The differences aren’t significant enough for you to be worried about them. The older model had a spot size of 15mm max. So as long as it’s an 18mm spot size, you’re fine.
Great thanks for your help. I’m excited to see how well the GentleLASE works, I chose it strictly based on your recommendations! So if it doesn’t work I’m coming after you. Haha just kidding. It was definitely better than IPL faster and less messy.
Well I had my first treatment yesterday. I did the total body with the exception of the genitals and face. It took 5 hours to do it…I had one 10 minute break.
My settings were 18J with an 18mm spot spize on all areas except for the underarms and the back of the neck which was done with 16J with an 18mm spot size. The laser used was the mini GentleLase.
Still pretty red all over but no real pain or anything unless I rub up against something.
Kind of a random question, but is there any issue with taking Vitamin D and laser treatments?..I plan on taking this supplement since I have been and will be staying out of the sun as much as possible thru the course of the treatments.
Thanks
You, sir, deserve a medal for doing an entire body treatment in one session. That’s impressive.
I have a question because I think that’s crazy too! How do they do your legs, or even more so how do they do buttocks? Both places I’ve gone it’s just been like a bed. The second place was like a bed with the back part raised a little like a hospital bed. Legs do you just stand or let them hang off or something? I just don’t understand more private areas, do you just pull your legs back or something? I’d love to do those areas but I don’t think I could ever have the guts to actually go through with it!
exhausted - did you treat ONLY the coarse and dense hair? I hope so. to answer your question, you should only avoid photosensitive medications and supplments.
Lee - It varies. I laid down and then turned over for leg treatments.
LAGirl -
All of my areas with the exception of a little of my back and part of the neck was covered with coarse dense black hair. I know i never posted a pic but based on other pictures that have been posted on here and evaluated to be good candidates for gentlelase, my hair was as coarse, dense, and black as any i have seen.
My upper back, love handles, and the very lower back had coarse, dense, black hair (almost like pubic hair quality in texture).
Areas that might be an issue:
My sides (boundary between front and back of upper body), spinal column area and parts of my lower back had finer hair but still dark in color. My neck around the collar line was also very dark and coarse but not as dense. The back of my neck was maybe about 70/30 where 30% was not coarse black hair.
If i remember correctly, most of the laser stimulated hair growth came from ppl who had a darker skin tone, fine vellous hair, and did not use strong settings. Most of my body was treated with 18J on my first treatment. I could have sectioned off parts of my body but given most of it was coarse and dense I chose to do all laser versus bringing in electrolysis treatments on a small amount of areas that would have been hard to even identify where laser was not done. I would have still needed to remove this hair because it was still dark and visible but just not coarse and dense.
Lee -
The bed i was on was flat and could be controlled to go up and down vertically. Like LAgirl, I laid down on my back and then flipped on my stomach to get my legs done.
In terms of my butt, the tech left the room for a minute so i could take my boxers off and then i laid back down on my stomach with a towel over my butt. She then would move the towel so that only the part of the butt that needed to be treated was visible.
I guess it was a bit awkward but for me its more like going to to the doctor…plus after living with this since i was 16 (now 31 years old) i dont really care about what the tech thinks…i just want the hair that bothers me gone. The laser techs see this stuff everyday anyway.
Thanks for the feedback that makes sense.
I have another question/concern. Not sure if I should worry yet. When I did IPL on my abdomen, basically the day of, every hair was a bunch of red dots, then the next day I was pretty smooth. Once you hit 2-3 days after treatment though, it started to look stubbly, as I guess my body was pushing the hair out. I could tell it was shedding and not growth because the hair seemed darker, and it didn’t grow with consistency, it more went in different directions, and just looked toasted. After a few more days that would go away as I assume those larger ones fell out and then I guess the real shedding began. It would look almost like hair was growing, but exfoliating, or testing a hair by pulling on it with my finger would have it just slide easily out, then after a week or two so from the day I did my treatment I would be smooth with no new growth for awhile.
Here’s my concern. When I found out that was IPL I was upset as I didn’t hear great things here (even though the results so far seem amazing, 4 weeks since last treatment and I have no hair growth there). I decided to try GentleLASE after everyone’s advice here, so I went to a new place and “tested” it on my underarms as my skin is lightest there and I got a promotion price. I did that on Monday and the session went great, 18mm with 16 joules. My concern though is by Tues/Weds the hair almost seemed to be growing back. It’s now Friday and when I look at it, my under arms look pretty much exactly how I would expect them to look if I shaved on Monday then let it grow back for 5 days. Hair doesn’t grow in different directions, it’s all the same, and pulling on a hair has a lot of resistance. I know it’s still early, but I’m starting to get concerned. Does this sound normal? Does hair really look like it’s growing back and offer resistance until a week or two and then start falling out? It just has me concerned!!
I noticed the same thing Lee. Although today is only my fourth day after my first treatment (I know it takes 1.5-3 weeks for shedding to complete), I’ve noticed that a lot of the hairs dont have that “toasted” look where you know they are about to fall out. I have a lot of hairs on my chest that also look like they would from just growing after a shave.
I had Epilight treatments back in 1997 and I remember really good shedding even though I got virtually no lasting results.
