First visit to the "cold laser"

Well, I went and so far all seems to be well. Even if it doesn’t do as promised, the $40 I spent for the spa treatment was worth it.

She started by waxing my chin and upper lip. Then she put a gel stuff on the area that was waxed. I held a little probe like the one that the electrologist gives you to hang on to, and she started the treatment. The only thing I felt was a cooling sensation as she moved the probe over the area being treated.

For the next three days I am to put on a growth retardant day and night and pluck anything that comes up to the surface, then leave it alone until the next treatment. Treatments can be as little as a week or as great as 6 weeks apart depending on when you start to experience regrowth.

She said that I should have noticable improvement after 4 treatments, so I will keep you posted.

I could just cry for you, lstylnch. You’ve been scammed out of $40. Please don’t use the good name of electrolysis in your posts about this ‘cold laser’ crap. You can wax and pluck at home for free because that all this person is doing for you.

that “treatment” didn’t do anything. she took the hair out of the roots before she did anything, so nothing was affected. you can only SHAVE the area before any treatment. the hair roots need to be there to get killed.

dfahey where were you when I asked about this last week?

I would have warned you about the waxing thing, but from your post, I assumed the waxing would be done a few weeks ahead and then the treatment was going to be done when the hair grows out (which would be ok since then the hair is in anagen stage and most vulnerable). Didn’t realize she was waxing you RIGHT before the treatment. That’s a definite no-no.

lagirl, well the good thing is that I haven’t been TOTALLY taken. In the state of Alaska only licensed estheticians are allowed to wax. My friend who is a hair dresser was NOT happy about that one. She still does eyebrows as a courtesy to her clients, but she isn’t allowed to charge for the service. They (the estheticians) pushed the legislation through about two years ago. So I basically paid about $5 more than it would have cost me at any of the other day spas in town to get my chin, neck, upper lip and cheeks waxed. She did a really good job of it too. I’ve never actually been smooth for more than two days after waxing and it’s definitely smooth. I have an actual beard type growth so it’s constantly growing and waxing and depilating just don’t last more than a couple of days when I do it at home. 6 months of Vaniqa twice a day didn’t do anything for it either. I also went through a three month series of electrolosis once to twice per week about a year and a half ago and unfortunately I didn’t see any results with that either. Not even a reduction of the amount or any change in the type hair (it’s still black as midnight and course). I was also using the vaniqa as an adjunct to the electrolosis. I may as well have just tweezed once a week for all the good it did. There was only one electrolosist in town, and I don’t know that she was using the right settings, etc for me to get good results. She also moved to Hawaii since then so there’s no longer any electrolosists in town. It’s so bad and gets to me so much I have even considered asking for plastic surgery to removed the affected skin. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

“dfahey where were you when I asked about this last week?”

Do you realize that I’m not “on call” to answer all questions here on hairtell 24/7? After a long day of doing microsurgery (electrolysis) and meeting the demands of my family,which are considerable, I can barely answer and comment on any post, but I do it anyway. Just so you know, nobody gets paid or rewarded in any way to add their two cents worth on this hair site. It’s voluntary, my dear. I could easily be spending my time watching C-Span instead of trying to offer a little help for hairy people.

I do believe two people answered you with a word that means doubtful,---- “fishy”, and if you take the time to read enough on this site, you wouldn’t have fallen for such nonsense.

Do you realize I was asking why I hadn’t heard from more than one person when I originally posted? Do you realize that I was trying to be friendly? Do you realize that you have just made me feel about three inches tall? And mostly, do you realize that you never know the tone something was spoken in when viewing text? No, probably not, you’d rather be holier than thou. Thanks.

lstywnch, I stumbled across this today looking for something else. It’s called phytoscan HFD and is referred to as a cold laser. Could this be the device you were treated with? Maybe our engineer RJC2001 could offer a little insight on this. It looks as though it’s been around for at least three years or more??? I haven’t perused the FDA website for more specifics, yet. Here’s the thread:

http://www.hairtell.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5350/an/0/page/contactus02.php

You can pretty much bet, in order to destroy/damage a follicle you need to deliver enough energy, usually in the form of heat or chemical, to the bottom of the follicle. A metal probe is still the best vehicle to deliver the energy to do permanent damage. Second best appears to be a good, FDA cleared laser for those that are good candidates.

Yes, it is the Phytoscan HFD, and I haven’t found anywhere on the FDA site that it has been cleared. However, I’m still hair free after 6 days, and that has NEVER happened with waxing or electrolosis. With waxing I usually have regrowth the next day, and when I was getting electrolosis I would have regrowth within three days. My upper lip is completely smooth. I have like three bumps on my chin that look like hair might be coming out of them. The website for this device states that it operates between 900 and 1500 nanometers with acceleration with high frequency current. Aren’t these the same wavelengths as diode and NdYag wavelengths?

waxing should keep you hairfree for at least 2-3 weeks. it’s possible that the waxing treatments you’ve had before were not done properly as if the hair is removed with the root, it does not regenerate for again for a few weeks and up to 1 month or so. you would only see regrowth the very next day or within a few days if waxing is not done properly, i.e. the hair is broken half-way when it’s pulled on, rather than pulling it out with the root. same thing applies to electrolysis. if the hair is growing back in within a few days, it was not treated properly.

here’s a post by Andrea on this product:

http://www.hairtell.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5350/an/0/page/0