Depigmentation of beard hairs after laser

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello,

I hope this hasn’t been covered before, I did a search and read the faq but the search terms used are pretty generic.

Anyway, I had laser treatment for the first time recently in order to remove my beard. That was about 1.5 weeks ago and I’ve just started shedding.

I’m curious about one thing though. After shaving, I see white hairs sticking out which don’t seem to react to the razor, I assume that’s because they’re just sitting there and sink back in as it passes over the skin.
These hairs are falling out gradually, and I notice that they’re completely white except at the root where they’re black (even singed).

Is the laser taking the pigment out of the hair somehow? It seems to be falling out anyway but I was just curious as I’ve never seen this mentioned before.

Obviously, my beard hair isn’t originally white :slight_smile:

Thanks.

#2

how old are you? what laser is being used? how many hairs are white? do all of them have dark roots, or at least the ones you’ve pulled out?

#3

I’m 36.

I’m afraid I can’t tell you what the laser is, I looked at it and promptly forgot, the operator came recommended by several different people so I didn’t look too deeply into it. I’ll pay more attention next time.

Not all hairs are white, many (most even) are black. But all the white ones I’ve seen have the dark roots (I find them on my fingers mainly when I rub/touch my face)and seem to surface after shaving.

#4

Did they shave the area before lasering? Do you have some gray hairs starting to appear on your head etc in general? a few people have noted here in the past that laser turned a few of their hairs white. however, those hairs fall out anyways, especially if the root is dark. so it’s not something I would worry about.

#5

I was more curious than worried. They are falling out, it’s just strange to see all these hairs turn white. As I’m shaving every day I’ve reached a point now, where I’m mostly finding black roots with a speck of white on them anyway.

As far as gray hairs go, I can find a couple if I search for half an hour :slight_smile:
I shaved myself, about an hour before getting lasered.

Thanks!

#6

can you take a picture? i know sslhr wanted to see some pictures of hair turning white as he hasn’t seen it in his experience. also, keep in mind that these hairs could have been there all along, like on your head, and you just didn’t notice with all the dense dark growth around. people start paying a lot more attention to each hair when they’re getting treatments.

#7

I just decided to go back and review some of my medical assisting training. As stated in a previous topic, the book stated that White hair comes from Air Bubbles in the hair shaft.
I would like it if someone could explain what is going on. Until then, I can only form my own opinions.
Is it due to laser heating the shaft more than the papilla and creating air bubbles in the shaft instead of heating the papilla enough to kill. This is again why I am questioning depth so much in my mind. I really want to investigate this further.
I know with insulated probes and Radio Frequency that I can pinpoint exactly where I wish the heat to generate. I know that if I apply heat to just the surface, I can cause the skin to turn white. Does this mean that I could possibly turn hair white, but not inserting a probe deep enough to reach the bulb, and thus cause air to bubble inside the hair shaft. How much heat would be required to generate air bubbles inside a hair shaft. Can this be done without harming things like the sebaceous glands, or nerve endings. Is there a posibility that instead of using chemicals on a womans hair, we could create a permanent blonde. Gee, this has posibilities. Maybe even for those who like streaked hair, just treat certain groups of hair.
OK., back to being serious again.
lagirl,
When a client tells me that they did not have white hairs prior to laser, I cannot disagree that may have been the case. I accept the clients word, unless I saw the skin previously. In which case, I could personally vouch for the change.

#8

We’ve had people come in and tell us that they didn’t use to have white hairs and now they have some. And of course, the only thing different is that they lasered.

But in almost all the cases, they are in their mid 30s or a little older and if you look carefully at areas where they haven’t lasered (like the sideburns) you see isolated white hairs inbetween all the black hairs.

#9

sslhr;
In the cases I have spoken about, they are not velous hairs by any means. They are very thick deep Terminal Hairs. In the case of laser on the Red Head, vertually every hair turned pure white after 3 treatments. I searched really hard to find a single hair that had any kind of pigmentation on her entire face, and found maybe one or two, and they were still lighter in color than her skin.
After showing her the entire shafts were white and not just the part you can see above the hair, she agreed that Laser was not going to do her anymore good, and has been coming to me since. Treatment is going very well and she is extremely happy with my service, and tells just about everyone she knows.

#10

I’m sorry, I was away for a few days, I just saw this.
I’ll try and get a picture but I’m not seeing many white hairs anymore. At the worst, I’ll remember to do it after my next session.

If I examine areas like sideburns and beard areas that are still dense, I can’t see any white hairs. There are blonde ones, but they’re not the same pure white colour the ones I was talking about had, they still have pigment albeit a light one. There are also reddish hairs.

I’m expecting to have to finish the treatment with electrolysis for these ones.