Covered in Pepper spots, dead hairs stuck!!

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Its now been 3 weeks since my treatmennt on my arms and only a few hairs have sheddded but the majorty about %95 have been stuck in my skin and appear as black dots or almost like stubble but deeper in the skin. It gives the appearance like Ive shaved my arms and looks unpleasant.

The stuck hairs are dead, I know this because the mised areas have grown back but the stuck hairs have not moved, they only pop out if I squeeze the area like pimple but there are way too many for me to take on the task of squeezing and it leaves red marks and damges my skin if I do. My skin always seems to replenish and grow way too quickly over the pepper spots and covers them making it even more difficult for them to come out.

I have exfoliated everyday so far but it hasnt helped I need some help before its too late cause I can see this becoming a real problem. Thanks

#2

Hi Tech,

You feel that your exfoliating routine/product is not doing its job quickly enough for you.

Home skin care exfoliating is very healthy for skin but requires patience as you are using product that is marketed for consumers and not product that is administered or provided by skin care professionals.

Those (pepper spots) tombstones will eventually work their way out in time.

If they are too disturbing, then consider having a professional skin care person treat the problem.

What type of exfoliant are you currently using?

#3

Hi, thanks for your advise, so far Ive been using a loofah. Im relieved to know they will eventually come out on their own =D , what other home remedy’s can u recomend other than the loofah?

#4

What product are you putting on the loofah and then applying to your skin?

Loofah’s are natural sea sponges and we tell clients to stop using them as they harbor too much bacteria.

Find yourself an exfoliating body AHA product and apply as directed. Your pepper spots should work their way out faster.

If you like, you can email me.
skincare4all@gmail.com

#5

Thanks very much for your help, being a guy I dont know much about exfoliating, I just though exfoliating was rubbing down the area with a rough material to remove the top layer of skin particularly so the pepper spots didnt get covered up with skin.

So there are products I can use without scrubbing with a material like loofah I assume, I just had a quick check on the web for AHA, so its a product that helps with the exfoliating?

#6

Hiya Tech,

You can get many exfolaiting body washes and so on in your local super market from brands like St. Ives to Clinique (just because there more expensive won’t necessarily make them better).

I find a really good trick with my pepper spots is to use a good load of moisturiser on the area (I use E45) and go to bed like it, then when I wake up exfoiate the next morning. I guess the moisturiser helps “lubricate” the hairs pathway out and it generally seems to help get rid of those pesky little pepper spots quicker.

Kind regards,
Benji

#7

Yes, do get an exfoliating body wash (usually feels like there are beads on your skin – Aveeno has one for example) and soak the area for 10-15 mins in warm water (try this when taking a bath or a long shower). Then use this to scrub gently. There are exfoliating home methods. Do some searches here and on Google to find some home remedies.

In general, they will come out but take longer. Also, the rest will be burned off at your next treatment.

#8

Its now been over a month since my treatment but the hairs still havent shed. I have followed the advise given to me here since I posted this I have been moisturising before bed every night and in the morning I have been exfoliating using an exfoliating product containing a.h.a. and then moisturising again after but regardless there has been no improvement.

Im starting to get really concerened now, because the some of the hairs i thought were dead actually have grown back but they are very secure and will not come out even if i pull with tweesers they hurt as they are connected and alive at the root, it seems those hairs I thought were dead had gone into shock and stayed dorment since the treatment only to start growing back now. Some of the other hairs have also gone deeper into my skin and seem sorta faded now and the skin has grown over them so they are permanently stuck in there. last time that hapened and a few of the hairs decided to grow back I eneded up with ingrowns,pimples and scars

So my treatment this time seems to consists of about…

-%60 hairs that wont come out as they are stuck in my skin
-%30 hairs that I thought were dead but were actually alive and now growing back after a long dorment period.
-%9 missed patches of hair during the treatment that are now grown back to full length
-%1 of hairs that actually shed and have fallen out

Its a real mess I dont know what to do. When I contacted the operator who did the treatment and showed her that the stuck pepper spots she was rude about it and said that I weas obsessing over it too much and that it was all a part of the natural process and that maybe those pepper spots were new growing hairs. I mean how can they be new growing when I never experienced shedding. I had treatment last year in the same area wher with ipl I experinced full shedding within 3 weeks and had totaly smooth hairfree skin so how dare she treat me like im new to this and in a deceiving way. After squeezing one of them out and showing her they were dead hairs she still continued to make excuses and tried to make me feel bad for making an issue out of it.

The worst thing that can happen right now is if she claims that all those pepper spots I had right from the start are actually new growing hairs then i will lose out money on this treatment because my second treatment is aproaching and I dont want to go into it without experiencing any benefits or results from this last one. The only way to fix this is to count this treatment as a failure and treat me from the start again using an IPL this time as I had way better results with that compared to the Lumenis Light Sheer Diode Laser but from her atitude I doubt she would be willing to do that.

