I’m right now choosing among 3 clinics. I’m skintype 2,5 to 3 and have dark course hair with some parts of more thinner dark brown hair and threating my back/shoulder.
First clinc uses Alexandrite and is the cheapest about 170€.
Second clinic uses Diode and cost 220€.
Third clinic uses Light sheer Duet and cost 200€ per threatment.
So What should I go for? for my skin/hairtype?
Alexandrite.
But please be aware of the risk of induced growth when treating the upper back/shoulders, especially if you have areas of finer hair.
There have been a number of threads recently about treating this area. I would read some of the threads going back a few pages.
What areas, exactly, are you wanting to treat?
As mentioned, you should only be treating coarse, dark hair. No laser works on any other kind of hair. Can you post a picture?
Even if you are an ideal candidate, we can’t recommend a clinic based on price and machine alone. A clinic may have a good machine and great prices, but that means nothing if they don’t know what they’re doing or use weak settings.
I used silkn which is a crap machine if you want permanent hair removal. But it actually was to great help for me when I removed my hair with silkn on my back shoulder area, before I went to a long trip and didnt need to shave for about 2-3 months.
However, I think it induced more hair growth between shoulders and chest area. but it’s very hard to tell since I already had all my upper back area full of hair before I started using it. Altoguth, now black hair has started to grow between my chest and shoulders, kind of connecting these areas.
I only have an Iphone which has not been able to take good pictures of my back unfournatley, but I took a pic of my chest area which would give you good view of my skin and hair type.
BTW: how do I upload photos?
One thing. Isnt Alexandrite the easiest laser to handle as well? maybe then, is more safe to go to a clinic with the alexandrite in terms of result?
LAgirl has said compression and great skill is needed to handle the Diode laser? Does the Duet need compression as well?
You can upload photos via photobucket.com and post HTML tags here.
Only treat coarse dense growth with laser. Everything else will need electrolysis. Treating finer hair can induce more growth again on this area.
We need to know what settings they would use. Joules, spot size, and pulse width.
Compression just means pressing down on the skin while treating.
I had my first threatment today. They used the Lightsheer XC. Unsure about spotsize but used 29Jules 30pulses. Are these settings effective? It was rather painful, heard that in the USA they use painkillers during laser procedur?
Anyhow, they didn’t used compression step by step but rather slided the device on my back, however they pushed it down hard while doing this and did it first horizontal then vertical to make sure they go all areas.
I’ve spots with coarse hair growth on my back and some areas with more thinner hair growth, however they took all. But I hope this wont induce the more thinner hairs to become more coarse. I left the down areas of my back, because it was just pain thinner.
I found a new clinic uses GentleLase and thinking about changing to them on my next session.
This is a decent machine. See how shedding goes. Those settings are fine.
Gliding is fine as long as they use compression and don’t miss spots. You’ll be able to tell by the shedding.
Many people don’t use anything in terms of painkillers. You can take something over the counter like Advil. Some people choose to use a numbing cream. It should be painful if it’s effective.
Some update:
It’s now one month after my threatment with the Lightsheer and still no hair has grown back except maybe small thin invisible hair like white hair but it’s hard to feel. The clinic seemed very proffessional since they obviously havent missed any spot at all on my back except for a one inch area just in the middle.
So I consider the sheeding as a success and hopefully the pain I had to endure was worth it. Despite this,I’m gonna change to GentleLase next session just to try it and see how it goes.
Everything sounds good. I would actually recommend sticking with this place as it seems they know what they’re doing. LightSheer works well in good hands and it seems this clinic is good. If it ain’t broke, I wouldn’t try fixing it just yet 
You shouldn’t need treatments more often than 8-12 weeks apart.
Update laser threatment 2
Lasertype: gentlelase
Settings: 12-14 j 18 mm spotsize
I started out with 14j on my shoulders but my hair removar thuougt i got too red and eruptions, so she Lowered the settings to 12j for My back.
Question is, what is a decent joule setting for me? Heard someone Said 18j but i don’t know if i Would be able to endure that Hugh setting, maybe 16j is the highest I can go.
Another question; obviously it hurts more with threating coarse hairs. Does it mean it doesn’t need as high settings as thinner hair does. And also, does lighter hair require higher settings than darker hair.
12J on 18mm is a bit too low. If your skin can’t handle at least 14J or 16J on 18mm, you’re too dark for an Alex.
I will raise the settings to 16j next session and even make a test patch on 18j.
Question: is it normal that the hair countinue to grow a bit after the threatment before it starts shedding?
Also take note of the pulse width. It’s normal that it grows a little bit and then falls out.
The hair isn’t “growing”. It’s coming out to eventually shed.
Pulse width is fixed at 3ms on GentleLASE.
Update:
1 week has passed since threatment number 2. Still no real shedding. On the shoulders were I used the higher settings, I see dark hair spots but they havent come off yet.
On my back, the hair has even seem to grown a little bit. I am disappointed because if I recall my threatment with Lightsheer XC, I saw a lot better results after 1 week.
Overall my impression is that Lightsheer XC is a better laser and the clinic was a lot more professional as well.
I’m not sure if I should give Gnetlelase another shot or go back to my old clinic. However, I pay 200 € for my gentlelase threatment and 250€ for the Lightsheer XC. Since I’m a student, the 50€ is a lot money for me.
Question is: Should I give Gentlelase another try?
Thanks for the answer.
About test spot. How long are u soppose to wait after you’ve done a test spot. Can u start immediately after with the treatment or are u suppose to wait a day or two to see how your skin reacts?