Hi
i’m starting searching for the best laser clinic in my town to get rid of my beard.
im a 29y male with light skin and dark beard
i was told that after each laser session it was better if i not shave for several days, is this true?
how long do i have to wait after each session to shave? i hate beard and i guess after each session some hair will fall so do i have to have a patchy beard for several days after each threatment?
thank you
You can shave immediately or you can wait it’s really up to you. There’s no reason you can’t shave, just the face is a bit more sensitive than other areas of the body so I usually find for 1 or 2 days after treatment my face is slightly irritated feeling so I don’t want to shave. It doesn’t look like it is, just feels a bit tender. I had beard done exactly 11 days ago, I shaved the next day then again a couple days after that. It’s perfectly fine to shave, but the big thing I find is that the hair looks and reacts differently. No matter how close you shave, it looks almost like you have stubble still or a 5 o’clock shadow.
It can also depend on how you react to the treatment. For example sometimes I break out in white heads right after which I think is from the type of numbing cream used, since it’s so greasy all over my face, covered with saran wrap for 30 minutes, then followed by ultrasound gel, followed by the laser, followed by moisturizer and SPF. That usually lasts a few days and I don’t like to shave when I have that, but I’ve only had that maybe 3 times of out 7+ treatments.
My suggestion is shave as soon after as you feel comfortable doing. If your face is sore and irritated then obviously don’t since it will probably make you break out or whatever, but if you’re able to then go for it. Then around day 6 or 7, stop shaving if you can. The hair will all start to fall out around day 10-11. The longer it is the better, because you can use a sugar scrub or loofa for example and it will easily fall out. If you keep shaving though then it’s harder for it to just fall out on it’s own since there’s nothing visible on the surface for it to rub against and slide out. It’s perfectly fine though to keep shaving, it just takes a bit longer to all fall out. You shouldn’t look patchy though unless your clinic missed areas of your face. All the hair will generally fall out around the same time.
That’s followed by the best part, 1-2 months of a hair free face!
Make sure you understand that in order to have good results on this hard-to-treat area, you need to look hard to find a very good experienced clinic who’s treated many beards in the past. This is not an easy task. If you go to just anyone, you’re likely to have patchy results.
Also, keep in mind that it’s not really possible to remove your beard 100%. You can get to a point where you barely need to shave and don’t have a shadow. But removing it 100% is not going to happen with laser alone and without some type of medication that prevents your body from developing future growth (otherwise, count on touchups in the future).
thank you for your replies
im actually aware that i can’t remove the beard 100%, what bothers me the most is the beard shadow, my skin is very light and my beard is dark so even after i shave i still can see the shadow and i hate it because it gives me a dirty heavier and older look, also my skin is very sensitive i can’t shave 3 days in a row because at the 3rd shave my face will end very irritated and ugly.
what should i look for in a clinic? besides knowing that they had experience in beard threatments in the past?
It would probably be best to find a clinic with an ND: Yag laser in your case - a good one that has a large spot size (like GentleYAG, Apogee Elite, GentleMAX, Coolglide, etc).
hi again
i have some more questions
is the alexandrite 18mm laser a good choice to treat my beard?
i want to start the beard treatment very soon, the thing is more than a month ago (6,7 weeks) i’ve plucked all my mustache area and there are some small areas were the hair didn’t grow back and there are no signs of hair about to grow, is this normal? most of hair have grown and looks pretty normal.
will my mustache area hairs grow back 100%? do i have to wait for that before start the laser treatment?
thank you
It’s good if your skin is very pale and if settings are good. But do expect some recovery time after the first few treatments since the hair is very dense and coarse on this area. Icing helps.
Plucking does nothing to the hair. New hair will come in soon.
Yes, you need to wait until hair is there to treat with laser.
ok! i’ve just arrived home from my first laser treatment.
the laser used was GentleLASE Alexandrite 18mm, my skin is still red as the treatment ended about 30min ago.
i’ve done pulse light in the past and this laser treatment hurts more, especially on the neck and upper lip area but nothing that someone can’t stand.
they told me that the chin area might get a little patchy for the first few treatments and also told me that some people get some white heads after the sessions.
i’m thinking about post some before and after pictures.
What joules were used with 18mm? It’s impossible to judge settings without that.
You shouldn’t get patchiness if they treated all the hair without missing spots. All treated hair should shed in 3 weeks. Whatever doesn’t, should be touched up at that point.
have no idead about the joules used, but i’ll ask next time.
i’ll keep in touch.
thank you!
I’d call and ask so you can come prepared next time.
i’m sorry not to write before
i’ve done my 2nd laser session 2 weeks ago, and i must say i’m very happy with the results, some areas on chin and neck have a little more hair than the other parts but that doesn’t bother me at all. my face looks better 2 days without shaving now after starting the treatment then before right after shaving, no more blue shadow and the skins looks good.
i have pictures that i’ll post soon.
Thanks for following up. We’d love to follow your progress.