Advice on Settings and other things

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Previously on this forum I have been adviced to try lightsheer [lagirl - I am amazed at your committment: I wish I had some of it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> – I mean it in positive sense.] based on my skin type and other things. I consulted a laser clinic here amd they also think lightsheer is best for me. [Type III-IV, Fine Hair : I can usually feel and see few black spots after 3rd or 4th day of shaving]
I am planning to go for my lower legs and lower arms as they are coarser. I have my test patch appointment on Wed., May-17, 06.
I have few questions: -

  1. What are settings that I should start with or test?
  2. How many days before I should shave and go?
  3. What should be the schedule for lower arms and legs? [4/6/8 weeks]
  4. How many treatments should I commit to? OR is pay-as-you-go option a better one?
  5. The laser clinic does offer package prices, but I am not 100% sure if things will work for me? Suggest options!

As we have known that laser does not work on fine hair, the practitioner told me that I also have very soft skin, so the hair are pretty coarse for my skin. She thinks i should try my lower arms and legs, as she is sure laser will work on those areas. She agreed to give me test patches, and I am kind of convinced that she might be right.

Also, is there anything that works on peach fuzz? I have very fine hair on my back that I would like gone, and I have no patience/time/committment for elctrolysis of that sort. At the moment I shave them once a week.

If anyone is wondering if I did any more Gentlelase treatments, which is what I started and took one treatment — NOPE, I did not! I did not get any hair from that one treatment for about 8 weeks, and now most of them are back … I think it was Dec-05/Jan-06 when I did that. I did do 6 hours of electrolysis on the sides of my face and my electrologist says - it is looking good.

#2

Also, is there anything that works on peach fuzz? I have very fine hair on my back that I would like gone, and I have no patience/time/committment for elctrolysis of that sort. At the moment I shave them once a week.

You can accomplish selective thinning with electrolysis. If your practitioner has excellent magnification like surgical glasses that surgeons or dentists wear, then this should be an easy task to accomplish.

OR you can have your physician write a prescription for Vaniqa. It is a cream that you rub on your skin twice a day to reduce the hair on women’s faces. However, I have been advised that it can posibly work on fine hair on the body, too. It does not remove hair. It does not work instantly. It takes time. One can see results in about 8 weeks. If you don’t see results by 6 months, you should discontinue using it. It cost about $50-$60 per tube and most people use a tube per month fpr smaller facial areas.

Dee

#3
  1. What are settings that I should start with or test?

For your skin type, they should do tests. I would say 25 joules and up from there. It sounds like they know what they’re doing, so I would trust them. Short pulse is more effective on finer hair than using long pulse on LightSheer.

  1. How many days before I should shave and go?

Since your hair is finer, you probably can’t see it for a day at least after you shave. I would shave a few days before, just so there just a tiny bit of stubble, i.e. they can see where hair begins and ends, so they don’t miss spots.

  1. What should be the schedule for lower arms and legs? [4/6/8 weeks]

I would say at least 8 weeks apart when you start, and more like 10-12 weeks after a few treatments. But don’t follow an arbitrary schedule. Go when you see enough dormant hair come in after shedding occurred to justify another treatment.

  1. How many treatments should I commit to? OR is pay-as-you-go option a better one?

I would try one treatment without a committment and see if they use compression and you see most hair shed. If it’s all good, you can prepay for a few treatments afterwards. Also, some clinics offer prepaying options, but if you decide to stop treatments at any time, they refund the unused portion. Maybe you can work that out.

  1. The laser clinic does offer package prices, but I am not 100% sure if things will work for me? Suggest options!

Try one treatment. See above.

Also, GentleLASE is a good laser and I wouldn’t discount it as you say you did see shedding. After 1 treatment, what you saw come back are hairs that were dormant before. It’s not the same hair coming back.

The only thing that works on peach fuzz is electrolysis.

#4

Thanks Dee and lagirl. I will let you know the outcome of my test patches tomorrow.

