How do you know when is the best stage of growth to start laser?

For what I understood the best is the first stage; Do you think is a good idea to wax one week before treatment? or shave a couple of days before? Help me please !

one more thing Andrea, I am afraid of using the wrong laser, I don’t have any experience at all. So this is my background, I am 31 female, i shaved my legs since I was 12, and have now thick and black hair on my legs. 5 years ago I started to wax. I guess my skin type is III, light skin, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, I get tan, my skin turns red if I don’t use sun block. I would like to have an idea before going to consult any clinic.

Thank you Andrea for this page, before finding your page today I was so depressed, I saw my legs today… months ago I just gave up, did not shave or wax any more, I felt so frustrated I refused to do anything else, I always thought that because my skin is white and the hair black there was no hope for me. I will tell everybody about this page !

For what I understood the best is the first stage; Do you think is a good idea to wax one week before treatment? or shave a couple of days before? Help me please !

DO NOT WAX before laser hair removal!!! This is very important! It will make the laser useless. There has to be hair in the follicle in order for the laser to work. The heat is conducted to the base if the follicle and the hair bulge via the melanin in the hair. If you already wax, you will need to postpone your treatment until the hair grows back.

If you have coarse black hair and light skin, you are an ideal candidate for laser hair removal. Lasers love coarse dark hair!

If you have type III skin, I would go with either a diode or Nd:YAG laser, with a preference for the diode laser. Lightsheer is the most common, and IMHO the best diode laser.

RJC2001

The good thing about laser is that it works BEST on light skin and dark COARSE hair. You should get very good results. I think this part is the best because this combination is most unsightly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

For your skin type, I would find a diode or an alexandrite laser (GentleLASE, LightSheer, Apogee, etc) and make sure the practitioner is very good and knowledgeable. You might be able to find a few recommendations on here as well.

DO NO WAX before treatment as RC2001 said. That’s the worst thing you can do as hair needs to be in the follicle for the laser to target and kill it. Laser is attracted to dark pigment, so to the dark follicle passing right by light skin. That’s why light skin is best because you can use high settings without burning the skin. If you were waxing before or if you do decide to wax, you will need to wait the full 6-8 weeks afterwards until the hair grows out. Then you will need to shave it before actual laser treatment is done. It is done on a shaved area so that the full energy can target the follicle under the skin.

Good luck! You should get good results given the right practitioner and laser. Do your research and I think you’ll be very happy you did it.