Advice please - back hair

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I registered on these forums years ago. I have long since forgotten the name and email I used back then.

in short, about 5-6 years ago I seriously researched laser hair removal. Back then, I searched this site, among others, and found good advice on laser hair removal to treat my back and shoulders. I went to a clinic and attempted treatment, one time, and found the pain way too much for me. Honestly, I couldn’t bear it. Suddenly, a hairy back didnt seem so bad. :slight_smile:

The reality of life is what it is. I am once again thinking I may have the motivation and determination to go through with this.

Could I please have some advice on modern laser treatments with the fact of my low pain threshold in mind? I have a lot of area I want done, but first and foremost I care about my shoulders and back. I could care less about my chest hair and such, but in today’s world, the back and shoulders are my real issue.

http://img830.imageshack.us/i/mypic1509430918.jpg/
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http://img101.imageshack.us/i/mypic1509010918.jpg/
http://img440.imageshack.us/i/mypic1509220918.jpg/

thanks in advance, I’d appreciate any advice at all, and welcome any questions.

#2

You have the perfect skin and hair type for laser. Pretty much most of your hair is coarse and dense. So this is actually great in terms of potential results.

The downside for you is that painless laser treatments wouldn’t be effective - the settings would be too low. However, there are numbing creams available such as EMLA which you can definitely use to drastically reduce the pain. Icing the area before and after the treatment also helps a lot. I would also have fridge-cooled aloe vera gel on hand afterwards.

Also, keep in mind that the first treatment or two would hurt the most since dense hair hurts most. But after a few treatments, the hair will be more sparse and fine, so pain won’t be as bad at all.

I would recommend searching out a clinic that has a GentleLASE or Apogee machine, i.e. a good alex laser. If you do this right and find a good clinic that uses good settings, I think these treatments might change your life.

#3

Thank you LAgirl. I see you now list yourself in ny. I’m also there. Do you have any recommendations you can make for the nyc area?

also, my wife tells me 5-6 years ago is not accurate. i trust her, because i tend to be bad at that stuff. she says i was here 2-3 years ago. whatever. :slight_smile:

thank you for your reply.

i would love to hear any one else’s input.

#4

Emla would help alot in reducing your pain. I would not use more than one 30 gr tube per treatment.

#5

Chris above owns Romeo & Juliette Clinic in NYC and has all the newest machines.

I haven’t personally had any treatments in NY since I finished mine in LA. But there are literally hundreds of clinics around here. Do your research well and have at least 3-5 consultations with various clinics with good machines. You can also find some clinic reviews on sites like Yelp.com. (just ignore reviews by anyone with only a few contributions to the site).

#6

Pain should not deter you from doing LHR. A properly applied numbing cream reduces pain by a significant amount. In my experience it reduced my pain from laser by 90% and I have low pain threshold. Do not go for weaker treatments to reduce pain because you might waste money in the long run.

#7

I have had 2 treatments on my back and shoulders so far using the GentleMax system. First treatment was at 20J and second was at 18J - these settings are at the top end.

I sympathise with the pain involved. It is definitely not at all comfortable, but unfortunately this is unavoidable for effective kill of the follicles.

You could take a couple of Benedryl or similar 45 mins before treatment to dull the discomfort and, like LAgirl says, ice the area and use numbing cream.

Your skin tone and hair colour / texture looks ideal for effective treatment. Whatever you do, don’t waste your money on lower settings, and remember - with each successive treatment, the discomfort should decrease.

Baboon

#8

Joules don’t mean a lot without mentioning the spot size. Do you know what it was?

#9

You’re a guy who likes to spam, more likely.