#9

You are really worried way too much about nothing. I know this doesn’t look great right now, but you’re getting results. The hairs that WERE treated ARE dead. Not all hairs shed. Some remain as pepperspots - it really varies per person. I had good shedding on my underarms, but my legs had pepperspots until the following treatment each time. They can take 2 months to go away or they are just killed on the next treatment. The growing hairs you are seeing are NEW hairs. They’re not the same hairs that were treated and started regrowing as you put it. It’s been about 5-6 weeks now, so new hairs are coming in. That’s normal. You’ll need another treatment at week 8-10 and that is when the pepperspots will be burned off too.

Btw, I don’t think I recommended moisturizing. That does nothing for the pepperspots. Exfoliating and scrubbing gently helps, but some can still remain.

Once again, this treatment is not a failure. If the hairs were not affected, they would be growing as usual starting day 1.

#10

I think you may have misunderstood me, you said it really varies per person but I did mention that previosuly when I had IPL in the same area I had %100 percent shedding and hair free period where as this time I had only about %1 (if any) and no hair free period. How can those hairs be new growing if the spot their growing from never actually became hairfree or shed?

Maybe I wasnt clear enough, im not talking about a few pepper spots, my whole arms are covered in peperspots almost every folicle that once had a hair in it appears as a black dot. It looks the same as someone shaving a thick coarse area with a razor leaving a stuble appearance, and this is the appearance ive been carrying for the past 1 month, I have even even been asked if I shaved my arms as it looks that way, so am I to think that this is all normal when I never had this sort of issue from the ipl treatyment I had last year?

You also mentioned that if the hairs werent killed off they would have started growing right away on day one, so are you saying its not possible for the treatment to damage the hairs just enought to stun them but not kill them? I only speculate this from what I can see. I came to the conclusion that if the treatment is effective the hairs die if its very ineffective they survive but is it also not possible to have a grey area where a treatment is semi effective and only stuns or damages the hair follicle only to rejuvinate later?

#11

With laser it damages the hair follicle but takes several treatments to permanently reduce the number of them.

Do you have any pictures? It would make it easier for us to be able to help you.

Regards,
Benji

#12

I had pepperspots on most of my legs the whole time until my following treatment 12 weeks later. I know how it is. Did you have IPL treatments on the same exact area?

If the follicles were damaged, they would also either shed or remain as pepperspots. They wouldn’t be growing as usual from day one. That happens with hairs/areas that were missed.

#13

Lagirl, yes I had ipl three times last year in the exact same area and each time after the treatment I experienced full shedding and was hairfree and no lasting pepperspots. Thats why Im concerened now because im not getting the same results as Im used to.

Benji Boy I will post those photos soon. Thanks again to everyone for helping

#14

Here are some pictures, The pepper spots you see have stayed that way unchanged for over a month now.

#15

If your able to zoom in to the images above taken yesterday (almost 6 weeks since treatment) you will see how badly my full arms are still covered with pepper spots. My arms have appeared this way since the treatment except for the longer hairs you see are a mixture of missed patches and new hair but almost every pore still has a hairs in it some dead some not, only a few hairs were actually shedded from the treatment.

#16

Yep those are just normal pepper spots, they are obviously more stubborn and simply won’t budge. I had a similar thing with my upper arms, however my hair isn’t as dark now but I still do get some that just don’t want to come out until theyr’e frazzled at the next treatment. As lagirl said, these simply get burnt out with the next treatment.

They do reduce after treatments for the majority of people, this is generally because the hair becomes weaker.

I can’t think of a reason why you experienced full shedding with IPL and not with diode, maybe some of the others could shed some light on this. Have you been seeing as reduction in the thickness of the hair growing through anyway?

Regards,
Benji

#17

Yep. I had the same thing on my legs. They got burned off on my following treatment.

The only reason I can think of why you experienced more shedding instead of pepperspots with the IPL may be because the hair was more coarse when you first started treatments, not because it was an IPL since the shedding effect is the same whether it’s an IPL or laser. When the hair is more coarse, it tends to shed better. My underarms and bikini hair always shed almost 100% compared to my legs where the hair was finer and the majority was left as pepperspots for example.

#18

Ok thanks, I will try and be more patient with it even though I dont like the way it looks at the moment I will wait for my next treatment.

#19

That’s the spirit Tech :slight_smile:

#20

I am in the exact same position as you on my thighs, it feels rather like stubble and i would say 95% of hairs have not shed but they also have not grown (apart from missed patches) - it has been 3 - 4 weeks since my treatment.

whereas alternative areas have 90 - 95% complete shedding since week 1 - 2.

i will follow your advice given here, but in the mean time can i shave these ‘pepper spots’ to make my legs all smooth, i dont actually mind it but the ladies will :stuck_out_tongue: