First Comet Treatment!

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Just got back from first comet treatment. I did the hands, and it was a pretty enjoyable experience. Here’s the info:

About me: I am a skin type III, even though my hands are pretty pale. When I told her that my mom is middle eastern, she wanted to move me up on the skin chart to a III-IV.

http://www.hairtell.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/26034/an/0/page/0#26034

Settings: 30J Laser; 50RF

Cool Air Machine: Setting 2

Time: About 10 min

Price: $99

Pain: The RN did about 4 test firings and I felt nothing. She kept cranking it up til I felt a slight snap. It wasn’t painful at all. A little uncomfortable as the sensation is like nothing I have ever felt before. Some say its like having a rubberband snapped against the skin, I didn’t think it felt like that. It was more like a small electrical shock on the skin. And for some reason the left hand was more sensitive to the laser than the right.

Its been about an hour since my treatment and my hands look fine. A couple of small red spots, but nothin else. They still feel a little numb, but I didn’t use any numbing cream…

One thing tho, she was doing the side of my right hand and she had trouble keeping the piece flat on the skin and it made a snap sound. Hurt a little bit. She said that when the head piece isn’t kept flush with the skin, thats what causes arc burns. But nothin has shown up on my skin yet as far as burns go…

So far the only thing I have to complain about is since I didnt do my arms, it looks like I am wearing hair sleeves!

I took some before and aftere pics. THey aren’t the best of quality, but they might help:
[image]http://www.geocities.com/gdubber2002/IMG_0452.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.geocities.com/gdubber2002/IMG_0458.jpg[/image]

gdubber2002

#2

Thanks for the update! So far so good. The Aurora would cause arc burns sometimes, even when the RF rails were flush against the skin. The arc burns I had were not severe and healed up fine. I only had 2.

After 3 weeks you may want to try the tape to coax the tombstones out. Tombstones are dead hairs that just sit there and won’t come out by themselves.

RJC2001

#3

Keep the updates coming! Do you plan on doing your arms?

#4

Thanks for the update! So far so good. The Aurora would cause arc burns sometimes, even when the RF rails were flush against the skin. The arc burns I had were not severe and healed up fine. I only had 2.

After 3 weeks you may want to try the tape to coax the tombstones out. Tombstones are dead hairs that just sit there and won’t come out by themselves.

Yea, I had read about the arc burns before I went in. Its been about 8hrs. post treatment and my skin looks and feels great. I am not too worried about arc burns, the RN said they usually blister up and go away within a week or two. But so far no signs of any burns.

I will definately try the tape, I remember reading about that in a previous post of yours, so I was already planning on doing that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Keep the updates coming! Do you plan on doing your arms?

The arms…
I am so torn about arms. I don’t know whether I want to do them or not. As you can see in the pic above i left the arm hair alone, and when I got home I realized it just looked to silly so I shaved them. And what I worried about was exactly what happened. I fell in love with the smooth look and feel. I have to say my arms look, and feel great with no hair on them. At first i was just thinking about thinning the arm hair, but now I want to get rid of all of it. Just not sure at this point. Probably will end up doing it, but kinda wanna see how the hands go first. I really don’t want the forearms to be patchy because I don’t plan on shaving them for the rest of my life.

I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress. I plan on doing chest/abs soon too. Hopefully this comet will be the answer. Best wishes!

gdubber2002

#5

Trust in your tech, I have thought about thinning the arms out - I would not want to go completely smooth! So far I’ve seen a good reduction on chest and abs - looks natural no patchiness. I am considering doing arms at some stage. Tell you gets a little addictive!

#6

I have thought about thinning the arms out - I would not want to go completely smooth!

Thats what I thought at first too. But after shaving them today, holy %@, its awesome. I am really loving the smooth arms. So at this point I am considering either leaving them alone, or going for the whole shabang. It’ll be a lot of work getting them completely hairless tho.

#7

Your approach is exactly the direction i would like to take. I want to laser my hands, which I shave already anyways. For some lame reason my arms and hands got hairy when I turned 27…kind of late don’t you think? Anyways, I also worry about the appearcence of having no hair on my hands versus lots of hair on my arms. It already looks studpid after shaving my hands alone, but I have been doing it for a while so I notice it less. My hair is much coarser then yours. It is not black, however, it is a lighter brown, tinged with a little red. I understand this makes me less of a candidate for laser, but I still want to give it a try. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get rid of the “hair sleeve” look after shaving my hands?..I already trim my arm hair and that helps a little, but my hair is so coarse that I just feel like i am doomed. Maybe laser will make my hand hair lighter so it will blend a bit better.

