I had my first treatment with the harmony system from almalasers today. I did that in a beaurty studio, not at a doctor. I have to mention that I didn’t really want the treatment because I read alot of negative stuff about Almalasers, specially from people that USE them. However, I signed for the treatment before I knew that and I had to pay anyway, so I didnt want to spend my money on nothing at all.
My expextations are very low. I also talked to a doctor on the phone who does LHR too and he uses a system (don’t know the name) that is onyl sold to doctors, not to everyone and their mother.
I don’t know if anything will happen at all or if after only one treatment anything is supposed to happen. I’ll wait for 5 weeks now and continue the LHR at the doctor I talked to. Dunno, but I feel better in a real doctors hand.
I’ll let you know what the outcome of one session harmony was…oh and I’m male and had the whole chest done.
Harmony is an IPL, so not the best choice for hair removal, but it’s one of the better IPLs. You should still expect shedding after one treatment and you would see this within 3 weeks. What is your skin and hair color?
Please read the FAQs to learn about what you should be looking for in a clinic. It is not an MD behind someone’s name. That can actually be a minus in some cases as physicians usually don’t have time or dedication to perform LHR all day long, which is what’s needed for real expertise.
Thanks for the info. I’m white, my skin type should be 2 or 3 I guess. My hair color is dark, although not totally black. As mentioned, my epxectations are low. Could you tell me why you think Harmony is one of the better IPLs ? And if IPL isn’t the best choice, would laser be better ? Electrolysis is not an option.
the best machine would be an alex type hair removal laser, like GentleLASE. you don’t need electrolysis on this area if the hair is coarse and dark enough. you should get some results with this machine if they’re using high enough settings. you will be able to tell if there is shedding within 3 weeks. now it’s too early. some people here who have tried multiple machines did see some results with this IPL machine in particular. but generally, lasers made specifically for hair removal are more effective (i.e. faster and more efficient and permanent results).
short update: I’ve got red dots all over. Most of my hairs did grow during the last week and some are still short like they were afer shaving. I can’t imagine how the ones that are still growing would shed whitin two week.
However, I think I’ll stop here. I can’t do this every 8 weeks during summer…summer is the worst time to start this, you look like u got a disease the whole time.
What are the post treatment expectations of IPL and LASER? I have read some posts by ppl (Chuck and others) stating that after LASER they are totally smooth for a while.
After a consltation with an IPL guy he said that I would only purge 10-15% of my hairs and the rest would continue to grow, which means that I would never be totally smooth. I don’t need to be smooth temporarily since that isn’t a realistic goal, but I am just wondering what to expect after a treatment.
Is it different in between treatments for IPL vs LASER?
if you have a successful treatment, all treated hair would fall out and you would have a hairfree period for a few weeks until the new batch that was dormant before starts to come in.
Does the hairfree period happen for both Laser and IPL? I was told that I wouldn’t have a hairfree period if I used IPL.
By the way, I have found a shop that has both IPL and LASER machines, and they prefer not to use IPL for hair removal. I am meeting with them this week.
yes, in that aspect, it works the same way. I would run from a place that told you the hair doesn’t shed. how do they explain disappearance of hair after several treatments? does it just evaporate?
Yes, IPLs are usually used for other skin procedures. Cheap clinics will also use them for hair removal, though it is a known fact that they are not as good for hair removal as true hair removal lasers. Those clinics are not thinking of your best interests, but rather of how much money they can make at as little of a cost as possible.
How are you looking for clinics? You should start by figuring out a specific laser your need for best results (GentleLASE alex would be best in my opinion if your skin is light) and then look for clinics specifically with that machine. If you go to Candela corporation website, you can even run a provider search there by inputting your zip code.
I was told that during the shedding period which would happen between 10-21 days after treatment, then aprox 10-15% of the hairs would shed. Just the hairs from the follicles that were destroyed or greatly damaged. But I wouldn’t have a hair free period.
I am only looking at places with the Gentlase per your suggestion.
