Intro & some LHR questions

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi all, :slight_smile:

I am a longtime lurker of these forums. I’ve found that the information here is very valuable. I want to give some background on me and then I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice. :cool:

I’ve suffered from excess hair for as long as I can remember, it is genetic (I’m assuming) since I have no medical issues.

When I was 17 (back in 2005), I heard about laser hair removal. I was thrilled and excited, booked my consultation at the first clinic I found (American Laser Centers) and bought a package for my lower legs. I really had no knowledge about lasers or what to expect, I just wanted to get rid of the hair. :eek: I went to the every appointment every eight weeks for the longest time (March 2005 to 2008). I lost track of how many appointments I went to. Luckily, I did get the results I wanted (about 95%) of the hair is gone. But now in retrospect, maybe it shouldn’t have taken so long?! I had started to do my underarms with them, but I stopped going to their clinic after I moved, I didn’t get good results in that area because I probably didn’t have that many treatments.

Now I am ready to back somewhere to get more laser hair removal- looking to do arms and upperlegs. I live in Houston, TX. I have read about the lasers and skin types. My skin is what I would describe as Olive or light “yellow”. It does not burn, it just tans to dark olive. I would say I am in between Type III and Type IV. The hair is black everywhere and not fine but not super coarse. I am not sure which laser would be right for me, but I am thinking the diode long pulse laser would be appropriate.

There is an American Laser Center close to where I live, but I don’t know if I should go there (somewhat bad reviews on the web). Any feedback from people in Houston would be appreciated. I just don’t know if it is possible to find a good clinic with the right laser and qualified technitian. :frowning:

Also I would like to know if anyone has any experiences they would like to share, like how many treatments it took to get rid of hair in the arms/upper legs. Also, I would be happy with just getting less hair and finer hair on my arm, so about how many sessions could that take and is that possible? :slight_smile:

Thanks
Ennovi

#2

American Laser Center does not have good reviews, and chain stores have poorly trained used-car salesmen pretending to be laser techs. Yuck, save your money.

On lower legs with the right laser with your type of hair, you should have probably seen at least a 75% reduction within a few treatments. Three years is simply too long. Average # of treatments per area should be 6-8.

Do they even use lasers at all locations? The one that emails me is constantly offering me IPL instead (practically useless).

#3

Thanks for your response. I figured it was too long. But it is too late now to do anything about that. :frowning: I spent some time researching ALC after I posted this and found a general consensus (even amongst ex-employees) that the place is after the $ not the results.

So I am going to try really hard to find the right clinic before I invest my $. Is it better to get referred by a dermatolist or go to a “real” doctor? Also, how can we know if we are getting a good price? Is there somewhere on the site where we can compare prices?

Thanks again. :slight_smile:

#4

It’s better to get personal referrals and/or choose a clinic based on the laser they have and the knowledge of the techs. Reals doctors tend to be very bad at laser (they don’t learn it in med school, it’s just a new side-gig to make money). Try to find someone who does laser for a living if you can.

Once you have a few consultations/conversations with some decent-sounding clinics, come back here and tell us what settings they would like to use (spot size, joules, and pulse width) and hopefully someone like LAgirl will tell you if it’s all on the up and up or not.

Then have ONE treatment with them (buying a package is risky) and wait to see if you get 100% shedding within 3 weeks. If everything goes smoothly, you now have your laser center. :slight_smile:

We can tell you if the prices seem fair if you’d like to post them here, but there is some variation depending on where you are located.

#5

Alex would be the best type of laser and you may be light enough for it, especially if you stay away from the sun so they can use good settings.

Underarm hair is normally coarse enough for laser, but upper leg hair is often not. If you want to try it on upper legs, only do one treatment and see if you see shedding of all treated hair.

Please read our FAQs at the link below. Also, run a search here for your city name to read past clinic discussions. SSLHR is the owner of Smooth Solutions in Houston and is an expert who used to post here.

If the treatments are working, you’d need 6-8 treatments spaced 8-12 weeks apart (slightly longer on legs) and you should be seeing all treated hair shed within 3 weeks after each treatment.

#6

Thank you for your great advice! It was exactly what I was looking for. :slight_smile:

I did the search for Houston in the forum but I didn’t find any useful threads, but maybe I did it wrong?

I searched for Smooth Solutions, but they don’t seem to have a location in Houston. :frowning: I will try to post some pictures later to confirm which laser would be best.

Thank you again all for your help!

#7

You should do Advanced Search at the top right link above. We also have a post outlining various ways to find good clinics. See the third link below.

#8

Don’t EVER go to ALC or IdealImage, chain locations are corporately ran, only about dollars and cents, the most unexperienced techs with huge fast food like employee type turnover. The horror stories we get every few months from people that go to these big chain places is sad and scary.

Then also don’t go to a place that uses a IPL, go to a place with the LightSheer Diode Laser or a Candela laser. Then make sure you can talk to there patients for references and/or see tons of testimonials from there clients on there website.

