Beard Removal: My Experience & Questions w/Photos

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

Face is definitely not fun, upper lip is the worst. Not from the pain but I find just that area is sensitive, so when it fires I almost want to kick my leg or something! Makes my eyes water so bad. Good thing it’s over fast.

When I went for my second treatment I didn’t break out nearly as bad. They didn’t use numbing cream this time since it was more of a touch up, but as soon as I got home I washed my face gently just with water to get rid of any left over ultrasound gel residue on my face. Then I put ice packs on it for awhile to bring the redness down which did help a lot. Had a much faster and easier recovery this time!

#22

Ask them to ice the area before and after. It helps a lot. Did you take the painkiller and give it enough time to kick in?

Have you tried a numbing cream?

#23

Hi there,

I thought I’d update the thread I started with my most recent experience. So far I’ve had three total sessions to remove the beard on my face and neck. Each session has been space about 8 weeks apart. My third session was yesterday. This is kinda wordy - but I wanted to share my experience.

We decided to start on the most sensitive areas first to see how that affected my overall experience of the pain. I was hoping that getting the sensitive areas first would make it all go quicker knowing that we were done. We decided to start below my adam’s apple and move upwards into the chin and upper lip. After the technician completed the area on my neck she noticed that my skin was super reactive. I don’t know what was going on, but the zapps were pretty painful - they seemed to hurt more than the previous two treatments. All of the settings were the same - 15mm spot size at 18 joules. The area that was treated was very swollen. The technician asked if I was on any medication or using any products with glycolic acid. I do use a moisturizer with 10% alpha-hydroxy acid in it, but I stopped using it 7 days prior to my treatment. She was concerned about hyperpigmentation so she decided to reduce the joules from 18 to 16. I asked her if we would still get the same amount of reduction and she said that she could tell if the hair was responding based on how it responded the laser - shooting out of the follicle etc… The hair on my face and neck seemed to be reacting so we moved forward and completed the session.

My skin seemed to not be as reactive after the laser was switched to 16 joules, but it still seemed more painful than usual. Not sure what was going on with my skin!

So one day after my treatment the skin on my face and nick is still pretty swollen, but most of the redness has disappeared. I’ve read about other people having this response on the forum, but I’ve also got a lot of those tiny white pimples on my chin and neck. Pretty sexy huh? Beauty is pain so they say… :wink:

I took some pictures of how my skin looked after my treatment and I’ll take some more after I’ve shed - I’ll post them at that point.

Thanks for listening…

#24

Pain mostly depends on how coarse and dense the hair is. I suspect your hair is more dense and coarse on these areas than elsewhere.

In general, it’s completely normal for this to be VERY painful. It should be very painful if settings are high enough and hair is being killed. As I mentioned before, you should be using things to control the pain instead of figuring out how to make treatments less painful by lowering settings etc. For this are, pretty much everyone needs a numbing cream. As long as your skin can handle it without burning or pigmentation issues, you’re fine.

Also, don’t use anything with chemicals until your skin completely heals, i.e. no lotions, facewashes, etc. Keep it clean and dry.

#25

My trick is when you’re lying there, hold onto your belt with your hands. It looks like you’re just resting your hands but you’re really squeezing the hell out of it!!! Swelling and pain after is normal though. When I do underarms, forearms etc, my skin feels completely normal an hour after treatment, and I wouldn’t even know I had a treatment. With my face it’s different, it looks normal an hour later, but is definitely a bit swollen and is tender feeling for a day or two. Putting ice on it as soon as you get home really helps I find.

#26

Has it really been four months since I posted last? I thought I’d post a little bit of an update.

Since my last post I’ve had one more laser hair removal session on my face and neck and that was in May. After my third and fourth session I was pretty much hairless for about six weeks except for grey hairs and the random black one here or there - so that was pretty great.

After my third session (March) I was a little concerend about some striping that appeared to be hyperpigmentation on my neck. I saw a dermatologist and she said that everything looked fine - nothing to worry about. She also suggested that I stop laser for the Summer. I had one more treatment after that in May.

Since then I’ve been trying to be good about wearing sunblock, but I’ve definitely got some color on my face and neck. It doesn’t take much for me to tan. I’ve also been realizing how much I liked those hairless periods after laser. I’ve decided to stop laser for the Summer and also move in the direction of electrolysis. I had a referral from a friend in Seattle for an electrologist and also found a really great review on HairTell for the same electrologist - so I have an appointment this Saturday for a consultation and free test patch… Yay!

#27

Where did you receive your laser treatments? IN seattle? If so, which clinic? Would be helpful.

#28

Pigmentation issues are usually temporary. It can happen if the skin gets a tan as you suspect.

#29

A skilled electrologist can put those hairs away for good. I feel good for you making the decision to get electrolysis now.

#30

I received laser hair removal from Little Mountain Laser in Mount Vernon, WA. It’s about an hour drive outside of Seattle and totally worth it…