I am back with my story

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello.
I have been on this forum on and off during 2006/05 and since then have been having treatments.

Just to re-cap my treatments, I am a skin III, back, shoulders & neck.

I had around 8 treatments using IPL. This is not work at all. No result, infact the hair on my back became worst. It became thicker and hairier.

I have now had 5 treatments using the Gentleease. I have had most of my treatments on a setting 16 or 18. The result = 0.

I would say I have alot more hair on my back now than what I did 3years ago before I started. Not only that, areas where I had little or fine hair, it has become thick and coarse.

Not all people will have a good result to laser hair removal. It has a lot to do with hormones and skin type. This has caused me a lot of disappointment because people make out that you will be successful. What happens you put your first payment down and it becomes an investment, 1 more treatment and It should get better. I would have rather never started than deal with what I have now. Some people say you come on this site to vent. However I just want you all to know that not everyone has a good result, I think my nurse was saying less than 50% works effectively. I have been on this site 2years ago young and naive about what will happened however I just wished someone would have put this post up so that I would have read and listened.

I am happy to take questions. bye now.
lawrence

#2

Sorry to her this…
I am just curious, did you ever get proper shedding after any of your treatments? If yes did you get a hair free period after shedding?
Do you think you will try another type of laser? have you try a Yag laser? If I were you I wouldn’t not invest into another session but I would try a free patch test(I would try to get it large to monitor the result).

#3

lawrence, you started with IPL treatments, then switched to an Alexandrite at low setting (10 joules), the spacing between sessions was not timed correctly, technician skill was lacking. You spent a whole lot of spending money based on trust. You may have had a better outcome if all those hurdles had not been in your way.

You are not a rare dinosaur, as this is what happens to alot of consumers. They trust and then verify later. A huge thank you for all your honest posts from 2005-present. You have warned the masses not to go into this uneducated. Not saying you didn’t try to educate yourself or you wouldn’t have been asking questions here on hairtell 2 years ago. I think you tried to figure this out. Now that you can reflect back, undoubtedly you see the errors that occurred.

Your skin type may benefit from a Yag, that is, if you have any money left in the hair removal pot??? All may not be lost here. You can test spot and see how that works for you and then proceed for reduction again.

Following up with electrolysis works well, but,…

I don’t think the electrolysis picture is much better in Austraila either. A modernly equipped electrolgist with good vision wear and lighting and skill with a computerized epilator can deliver PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL for your areas in about a year to a year and half, depending on your passion to schedule regular appointments. All the money you spent on IPL and Laser, would have been better spent on electrolysis if conditions were such that you had that option in Austraila. Unfortunately, I’m getting feedback that electrolysis care in Austraila is slower because computerization has not caught fire down under. If you don’t mind slow, then know, that any electrolysis modality works.

Thanks for sharing.

Dee

#4

Hello Dee,

You are right, when I started my first treatment I had no clue. I should have done my research before my first treatment. My first couple of treatments were not with a strong knowledge, however I did a fair bit of reading. I tried to continue with IPL and then realised that there is no hope with the laser I was using.

I switched to the Alex and my first treatment was at 10joules (another waste of time). So you could say that i have not had enought treatments with the Alex. I have been having my recent treatments at 18joules, which the nurse is a bit suprised at considering my III skin.

I have always shedded after the treatments and enjoyed a period of no hair. At approximately week 6/7 I start to see the hair come back, and I normally wait until about week 9 before having my next treatment.

A Yag? do you know anyone who does laser treatments with a Yag in Australia. There are very few hair removal places in Sydney. Will the yag be more expensive/cheaper? what settings do you recommend. Does it work the same way as the Alex. I have always read that the Alex is just as effective as the Yag.

I don’t think I am willing to travel down the electrolysis path. There is not such thing as guaranteed results. All the thereapist start by saying that you can achieve the results, except for one honest nurse said that it would be unlikely for me to get a result with my skin type.