#8

Your approach is exactly the direction i would like to take. I want to laser my hands, which I shave already anyways. For some lame reason my arms and hands got hairy when I turned 27…kind of late don’t you think? Anyways, I also worry about the appearcence of having no hair on my hands versus lots of hair on my arms. It already looks studpid after shaving my hands alone, but I have been doing it for a while so I notice it less. My hair is much coarser then yours. It is not black, however, it is a lighter brown, tinged with a little red. I understand this makes me less of a candidate for laser, but I still want to give it a try. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get rid of the “hair sleeve” look after shaving my hands?..I already trim my arm hair and that helps a little, but my hair is so coarse that I just feel like i am doomed. Maybe laser will make my hand hair lighter so it will blend a bit better.

One thing I have already noticed, is not to shave down to the wrist. Keep some hair on the hand by the wrist, as this hair is usually lighter and finer. It helps give it a much more natural, progessive look. I made the mistake of shaving up to high on my hands/wrist area, so I just shaved the whole arm. Actually, unless I decide on doing the whole arms with laser, I am hoping that I just get a reduction of hand hair, not all of it gone. Right now I am just waiting to see how the sheeding goes, its only been a day since treatment, so I have to wait and see how much the laser affected it.

P.S. There is always electrolysis too. They target each hair one at time and should be able to help thin out the arm hair by targeting the thicker ones, though results will take a lot longer.

#9

unfortunately my hair gets darker and coarser down towards my wrist and hands…I have real hairy hands, in fact I don’t even know how hairy they are, because I have been shaving them for so long, and I continue to get more body hair every year.

#10

The arms…
I am so torn about arms. I don’t know whether I want to do them or not. As you can see in the pic above i left the arm hair alone, and when I got home I realized it just looked to silly so I shaved them. And what I worried about was exactly what happened. I fell in love with the smooth look and feel. I have to say my arms look, and feel great with no hair on them. At first i was just thinking about thinning the arm hair, but now I want to get rid of all of it. Just not sure at this point. Probably will end up doing it, but kinda wanna see how the hands go first. I really don’t want the forearms to be patchy because I don’t plan on shaving them for the rest of my life.

I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress. I plan on doing chest/abs soon too. Hopefully this comet will be the answer. Best wishes!

gdubber2002

Get rid of the arm hair, you won’t regret it! My arms look so much more muscular without the hair. Get a few Comet treatments on the arms. I have never had trouble with patchiness on the arm hair. My lower arms are more difficult to treat as they are very dark, almost type V. If I’m lucky they will fade to a IV over the winter. I need to have them blasted a few more times with a Nd:YAG laser. Your arms are not so dark so you should have good results.

My upper arms are not as dark so I was able to get some aggressive laser treatments with the Lightsheer. There is a small enough amount of hair left there that I may start electrolysis. I wish my practitioner would get the Comet.

With what I have seen so far from the Comet I am very impressed.

RJC2001

#11

Get rid of the arm hair, you won’t regret it! My arms look so much more muscular without the hair. Get a few Comet treatments on the arms. I have never had trouble with patchiness on the arm hair. My lower arms are more difficult to treat as they are very dark, almost type V. If I’m lucky they will fade to a IV over the winter. I need to have them blasted a few more times with a Nd:YAG laser. Your arms are not so dark so you should have good results.

My upper arms are not as dark so I was able to get some aggressive laser treatments with the Lightsheer. There is a small enough amount of hair left there that I may start electrolysis. I wish my practitioner would get the Comet.

With what I have seen so far from the Comet I am very impressed.

RJC2001

I really want to get my arms treated, but my practitioner keeps telling me that all the guys she treats on the arms, the hair comes in patchy…

I might just try a different laser, like the GentleLASE. I hear its easier to treat with out missing spots.

I think the reason the arms will come back in patchy is because of the comet. It leaves entire areas completely bare. I might just do the comet though and go for complete removal on the arms. I have alreay got shedding on my hands and its only been 4 days. Im really impressed. Gunna have to wait a couple more weeks to see the full effect, though. I did get treated with pretty high settings. 30J/50RF from what I have been reading is pretty high and it looks like it is having its effect.

gdubber2002

#12

Having shedding that early is a good sign! If the regrowth is patchy you can get those retreated with laser. If the regrowth is patchy, she is not overlapping the spots correctly. I had no patchiness with the Aurora and the handpiece is similar in design with the RF rails on the sides. The Aurora uses IPL instead of diode laser like the Comet. Nonetheless, if there is patchiness remaining you can always use a laser with a scanner or a large spot size like the Sciton or Coolglide CV. Or you can finish with electrolysis.

