Electrolysis or Alexandrite laser on face

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi, my name is Emily.
I have type III skin with very dark hair. I was recently researching hair removal methods and had pretty much decided to go with a laser hair removal place near my house that have fairly good prices and a GentleLASE (Alexandrite) laser.

Then I found this forum, with people in the laser hair removal forum recommending that people get electrolysis on their face rather than laser. I have fairly coarse, dark hair on my upper lip, though I’ve never allowed it to grow out.

I live in Adelaide, and doing searches on the internet have not proven fruitful - finding laser was hard enough, there seems to be one alex laser, one diode place, and then about 7 others who don’t even mention what sort of lasers they use (and I suspect most are IPL/VPL solutions instead). I’ve had even more trouble finding electrolysis places, and have heard that electrolysis is quite expensive in Australia and that practitioners aren’t very qualified.

My question is: as a person with quite pale skin and very dark hair, is laser a safe enough that I should go for it, or should I hold out to find an electrolysis place, bearing in mind it might cost twice as much (the laser place near me does treatments at ~$40 (AUD), maybe 35 american :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

#2

Hi emilily! Welcome! :slight_smile:

Do you have a photo that might give us an idea of the hair? Laser may work for you if the hair is quite coarse (like men’s hair or armpit hair or lower leg hair), but especially at the outer corners of the lips I would worry about induced growth. For this area, it is always a gamble.

#3

Thank you! Well the hair is dark and quite thick, it is definitely a good candidate for laser and I guess if I have only a bit of induced growth, at least I can get the full effect by finding out more about electrolysis. I have a lot of vellus hair on my chin, and a few terminal hairs, and was intending to have electrolysis at some point in the future - but its something I find much easier to live with than dark hair.

I will book a consultation with the GentleLASE place and find out what they say. I’ve got some good ideas of what to ask them after looking around on this site!