I am encouraging people to remember there is no such thing as hair removal, it is hair reduction. Also, read up before you start. If you think you can live with it, do it.

cheers -
lawrence

#5

Hiya Lawrence,

Okay, firstly 10 joules on a GentleLASE is not sufficiant and could possibly cause stimulated hair growth post laser.

In regards to being treated at 18 Joules on a GentleLASE, that is a good setting and yes it is suprising that your skin can handle such a aggressive setting (baring in mind the highest is 20 Joules). Did the tech use the maximum spot size of 18mm?

On the note of YAG’s, if your skin can handle the GentleLASE stick with it. The YAG is designed for people with darker skin tones, this is down to mainly to the wavelength that the YAG’s use, which is 1064nm. Because of it being a long wavelength it attacks the hair rather than the surrounding tissue aka the skin. Where as someonething such as the GentleLASE with a wavelength of 755nm would target the hair but the surrounding areas as well which are pigmented. Hence why it is important to have lighter skin and darker hair. YAG’s do yield good results, but generally speaking the GentleLASE gives the best, simply down to the power it can give (however, as its been made clear this type of laser is not suitable for all).

Price wise, it’s usually not down to the machine the clinic is using, but simply what they wish to charge their clients.

Finally, electrolysis as Dee said, will give you permanent hair removal if performed properly. A lot of people choose to start with Laser and finish with electrolysis to get rid of the remaining hairs the laser cannot see.

Kind regards,
Benji

#6

Hi Lawrence,
I am a type III, dark coarse hair on the leg and the setting I used on a Yag was 60 joules/10/2. Lagirl recommended to me anything over 50 joules for Yag laser. I did it with ice and I took pain killer.
I don’t know the outcome yet since I just started my treatment but I heard a Yag is good for coarse dark hair.
Muci

#7

Comments like this is why I stay active on Hairtell. The honest nurse you talked to is the one who is very, very mistaken about permanent hair removal if she was referring only to electrolysis. You are mistaken as well, lawrence. People who have had successful laser or electrolysis would find your comment outrageous and misleading. You obviously have not had the joy to experience what a professional electrologist with modern tools and passion for the job at hand can do to the obnoxious little hair follicle.

I just don’t want the consumer to be short-changed and mislead by comments like this and then choose to not to have electrolysis and thus deprive themselves of the only true method of permanent hair removal available on earth in 2007.

If one does not have good electrolysis options in their locale then I can see why such comments are made. I know you are being honest and you trusted an honest nurse’s comment, but I’m telling you it isn’t true and I have lots and lots of evidence to back up what I say. ELECTROLYSIS IS THE ONLY METHOD ON EARTH IN 2007 THAT WILL REMOVE ANY COLOR OF HAIR ON ANY COLOR OF SKIN, ANY TEXTURE OF HAIR, ANYWHERE, ON ANY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD. Some electrologists have even removed ingrown eyelashes on dogs - permanently!

The problem for the consumer is, worldwide, finding a well-trained electrologist. That’s something that I cannot change, frustratingly so.

Thanks lawrence. And thanks Benji Boy for your comments.

Dee

#8

I second the motion!

Comments like Lawrence’s lead me to the scene in My Cousin Vinny, where the Ersatz Lawyer is questioning the witness who said he saw the robbery while looking up from cooking his morning grits. After establishing that he was making natural, organic, slow cook grits, and not quick cook grits (and no self-respecting southerner would ever be caught dead with instant grits! Parish the thought!) Vinny asks the rhetorical question, “Do the laws of physics stop at your stove? How is it that you were able to cook a grit in 3 to 5 minutes, when the entire grit eating world requires 20 minutes to do that, and even quick grits need 5 whole minutes if you believe the package, which we have already established was not allowed in your kitchen!”