I saw someone today and they quoted me ± $1500 per treatment for all, which I thought was a bit high. I am meeting another place later this week to get a quote. This is all exhausting. I still want to do everything at once, because I would like to make this a 1 year process or so if I could not more.
checking out 3-5 clinics is your best bet. it will pay off in the end. personally, i think one should be doing this much research before spending thousands of dollars to make sure they’re not wasted. i’m not saying you should only one area for a year. i think you should do one treatment on one area first at the clinic of your choice and make sure they use good settings and you see shedding of all treated hair afterwards before committing to all the areas you want done. you would know this after one treatment.
they are wrong. all treated hair should shed. whatever didn’t shed, wasn’t affected. whatever did shed was eitehr killed or somewhat damaged at least.
I just checked my body and guess what. Today it’s been a week since IPL and I have alot of follicles which produce two hairs instead of one. One is thik and the other is thin. Now this is weird lol
Ok, it’s been two weeks now and I do have shedding although not everywhere, I think she missed some spots but I guess it’s ok. I didn’t shave until yesterday so I could tell if there was shedding at all. Next step is to wait and see if any (long term) reduction has been achieved. I also made an appointment to test GentleLASE instead of the IPL. If everything works I’ll have my first laser treamtens in 4 weeks (makes total wait of 6 weeks after IPL). I know, might a bit early but I want to compare Laser vs IPL before summer comes.
Uhm, ok I got an appointment now for GentleLASE. However when I had my IPL treatment the lady tested my skin reaction on 3 spots and only made the treatment 48 hours later.
Now, I was assuming that I need to test the reaction of my skin to a laser too but the lady said I don’t need that, since she had pre-defined levels for skin types. I insisted and she will do some test spots however, isn’t it weird she would treat me without any testing ? Am I save there or should I look for another place ? Also wha’ts with those pre-defined skin type levels ? I mean it depends on the hair too, right ? How would she know the setting without doing any test ?
If they know what they’re doing, test spots are not necessary, especially if you have very light skin. this is more of a concern when using a powerful laser, like alex, on a skin type that could be considered darker and can potentially burn.
Like I said, I’m gonna go talk to them next week. I’m skin type 2 or maybe even 3. I want to ask them what settings they plan to use on me and stuff and need to know what sounds good to you. If they tell me something way out of range I know the I need to look for another clinic. And also another question: The lady said she used to work with LightSheer for 5 years and she is now working with GentleLASE. I don’t know how long she’s been working with GentleLASE or how many customers she had but do you think I can count the LightSheer experience in or is it totally different. (I know it’s a diffrent laser, but the question is, would the experience she has with LightSheer help me ?)
next question: I’ve been reading your diary. The stomach part is a bit frustrating since I want to do stomach and chest. It seems you couldn’t get rid of the stomach hair and switched to electrolysis, is that right ?
if she has experience with two pretty good lasers, i think it’s a good thing. Ask for spot size and joules on GentleLASE.
you can’t compare my abdomen area to yours. I’m female and only had very fine hairs there. if you have coarse dark hair there, you will be able to get the majority of it with laser. if you want 100% clearance on any area, you will have to finish with electrolysis. for a man of course on these areas it’s not really necessary in my opinion. it’s a bit different for women.
I really like this forum, there is alot of information and knowledge around. On the other hand, the more I read the more different things I want to try. I almost wish my hair would grow faster I’ve been reading the electrolysis section too now and I can’t wait to try that too. By the time I will have my chest and stomach done I’ll be an expert
Anyway, I can’t do everything, so I’ll stick with laser for now and use electrolysis for the hairs that won’t respond to laser.
Had a GentleLASE (only test spots) 60 mins ago. She wanted to go with the 18mm and 16J. I told her that I read that 20J would be better and since it was a test only, we could try that. She said 20J is really alot and we agreed on 18J.
The reaction of my skin is really huge. It’s very red compared to what happened with IPL. It doens’t hurt at all though. (now it doens’t, it did while I got treated).
I’ll see how my skin will do tomorrow. In case it’s ok by then I’ll continue with the 18J, otherwise I’ll go down to 16.
