I am a 23 year old male in the u.k with skin type II and dark/ dark brown hair, I had my treatment yesterday on my arms and hands with the harley medical group who are using an aesthera ppx isolaz, i had no pain during this treatment as it does claim that the treatment is painless, however i have no idea if it has worked there is not much sign of having had laser treatment as my skin looks the same from when i shaved it ( a few scratches and red spots), the hair feels prickly and i’m not sure if the laser has weakened the hair? or is this how it is supposed to be until it grows and falls out? anybody else had any experiences with the harley medical group? any responses will be helpful. Thank you 
No, this isn’t normal. This machine hasn’t really gotten results for anyone I’ve seen on forums for the last 5 years.
There are several good clinics in London. You need to look into switching to one with a better machine.
Please read our FAQs below.
All hair should shed 3 weeks after each treatment. If it doesn’t, it wasn’t affected.
Run a search here for London. There are several threads with recommendations.
Well you couldn’t have readthem properly! i have read 2 stories on messageboards where people have reported some success. Harley medical group are experts in hair removal and the leading specialist in the u.k and famous for revolutionising laser hair removal so why would they use lasers that don’t work? plus there is not enough information or reviews on the aesthera for you to make a correct judgement. Magazines and newspapers do plenty of coverage on this clinic and its treatments including laser hair removal too.
First of all, they don’t have only one machine. Second, manufacturers give clinics machines for “testing”, basically using you as a guinia pig while you pay them. Very convenient.
Manufacturers also post on forums pretending to be consumers. For example, I’m now doubting your post considering you’re promoting a clinic while clearly not seeing any results yet.
^alala - are you advertising for them because it sounds like you are.
2 stories on the whole internet, wow. How do you know they weren’t from the company themselves?
I started researching Laser 10 years ago for my own treatments.
I’ve never heard that the “Harley medical group are experts in hair removal and the leading specialist in the u.k and famous for revolutionising laser hair removal”. Which is why I did not choose to use them for my own treatments.
Magazines and newspapers earn money from such promotion. This is an unbiased board with real experiences.
LAgirl knows her stuff when it comes to Laser. If she is saying no one on these boards has had success, then she is correct.
In regards to your treatment. If they were any good, they would have told you that for 2-3 weeks the hair would continue to appear as though growing, albeit slowly, and then shed.
there’s no need to be that rude i’m not advertising im simply stating ive been lurking and reading these boards too for the past 5 years, i’m upset, i want this to work not to have paid a fortune and for it not to work, i never meant to cause offence im just wanting an end to this problem instead of thinking about it everyday, i want to enjoy being young but i can’t when this feels like a barrier and so i finally pluck up the courage to do it only for you lot to tell me coldly that it doesn’t work, how would you feel? i just want my life to be different, i want not to care not this endless nothing that its come to. I want this to work so much like you don’t know how.
I’m not understanding. If you have been reading these forums, you must have read the FAQs where we clearly state which lasers are BEST for each skin type. We also have tons of posts from people in London who recommend good clinics here. Have you read them?
Sorry, I don’t have time to sugarcoat things. I take a lot of my personal time to help people out on this forum. I get nothing out of it and I repeat the same things over and over to new people every day - the things that are already in the FAQs you can easily read. I wrote them for a reason.
I’m not sure what you expect us to say if you knowingly picked a clinic and laser that is not necessarily recommended while there are so many options here on the forum that you admit you’ve read. Run a search for this clinic. There are posts about it here as well.
My recommendation would be to look for a new clinic with a better machine. Find a recommended one here. The only way to tackle your problem is via a method that actually works. I hope you didn’t sign up for a package.
Sorry if I upset you but I don’t think I was being rude at all.
I simply replied based on what I had read, which was a very defensive post.
I hope you have not paid for a course with them.
You have only had one treatment. See how it goes. If you have only paid for the one, as LAgirl has said, have another read around the forums for London clinics and machines from which people have actually experienced good results.
