Hi there again,
Finally decided to sort out this hair issue. I understand gentlelase is probably the best option for my skin but I can’t seem to find one where I live (Bangkok)
So I’ve decided to go with the standard lightsheer. Would someone be kind enough to tell me what the most effective settings would be for type II skin? Emla is cheap here so I can use that if needed.
Thanks in advance.
This is not the right way to approach it. There are no standard settings. Skin types are approximate. What you should do is go for a consultation and ask what THEY would use on you. Write them down and post them here and we can tell you if they seem reasonable to be effective. Don’t forget that we need 3 things: spot size, joules, and pulse width. Generally, on Lightsheer, spot size is fixed at either 9mm or 12mm (larger is better) and most use the preset pulse width of 30ms. Generally, we don’t recommend getting treatments on LightSheer with these 2 variables with joules lower thna 25J.
ok thanks.
They wanted to start me on 18J-20J and move up to a max of 30 I think. I’m not sure what the spot size was but I’ll find out. I’ll aim for 25J min if it’s 12mm. If it is 9mm I guess more joules required?
I get the feeling in Thailand they are more concerned about not causing pain than the treatment being the most effective. That’s why I wanted to get an idea from you guys.
Thanks for your help!
You are thinking along the right lines. You can also ask them to some test spots at several settings so they can see your skin handles it fine.
With LightSheer, it’s also important that up and down method and compression is used.
Did a search on compression but just to clarify…
Is compression automatically achieved by just pushing down on the laser instead of gliding it, or does the tech have to to do something else as well?
Thanks
One way is to stretch the skin by hand and press. Some hand pieces have a vacuum feature that does the compression for you.
They have to press down, whether they’re gliding or not.
I’m guessing you’re meaning they should lift the head piece off the skin like gentlelase vs gliding it across? Since gliding has more of a chance of missing area…
ok, had my first session on back and shoulders.
She started on 20 joules and I wasn’t feeling much at all. With some persuasion I finally got her to crank it up to 35 joules where I was feeling it but nothing unbearable (didn’t use or need any emla cream.) They did use some kind of cooling gel which was damn icy cold
The machine was lightsheer et so spot size was 9mm.
She used the gliding technique but I told her to push down firmly and she did. She seemed fairly thorough as well (prob took a couple of hours)
Lots of little red spots at the mo, but I’m thinking next time crank it up to 45J or so? I’m about as white as you get so I shouldn’t be at much risk of burning I wouldn’t think
One thing I completely forgot to ask about was the pulse duration. I did notice when I was leaving that it said ‘auto 30-100ms’ on the machine. Any idea what this means? My hair is just medium coarseness I think so I’m guessing the lower the better? Is 30ms ok?
Thanks for any advice
If it’s on auto, which most use, then it’s at 30ms. But it does go up to 100ms, but I would make sure they’re not using that. I think they can manipulate it to be lower than 30ms manually, but many don’t have the knowledge or experience to do that or are afraid to try it because they do not. You can ask. Lower pulse widths are of course better.
35J+ sounds good. They can test things. Let us know how shedding goes for you in 3 weeks.
Btw, do you have photos? Shoulders really need DENSE coarse hair in order to avoid induced growth common on this area.
hmm, that is slightly worrying. I didn’t take any photos.
I wouldn’t say my hair was dense as such, but it was all over my shoulders and medium-coarse for a guy I think. Way coarser than any girls hair I would guess (so if it works on them it should on me right?)
Won’t be at all impressed if I come away hairier than I started. How does it induce growth? Sounds bad. They don’t tell you this when you walk into their salons that’s for sure…
I’m pretty sure induced works basically when the hair isn’t damaged enough. So settings are too low, so it doesn’t permanently kill the hair it only damages it. Like anything else your body then says hey I’m damaged I’m going to bring back two hairs instead now. Just like when you work out, you lift weights to damage the muscle fibers, then your body regenerates more that are bigger and stronger.
