Hi everyone,
Let me tell my story and see what you all think. I am a 24 year old male, light skin and dark black hair. When I was 20 I decided to start laser hair treatment on my upper back,upper neck, upper arms and shoulders. Either 6 or 7 sessions were done. I saw a plastic surgeon who had trained one of her staff members to use her laser.
I had researched hair removal and considered other options. An alexandrite laser was used and the process took over 1 year to finish. Hair growth was limited and smooth and perfect for 4-6 weeks, the hair would slowly fall out and it would have a nice smooth finish. Here is the questionable thing, 1 year after treatment hair growth is nearly the same. The hair on my shoulder/back/and arm was thin, fine and vellus at first. In reality, the hair was not dense enough like the neck hair and the practioner should have not treated me however this probably wasn’t a consideration.
Anyway…the hair on my neck which should have been affected most because it was coarse, dense and dark did not respond or decrease in quantity. Likewise neither did the hair anywhere else. After all this time, the hair is nearly 100% the same.
After this let down I pursued electrolysis with 1 hour sessions on my arms and neck once a week. This continued for 4 months or so but I eventually ran out of money and did not see results either. Both professionals were well known, the electrolysis was done by a liscensed professional who runs a busy office and has multiple clients.
What should I do now? I don’t want to waste more money and have the let down again. The laser place offers 3 more “free sessions” after the 6 I paid for but I worry that they will have no effect and I have not been in contact with that office in over 2 years.
Thanks for the advice
Four months is not enough time to evaluate the electrolysis side of things. If you don’t stick with a competent electrologist and maintain a good schedule for 9-18 months for this area, then you will never be able to celebrate permanent hair removal. We do not candy-coat this concept here. It takes patience and we can not repeat this enough. Four months is not defined as patience.
Laser: you are right, for lighter, thinner hair, the practitioner should not have taken your money. Also, you, as a young male, are still in the development stages for hair growth patterns.
Can you submit a picture and tell us more about the details of your electrolysis experience? I know you did not put in the time, but I know little else.
Dee
Hi Dee,
I understand what you are saying in regards to the electrolysis. I have a dermatologist in my extended family and we both put our heads to together for the pros and cons of electrolysis vs laser. I understand the process and how it works, additionally I understand the growth cycle of hair follicles. That being said, we kept a log of hairs removed, and it was done for what I can remember around 60 dollars an hour. The experience was fine, slow going but uneventful. After those 4 months, I did return 3 months later for another session where all the areas were touched up again. After spending close to $900 dollars I ran out of money to pursue treatment. If there was one area I would treat now it would be my upper arms and upper back.
On the laser txt the cost was around 2000 dollars and although had encouraging immediate results, there were no substantial long term results. The electrolysis although sequentially cheaper did not show any significant difference.
If I was able to find a practioner in the Cleveland area I would perhaps continue treatment.
You need an electrologist with decent speed using a newer computerized epilator that allows her or him to work with one of the faster forms of thermolysis - MicroFlash, PicoFlash would be the ticket. The upper models of Apilus offer subperb choices for people like yourself as does a Silhouet Tone VMC model. There are other brands of epilators as well that may offer the same or close to the same, but I can’t say anything about them because I haven’t used every epilator on the market. No matter what tools an electrologist uses, if the electrologist is slow, you will give up. An electrologist doesn’t have to be slow in the 21st century. We have better tools. Call around and get sample treatments. One electrologist does not represent us all and certainly tells you little about what constitutes fabulous electrolysis care. Call, go in and compare as many electrologists as possible! They will all tell you that what they do is the best and that their epilator and modality choice is the best, but judge for yourself. Laser hasn’t worked for you for whatever the reasons, but electrolysis will if you find a modern, re-trained electrologist.
If anyone is getting good treatments in the Cleveland area, please post or private message aloj and share! OKAY?
The problem I have with stories like yours is that you are not mindful that you can’t judge the effectiveness of an electrolysis treatment done in May, by what hair you see growing in August. You would need to take before pictures, and after pictures, and then take a new picture in May of the NEXT YEAR in order to compare apples to apples.
Please take a look at the growth chart info for a more in depth discussion of this idea.
There are a couple issues at hand:
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It sounds like settinsg that were used were likely too low because your hairless period wasn’t long enough.
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You are correct that only dark coarse hair should have been affected. The problem here is two-fold…the settings were likely too low to damage the hair permanently AND you probably developed more hair in these years anyway because you’re in the prime age for hair development. Many of those would have come in regardless.
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I’m not sure how you attacked electrolysis, but for all those areas, you should have been going for many hours up front to get a clearance. It’s not clear if that ever happened here. After the clearance, you have to come in to kill any new hair that pops up as soon as it does. You continue this for about 12 months because that’s how long it takes to go through all the cycles of hair growth. AT 4 months, you only affected a part of the hair, so that’s why it looks like you’re not getting results. This is a committment.
If I were you, I would do laser with GentleLASE alexandrite again, at high settings, on the coarse dense hair, and meanwhile do the rest with electrolysis, but the proper way.