Facial hair removal (18 year old w/ pics)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

Everyone, I have decided to quit. The doctor called me for a consultation and strongly recommended that I cancel my treatments because he says I will end up with a patchy shadow on my face.

He explained that because hairs are so close together on a male face and because whatever the laser beam heats up and destroys will also heat up surrounding tissue, so the blood vessels around the follicle will spill out and darken over time under the skin, leaving permanent hyperpigmentation.

I asked him if this could be corrected by a laser later, he said no. In a condescending tone he asked why I think damage could be fixed by a laser if the laser caused that damage in the first place. Hey, thats what I thought too, but if a laser can reduce spider veins, how is this different?

But the pretense behind him not wanting to treat me is because he said he thinks i’m aggressive, do not know what i’m getting myself into and generally doesnt feel comfortable treating me after the previous time I scheduled a consultation and asked him which settings he used and all the questions you guys told me to ask. And he said the technician complained about having “unusual conversations” with me.

So I canceled future treatments and decided to do electrolysis, which the doctor also encouraged.

If what he says is true, then I dont wanna have to deal with hyperpigmentation, but I do want a second opinion. What do you guys think? Is it common on male faces? He said over half of males getting LHR on their face experience it and that im very likely to be one of them.

Fuck it i’ll just do electrolysis. Im somewhat pissed at spending the $250 but I am pleased that the most pain-in-the-ass region to shave is now bald, and I dont know but I also think there has been some uniform hair removal because my face is a little easier to shave than before.

Since there is no electrolysis FAQ, can anyone suggest what questions I should ask and what settings to look for?

#22

Electrolysis will be a fine option for you, and there are no settings you really need to know, since the modality and machine will vary from practitioner to practitioner. What you need to do in order to find out if the settings are successful on you is schedule a consultation and have her remove a few test hairs. After zapping them, she will remove them with tweezers and if this removal feels like “plucking” or has pain, then it’s a very bad sign. But if the hair slides right out and you don’t feel the pain of tweezing, then all is well. If your skin irritation/reaction isn’t unreasonably bad with whatever energy level she tried, and you are happy with her speed, then congratulations! You’ve found your electrologist! It’s much easier than picking out a laser clinic, in my opinion.

Although I’m skeptical of the laser doctor’s comments. I don’t know how he can tell you you’ll get hyper-pigmentation in advance like that (do you already have anything like that?) It already sounded like he wasn’t a good choice based on a lot of things, so if you’re really disappointed, try another clinic with a really good laser and better technicians for a treatment. You will probably notice the difference in shedding and be happier. But if your skin is experiencing a negative reaction in any way, then don’t mess with it and stick to electrolysis.

#23

AM I stupid? I looked at your pictures and I’m wondering why you had treatment with a Yag laser. Wouldn’t an alexandrite laser be better. I’m thinking that you are a good candidate for an alex and after several treatments you could finish or refine with electrolysis…

I think the doctor is spooked for some reason.

We can’t give levels for electrolysis. Electrolysis is far more technically complicated to perform and treatment energy varies from individual to individual from week to week. Epilators vary, probe size varies and skill of the operator varies. You need several consults and short treatments to help you decide who yo will trust. Go to www.electrology.com and read the FAQ’s page. Read as much as you can here as well.

From what I see, the laser first option would be fine. Electrolysis can do a fine job as well, but not all practitioners specialize in male beard removal, so be observant.

Dee

#24

Dee, I was thinking the exact same thing!! It’s what I had in mind when I suggested he try a better laser for him, but I didn’t want to make a specific recommendation in case I was misreading his photos.

#25

Needless to say, I vote he just get on with the electrolysis, especially if he can get it done with someone with both skill and speed.

I could probably clear him out in a day or three depending on how much fuzz we are talking, and how close together it is. Then he would have 2 to 3 weeks without shaving, and a 20% permanent reduction from just the one full clearance.

#26

The doctor told you that because YAG isn’t right for your skin type, to get decent results he would need to crank up the joules and then might hurt your skin in the process.

In general every machine that will be set too strong may damage your skin, that’s why you want the best possible suited machine for your skin which means either Alex or Diode.

#27

James could get you a first clearance in 20 hours or so. If you can get to him, James could be your only source of hair removal. A great electrologist can handle it all, but a combination of laser first followed by electrolysis will work as well, only IF you are are good candidate for laser hair reduction.

#28

Thanks for all the advice again. No I didnt notice any shadow on my treated areas, but he said it takes time, so maybe in the future. I would find another clinic but the problem is that I live in a small town which only has a couple laser clinics, and the one I was at was probably the most credible one there, which is why I chose it. The other one I called is more expensive, and they advertise their store as laser tattoo removal, and seems hair removal is only a secondary service of theirs.

And so far I only found one electrologist in the city who is a certified doctor, and the only one that www.electrolysis.ca recognizes and recommends.

But I guess my biggest problem is that im living in a town full of retards and cant really fit in. I was raised in a big city and my parents only moved here recently. So i guess theres a cultural difference between me and most of these hicks here, so communication is kinda off.

Oh well, ill book an appointment with an electrologist and see how the test spots go.

James could get you a first clearance in 20 hours or so. If you can get to him, James could be your only source of hair removal. A great electrologist can handle it all, but a combination of laser first followed by electrolysis will work as well, only IF you are are good candidate for laser hair reduction.

What??? It would take 20 hours for one session on my face? Please tell me youre fucking joking…

#29

Murach: 20 hours if you used James (who is very fast). Could be many times longer with a normal-speed or slower electrologist. Now you see why some of us still prefer laser for large areas despite the guaranteed success of electrolysis.

