Daughter just getting started with laser

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

edokid: My brain must really be malfunctioning and/or I am on serious overload…There was no hair because it was SHAVED,duh! We will see how things go with the shedding in the next few weeks.

AND,I will definitely ask about the spot size again-maybe she did not understand my question or maybe my brain was malfunctioning again and I misheard. Anyway, in 3 weeks or so I will call and schedule her next appointment. I really hope this works for my daughter. I feel like I have cursed her with this hair problem since I too suffer from it… and it has been very painful to feel so abnormal.

#22

Did you actually do a treatment or just test patch? Sounds like treatment to me. You’ll want to watch for a few things. Usually around day 7 or so the hair will start to fall out. It’s going to look like the laser didn’t work until then though, the hair will look like it’s growing and if you pull them they won’t budge. Around day 7-10 pulling on the hair it should just slide right out. It can take 2-3 weeks for full shedding then you should be completely hair free.

At the 3 week mark what you’re going to want to look for is a few things. The first is if the hair actually shed. If it didn’t, then you have problems and the settings weren’t high enough. If it does shed, you’re going to want to make sure that it’s complete shedding and that there’s no missed spots. If there are, the clinic should redo these for free since you did pay for them and they missed them. Now keep in mind shedding doesn’t mean that it’s working, but it is a good sign. If the settings are too low, hair will still shed but it may not be disabled permanently. That’s why we keep saying it’s so important to deal with the pain and be treated as high as possible, because high settings are what kill hair. Did you daughter mention how it felt, did she say it was painful or anything?

#23

Coolglide is a good machine and 46J is a good setting even if pulse width is on the higher side. The spot size is likely around 12mm. I would ask though. Ask for spot size in mm (likely either 9mm and 12mm and not adjustable on this machine) and pulse width in ms. (somewhere between 5ms and 100ms).

Let us know how shedding goes. Now that you’re committed, you really need to make sure they overlap properly and don’t miss spots.

Judym, would love to hear about your experience with PPX. The industry overall considers is sort of a gimmick. We have yet to see a report by anyone with results from it.

Also, there are no reports of any results on fine hair with ANY laser. This is something that clinics say is possible, but consumers never see. Finer hair doesn’t have enough pigment for laser.

#24

How old does a girl have to be to get laser? My daughter is 12. She shaves everyday. She’s like snow white – white skin, dark coarse black hair.

#25

Vegas: If she’s only 12, then a lot of her hair hasn’t grown in yet. Most hair develops after puberty (up until early twenties). If you pay for laser now, you will probably need to re-treat much of the hair in a few years. I would personally wait until most of the hormone fluctuations of puberty are over (maybe around 16 or 17 would be good), and the little bits of hair that grow in after that should be minimal and treatable with a few minutes of electrolysis.

#26

There is no age limit as long as the parent signs.

The hair needs to be coarse and dense like bikini and underarm hair. Does she have that everywhere?

#27

This is the information I wrote down after my daughter’s first treatment: 46 joules, 20 m/s, 1 hz. I don’t understand what the m/s or the hz measure–can someone help. I called again to ask about the spot size. I spoke to the same girl who sold me the package but does not do LHR for hair removal (she does some other type of facial treatment but did share that she had LHR on her upper lip and underarms). She said she did not know but needed to look it up but asked why I wanted to know and asked if I was a nurse. I told her that I am not a nurse and I wanted to be a better consumer and learn as much as possible about the treatment my girl is getting. I think she was puzzled and a little annoyed??

#28

I don’t know why they get annoyed, it’s not like it’s hard information to provide. The only reason I can see them being annoyed is if they use shoddy settings. Not saying they do, but for example my tech told me she used to lease her extra machine to other clinics. She then found out that the other clinics realized if they use lower settings when treating customers, it takes longer for them to get results so they get more money. She was pissed so she stopped that as soon as she found out and won’t lease them out anymore. So my thoughts are if they’re treating you properly, it shouldn’t matter if they give you the information. On the other hand though to be fair as well, I think most consumers getting laser doesn’t really know what they’re doing. They just go, get treated, most times at too low settings, get bad results and that’s that. So chances are they just aren’t used to people asking such specific technical questions and can’t understand why someone would want them. At the end of the day though you’re paying them for treatment, it not like you’re asking some really unreasonable request…

#29

This isn’t any different than your doctor explaining to you the procedure you need to get. Yes, you’re not a doctor, but yes, you can also understand the basics of the treatment you’re getting.

m/s means milliseconds and refers to the speed with this the pulses are applied. The lower the number, the more effective the treatment (and thus more chance for burning of course) because more heat is being applied to the follicle within a specific period of time.