I would be wary of using an alexandrite on your arms. Your skin is dark enough that it may scab. That’s OK if you wear long sleeve shirts you can cover it up. I am hot natured and rarely wear long sleeve shirts. If they turn down the fluence on the alexandrite to avoid scabbing than there may not be sufficient energy to disable the hair follicles.

The Comet can go a lot higher in diode laser fluence than 30J. It can go up to 50J. I was treated at 50J (100ms) with the Lightsheer (no RF) and it can remove all the hair in its path but the blonde and white ones. The way you are responding I think the Comet will get just about all of the hair you want to get rid of.

RJC2001

#13

If the regrowth is patchy, she is not overlapping the spots correctly.

She would pull the piece across my hands and zap it. The piece was never still while she was treating me. It seemed to me like she got all the areas. She went over each hand and finger a couple of times. It was really quick. It was almost like she was shaving the area with the hand piece.

I was suprised I have shedding already. I thought the comet had delayed shedding, like up to 4 weeks, but I can see areas on the tops of my hands where there is no hair. My left hand has better shedding than my right, it also was more sensitive during treatment. I still have some stubble coming through, but I can definately see clear areas.

Your advice has been really helpful RCJ. I really appreciate it. I am seriuosly weighing the arms right now. One of the main reasons is the price. Its $125 for upper/lower arms, or $175 for full arms. Im really tempted to just do full arms and chest next treatment. Im definately doing upper arms and chest, but I am still unsure about the lowers.

Again, thanks for all the info and advice!

Best wishes,
gdubber2002

#14

I’d suggest you do the lowers a few times. Get some thinning out. It’ll look more natural! If you plan on doing those other areas as well!

#15

I’d suggest you do the lowers a few times. Get some thinning out. It’ll look more natural! If you plan on doing those other areas as well!

Yea, I am going to. I just don’t know if I am going to go with the Comet. I would prefer another laser that has less chance of leaving my forearms patchy. Probably go with a CoolGlide CV or Sciton laser. I wouldn’t mind doing the Comet, but my practioner keeps telling me that the Comet will leave my arms patchy…

To be honest though, my forearms bother me the least, so I can hold off on them til I get the more important areas done first, and see how that goes.

gdubber2002

#16

Yeah, I am using a coolglide xeo on my chest and stomach and my skin type is somewhere between 3 and 4. I have recieved no patchiness in the regrowth at all. It is definately reduced. I think one more chest treatment will get me to my desired reduction their! I’d hate to lose that hair permanently! But the reduction looks good. I go for my third treatment sometime next week I think.

#17

Yeah, I am using a coolglide xeo on my chest and stomach and my skin type is somewhere between 3 and 4. I have recieved no patchiness in the regrowth at all. It is definately reduced. I think one more chest treatment will get me to my desired reduction their! I’d hate to lose that hair permanently! But the reduction looks good. I go for my third treatment sometime next week I think.

Yea, I’m in the same boat. I am going to have my chest treated, but I want to leave some hair in the middle of my chest. I don’t want to lose it all.

I would like to clear out the upper arms, the few hairs on my shoulders, the hair on my stomach, and the bikini area and butt. I want to start treating those areas really aggressively at high levels. Then work on thinning out the forearm and leg hair, but those can wait. I have been having trouble finding a practioner using the Sciton here in San Diego, but there seem to be alot with the CoolGlide, so thats probably what I will go with.

Been happy with the results of the Comet so far. Its been about 6 days and I have some decent shedding already. Its not complete, but I like what I see. I was expecting it to take around 2-3 weeks til I saw any shedding, so it was a nice suprise.

This is my course right now, but it might change. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

gdubber2002

#18

As long as you are getting good results with the Comet, you might as well stick with it. You may want test spots on the darker skin though before you proceed. The Coolglide may work better there. The Coolglide is very similar to the Sciton. The Xeo may have a smaller spot size though. The Coolglide CV is closest to the Comet.

RJC2001

#19

Now that over 2 weeks have gone by since treatment, I figured I would give an update.

So far, 80-90% of the hair on my hands has shed. My right hand has started to catch up to the left, and just recently I have been able to pull out hairs with no resistance. I can see some tiny regrowth starting on both hands, particularily in the areas that shed right away, but most of the hair is blonde. Since I shaved my arms when I got my hands lasered, I have been able to see how slow the regrowth is compared to the rest of my arms. My hands look almost completely bare as compared with the arms, a nice improvement.

The area that I’m kinda dissapointed about though is the fingers. They havent shed all that well, and I already have long, darker hairs returning there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> . Oh well, I’ll get them blasted again, hopefully with better success. Who knows, maybe they will still shed.

Best wishes,
gdubber2002

#20

Thanks for the update. What areas are you going to have done next?

RJC2001