Confused about what to do!

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#1

I’m new to this forum and have struggled with figuring out the best hair treatment for me.

I am white, with medium skin and dark hair. Unfortunately I’m a hairy beast :grin: What? At least I can admit it.

I remember as a teen, I could shave everyday and avoid getting stubbly. However, now at just a few months shy of 26… if I shave in the morning I get a noon shadow (I could only wish for a 5 o’clock shadow!). My legs are prickly in no time… bikini area just as bad! Seriously, I can scratch an itch on one leg with the other just from my leg stubble! How embarrassing to shave in the morning and have to touch up if you want to go to the beach in the afternoon!

I went for a laser hair consultation and they would charge approx 5-6000 dollars for full body hair removal. As many sessions as necessary for one year, and guarantee it for one year after sessions on that area complete.

I want my upper lip done, arms, armpits, legs, Brazilian bikini… you name it. :slight_smile:

However, I’m reading that laser is not even permanent. Is electrolysis a better way to go? After all, with hair that is as thick and grows as quickly as mine I honestly cannot see one year of treatments definitely cutting it.

Because of this I started to look at “at home” systems. And found the Epila Laser Hair Removal System. Some reviews on Amazon were great… and some were scary. I’d never want scaring in place of hair.

So I’m basically at a loss… what do I do? An at home system would be great, but are there any good ones? Ones that work? If not, what professional option is right? I didn’t do the laser because my fiancée as I are getting married in three months, just bought a house, etc… and just can’t afford to waste the extra money just yet.

Possibly after the wedding I could do it, but for 6 thousand dollars I’d want it to be permenant… not semi-permanent.

I would appreciate any advice you could give me! I’m tired of waxing my upper lip… I’m tired of having to shave everyday or else cover up my legs. I’m just sick of the hair… I wish I could move it all to my head and leave it there :lol:

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this, and possibly giving me some input!

#2

Laser hair reduction works very well for three areas you mentioned - bikini, underarms and lower legs if you get an experienced practitioner with a quality laser like a GentleLase or GentleYag.

Permanent hair REMOVAL with electrolysis can be achieved for your upper lip and that’s the what I would choose if I were you.

Laser offers permanent hair removal for many especially on certain areas of the body. I am not a proponet of women lasing their faces, but I have referred some cases to a laser specialist at times. Not many though.

Since money is tight, I would start your upper lip with a professional, modernly equipped electrologist. You pay as you go and cost for 30 minutes or less, is somewhere under $50 depending on where you live or the electrologist’s set up.

Waxing your upper lip repeatedly is not good in the long run. Just do the sure thing and get electrolysis for this area, but find a PROFESSIONAL electrologist that has good tools and good skill. That’s the hard part to all this hair removal stuff.

Dee

#3

Thanks Dee, I appreciate it! I don’t want to sound like I’m too cheap to do the right thing, but my fiancee and I work our butts off… weddings in NYC (Especially big fat, sorta Greek ones L) and houses are super expensive! :frowning: Once it’s over hopefully I can get everything done, but you’re right about starting with the upper lip.

Can I ask a silly question? Why is it bad to wax repeatedly?? Only because I’ve been doing this for about 10 years and now you’ve got me nervous! Does it damage the skin on the face? Anywhere else? I’m a rookie to this info… and dying to know the facts.

Since I live in NYC I’d hope we have at least one good reputable electrolygist here! Anyone from around here have suggestions?

As for the laser removal, does that price sound about right? Or would you recommend just doing the bikini and lower legs with them… and the more fine areas have done with electrolysis?

#4

I have always been confused by the whole professional waxing thing, since many places charge for waxing what electrologists charge for half and hour to a full hour of permanent hair removal.

#5

Well I do have my own professional waxing kit (A Gigi that cost about 150 if that helps). If I was my upper lip it lasts about a week, two weeks tops before I have to do it again. I do my own eyebrows as well… and probably always will as styles change with eyebrows. However, I don’t wax anywhere else because the hair is so thick that when it comes back I get ingrown hairs. It actually happens with simple shaving as well! I always have to deal with an ingrown hair or two!

#6

  • What areas have coarse hair? I’m assuming bikini, underarms, and legs?

  • For all the coarse hair, you can get great permanent results with laser. I did. You can read the FAQs I wrote and my personal story below.

  • Please do not consider signing up for $6K of laser treatments. It sounds like you went to one of the unfortunately many clinics who try to get as much up front as possible. Those are usually the same clinics that do not provide good results for their clients (You can also tell by the fact that they’re trying to sell you a full body package. Since laser only works on coarse hair, this is almost never necessary). You CAN get great results with laser, but you need to do some research first. Finding this forum is a great start for you already. Once you read the FAQs, you’ll get unbiased unformation that you’ll need to get good results.

  • Underarms cost about $50-100 per treatment and if you’re getting good treatments with good laser at good settings, you won’t need more than 5-8 treatments. I only needed 5 for 95% reduction. Regular bikini also costs $100 per treatment, up to $200-250 if you want everything gone. Keep in mind that treatments are spaced 2-3 months apart, so you can save money in between. Many reputable clinics only charge per treatment anyway.

  • Legs are more expensive because it’s such a large area. I chose to only have my lower legs done and it wasn’t that bad. $250 per treatment.

  • For any areas where you have fine hair, or any areas that need precision like upper lip and eyebrows, you will need electrolysis. I had it done on these areas. You can read about all that in my story below.

  • Please do not buy that useless Epila product or any other cheapy things. There are only two permanent methods: laser and electrolysis. Anyone who’s telling you otherwise is probably getting something out it. If you don’t want to spend money on laser (which I don’t think is that expensive for at least smaller areas like bikini and underarms) or electrolysis, just wax instead, and you can bleach the fine hair.

