Hey everyone. My plan of action is (once back from Iraq) to have a series of LASER hair removals done for my thick black hair, and then use electrolysis on the rest. The thing is, how fine is fine? I mean, I have hair everywhere. It runs into and overlaps everywhere. Like my chest and abdomen are awesomely thick and dark, but the lovehandles (workin on losing them) are sparce and softer. Then around to the back, some areas are thick and some almost completely smooth.
So, in getting it all removed, should I just go to an electrologist and ask to remove all of my fine hairs, then drive down to the LASER clinic to get the rest zapped?
Also, on my arms I’m not sure what’s corse enough. It DOES look like I’m wearing a long sleeve “hair-shirt” if I dont shave them. But, not sure if they are considered corse from a LASER perspective. Sorry this is rambling, it’s 4 AM Bhagdad time. Thanks for any/all help. J
Think of it this way, the most coarse area in body is beard for guys and underarms/bikini for girls.
Anything less than that will see less percentage of successful hair removal.
Also, laser is WAY faster than electrolysis so money wise, the smartest way to go is to do laser for a few sessions 4-6 and that should give you fairly high success rates and then the stubborn ones that are less effected by laser, you can do electrolysis on.
For electrolysis you pretty much pay per hair and for laser you pay per area, so overall laser is cheaper in most cases.
I assume you’re male. Coarse is like hair on the beard and underarms. It’s the type that leaves shadow or stubble when you shave it. Most men have coarse hair on the chest and stomach areas.
I recommend doing laser on all hair that’s coarse and dense first and then doing electrolysis on any areas that bother you still with finer hair afterwards.
Thanks for the replies. Yes I am male. You can see the pic of my beard is the electrolysis forum under “Nightmare? Cringing? Carpal Tunel?” In fact LAgirl, you are the one who turned me on to the idea of knocking some of the hair out with LASER first.
As for the coarsness of teh hair, my chest and stomach can still definately be seen when I shave them. I have 2 weeks leave in June. I was thinking of taking that time to have 1 full body laser session done. Not sure if that would do any good though since I wouldn’t be able to follow up til January. Any opinions on that are welcome. Thanks J
It doesn’t hurt to get started. You’ll already see a difference after one treatment if it’s a good one at good settings with a good laser. The hair will shed within 3 weeks and you’ll be hairfree for a while. You can resume in January. You may just need a few more treatments overall.
Your body should be just fine. You probably won’t be able to tell you had a treatment after a couple days. The face has very dense hair, so you may have some irritation for up to a week or so. Icing will help with that. Also, buy some pure aloe vera gel (the clear stuff).
If I go, I’ll need to go as soon as I get home so as to be healed by the time I return to Bhagdad. The main reason I had decided to not consider Laser is because of the possible induced hair growth. But, I guess since I plan on electrolysis too, it would get removed even if it did grow.
I’ve been looking at Smooth Solutions in Dallas or Houston. They have both Diode and Yag lasers. I may make a flying trip for a consultation and to get their planned settings and then post them here. I know I need high settings to reduce the chance of induced hair on my shoulders and back.
If it goes well, I’ll probably have about 5-6 full sessions (depending) then move on to electrolysis. Thanks for any info, J
Are you male? Induced growth is only a possibility on male upper arms, shoulders, and back, mostly when the hair is not coarse and dense enough. On dense coarse hair, it’s not an issue on any area.
I believe Smooth Solutions has an alex laser, which is best for light skin. Their owner used to post here. I think he was based on Houston? You may want to seek him out if you can. He’s very knowledgeable.
Hey, you’re right. They have the GentleLase,GentleYAG, and the Cynosure Apogee. I think I’ll make a trip to Tx when I get home. J