Electrolysis works, but many people don’t have anyone local who they can find who is in a position to do what they need done on the timetable they would find reasonable, and in addition to that, there are guidelines for what is even the limit of possibility, which some people refuse to allow as the truth, and thus make the monumental leap to “Nothing works!” when the truth would be more accurately stated as “Nothing works as fast as I would like it to.” (Of course, if we could find those fairy godmothers and get them to start being more generous with those magic wands, we all might be in a better place.)

I am always crest fallen when clients, and potential clients just don’t heed the information about what is possible, and how it can be achieved. It is very simple really.

#9

there are several issues in your analysis and statements. the basic fact is that you are mostly dissappointed that you were lead to believe something that wasn’t true, were treated by a bad clinic with a bad machine, and on areas that shouldn’t have been treated in the first place, thus wasting lots of time and money in the process. then, you decided to do some minimal research and went to a seemingly less than optimal place (given that they wanted to treat you at 10 joules) that had a better machine. So, at this point, you have had at most 4 effective treatments in total, since all your IPL treatments and at least the first GentleLASE treatment wasn’t effective. However, I’m not even sure that these were effective either since you are not providing the spot size with your setting numbers, nor stating the joules for each of the last four treatments. 14 or 16 joules would be a very low setting on anything but an 18mm spot size on the GentleLASE. Considering the fact that the clinic wanted to treat you at 10 joules, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not using the highest spot size either. In addition, you’re expecting to be done in 4 effective treatments versus required 8-10. It is also not clear just how coarse all the hair you’re treating is. Would it be possible for you to post a picture?

I’m not trying to be harsh, but you need to be realistic. Unfortunately, permanent hair removal is not an easy task and only an experienced laser operator with a good machine can provide results. And only when the hair being treated is the right type in the first place. We can’t judge this without pictures, so you need someone locally who you can trust. We can only help so much. You don’t indicate your location in your profile, so it’s impossible for us to recommend anyone in your area even if we do know someone who can provide you with an honest service.

To add to Dee’s comments, electrolysis is permanent and effective. The variable in both methods is finding someone who knows what they’re doing. It doesn’t look like you have found that with LHR.

#10

Hello all you hairy people out there. I am back on the forum to share a bit more of my story that I started years ago on this forum. I can’t believe so many years have gone by and I am still doing LHR.

Firstly, I want to say to you all that you are not defined by your hair. You are a person and human first and then hairiness is just one of your characteristics. If you can learn to accept who you are without LHR you are to be admired because it is hard to be different in a world that idolises hairlessness. anyway - here is some more of my story.

In my last post I told you all that I had moved from IPL to GentleLase and I had my first two treatments on low settings (10 & 14) . From that point on I have had one of the most experienced LHR practitioners work on my back, neck & shoulders. This lady was one of the first people in the industry and has the largest hair removal business in australia. So I have been having treatments at between 16/18 joules at spot size 18mm. I have a treatment no more than 8weeks apart. I experience full shedding and enjoy a hairless period for 4-6 weeks. I have been doing this for over 2 years now.

The section of my back that I have had a result with is the lower third of my back. The upper back , neck and shoulders has not had any result, in fact it is worst than before I started. I want to re-state again that LHR does not achieve results for everyone and often it stimulates hair that wasn’t there, particularly in hormonal parts of the body. If you can live without LHR I would recommend it because it is a risk that many not experience hair removal or even reduction, rather it will be hair increase. This is a valid risk that I think people should consider before going into it. I know girls who have had it done on thier face and have had a great result, but the risk still stands.

I want to talk about the other problem with Laser hair removal. After a treatment you experience a period of no - hair. so after this period of no hair you start to see fine hair come up (initially) and it can frustrate you and you constantly want a hair free body. I think your mind can become obsessed with having a hair free body that you stop enjoying life. This is a trap and is something that a lot of people I talk to experience. the psycological impact of LHR has not been considered and I think that the solution to people with un wanted hair should consider psycological therapy to avoid the trap which could ultimately lead to depression and anxiety.

hope this post excites much discussion and debate, happy to take any comments or questions.

#11

Can you please post a picture? I can’t recall if you’ve done it before.