Both clinics that I’ve gone to for beard prefer to use 12mm because they say that it’s better for covering all areas. The 18mm is too big, you can’t do your jaw bone that well with it since only part of the skin is actually flat. Same with your upper lip, 18mm is way too big.
They can also switch from 18mm to 12mm to do areas that require more precision.
To answer the original question, 18mm does penetrate deeper, but facial hair is usually pretty deep, so it shouldn’t be an issue. If they decrease the spot size, they should increase the joules accordingly to accomodate the power.
Appreciate your replies! Thanks for that!
Another issue I had was the actual power setting of the GentleLase! I think I read on another thread that - with regards to the 18mm spot size on the face - you should AT LEAST use 16j.
Personally I think I could handle 18j (not sure about 20 or if the technician would even use that).
How are the joules comparable from the 18mm spot size to the 15mm or 12mm?! Does anyone know of some kind of chart or something?! Tried Candela’s website but didn’t find anything.
Just want to make sure I’m prepared and all 
Thanks again!
I just did face 18j with 15mm on Apogee Elite. I much prefer this laser to the GentleLASE. GentleLASE is too slow, it’s like Fire, pause, Fire, pause, Fire pause. Where as Apogee is fire, fire, fire, fire. Was much quicker. Only issue with it is doing upper lip is rough with the air cooling because when it blows up your nose its hard to breathe!
They should be holding your nostrils closed while doing your upper lip.
It’s not really that big of a deal only on 2 or so of the pulses so wasn’t bad.
Ray, as you decrease the spot size, the effect of the joules decreases proportionately. That’s why on 18mm, 20J is max, but on 15mm, 30J is max. (and on 12mm, it’s 40J). So if you drop the spot size, you should up the joules to compensate on power.
I don’t think GentleLASE is slow btw. Not as 18mm anyway, which is the largest spot size available on the market. Apogee’s largest is 15mm still I think.
I shouldn’t say it’s slow that’s not the best description. It’s just slower compared to Apogee I think. 18mm is the largest so it has the benefit there, but I don’t really like how it has the round ring that has to actually touch your skin. Since they have to put it on the skin fire, lift it move to the next spot, fire, life it move to the next spot etc. When you get to areas like your hands, its harder to get knuckles and so on because of the ring.
With the apogee it is only 15mm largest but it only has a stick to keep it the right height from the skin. When they put the ultrasound gel on you, they just step on the foot petal and slide it through. My technician uses a big stamp, she has all different sizes. She stamps your skin red and each box is the size of the 15mm spot size. As she slides through the gel it basically sort of erases the boxes so she knows exactly what’s been covered. I just find it faster because it’s a constant motion, it’s like beep beep beep beep as she hits each box, so none of the lifting fire lifting fire etc. The 18mm spot size doing my forearms took at least twice as long on GentleLASE than 15mm on forearms with Apogee…
You should hold your breath, and they should pinch your nose closed. Even though they are using a smoke evacuator, you don’t want to inhale the laser plume. The plume will go up your nose before the evacuator gets it. The tech is wearing a mask, right? It’s for you safety, hold your breath and hold your own nose if you have to, while they are on your lip, seriously.
I’m not really sure what you mean by smoke evacuator, it’s not sucking up smoke or air it’s blowing a constant stream of cold air which makes it hard to breathe when that hits your nose before the pulse. The tech isn’t wearing a mask, I’m talking about laser hair removal not really sure what you mean? I’ve been to several different clinics, I’ve never seen anyone wear a mask or pinch my nose closed ever.
The problem with gliding is that it creates more room for missing spots.
Oh I agree, I don’t mean that she glides like a LightSheer though, more like fire, slide to the next square, fire, slide to the next square, fire etc. Faster in that there’s no lifting action.
I think you can do it similarly with GentleLASE. Depends on the tech.