#5

I went for test patches but ended up getting treated. The practitioners confidence was too high for me to doubt. She has Cynosure Yag, Lightsheer and Skin Station.

She told me to use Yag and Skin Station for best results on my skin type. I have agreed to her at the moment. Yag laser did give me tingling sensation on lower legs … not too bad though … there was no redness at all.

She said if I do not see results then she will increase the ??.

Do you think that if there was no redness, but just the tingling sensation there is going to be any positive result?

#6

you should feel pain during treatment. redness goes down pretty quickly anyways, but if you didn’t feel any pain or just tingling, it’s pretty likely that settings were way too low.

#7

I did feel the pain on my legs during the treatment but I think I could have tolerated more. I would ask for higher settings next time - in fact I think I am going to start taking notes of settings she will use on me. I will also call her sometime next week and ask what were the settings she used this time.

What are the right questions to ask? What are the variables I should make notes of?

I will also start a new thread after 2 weeks when I would expect there is some shedding, if any.

Thanks for your help.

#8

Ask for machine model, spot size, joules used, and pulse setting used. taking notes is a good idea. you can tell successful treatment often by having redness around the follicles for a day or 2 after the treatment. if they’re not sure how high they can go, ask them for test spots at various settings to determine that. it’s in your best interest to get treated at the highest settings your skin can handle without burning as early on as possible for fastest most effective results.

#9

I just felt pain on few areas on my legs. I do not see that I can even pull out a single hair - general hair growth after shaving.

I called her and she said hair will not shed until 18 days. I aslo mentioned it to her that I have learnt from others who are getting treated that Yag will not work on fine hair but lightsheer - to that she insisted that she thinks lightsheer is not going to work on me but Skin Station … I am just staying away from that device as that was too comfortable for me.

She did mention that once I call her back, which is on
May-31 … she can give another treatment if I want. [Not sure if she meant free.]

Also, I told her I want to know all the settings that were used on me so that I can keep my diary of progress!

Thanks lagirl for all your responses … can you elaborate on each variable that you mentioned and how they relate to each other … and also how do they impact treatment results - pain, hair fall etc.?

#10

if you search through past postings, we’ve discussed it before. just search for things like “settings” “joules” “pulse” and “spot size”

#11

I called my practitioner, and she will give me the next treatment free – as there is absolutely no shedding from my first treatment and it had been 16 days since. My next treatment is on Jun-14.

This is scheduled earlier than 8 weeks as my first treatment was probably done at settings that did not work for me.

We are still going to use Yag on me.

#12

what’s your skin and hair color? it sounds in the very first post like GentleLASE alexandrite worked on you (yes, it looks like hair is back after just one treatment, but that’s not the same hair, it’s hair that was dormant before coming in. if you saw shedding, i would stay with GentleLASE). What laser was used this time on you and at what settings that didn’t work? Are you a type IV or darker? Why switch to a Yag?

#13

Some say 4… some say between 3 and 4. I have very dark brown hair … not really coarse though. The clinic I goto now does not have Gentlelase. They only have Cynosure Yag, Lightsheer and skin station. They are in the process of buying Apogee, only for skin type 1,2,3 at the moment.

I had my treatment today again on Yag. She used the 7mm spot size and 90J. Last time she used 45 J. She was surprised that I was pretty comfortable on these settings. I do have a little bit of redness on my lower legs [it has been an hour and 30 minutes after the treatment completed], the only area we did to see how they respond.

We tried Lightsheer for a spot on my lower leg at 20J which was not giving me much sensation and then we went up to 25 which gave me redness that lasted for 15 minutes.

When I was not reacting badly to lighsheer she started using higher setting on Yag and eventually at 90 [we could not go any higher] it seemed I started getting a little redness.

I will have to wait for 14 days before I can update on success or failure of this treatment.

I am wondering though - are there any Yags that can go higher than 90J, coz. i can tolerate it.