a quote of 250$/treatment for the shoulders and top of the back and 250$/treatment for the chest (I hope taxes are included, but forgot to ask this). The doctor charges by area, not by time or density of hair. Does this make sense?
Do you know how frequently men end up with patches of hair on the chest after laser treatments? I’m asking because it could be an highly hormone stimulated area (as the beard). The doctor said that this can happen and it is not predictable…
One final question, I was wondering how you can assess which laser is most appropriate among alexandrite and diode.
taxes are included. most charge by area only. patchiness is not an issue if the doctor overlaps. just make sure all spots are covered when he’s treating. the area treated will be red. a male face is a different story since the hair there is so dense.
alexandrite is best for light skin, period, given the person operating alex and a diode are of equivalent skill.
I had my shoulders, top of the back, chest and abdomen treated by Dr. Babapour about a month ago and I’m very satisfied so far. I probably will be able to get only another session before leaving L.A. at the end of June, but I hope to find GentleLASE back in Europe.
As for hairline electrolysis, I’ve scheduled consultations with Robin Harris and Tina Reynolds even though I’m wondering if I can get a substantial part of the job done in two months…
I would like to ask your advice regarding another concern of mine without opening a new thread. My legs are covered by pigmented spots caused by waxing in the past. I stopped a year ago but improvement is very slow: http://lyxus.net/fxm (last five images).
Any suggestion to treat these? Maybe peelings? Laser hair removal could improve the situation? (These hairs are lighter than the ones I treated so far).
I’m glad you’re happy with my laser and electrolysis providers Where in Europe do you live?
Do you know the settings that were used on your for laser?
I think you can get to at least your first clearance if you start electrolysis now and go consistently. Tina offers prepaid packages and has more flexible hours. Just something to consider if you are fairly busy.
How light in color is the hair on your legs? Laser treatments can help with the spots if you remove the hair basically. They will start clearing up. But there are other laser skin treatments that can be done afterwards as well to help clear the skin.
Thank you for your suggestions lagirl! I come from Italy, in particular I’m based in Tuscany but I can travel. I will try to do a search on the web for GentleLASE (and electrolysis) providers, but I doubt that there is a consumer forum as good as this . As for the settings used on me for laser, actually I don’t know but I will ask the doctor before the next session.
Concerning the hair color on my legs, you could give a look at those pictures: http://lyxus.net/fxm . Most of the pigmented spots are on the internal sides of my upper legs. Maybe I could have a couple of laser hair removal treatments on these more hairy sides. Which other skin treatments would you suggest to clear the pigmented spots?
Today I had my second GentleLASE treatment with Dr. Babapour on the shoulders, top of the back, chest and abdomen for 650$.
The doctor told me that he uses the basic settings on me to avoid possible pigmentation (he is going to tell me the exact values). My skin seems pretty fair (http://lyxus.net/fxm) but he says that I have olive complexion and I could pigment easily so it is better to be safe than sorry. I was wondering if I should insist on higher settings anyway for my next treatments.
Concerning the pimples on the legs, he suggested a few hair removal treatments to help improve the situation.
As for the hairline electrolysis, I had it done by Tina in a couple of sessions and I’m satisfied so far. Regarding the pricing I must say that Tina now charges 80$/hours and has no more prepaid packages whereas Robin charges 65$/hours and has prepaid packages. Anyway for my small treatment it did not make a big difference.
thanks for the update. I think I’ve been recommending too many people to Dr Babapour. I used to be able to get an appt easily the same week and when I tried to set up one for my leg treatment this week nothing was available until 2 weeks from now. Boo!
I would highly recommend Robin too. She is an instructor at an electrolysis school in Long Beach as well. I know Tina’s prices were up recently, though I’ve been a client for a long time and get the same price for now, so I’m staying with her. She does have another electrologist in the office now too, so she offers the best hours too. If you don’t care about paying with a credit card, there are several other very good electrologists. There is Layla in West LA for example.
LaGirl, concerning your appointment with Dr Babapour, I suspect the delay is due to the fact that he has been away from his office for the last 20 days. But surely your recommendations have increased the number of his clients.
Do you have any thoughts on the laser settings issue I mentioned in my previous message?
I’m happy with the hairline work Tina did on me. As it was a small but crucial part of the face, price was not my major concern.
I hope to find someone as good as them for both laser and electrolysis when I will be back in Italy.
I can’t give any insight on settings unless you find out exact settings he used. Everyone’s idea of standard is different. He trusts my knowledge, so he usually sets the settings at whatever I ask him to at this point. You should ask for spot size (12, 15, or 18mm) and joules (somewhere between 12 and 30 most likely).
Where in Europe do you live?
. As for the settings used on me for laser, actually I don’t know but I will ask the doctor before the next session.