#9

Ideal Image uses Candela machines. Some are decent, though they are usually expensive (can be negotiated). They are still managed independently and it depends on that clinic’s owner. I would judge based on that and the technician you meet in person.

Yag lasers also shouldn’t be dismissed. LightSheer is a diode. There are also other diodes. Candela makes both alexandrites and Yags.

#10

Hi again!
I need opinions on my skin tone. :slight_smile:
I’m trying to figure out if there is any way I would be able to use the Alexandrite laser instead of the diode. I need to figure this out so I can find a clinic with the machine I need. Opinions are appreciated.

They are pics of my arm without hair, only pictures I found on my USB drive.
I will upload a pic of the arm with hair when I get home. I couldn’t find one on the USB drive, of course, because I’m usually taking the hair off during special occasions where I would need to take a pic.

#11

Your skin type is in between. The only way to tell for sure would be to have a free consultation at a clinic with an alex and test to see if you can handle at least 14J on 18mm spot size. If your skin can’t handle it without burning or side effects, you need an ND: Yag.

#12

Thanks for your reply.
Why the ND:Yag as opposed to a diode? I’ve been treated with a diode before. I guess I think I’m between 3 & 4… maybe you are thinking I’m between 4 &5?

From the F.A.Q: Alexandrite long pulse laser types work the best on light-colored skin (types I-III - see Question #12 to determine your skin type), followed by diode (skin types I-IV) and Nd:YAG types (skin types IV and darker).

#13

A diode would be ok as well. The problem with it is that it’s hard to use, so you’d really need to look for a clinic who knows how to use it well and can set good settings.

#14

Update-

I went to a laser clinic with reasonable prices for a consultation.
The manager seemed well informed, nothing he said contradicted what I know already.
Although in hindsight, I forgot to ask some important questions.

Anyway, they did a test patch on my arm…about 4 inches long by 2 inches wide.
They treated me with an alexandrite laser, the Epicare Duo. (yes, I know there are better machines elsewhere- but they are almost twice the price of this one).

My settings

Spot size- 18 millimeters
Joules- 14 Joules and then 15 Joules since I was able to handle 14
Hertz- 1 HZ, said they could increase to 2HZ
Pulse width- 30 milliseconds

It has been a week and a half, about 70% of the hairs have shed. Some are remaining, I tried to gently pull them out- although they don’t hurt when pulled, they are resisting.

I think my settings were appropriate based on what you had told me. : )

Also, two more question–I’ve been reading that it is good to wax about 8 weeks prior to your first treatment.
I didn’t do that. By the time I have my full treatment (already scheduled appt.), it will be 4 months since I last epilated that area. Is that going to affect my treatment results negatively?

I have a mixture of coarse and fine hairs in the upper arm area. At these settings, how likely is it that I will experience hypertrichosis? (I think that’s what is is called). I’m female and between III and IV skin, if that helps.

Thanks for the input!

#15

Those settings sound good for your skin type. If you can handle lower pulse width without side effects, it would be even better.

I wouldn’t treat any areas with mixed hair to avoid potential induced growth issues. But in my opinion, better safe than sorry. It’s impossible to predict how your hairs will react. I would just leave it for electrolysis.

Not waxing right before is not going to hurt your treatment. Don’t worry about that.

#16

Test Patch. Note that surrounding hair is not representative of what my hair looks like. Hairs had been bleached and trimmed not too long ago. It will be 2 weeks tomorrow since the area got treated


What hair really looks like in that area:

What hair looks like in the upper arm back side- note that flash/lighting made hair look slightly lighter/finer.


Kind of embarrasing to post pics. LOL But better safe than sorry.

#17

Your upper arm hair is way too fine for laser. I wouldn’t try laser at all since that area has a big risk for stimulating more growth.

The lower upper arm area has some coarse growth towards the elbow. But it gets finer half way up, so I personally wouldn’t treat anything anove the half way point.

#18

Thanks for the input.
I’ll let you know what I decide and how it goes.

ihatebodyhair, thanks for the info on the laser. :slight_smile:

#19

Do you know by any chance if you aren’t supposed to do laser hair removal on your face when using Retin-A-Micro (Tretinoin)?
I’ve done some internet research, but I haven’t found a conclusive answer. :frowning:

Thanks!

#20

Update on my treatments:As you can see in my signature, I’ve started treatments with an Alexandrite laser.
This time they used 18 mm spot size, 16 joules, and I think 16 pulse width. She keep saying she was treating me at 16/16 so I am assuming she was talking about the pulse width since I know the spot size is 18 mm.

I am doing underarms, arms and hands, and upper legs.I had my first treatment in all areas on November 5th.
I am seeing significant shedding in the undearms and arms (mainly, because I’ve been yanking the little hairs non-stop).On the legs, I still have a lot of hair but it has been falling of slowly. I think I will have to go for a touch up after 3 weeks.

Only concerns, small flat moles that I hadn’t really noticed appear black and slightly raised after the treatment.
Will the treated hair fall on its own? Should all of it fall by 3 weeks? Can I go for a touch-up earlier (maybe at 2.5 weeks)?