For what it’s worth, I’d bet anything that a laser tattoo-removal place would be infinitely more skilled and knowledgeable with a laser than a doctor whose training is in medicine (they don’t teach this stuff in med school, so all he knows he learned from the manufacturer of the machine when he bought it most likely, whereas the tattoo place probably has real training with lasers from a vocational school). So if you want to at least consult with them and let us know what laser they will use and what settings, we can tell you if they’re a better bet. Seriously, I can speak from experience, actual doctors tend to suck at using lasers- it’s not their area of expertise, so what can you expect from them? They are unreasonably conservative with settings, they miss huge patches because they don’t overlap well, and they get arrogant and defensive if you ask them to do something differently. It’s not their main income, so they have little incentive to be thorough or spend the necessary years studying the technology. They do the bare-minimum learning necessary to use their machine and that’s IT.

#30

Okay, I can never seem to get a hold of the electrologist because her answering machine is on whenever I get back from work which is around 3 PM. That and I am not spending 100 hours and paying probably $40 an hour for treatment. $4000? Fuck that.

I called the tattoo place and voiced my concerns about the hyperpigmentation issue when it comes to male faces, and she told me that the laser she uses, an IPL9 which she said has a wavelength between 650-750 doesnt draw blood up into the skin unlike the YAG. I asked her if she has ever treated a male face before and how many, she couldnt remember off the top of her head but she said over a hundred. She said she never caused hyperpigmentation on any of her male clients, but said most of them had blonde hair.

That raised a couple flags. I thought blonde hair wasnt affected by laser?

I know the last doc’s main income was not hair removal, but this is actually more comforting, because he had the balls to elaborate on one of the things on the contract I agreed to sign which was vague on the paper cuz it just said “you may experience some shadowing” but despite that he went into great lengths to explain why his treatments may not be in my best interest, despite that he would lose a customer. He told me that he has to sleep at night, and cant if he has to live with ruining someones life.

But if its this tattoo place’s main source of income, it would be their primary incentive to keep me as a customer and trick me into staying if necessary, despite possible complications. And when she said she treats blonde hair… my trust kinda collapsed.

What do you guys think? Does anyone have more information on hyperpigmentation? Are there any other guys that had their face done and didnt experience it?

#31

Yeah, the blonde hair thing is a red flag, and IPL isn’t great anyway. It was worth a phone call, though. You should find an Alex laser if you can, seriously.

If you can’t find another laser clinic, then electrolysis is your only other option. $40 per hour is incredibly cheap for professional electrolysis (I’ve never hear of rates so low in my life, the lowest I had heard of was $50). So if you have a talented electrologist charging you 40 bucks, you’ve got a great deal on your hands (assuming she is relatively fast, if she’s slow then of course it’s a bad bargain).

#32

Its not IPL, thats just the name of the machine. The crystal splits the beams and can emit a laser as well as IPL. She said blonde hair isnt permanently removed, just reduced.

#33

Oh, I see. Well I would ask LAgirl because she knows all the lasers and can tell you what works and what doesn’t, and what settings you would need. If they did everything right, then it still might work for you, even if they are exaggerating about their claims for blonde hair. Sounds risky to me, personally.

Sorry you’re having so much drama. :\

#34

Why else would they call the machine IPL if it wasn’t using IPL technology?

Also, the wavelength you said screams IPL too.

Don’t you have any diode machines in your area? Lightsheer? Soprano? Kinda hard to believe.

#35

UGH my bad again, it is IPL. I called the technician again and got a clarification, she just confused the shit out of me because she kept referring to it as a laser, or a type of laser, not to mention that their company advertises one of their services as “laser hair removal”

I am NOT having IPL done on my face, especially by a company that claims to be able to disable blonde hair, LOL.

I did find a plastic surgeon in the phonebook that does laser hair removal though, so I left a message. I trust this guy more because hes a certified plastic surgeon, but now I am worried about the cost. Do you think he would charge more than a common LHR clinic?

#36

My first laser place was a plastic surgeon. It was not expensive (in fact it was tied for the lowest cost out of all the clinics I looked into). But I had an awful experience: since his main income was surgery, he only did laser one day a month and if you missed the day, you had to wait another month.

Also he missed such huge patches of hair and promised me free touch ups on missed spots, but then decided he didn’t want to touch it up and I had to fight with him. You see, when he makes $100,000 per surgery, he really doesn’t want to take time out of his lucrative day to re-treat a customer who is only paying a few hundred bucks. He’d rather lose me as a customer than reschedule a boob-job.

Not saying all plastic surgeons will do that, but just make sure you know the treatment schedule and get the option of free touch ups in writing.

#37

Schedule is not a problem, since my town is so small everything is close by. My workplace is on the opposite side of the town from where I live and it only takes an hour to walk there, lol.

Thanks for the info.

#38

Do you know how many of my competitors are doctors and use IPL? I would probably trust none doctors more when it comes to LHR.

#39

Yeah exactly, if it’s a doctor 99% it’s IPL because they buy their machines to treat skin conditions. Anyone that does laser 1 day a month also is renting their machine from another clinic and doesn’t own it as well. Assuming you’re an ideal candidate, light skin coarse dark hair, the ideal would be:

Alexandrite > Diode > Yag > IPL

With IPL being an extreme last resort if nothing else is available and you wanted to give it a try.

#40

For the record: The place I mentioned that gives treatments monthly doesn’t rent their machine. They do own it. There are six offices for the same doctor, and it gets shuffled between them (but only the surgeon himself ever does the treatment, nobody else uses the machine no matter which office you get your treatment at).