Take a picture before your next treatment once the hair on the shoulders grows out. What do you mean it’s more coarse than girls’ hair? On what area? Most girls’ hair on any part of the arm is not coarse enough for laser.
Shoulders is one of those areas I would avoid treating with laser unless the hair is dense and coarse, like that on your chest or groin. This area specifically is more prone to induced growth, especially if settings are on the low end.
More and more clinics are aware of the induced growth as it’s constantly discussed at conferences now (whereas a few years back, most clinics were in denial about it). Of course, not all techs educate themselves on the latest developments or care. Otherwise, everyone would be using the best machines.
hair on my back is almost as coarse as chest hair I guess - just not as dense. She was cranking it at 35-40J so hopefully it wont induce anything. Will wait and see I guess. Guess if it’s induced it can be rezapped with some higher joules/different laser? Not ideal of course.
Yeah setting was auto and I think ‘ihatebodyhair’ is right. So I assume pulse width was about 15-20ms. http://www.beneficium.cz/editor/image/stranky3_soubory/ls-et-9x9-pbp000272.pdf gives you an idea.
Had a session on chest today and WOW it stung really bad. Used some 2% lidocaine which seemed to do nothing at all. I like to think I can tolerate some pain but couldn’t tolerate any more than 30J. Gonna get some 5% cream next time and try to get it up to 35J.
Did you leave the cream on for an hour or so? It may not have taken effect by the time you started treatment.
Yes, all treated hair should shed within 3 weeks and whatever doesn’t should be touched up at that point.
I did leave the cream on for an hour. Just really didn’t feel like it did much tbh.
After 3 weeks or so not too happy with the results tbh. I would guess about 5-10% hair shed on chest and abdomen. About another 15-20% are pepper spots. The rest is stubble which basically isn’t growing but don’t come out when pulled. She missed one tiny spot where the hair grew as normal so it’s easy to see what was hit by laser. I guess that’s a bonus that she at least didn’t miss much hair.
Another big issue is I’m getting a lot of ingrowns. I thought this wouldn’t happen as much with laser. In the lightsheer promotional faqs it says it won’t cause ingrowns - well I’m here to tell you that is a load of BS. Have quite a few especially over chest. Let’s just say I wont be parading around the beach any time soon.
Already paid for 5 sessions + 3 touchups (was cheap but kinda wish I hadn’t) so guess I’ll be continuing. Will really up the joules next time and see if results improve I guess.
Anyone else get a lot of ingrowns? Or have a good remedy for them. Looks pretty damn ugly. I’ve been using tendskin but not sure if it’s working very well.
If the hair is not growing as usual, it was affected and these are pepperspots. Did you continue shaving the area or left it alone?
TendSkin helps with ingrowns. I’m not sure that these are though. It’s likely irritation. Icing could help.
For the numbing cream to work, there needs to be a thick layer put on. No rubbing in or thin layer.
The stubble that is not growing can’t be pulled out of the skin. Sure, they must have been affected in some way but these hairs are quite different to the pepper spots. The pepper spots are almost under the skin (fried back by the laser) and come out with no resistance at all - although they are very hard to get at so have mainly left them alone. It’s actually been 4 weeks since treatment so I don’t think this stubble is going to shed any time soon.
I think it is ingrowns because I have pried out hairs out of quite a few of them (and they started a while after the treatment like hair was growing back)
She did use a fair bit of numbing cream then wrapped me up. I read a lot of posts where emla barely works at all so I think it just isn’t that effective for a lot of people (maybe the hair is a bit deep.) In saying that I haven’t tried it without emla so I don’t have anything to compare it to. Although I was touching my chest an hour after the emla to see what it felt like and it felt pretty normal.
Still sounds like pepperspots to me. They could just be wedged into particularly tight follicles (even hair that IS going to shed will feel firmly stuck into the skin for a long time first.)
I had stubborn pepperspots too, and they just… faded after about a month and a half to two months (they are just now fading significantly). I think they’re being re-absorbed into the skin or something, because they never did break the surface.
They are barely noticeable, so I’m not bothered.