#30

LA girl: Do you think the pulse speed that they are using will be effective?
edokid: I understand that LHR is a business and I understand that there are some unethical folks out there but I am glad to know that there are others in the field that truly want to help and provide a service with the best results. The lady at the clinic told me that I was the first person ever to ask about settings and joules. I give a great, big THANK YOU to all of you on this forum for sharing your knowledge!! I wish I had been better educated about laser when I had LHR on my face. It was some time ago (7-9 years ago)and I knew nothing and I got NO results. I am just thankful that it did not stimulate new growth.

#31

For a type V skin, it’s probably ok. Generally, you want someone experienced who will know to test the skin to decide how high they can go safely, i.e. high joules, low pulse combo that is still safe, but is most aggressive. This machine goes down to 5ms I think…maybe 10ms at least. I forget.

#32

So…my daughter went 2 days ago and had LHR on her left leg. The nurse did not change the settings, she kept them at 46 joules and 20 ms; I still do not know the spot size. I asked her to consider higher joules and she said no but will increase power next time. The treatment took about 1 hour 15 minutes. My daughter said it was painful but more so near her ankles. She will have the right leg done in 5 days and the nurse said she will also treat the stomach again on that day, but I don’t think my daughter needs a treatment yet; first and second treatment on stomach will only be 3 weeks apart. Also, daughter is not shedding yet, why is she not shedding??

#33

Hi imokay - it sounds like currently she is just over 2 weeks since her first stomach treatment. I have found that shedding of finer hairs (such as my arms) took longer than coarse hairs (such as underarms and bikini).

Please wait until she gets shedding and then the next growth cycle comes through before having a second stomach treatment. If she doesn’t shed by week 3-4 then something is wrong and maybe you need to test patch higher settings before going ahead and pay for a full treatment - you need to make sure it’s going to work.

#34

Thanks stoppit. I will postpone the stomach treatment and I will keep an eye on the shedding and hope something happens in the next couple of weeks.

#35

75 min for a single leg, sounds a lot.
Not comparing to the machine you use though, comparing to the Soprano.

#36

odi, I agree. Both my legs took less than 1.5hrs.

However, for my sister, I know it will take longer by maybe 30-45mins as waxing her legs takes a lot more time.

It also depends on the spot size and how fast the treatment was going. Perhaps because imokay’s daughter is young, it was done at a slower pace. Could be a good thing because slower usually means less missed patches.

#37

It would be helpful to know the spot size. It could have taken that long because it is very small. That would make a difference in effectiveness of settings.

I did half legs and both together took about 45 mins. So full legs should take about 1.5 hrs. I had it done with an 18mm spots size though.

I would wait on the stomach until there is hair to treat. Sometimes the hair also just evaporates when it’s finer and you don’t see actual shedding. Legs don’t always see actual shedding either since the hair tends to be finer. They also often see pepperspots, which is normal.

#38

Thanks for everyone’s input. The leg did take a long time and it appears to me that the spot size is small b/c I watched and I remember thinking to myself this is gonna be a l-o-n-g process. The lady does not seem rushed at all but I think she was pretty tired at the end of the session. Anyway, I will absolutely ask about the spot size next time; they don’t seem to understand my question when I ask but it might be b/c the staff’s primary language is Chinese? LAgirl: my daughter’s hair on tummy and legs are coarse so I don’t think it evaporated but I do see stubble on the tummy–does that mean we are getting closer to shedding?

#39

Just give it 3 weeks and you’ll see whether it sheds. It’s really impossible to tell at this point.

It would help to call and ask for the spot size. It’s the size of the tip of the laser.

#40

Well you said it’s a Cutera CoolGlide and based on the website it has a 10mm spot size. It definitely wouldn’t be smaller than 10.

http://www.cutera.com/technology/ndyag-laser/coolglide-laser/?PHPSESSID=2cl2t21fiobs5ujaooe2ior9i2