Ok- I’m ready to start! I’m Indian, Fitzpatrick IV (I think) and want to remove facial, legs & bikini hair. I’ve been referred to anu’laser in Oceanside by a friend of my sister’s (used this person for several months). Denise, the owner, uses the cutera coolglide. She said to come every 4 weeks- does this seem too frequent? Also, is it too much to do the face, bikini and lower legs at one time? Any other thoughts at all?
Coolglide is a Yag laser and good for your skin type (if you’re Indian, you’re probably more like a type V unless you’re very light-skinned). If your friends are having go results, i.e. at least seeing shedding right now after their treatments, then go for it. it’s not “too much” to do it all at once, although I found that I wanted to start with one area first and judge how it works/the tech before paying for other areas. Yes, 4 weeks is way too frequent. If treatments are going right, you won’t have anything to treat yet at 4 weeks. Please read the FAQs for all this info:
Thank you lagirl- I was hoping yours would be at least one of the replies since you have such “wisdom”. Couple more questions:
-
I’m in the Pasadena area- near LA- have you heard of Z Med Spa? I am comparing with them as well.
-
I have a fair amount of pretty thick hair and am estimating at least 5 sessions based on reading from this board. I know you haven’t seen me & would only be guessing, but does this seem reasonable to you?
Thanks again.
count on at least 6-8 treatments. if you’ll need less, great. i needed 6 on the bikini area and finishing with electrolysis on several sparse fine hairs that are left. if you want complete 100% removal, you will likely need to finish with electrolysis on the few fine hairs that will remain.
no, haven’t heard of that place. what laser do they use?
FAQs should be helpful. the link was wrong, i just edited.
Know that I had five treatments with a state of the art laser, had the treatments at very high power, and 90% of my hair grew back within four months. No I am not an unusual case, no I don’t have a hormone problem, and, as much as you might not want to think about it, this may very well be what you go through.
Use common sense. Know that laser effects are asymptotic. That is, your first treatment with the laser will show the greatest effects. This business about needing five treatments to start seeing ‘real effects’ doesn’t hold. Scientifically, it makes no sense! This is coming from a medical researcher! Me! If the laser works it will knock out the most percentage-wise on it’s first bombardment and you should see at least some tangible difference. Get a treatment then wait at least three months. That’s where truth shines. Think aboiut it, because six to eight laser sessions will buy a whole lot of electrolysis, and that been proven for over a hundred years to work. My electrolysis has worked beautifully, my laser was pure waste. And further, the clinic knew it wasn’t working but kept on treating me without saying anything. You know, you guys just don’t know how much people want that money in your pocket.
Mantaray
if you’re going to sound like you’re going to disclose everything, then please do it and express your bias with correct supporting evidence. Your laser is not state-of-the-art. It’s a NEW experimental machine that anyone on any of the 3 forums has yet to see the results from. It’s a Comet, supposed to be a diode with RF technology, however it has not lived up to its hype or potential judging even just based on the experiences of the couple of people who have tried it from these forums. You have not tried either a LightSheer or a GentleLASE treatment that others like me have had great results with, so you have nothing to compare to.
At the same time, although I do have electrolysis done on myself, you personally cannot say it has worked great on you as you have JUST started, meaning you probably haven’t even reached first clearance yet. Also, meaning that you honestly don’t know what will grow back, so you can’t technically compare it to laser. As you said with laser, “wait 3 months and then see”.
Mantaray,
3 months is too long. Even with electrolysis, you have to go often enough to get the hairs at their growing cycle. Five treatments makes absolute scientific sense to get the all the hairs as they hit their cycles, usually about 4 to 6 weeks or so apart.
I had my back done with laser 6 years ago, GentleLase. My upper back is 98% still clear and my lower back, 100%. I hardly saw much improvement at all after one treatment and if I stopped there I’d say that it was a complete waste; so if I waited 3 months I would not have gotten “the truth”. As it turns out, I am extremely satisfied, but I went on schedule for 5 or 6 treatments (can’t remember exactly by this time).
However, not everyone is a good candidate for laser and not all equipment and practitioners are equal. Glad to hear that electrolysis is now a solution for you. Laser can work under the right circumstances.
You need to do more research before you can call yourself a qualified researcher.
i know it is. just quoting and giving a comparison to show that that timeframe is useless after one treatment. after one treatment, you’ll see most hair back with electrolysis too. doing one treatment and waiting 3 months is not a good approach to judge what results could be like with either modality.
Mantaray, you state that “your first treatment with the laser will show the greatest effects”, which does appear to be logical to many of us. More hair, more damage, kill the tough ones later…
However, as we have heard very clearly, all follicles are NOT active simultaneously. Less than half of one’s hair is growing (in most skin areas) at any given time. The first LHR will kill much of what is growing, but cannot target even a majority of follicles. If one stops after one LHR treatment (or one electrology clearance), the long-term result is that less than half of the hair could be removed and the reduction would not be satisfactory (for most of us). This explains why (almost) all of us who have successes, report that the first 3 treatments had minimal results and that the reduction appears to accelerate as we complete the 5-8 treatment series.
It is certain, however, that some lasers, some techs, and some clients will not produce satisfying results. In each individual case, it is not easy to find a cause. All newbies to LHR should know the risks and the possibility of poor results before starting treatments.