I’m a Brit, living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Had been playing with the idea of having my back lasered for some time and wandered in to a place one Saturday afternoon to find out about it. They seemed pretty happy to crack on with it there and then. No time like the present, I thought to myself. So I climbed up on to the table, they applied the ice, fired up the Alexandrite, and got cracking.
(Note - I have naturally pale skin but had a base tan - I do live in SA, after all. My hair is darkish brown. No idea of laser settings.).
Anyway… It. Freaking. Hurt. Like, a lot. Grabbing the table - pressing forehead into the bed - gritting teeth - type hurt. She asked if she should stop but I told her to get it over with. The ice didn’t seem to help. About half way through she stopped and applied topical anaesthetic to see if that would help. It didn’t really. She got on with it, asking a few more times if she should stop. I told her to carry on. After a very long two and a half hours she was done.
That was about 4 months ago. I’ve drank a lot since then which has helped with the emotional torment (that’s British humour, in case anyone was going to send me the link to AA). It seemed to have a genuinely noticeable impact on the hair, which is slower growing now and finer, but I’m not sure I have the backbone of steel required to go back for another two and a half hours of torture…
I’m back in the UK briefly next month. I wouldn’t mind blasting my back again, but really don’t want the pain. I’ve heard Epilight and LightSheer laser with ChillTip are a lot less painful. They don’t have those in Joburg, but they do in London.
Question is - am I kidding myself? Are they all equally as painful? Or will it genuinely be easier on me if I try a different laser or Epilight.
unfortunately, no pain, no gain with this. you were treated by the best type of laser. it’s effective, that’s why it hurt. you’re killing follicles here. the good news is that the first time is the worst. pain depends on hair density, not whether you have a tan (that only has an impact on whether it will burn you - so you should be a light as possible). you need about 8 treatments spaced a few months apart for good permanent results. i suggest going back for a few more treatments with alex laser again if you want results. those other machines are painful too , AT effective settings. you should be looking for results, not lack of pain.
that being said, applying anesthetic in the middle of treatment is useless. it needs to be applied 1 hr before to take effect. you can try that next time if you want, but really the best thing to do is to ice the area before and after. that helps the most as well as being hydrated and taking an ibuprufen or so beforehand.
If I had only known earlier that excessive alcohol (taken internally) would boost my hair reduction! I will, nonetheless, give it a shot starting tonight.
Lotsa pain, eh? Well, suck it up (haha). Try a back wax and see if it hurts any less…
It is interesting to see how much it can hurt without causing much (or any) skin damage (as you do not mention it). Some of the pain is very intense, and may feel like getting burned, but is not. I can see where those who do get burned may feel like it should hurt so they do not stop the treatment (but they should). I wonder how one can really know the difference (during treatment) as it is typically the first visits at which too high a setting is used and scars are the result.
Anyway, if you see less hair and the skin is fine shortly after your treatment, then you have found a good place for LHR. All you need to decide is whether the pain & money is a good exchange for that smooth look & feel.