Doesn't get better?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello,

I am having doubts about the progress of my arms LHR. I have three sessions so far, using GentleLase, 18 mm, 14j (for the first two treatments and 16j for the third one). After the third treatment, I feel like the hairs became more active! New hairs grew back much quicker than the first two treatments (I had this reaction in every other body part where i had LHR, hairs were more active after 3rd treatment) I did not take a picture of the hairs, but if it helps, when I shave the hair there is still a shadow. Maybe only 10% of the hairs are gone :frowning:

Should I stop? Am I being under-treated? I would appreciate the help :frowning:

#2

arm hair is very rarely the type of hair which LHR is capable of removing. I had LHR and it was really successful at removing black, very thick terminal hair. It did not remove my black terminal hair which was not as thick.

Other than that, the treatment is pretty weak. It doesn’t matter because I sincerely doubt your arm hair is a candidate for LHR.

#3

Uhhhh… 18mm/16J is actually a very powerful setting on the Gentlelase. How long are you waiting between treatments? You shouldn’t be going until around 8 weeks after treatment. If those settings aren’t working, your arm hair is probably not thick enough (which sounds a little surprising given that you said there’s a shadow after shaving.)

#4

He said 14j for first two treatments…

#5

14J isn’t that bad either. Obviously 16J is better, but 14J is effective

#6

I would disagree, with the type of hair which is usually found on arms higher joules would be more effective.
And to OP, the general advice is, don’t go back for another LHR session until you have enough hair worth treating. After a session, all hair should shed and you should experience hair free intervals. It might be up to three months before you have enough hair to go back for a session. Treatments need to be strong enough to be effective. They still wont be effective if you don’t have the necessary skin and hair conditions.

I have black hair and very pale skin. I had LHR with the last session three years ago. I had permanent removal of thick black hair but not thinner terminal (still black!) hair.

The other thing which could be happening is the removal of terminal hair but other hair left over which you did not notice before because of the density of the thicker hairs.

If you’re not a good candidate for laser, electrolysis may be your friend.

#7

I didn’t say that higher joules wouldn’t be more effective – in fact, I agreed it is. 14J is not too low as a number of posters here have gotten results with 14J (less than that I agree with you would be too low, but 14J can be effective)

#8

Thank you both for your replies. I knew my arm hair LHR would not be as effective as say my lower legs. However, I went to a few doctors and they all said I should be getting good enough results with a lot of the hair will be gone and the rest will be very fine. But, it’s been three sessions and as I said, I still see black dots when I shave.

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If you’ll need to see a picture with the hair grown I can post that in a few days too. But, I figured if the hair isn’t thin enough not to show a shadow, then it must be coarse enough for laser? After each session, all the hair fell and I waited 9 - 11 weeks (till all the hair grew). If my first two treatments were too week, does this mean I should have a couple of more sessions with 16j or just stop now? :frowning: although it’s expensive, I’m willing to do it if it means I get rid of the dots! I don’t expect 100% clearance.

Also, is there an explanation why all the body areas treated with laser became more active in hair growth after sessions#3?

#9

When the hair grows out, are those black dots still there? If so, those are most likely pepper spots. They’re really annoying, but they will eventually fall out