I had my first upper body clearing about 24 weeks ago. Good results, but I noticed growth/regrowth on the under section of my lower arms, where I never had hair before laser. 12 weeks later I had my second clearing at higher settings, and hair reappeared in that same arm section. It will soon be time for my next clearing, and I’m wondering if anyone has advice about what the problem is and how my technician can solve it. The hair in that area grew in fine but thick, and I’d hate to have to pay for electrolysis for something that really wasn’t there before. Settings were on gentlelase, 18mm spot. 16 joules for first session, 18 joules for second session. TIA for any help.
jr
Was there more growth after the second session, like more than after the first? Sounds like induced growth which can happen from laser. Basically you shouldn’t really let the laser hit areas where there was no hair to begin with. Laser can induce growth a lot on a guys upper arms, I’ve never seen it with my lower arms but they also don’t do the underside where there’s no hair to begin with…
Only areas that have dense coarse growth should be treated. If laser touches areas with fine or sparse hair on these areas, you can experience induced growth. I would make sure the tech outlines the areas you want treated with a white pencil to make sure the right patches are treated and nothing else.
Btw, why did you wait so long after the first treatment? Recommended spacing is 8-12 weeks apart, in order to more efficiently target all hair, in each phase of growth. By waiting that long, you are throwing off synchronization somewhat and may require more treatments overall.
I find with my forearms personally that it takes around 12 weeks for all the hair to be back for another treatment. At 8 weeks it’s just stating to come back, seems to be really slow on forearms for some reason.
It seems as though there was more growth the second time than the first, but I’m not that certain. I have spaced out the treatments to every 11-12 weeks, and there has been a palpable reduction on chest, a total elimination of underarm hair after just the first session, and an almost total elimination of leg hair after the first session - i.e. almost no regrowth. It’s just the arms and hands that are still embarassing. LAGirl - are you telling me that I can’t do anything further about the induced growth? Thanks for the hint about the white pencil. My technician uses it for grid work, but she never told me to point out where there is no hair at the beginning - she just told me to shave.
If you shave about 2 days prior to treatment, the should be able to see stubble and to outline those areas for treatment. If it’s the type of hair where there is no obvious stubble after 2 days, it’s probably too fine anyway.
We’d need to see a photo of that new hair. If it’s coarse and dense enough for laser, then you can treat it. But if it’s too sparse and/or fine, I would leave it for electrolysis.
Btw, I assume he waited 24 weeks after the first treatment given what he wrote above. It looks like he meant that he got 2 treatments in that time, which is fine.
Yes, I got 2 treatments in 24 weeks. Thanks for hint about shaving 2 days before - I had been shaving in the morning and getting laser in the afternoon. It would be helpful to newbies here if the caution about marking the hairless areas BEFORE the laser treatments is outlined so that others can avoid the induced growth problem. I can’t give a photo, sorry.
I believe the FAQs, which I wrote, say to shave 1-2 days prior to treatment.