Hi, I am an engineer who really likes big lasers, and I bought one of these to experiment with. http://tinyurl.com/bdceunxk
I also was very interested in its hair removal efficacy because I have tried a small handheld IPL flasher in the past with little results. I am fairly pale and have very dark hair so it should have been pretty effective, but my impression is a majority of these handheld devices are very weak and not meant for real hair removal. Not only is the large device more powerful, but it can also flash up to 10x per second due to having an enormous capacitor powering the flashlamp, which cuts down the time needed in a session by an order of magnitude. It also has very good cooling, with the flashlamp window staying at low 40s to 50F even after 30 min of operation. However, due to its power, it is certainly an eye damage risk. I am using some expensive laser goggles to operate this. But overall, the results are really good. I have about a 30% reduction in terminal hair growth in dense areas after 3 2-week spaced sessions. I’d like to hear what some professionals think about this if they would like to chip in. Have other people tried to use similar devices for DIY removal? For me the total cost of this whole operation was around what you would pay for a handheld flasher, so it could be a good option for people on a budget.
I don’t know what IPL you are using, but according to the research, treatments should be done every 8 to 10 weeks for the body areas and faces every 4 weeks with a high end medical laser. It would be impossible to get a 30% reduction of terminal hair in 6 weeks. Your hair grows in cycles. You are doing what we call laser shaving.
Ah ok so my interval is a bit low. Not sure where i saw the 2 week interval but yeah it looks like 4 is the recommended minimum. I am aware of the hair growth cycle and from my understanding the at any given time 90% of hair is in the anagen stage where IPL can be effective in transferring heat to the follicle via the root and reducing its ability to grow hair. To detail exactly what i observed, i let the hair in the tested area grow out about a month after the series of treatments and all i observed was extremely reduced growth in around 30% of hairs that used to grow in. Could you describe laser shaving? Exposed hairs do not vaporize with these flash lamp devices compared to pumped lasers like Nd-YAG if that’s what you mean. The energy density is way higher, in a smaller area, and a lower pulse width with those lasers so they can do that.
To damage the hair to the point of no return you need to raise the internal temperature of the follicle to approximately 75 degrees Celsius. Anything lower is only doing partial damage to the follicle and the follicle will regenerate. It will take longer but, not only can it regenerate but it can cause the hair to come back stronger and cause fine hair to elongate and become thicker. Look up paradoxical hypertrichosis.
Laser shaving is when the treatments are not powerful enough permanently cauterize the follicle and only temporarily give a reduction like appearance. Given time, most or all of the hair will return. This happens a lot especially when lasers are used on clients who are not perfect candidates or the tech doesn’t have the experience and the laser is not strong enough to cauterize the follicle, stopping the blood supply which is the lifeline for creating a new hair.
However, if you find it better than waxing or plucking, and you don’t want to pay for proper Laser or Electrolysis, go for it! But don’t expect great long term results.
Ok thank you this is all great information. So are all IPL/OPT systems unable to achieve 75C? Are pumped laser systems like Nd-YAG, due to the higher energy density, exclusively able to hit that 75C mark? I haven’t studied a “real deal” IPL/OPT system, but judging by my experience with chinese clone products like this, they usually provide similar specs just with way cheaper, lower quality components. So if quality IPL tech can hit the temperature threshold i wouldn’t be surprised if this could too. From what i’ve read all light based systems are reduction, just that some are way better at reduction than others and that electrolysis is the only true permanent solution, but this could be false information.
But regardless, i guess you are saying that from what i described (quick results, reduction but not cessation of growth) this is characteristic of laser shaving. I’ll give it some time and study it more. I was jumping the gun on conclusions and it could have been placebo.
Successful laser treatments to get permanent reduction depends on many factors. First being the perfect candidate. Light skin with black hair. Second is the experience of the technician. Third is the right laser, yag, Alex, diode or IPL. Fourth, and this is my opinion, is the area being treated. Bikini, underarms, lower legs, inner thighs work beautifully well. Hair can be permanently reduced forever. Me personally had my treatments done in 2003 on my legs, bikini and underarms and have 99% reduction. That’s 20 years.
I had work on my face area and was not impressed. Electrolysis is the modality for faces. The exception is full dark beard where the laser can reduce and thin out the beard and then finishing with Electrolysis.
Any laser with the right power can get results. The problem with the cheaper Chinese models is the repairs. It’s often more expensive to fix them compared to the purchase cost. Many laser repair companies will not touch them.
So, to get permanent reduction results you need a high powered laser, on the right setting, an experienced tech, specific areas and the right candidate.
Cheers!