I have a very thick beard and would like to have it thinned out. Seems like after I shave, about 5 or 6 hours later I have to shave again. I would so love to shave only twice a month or so. Is it possible to evenly have my beard and neck thinned out without it looking odd. I want it to look as natural as possible.
I think so. I’ve read that those who chose to get electrolysis on their beard have almost totally removed their five oclock shadow after their 2nd to 3rd clearance.
I have had one clearance on my back of my neck/back 12 weeks ago and I would guestimmate that there is about 35-40% less hair. It just looked sparser, probably a little less thick as well.
If electrolysis works for me on the large area on my body that I’m doing, I’m going to fly down to the place in Texas and have them lidocaine me and do it in a weekend. I really can’t even fathom how painful it must be to get your beard removed. I’d really be happy with 1-2 clearances of my neck from adams apple up to chin just so I don’t get so much irritation when I shave.
I think this person is asking about laser since they’re posting in the laser forum, so I’ll address both laser and electrolysis in this case.
If your hair is dark, you can get a reduction with a few treatments, BUT there are several things you should be aware of. No, you will probably not get to a point of shaving twice a month with only a few treatments. That will take a much bigger committment and you will still have hair left, that is if you only do laser. Men who take on laser hair removal for their faces seek to achieve a general reduction in density which will help get rid of the constant shadow, and this can take several treatments (4-6) spaced 8-12 weeks apart. You will still have to shave, but not as often and you won’t have a shadow if you get good results. One thing that you should be aware of is that it is possible to get an uneven reduction and some patchiness, especially at first when hairs are all in different phases AND if the person treating you is not very experienced with this area and is not overlapping properly. The type of laser that is used is also very important, as well as settings.
You can type in search words into the search feature on this forum to find previous posts on this.
Electrolysis is also an option. It removes hair one by one, so it will take a considerable amount of time, but you can target specific follicles. Some people do it to even out any patchiness after laser or to finish certain spots of hair left. You would need mroe frequent treatments with this method, but it’s also permanent. However, unless you’re on some type of hormonal drugs, your body will probably continue to develop NEW hair throughout your life, so once again an almost complete clearance is not really possible. But a good reduction is.
Thank you both! Yes, I am considering laser hair removal for the face. I am willing to go 4-6 treatments, possibly more if I see promising results. I did this once before about 6 years ago. The Doctor kept trying new machines and I thought he was conning me. One treatment I would see very good results and thats when he would change to a newer machine. He used one machine that was almost entirely painless. He had a very cold blower on the area as he used the laser. It helped SO MUCH. This Doctor later lost his license for something unrelated they claim. It was on the news and I sort of stopped going after that.
Right now my facial hair is begining to gray a little and that really is bothering me. I would like to thin out the face as much as possible and get rid of that permanet 5 O’clock shadow.
Three questions: One, how much am I looking at for each session? Just a ballpark figure. I was thinking $275-$350 per session.
Two, I live in Connectciut (Hartford Area) Any way I can find a decent experienced Doctor?
Three, what machine would be the best? I thik I used the epilight before but am not sure if this was the good one or not since he changed them with each session. If anyone personanly reccomends one type over another I would love to hear from you.
Thnaks again for all your help and support!!!
If your skin is light, you need an alexandrite laser. Laser won’t work on the gray hairs. Try running a search here for past recommendations and also go to Candela Corporation website and use their provider search for GentleLASE. Epilight is not very good. Also, this will hurt if it’s effective. Expect that. Icing helps a lot. Your price estimate is correct. You don’t need to look for a doctor. It doesn’t matter if they have MD after their name. You need someone who has specific experience in treating male faces and has been doing this for a while and with a good laser so that you can trust them with overlapping and settings.
Please read the FAQs first: www.hairremovalforum.com/faq.cfm
I recommend you experiment on your face with the laser. The laser hurts and is irritating to your skin. But you will be left with sexy bald patches in the shape of the laser head. It’s so worth it!
You want to be able to only have to shave once or twice a month? That sounds more like removing everything but being left with a handful of stragglers. Laser can definitely do that (assuming you use the right one for you skin/hair combo).
actually, i would say that laser can’t do that on a male face if the guy is not taking any hormonal medication (like TS women on here). I would say you can get a reduction given proper treatments hopefully with no patchiness as jimmyjames experienced with IPL treatments. That means you won’t have a shadow after shaving, but you would still need to shave. To get to a point where you almost don’t shave, you would need constant touchups and that’s after many treatments first, meaning more than 15.
I have patchy results as well and I really don’t blame the technique as I have had roughly the same shapes on my face from different tech’s (same laser). Male facial hair is difficult to kill and is not homogenous so LHR treatment will (in many cases) leave patches of “resilient” hair (especially on the chin) which can (as for me) result in permanent patches of dark hair that are very difficult to remove by laser. I am on treatment 9 and am continuing to move forward SLOWLY. Be prepared for this kind of result (which is NOT unusual) even if you are hopeful (as others have encouraged).
Tex - each person will have varied results - so its not ‘who’ did the treatment - it is all about how you reacted to the treatment.
But you are right on the mark about it being a slow process - but I have seen many guys in your position that have started treatments and that it is a slow process - but they have started experiencing the reduction! And they are so much happier.
IM in the process of removing my beard hair as well, try using a Sciton laser, it has a very large head and uses a scanning technology to ensure the entire surface gets lasered. It shoots about 7 or 8 times in 5 seconds, so far im on 3rd treatment and the reduction or shedding had been very uniform, no patchiness.
AusCass, I would disagree. It has a LOT to do with who is operating the machine and setting the settings, AND what machine it is.
WPG_guy, thanks for coming back to report! Hopefully, you’ll continue to do this so we can find out about your final results.