Is the manner in which the hairs are shed or look when shedding different between true lasers and IPLs? Also, are there any scenarios where a hair could get treated/zapped but not shed?
Thanks.
Maybe it just takes time then, I’ll give it to the 2 week mark or whatever to see how it goes. It just seems a bit different but who knows. With IPL if you haven’t done it, they cover you in ultrasound gel, then press it down on you unlike the GentleLASE which doesn’t really touch you. I find it hurts more, but when it’s done for a few hours after, where each hair that was zapped was, it’s a red dot, so you can literally see every single hair location that was fried. When it starts to come back in a few days, it just looks different, like it looks almost stubbly, but thicker, like each hair seems like it’s thicker if that makes sense. Not sure how to describe it, but basically if you were to shave it, it wouldn’t get rid of it, since its almost more like the hair is just raised. Versus my underarms with GentleLASE where it looks more like long growth. Again it has only been 5 days so I’m not concerned yet, was more just wondering if this is normal. In another week if it’s actually grown out and not shedding I’m going to contact them and see if they can give me a touch up treatment or what not.
Shedding doesn’t usually start until week 1 to 1.5. Give it some time before you judge. Be patient right now.
Everything should shed if it was touched with high enough settings and was coarse enough. It’s not uncommon for some spots to be missed. No one is perfect. But you should get a touchup if more than about 10-15% of the area was missed. That’s a bit sloppy.
Btw, IPLs are not 100% ineffective. You just get more efficient and permanent results faster with a true laser when used properly.
Thanks LAGirl, I know it doesn’t start for awhile I was more concerned with how it appeared to grow. I know that in all the FAQs it always says “Why does my hair look like it’s growing back?” Which is to be expected. I was just comparing it more to my IPL, where although it does seem to grow back, it does so slower, looks different, and I’d say only 30% seems like it’s growing back. On my under arms, all of it appears to be growing back, and it looks really no different than if I just shaved, and left it a week. My treatment was exactly 1 week ago, if I pull on a hair now it does seem to come out easier, there’s little resistance so it seems to be okay. I’ll keep exfoliating and check back in a week or so.
If you just normally shaved, your hair wouldn’t be coming out at all. You would need to pluck it. You shouldn’t need to do it here if everything is going right. When you pull slightly about another 5 days, it should be coming out without resistance.
Thanks LAGirl. What I meant was the hair looks like it would if I shaved then left it a week. I didn’t mean the resistance, I know it wouldn’t budge if I hadn’t done laser.
Sort of a funny update to this though. Today I thought I’d check it again as it’s been 8 days. Since the hair is hard to grab one at a time, I usually just use my finger nails and grab what I can and see what resistance there is, and there’s always lots. Today though I tried that and like 10 hairs all came out with no resistance. It sort of scared me at first because I had a bunch of hair on my finger! I know not to pull them out but seems promising!!! I’ll keep exfoliating and checking back.
Sorry exhausted I sort of took over your forum here, I can create a new thread on my results if you want. I didn’t think I’d post so much on this topic!
Exhausted,
Did I just read this right, you did, arms legs, chest, back, butt, I’m guessing shoulders and neck as well.
We are similar in our situations, yet it took me until I was 39 to get the balls to start. Good for you starting at 31.
How the heck did you handle the pain?
I’ve done arms / hands, 1st 4 16j, last 4 18j.
I want to move onto chest shoulders next, but the PAIN.
I figure 4 more times on my upper arms.
I’m not really buying into 4-8 times to clear, maybe for a person with a “normal” amount of hair, but I think us hairy guys need a lot more treatments then we are being lead to believe.
Ok I’m rambling, the PAIN, how did you deal??
How is your shedding going exhausted? I’m at day 9 today a good chunk has fallen out, really took awhile for it to start happening. If I pull on any hairs they usually come right out, so seems like it does really take a week and a half or so.
haireverywhere -
How did I handle the pain? I guess i just went to my happy place. My muscles were tense for most of the treatment because of the pain…i was literally exhausted (no pun intended) when it was over.
I noticed that on a new area it was painful for the first few pulses but then it was easier to handle it…almost like the pain itself numbed the area.
Lee -
I’m on day 10 and I’d say it wasnt until a couple days ago that I started to see a lot of shedding which was a relief. I do see what i think are missed spots now by the fact that some hair just looks like its growing normal. I think I’m going to wait until next week to shed out a bit more so I can see how much was potentially missed and then go talk to my laser tech to see what she thinks.
My tech’s timelines are not that far off to what I have learned on here but they are on the earlier side. She told me shedding happens within 5-15 days and that i should come in no later than 8 weeks for my next treatment. It seems like my legs are shedding even slower than my upper body (i think i read somewhere on here that the hair on the legs grows slower than other parts of the body).
With a full body treatment, I can understand some missed spots…hopefully it wont be too much…so I’m basically just being patient and observant for the next few days before letting my tech see how I am progressing.
I would wait full 3 weeks before judging what was missed.
For full body, I would definitely wait around 10 weeks. Legs don’t need treatments more than once every 10-12 weeks or so. Waiting a bit longer for other areas doesn’t hurt, but can actually help since the hair will be a bit more coarse and mature.
LAGirl -
Do you know on average how long a hair stays in anagen before moving on to the catagen stage?