I had the exact same problems as you on bikini and underarms. In fact, I ONLY waxed because shaving always gave me ingrowns and a shadow. I can tell you that laser was the best thing I have done for these areas. And I only shave my legs maybe once every 2 weeks, and there are only a sparse hairs to shave. I also don’t worry about my eyebrows or upper lip at all since all the hair is gone after electrolysis.

#7

There are many good practiotners in New York City and they have been mentioned here before. If you do a search and have trouble finding good information, then come back and ask for help.

The act of waxing violently pulls hair from the skin. In response, the inflammation process starts, blood comes to the traumatized area to aggress any “intruders” and to start the healing process. With the increased blood supply comes other goodies like male hormones. If you are a hormonally vulnerable woman, which many of us are, then you are bringing “fertilizer” to the hair to nourish it over and over again with repeated waxing. Hair needs blood and hormones to grow, along with other complicated and perhaps unknown factors thrown into the mix. So, some temporary measures may cause hair structure to change for the worse as time goes by. Skin damage can result as well.

Presently, you could possibly afford electrolysis over laser and I am speaking of your upper lip only. A skilled micoflasher or picoflasher electrolysis can clear your upper lip and keep it cleared so waxing or bleaching is not a part of your hair removal efforts anymore. She/he will go after the thicker hairs first and then follow with the medium and the finer accelerated hairs. In my locale, cost is less than $500 spread out over a year or 8 to 20 appointments, depending on the amount of hair present. Sessions are usually around 20-30 minutes at a time. This is possible and within reach for you right now even though houses and weddings are expensive. If you eat out even once a week, you can exchange that activity for an electrolysis session. Electrolysis is permanent and money is spent for a short period of time in your lifespan. Eating is forever and the money keeps costing you money. Just a a perspective so you can think about money issues in a different way in order to justify spending money towards a goal that will bring you supreme self-confidence and satisfaction.

Dee

#8

I am also curious about the Epila… and before I found this site I actually purchased one, but don’t have it in hand yet.

The thing is, the Epila IS a laser. (Well, they SAY it is, anyway.) It’s supposed to be an 808nm laser diode based device. What’s not clear is what intensity it produces or how long the pulse duration is.

In theory, it could work. Laser diodes are actually pretty cheap and easy to obtain. There’s nothing that would prevent someone from creating a working home treatment device. (Given my engineering background, frankly I could design one myself without much effort.) In fact, it’s so easy to make a laser of the correct wavelength and duration and intensity, that the only thing standing in the way of doing so is… FDA approval. (Actually, I think it’s another branch that deals with lasers.) Which I doubt very much they have bothered to get, and who would probably NEVER approve this device for home use anyway, because someone would do something stupid with it for certain and also because the device doesn’t come with a week long training seminar. Ironically, it’s is quite legal to sell very powerful lasers as long as they are NOT medical devcies: see www.wickedlasers.com

Nevertheless, there’s no reason why it couldn’t work – and lots of reasons that it might not, like insufficient power, wrong spot size, wrong pulse width, etc., etc.

Commercial lasers have a larger spot size so the operator can do the job faster, I’m guessing, and to support the larger spot size they need many watts, and thus a very big laser. Laser diodes can’t deliver that kind of power. But for a very small spot size, diodes could work just fine. According to my research the spot size only has to be 4x the follicle size, so, even a laser diode should be able to cover that.

Finally, safety: normally you’d wear eye protection. It appears that they have purposely defocused the laser to help prevent eye injury, which means you must hold the device at a very specific distance, unlike a clinic laser. You’d have to point this straight at your eye to blind yourself… which you could certainly do, and I bet someone will, eventually. (“Hey, this damn thing doesn’t work. Let me peer inside and push the button…” ZAPP!) I just hope the focal point is inside the laser, and not OUTside of it.

So, besides probably being an illegally distributed medical device, and possibly not correctly designed, the real question is: IF the devices does produce the right intensity for the right pulse duration (a serious possibility), can someone at home learn to use it correctly without harming themselves?

Well, I’ve hunted around and found many negative reviews of people saying it left holes and burned their hair. That tells me two things: 1) it probably really is a laser, and 2) if this thing can work, probably most people who are using it are using it incorrectly, which means it might be possible to do it right and have it work.

However, I’ve also seen a two “positive” reviews that look like plants to me, as they discuss some nonsense about plugging the unit into a surge protector. (What BS.)

Well, as I already paid my fine for not finding this web site first, I thought I’d try it out on just a few hairs to see how it goes. If I had known just how pervasive fraud is in the industry, I probably would have passed. Too late now! If it’s garbage, maybe I can convert it into a campfire starter… :wink:

#9

Thanks for your inquisitive post. I totally agree with you, please let us know about your experience.

#10

Well, I have to apologize. First, I managed to talk the seller into refunding my money and not shipping me the unit by pointing out to him that the device is not FDA approved, and that the ad says it is a medical device, and that means the FDA will be all over him if he doesn’t watch out. So I can’t test it. (Yay! I got my $100 bucks back! Sometimes life doesn’t suck.)

In “good news”, it looks like this is probably just another in a long line of junk products. (At least, that’s what I gather from other posts on this board.)

Secondly, I was apparently wrong about the FDA never approving such a device because… lo and behold, the TRIA has been FDA approved February 7th! See http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS161970+07-Feb-2008+PRN20080207 Also, see http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/52233/New_Home_Laser_Device_TRIA.html for reviews. Everyone is saying it is not likely not going to be a permanent solution, but there hasn’t been enough time to know for sure yet.