I’m a 27-year-old Spanish male, quite hairy all over (dark hair on light skin), and I’d like to get rid of (or reduce) hair on legs, buttocks, arms, lower back, chest and abdomen.
I’ve been lurking for a while now and I’ve found the site to be really informative, so I thought I would let you know about my situation and hopefully get some feedback/opinions/advice from other forum members.
I’ve only been through two IPL sessions so far (on chest, abdomen and lower back), and I’m guessing the first one was pretty useless, since it was back in 2003 and I had to discontinue the treament until late last year. I had my second IPL session in December 2007, and experienced what I guess are the normal phases: hair-free, pepperspots, hair falling off… Now most of it is back, and I think it’s slightly thinner than before (mostly because there was an untreated patch on my abdomen and it now looks different from the rest). My next session will be in March and I hope to get better results after that one.
Now, my main questions are: did that 4-year-long wait between first and second session really have a big (maybe negative) effect on the overall treatment? Will I see a difference if I stick to the proper waiting times now? Will IPL induce hair growth on areas where the hair is not very dark, or even on areas that are close to the ones that are being treated? Will IPL work better on legs, for instance? (where the hair size/thickness is a lot more uniform than on other parts of my body)
(I know it would help a lot if I could post some pics, so I will try to do that later)
Anyway, thanks a lot in advance, and I’m very glad to have found this site
I’ll ask them in March then, when I get my next session.
By the way, can laser stimulate hair growth on some areas as well, or is that just IPL? What about electrolysis? (I was thinking of going for it to get rid of stray coarse hairs on shoulders)
There are some areas that appear to stimulate more than others. I don’t think we know what the percentages are, but if you have been hanging out here on hairtell or cosmetic enhancements forum, you will come to understand that men get stimulation by both IPL’s and lasers on their upper backs, shoulders and upper arms and women have it on their faces and necks. This does not happen to everyone. Again, I have not seen any percentages on this phenomenon, but we sure do hear from the consumers who have stumbled on these hair removal sites. You should at least know this information so you can willingly go into this with no surprises.
A skilled, modern electrologist can easily handle the stray coarse hairs on your shoulders. I would NOT do laser or IPL on that area. If you give us a general idea of where you are located, we may be able to offer practitioner names so you can get consultations.
A good laser seems to work well on the chest area and I think the buttocks are good, too, but need someone to back me up on that one.
Dee’s totally right, be really wary with with you back shoulders, and upper arms. I only treated mine because I had coarse, dark hair on them (I’m skin type 2 as well).
Looking at recent studies on increased hair growth, it did occur on a range of skin types however, it did appear to be a little bit more prevelant on darker skin types e.g. skin type IV and so on. If you have lighter hair anywhere, think carefully about using laser on it. If you take a look at Hairy87’s electrolysis diary (in the electrolysis forum) he mentioned how the fine hairs on the side of his torsoe were stimulated.
The numbers of stimulated hair growth are low and it occured for several on the places that Dee mentioned, for both lighter and darker skin types. Although check out a couple more studies if you find anymore, always good to have an idea of what the risks are. If you google laser induced hypertrichosis (hypertrichosis basically means theres an increase in hair growth [very are many types]) it will come up with more information for you to have a look at.
Overall, if all the hair is dense, coarse and dark it should be fine. I hope that the IPL or Laser goes well and please keep us updated with how you get on (we need to catch up with those electrolysis diaries )
As mentioned above, IPL is not the most effective for hair removal. True laser can probably get you better results. Also, if you’re Spanish, you’re probably at least a type III and maybe even darker. Check out the FAQs at the link below and read them carefully. Let us know what skin type you think you are. If you’re darker than a type III, then IPL is definitely not best for you. Are you stuck in a contract at this place? Can you call them and ask the name of the machine?
All those areas usually get good results with LHR in good hands. So you should get some results. How good and fast depends on the laser/IPL type and their skill/experience. It looks like you’re getting shedding, so that’s good.
Waiting 4 years didn’t hurt or help. At this point, you’re basically starting new.
Hair can be stimulated with either IPL or laser. Most common areas on men though are usually shoulders and upper arms. So I think you should be ok. However, I would still stay away from fine and light hair and leave those for electrolysis, just in case. Treating your shoulders with electrolysis is a good idea too.
Either way, LHR will work best on the most coarse hair.
Thanks everyone for your responses.
It appears my post yesterday didn’t come through. It was just a little update; my next (third) appointment is today, so I’ll let you know how that went. And here are the pics I promised
(I think my last post disappeared; anyway, what I’d written was that I do unfortunately have a contract with them. There are just two more sessions to go, though, so I’m guessing it can’t be that bad? I’m obviously willing to look for better alternatives if I’m not satisfied with the results. Now on to the main content of this post…)
Here’s a picture update (almost two weeks after third session)
And also a further question: what would be the best option for the other areas I’d like to do (legs, buttocks, lower and upper arms)? What kind of treatment, machine, etc.
For further areas and any further work on the areas you are treating after you have finished the contract, as long as the hair is coarse, dark and you are a skin type I to III, you should search for a laser like the Candella GentleLASE, GentleMAX or if none of these are available, the Cynosure Elite.
If you are skin type IV or above you should look for an nd:YAG e.g. GentleYAG, GentleMAX or again if these are not available in your area, the Cynosure Elite (these last 2 lasers have a dual wave length of 755nm and 1064nm).
Generally speaking, you will get much better results from a true alser rather than an IPL, looking at the second picture it is difficult to see whether they are pepper spots or unshed hair. How has the shedding been?
You’ll get some results, just possibly not the very best possible. So I would switch to a more powerful laser if you’re still not satisfied after you’re done with treatments here. The lasers Benji mentioned are good ones to consider.
What type of laser you need depends on your skin type. And whether you should get laser done at all on a certain area depends on how coarse the hair is. Most men’s upper arm hair is not coarse enough for example, so electrolysis is needed instead for those areas.