I’m referring to laser hair removal, as well. I’m not talking about the cold air blasts just before the laser pulses. A smoke evacuator is an air filtering device. Some will use a free standing device like an Oreck, or whatever brand. Some will incorporate it into the ventilation system, and some will use a device similar to http://www.smokeevacuators.com/
It isn’t necessary for a patient/client to wear a mask during treatment, but for the upper lip, it’s just a good idea to make the small effort of holding the breath and pinching the nose. For a tech doing laser treatments all day, a mask should be worn.
Yet another question 
How long should I wait between treatments?
I read the FAQs on Laser and there it says usually 8-12 weeks, BUT some areas might require more regular treatments! Is the male face a candidate for that ‘rule’?
My technician scheduled another treatment in 4 weeks (which seems so soon to me - given the fact that the shedding usually takes up to 3weeks)
On the other hand I feel like it’s a good thing since any missed spots could be treated if present.
The big question that’s hanging over my head is whether I’m actually paying for a touch up (which should be free) or if there’s already enough ‘new hair’ in the actual growth cycle that responds to the laser and therefore qualifies for another treatment instead of a ‘clean up’.
Thank you guys so much! Very helpful forum and quick responses!
You’re thinking correctly. 4 weeks is too soon. If shedding goes well as it should after good treatments, you shouldn’t have anything to treat at 4 weeks. You should wait as long as it takes for new hair to appear to be worth another treatment. This wil be at 6 weeks at earliest since face has shorter hair cycles, but likely closer to 8 weeks.
And if more than 10% or so hasn’t shed by 3 weeks, you should ask for a free touchup since that means that hair was missed.
THanks LA Girl - I was the original poster. I’m not sure how “doing your research” helps though. I just seem to go around in circles. I’m located in melbourne australia - this is one of the best known laser centers and treat alot of guys… but I just dont understand what they are telling me. The lady says it can and should work with their newest laser - the soprano XL. But going back she used an IPL and another one in 2004… but said i needed to wax inbetween, which she never said i’d need to do in the first place.
Now she wants me to try on the new laser… but she says there is still patchyness issues they can’t overcome… so i dont know what i should do 
If someone is telling you to wax in between sessions then it’s time to find a new clinic. Waxing goes against everything. There’s so much wrong with the statement of waxing in between.
Let’s use a 8 week growth cycle as an example. At the start you have lots of hair, you shave you do laser. Hair usually starts to shed around 10 days or 2 weeks and I find takes a week or two to actually shed out, bringing you closer to the 4 week mark. You’re then hair free for at least a couple of weeks, then hair starts to grow back. I personally find it takes a few weeks for hair to come back, and that at 8 weeks it’s even not all back. So here’s the issue, in between treatments let’s say would be 4 weeks, there’s no hair to even wax. If you wait another couple weeks for hair to come back to wax, then when you go back for laser there’s no hair there at all for it to target!
Edokid is correct. The only waxing you’re allowed is before the very first session, which would get all hairs that appear after in time for the treatment in the anagen phase of growth. Waxing anytime after you start treatments defeats the purpose. Hair needs to be there in order to treat it and you need to be able to see what was missed so you can get touchups, which avoids patchiness. Patchiness is a result of missing too many spots at the treatment and not getting those touched up at the 3 week mark post-treatment.
Most of this is explained in the FAQs that I wrote. See the link below. I would read those very carefully first before you see any more clinics. This will arm you with all the info you need to make a good decision.
Soprano is a diode laser.
I think there was at least one other poster from Melbourne. Run a search and see if there were clinics recommended in the past on this forum. I know there is definitely a recommendation or two for Sydney.
For the patchiness, you can finish with electrolysis. Combining the two modalities, laser, followed by electrolysis, would address the patchiness issue. Every laser clinic should have the business card of an electrologist ready to hand out to the laser patron. It would be a good business practice that shows honesty about the limitations of laser and clients would appreciate their willingness to help them beyond those limitations.
Dee