The users here will help you if are genuinely after help. I mean, why didn’t you start a thread before treatment for recommendations and experiences?
yes i bought a course, no i am not advertising, i chse harley medical and before i went there i read these forums and decided enough wasn’t said or opinion given to justify why the aesthera wouldnt work, harley medical brought a clinic to my area, they mustbe doing something right? anyway i am a skin type II with dark hair and some dark brown/ brown hair, what would be the best laser for me?
You should probably wait for LAgirl’s response but I believe an Alexandrite would be best for your skin type.
The hair does need to coarse though.
GentleLase and Apogee both are Alex lasers.
The Apogee Elite that I am being treated with has an Alex as well as an Nd:YAG. A lot of clinics here choose to use this machine.
When it comes to something like this, you don’t want to be a guinea pig and try something where enough wasn’t said. You want to go for a clinic and laser type that lots of people recommend!
I don’t like the sound of Sk!n clinics but they are everywhere and if they have a better Laser and there is one close to you, I’d rather go there for a consult.
Anyway, how did your test patch with HMG go? Did they not give you a free one at the time of consultation? No obligation to book/pay for treatment?
I did not start treatments until I had a test patch and waited for shedding.
I had a test patch 2 days after my consultation, the area wasnt shaved but they put the laser onto my skin and i noticed that afterwards the hairs look like they had died because they appeared weaker and they had a shrivelled curl affect to it, i went for my first treatment after 13 days although the hair that was targeted was quite fine (upper arm) i couldnt tell if some of it may have shed as it was only a small spot in the first place so it put my hopes into having the treatment done, i did have the option of just paying for the first treatment done and then paying for a the package but i chose to pay for the package 2 weeks before, i was too keen and trustworthy! but not that there is nothing wrong with the service i have receieved so far, back to the point , i shaved 3 days before and then had my treatment done i guess whats important to me is when the laser hits the hairs do they immediately retire into a weak state or do they remain stiff in the follicle until enough time has gone by for the hair to have grown weak maybe and shed?
All this sounds very fishy to me (their practices, not you).
True, I do not know much about this Laser.
But with all other Lasers the hair MUST be shaved before treatment. The Laser energy will heat the follicles and a good proportion will be ‘killed’. Over the next few weeks, the hair will be pushed out of the follicles; this is shedding. If one gets good shedding, that area will be hairfree for a good number of weeks. Even an area of a few spots will look very obviously hair free in comparison to the surrounding skin.
I have no idea what they were/are doing with you and why.
Are you sure you have been reading these forums for a while? Many men have had problems with induced growth on the upper arms where the hair is quite fine. LAgirl is always labouring the point that Laser is for coarse, dark hair!
You didn’t answer a very important question - is any of the hair you want to treat COARSE? Laser ONLY works on coarse hair. If that’s not what you have, no machine will work.
Unfortunately, clinics will still sell you packages anyway and they don’t refund. So just because another clinic opened, doesn’t mean it’s good. There is a large chain in the US which is pretty bad, but they’re all over the place advertising like crazy, taking people’s money, and never refunding.
The fact that they didn’t tell you about shedding or that they didn’t shave the area when they did a test spot or that they treated an area with fine hair doesn’t inspire confidence.
You can’t tell whether the hair was affected just because the hair above the skin’s surface was burned. You can see what you saw if you simply burned it with a lighter yourself. The way to tell whether the treatment worked is to make sure that all treated hair sheds within 2-3 weeks after the treatment. It it doesn’t, you have a problem, i.e. you’re paying for something that’s doing nothing to the hair.
For your skin type, you need an alexandrite laser like GentleLASE or Apogee. BUT, once again, the hair needs to be COARSE. If it’s not, electrolysis is the only option and laser is not an option at all.
StoppItt, Aesthera PPX was touted as a painfree machine. As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much a gimmick. We’ve had some posts from clinics who tried it and said so themselves.