Is it just me or is everything pretty much temporary?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

(I’m a 23 year old caucasian male)

I’ve been reading up on hair removal for about a year. Trying to sort out the “fact and fiction” has been so difficult, its like a toss up. Judging from the forums, it seems like i have not seen a single person say after a reasonable amount of time that they have had the unwanted hair removed. So many “I’ve had 20+ treatments over a couple years, and now its all back” stories. It seems like it always comes back.

I’ve talked with 2 chains: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow (IPL) and American Laser Centers (Laser), and their inconsistencies in describing their methods, their competitors, and the industry and typical results at large make me wonder if its all not just a big money pit.

Even with this considered I feel it may be worth it. I’m starting to think these hair removal folks are basically doing something similar to “body shaving”, though I’d imagine (hope) that most of the hair looks a bit more normal than recently shaved hair when growing back. I guess I can attest to the fact it seems to take longer for hair to grow back with this type of technology than with shaving (did a test patch with IPL and its back to “normal” now).

But my point is, for me, I have hair everywhere, and besides it looking bad, its just plain uncomfortable. Hard to sit still at work when your legs, lower back, and your bum are itching constantly… and thats not from some kind of shaving or something I did… thats just a lot of hair. I feel like that has to contribute to things like poor concentration and even bad posture. My most sopisticated way of removing hair to date is using a hair trimmer(you know the buzzing thing) putting it on level 2 or 3, and just using that on my body. I feel SO much more comfortable right after I do this once every couple weeks or so. Given that places like American Laser Center and Hair Today Gone Tomorrow offer additional maintenance (i.e. for 1-2 years afterward) for the full body package, in the long run, I can so how that could be a very reasonable solution for me, and (hopfully eventually) somewhat affordable.

What do you all think of this idea, and anyone care to tell me I’m wrong with regards to anything I’ve said?

I guess now my cheif concerns are:

  • @ men, what are the larger areas like when hair is growing back? (i.e. patchiness, etc)

AND

-@ customers of the above businesses (or other ones with similar “maintenance” programs), how does this mainenance work out for you? Are you able to get in when you want to or are they seemingly “booked” forever after you’ve already paid, and went through the initial treatments? Any way they control this factor? What about evening appointments filling up, is this a big issue (evenings will basically be what I’m looking at).

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

#2

(I’m a 23 year old caucasian male)

I’ve been reading up on hair removal for about a year. Trying to sort out the “fact and fiction” has been so difficult, its like a toss up. Judging from the forums, it seems like i have not seen a single person say after a reasonable amount of time that they have had the unwanted hair removed. So many “I’ve had 20+ treatments over a couple years, and now its all back” stories. It seems like it always comes back.

Keep reading. We have many people here that talked about their success and no, electrolysis is not temporary. It’s permanent if done correctly.

#3

Hi:

Electrolysis is permanent if someone sticks with the schedule and they have a qualified electrolysis. You have to stick with it long enough to get at the hairs sometimes several times however due to growth cycles.

Laser can reduce hair density, and probably works best on body hair. I found it is less than 100% successful on male facial hair which is a tough beast to kill.

My laser clinic gave 3 free follow ups if I payed for 6.
I had laser on my face followed by 90 hours and counting of electrolysis. My face is very,very good right now.

I am currently getting laser on my arms since I am just trying to thin it out there.

Alicia

#4

both electrolysis and laser are permanent, but there are certain things you need to understand before going into it. laser works best on dark coarse hair and light skin. when treated properly, it will permanently remove those hairs. since it targets dark pigment and coarse hair has the most, those will definitely be killed and won’t come back. laser is not as effective on fine hair, so some of those will be treated, but some will remain. that’s why it’s best to start with laser and finish with electrolysis if u fit the light skin, dark hair profile. you also need to realize that it’s a committment and you need to do the treatments at specific intervals and by the best technician out there for best results. electrolysis is permanent, but it actually works faster on finer weaker hair, so the coarse hair will need to be zapped more times to be permanently killed. once again, that’s why a combination of first laser, then electrolysis works best.

now, the places you mentioned are not very good in general to get unbiased information from since they are chains and the quality really varies from location to location. the best thing you can do is learn as much as you can about lasers and hair removal in general before going to consultations. then, set up at least 3 consultations at places with the best laser type for your skin and hair type, hopefully from the recommendations of someone on one of these forums. once at the consultation, you will be able to judge better if the tech is knowledgeable and experienced since you will have the information you have learned from here to compare to.

to start, go to the laser forum on this forum and read the Laser Frequently Asked Questions posted at the top. That should give you a decent quick overview about hair growth and removal, and what to expect. Then start doing research on places in your area (I still prefer those that are recommended and not chains where the turnover of employees is high and training is minimal).

Also, understand that most stories of lack of success with laser treatments come with explanations of why the person didn’t achieve results AFTER the fact. Unfortunately, most people don’t do their own research and just trust that if they pay thousands of $ to someone who sounds like they know what they are doing, that is enough for great results. If you need to read some success stories on this site from those who have had great results from laser hair removal, look for the SUCCESS STORIES string in the LASER section. People like RC2001 and hairlessinLA had great success and posted their stories for newbies. The difference you will find in their approach is that they were committed and did their research on what works best for their skin/hair type. If you do that, you should get good results.

Good luck.

#5

But my point is, for me, I have hair everywhere, and besides it looking bad, its just plain uncomfortable. Hard to sit still at work when your legs, lower back, and your bum are itching constantly… and thats not from some kind of shaving or something I did… thats just a lot of hair. I feel like that has to contribute to things like poor concentration and even bad posture. My most sopisticated way of removing hair to date is using a hair trimmer(you know the buzzing thing) putting it on level 2 or 3, and just using that on my body. I feel SO much more comfortable right after I do this once every couple weeks or so. Given that places like American Laser Center and Hair Today Gone Tomorrow offer additional maintenance (i.e. for 1-2 years afterward) for the full body package, in the long run, I can so how that could be a very reasonable solution for me, and (hopfully eventually) somewhat affordable.

What do you all think of this idea, and anyone care to tell me I’m wrong with regards to anything I’ve said?

I guess now my cheif concerns are:

  • @ men, what are the larger areas like when hair is growing back? (i.e. patchiness, etc)

AND

-@ customers of the above businesses (or other ones with similar “maintenance” programs), how does this mainenance work out for you? Are you able to get in when you want to or are they seemingly “booked” forever after you’ve already paid, and went through the initial treatments? Any way they control this factor? What about evening appointments filling up, is this a big issue (evenings will basically be what I’m looking at).

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

Generally, I do not like package deals. That makes it too hard to switch practitioners if you are not happy with the results.

If you have light skin and dark hair, find a good practitioner with a Lightsheer diode laser. It absolutely rules for light skin types I-III. See if they use compression. That separates the good practitioners from the mediocre ones. Andrea has some guidelines on hairfacts.com to select a good practitioner.

If you have dark or tanned skin,a Nd:YAG laser like the Sciton, Coolglide CV, or Lyra-i would be best for you.

I did not have trouble with patchiness on large areas, like back and chest. That is not an issue for me. Besides, I would rather have some patchiness than a fur coat! I decided I would either shave or remove with electrolysis what was left.

Electrolysis is permanent for just about everyone if the practitioner is competent. Laser is permanent reduction (not removing every single hair) for many. You won’t know until you try it. The first laser treatment on my chest removed 50% of the hair, and it never came back.

RJC2001