Just had my first LightSheer! I'm new here- Long Post!

Hi, everyone!
First off, I want to thank all of you wonderful people for being here. I’ve been sneaking around on this site and reading all of your posts in preparation for my venture into the world of laser.
I’ve always been a … hairier girl. Arms, legs… None of that bothers me. I’m Jewish and Hispanic… we all have hairy arms and legs. During puberty, I started to develop lots of facial hair. I could have dealt with the upper lip hair, but my chin, neck, sideburns, and cheeks were soon covered with patches of dark, coarse hair. Awful. I’m 25 now and I’ve spent the past 13 years plucking and shaving myself into oblivion. You know the story. I am so self conscious about it. I won’t let my boyfriend touch my face, and whenever anyone looks at me closely, I feel like they see every hair, every little bit of stubble. My mother is especially insensitive, commenting on how ugly it all is… on a freshly plucked day. You can imagine how discouraging that was. (I told her I’m getting laser and she simply said ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ Bah.)
Anyways. I always wanted electrolysis or laser, but it’s so expensive. However, my problem has gotten so bad-- my skin is constantly razor burned, I’ve developed folliculitis-- and the stubble returns SO much quicker now. I simply can’t stay on top of it anymore. So, I’ve made laser a top priority. I don’t care if I don’t buy any summer clothes or I don’t get my $4 morning latte. This is the most important use of my money right now. I’ve had enough.
So, I just got home from my first laser treatment. I really trust my practitioner. She’s very experienced and caring. We did an entire pass all over my face… at 20 power or something. 441 hits (I guess that means 441 hairs). My skin is super sensitive and she said I couldn’t take a higher level. She did warn me that because my hair is so patchy, thick and coarse that we’ll probably have to do several passes, but that I should see a significant change after today. I see lots of little black specks and redness, but my skin is rather smooth… except for a few hairs that I feel that she missed. Is that typical? I’m so excited just to be DOING SOMETHING about it that might have a longer effect than plucking and shaving.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you all for being here. So good to know I’m not alone here. I see all these women with gorgeous, smooth skin and I just feel so abysmally inferior. You beautiful ladies are really empowering me. I can’t tell you how much that means. So happy to join your board.

Hello
I am also of Jewish decent, and have thick black hair on my face. I am about to go for my second laser hair removal treatment in the next 2 weeks. Still after my first treatment I still have facial hair coming in and dark. I think this is because I used to pluck it so much it may take longer for the hair to get out of its current growth cycle and start a new one. I did my bikini too which is actually now patchy with hair. Let me know what happens to you, if your hair has already fallen out after your first treatment. Mine did not fall out at all after my first treatment.

Jew-mamas unite.

Ok, it’s been about seven hours. I’m blotchy as hell. My chin, sides of my face, and neck look like I have acne. Which I don’t… I actually have lovely skin, except for the whole pesky beard thing. So yeah, a little stinging, very mild, and the spots… lots of which have very, VERY obvious hairs in them. Are those dead hairs? Are they supposed to fall out, or are they going to stay like that until I have another appointment?? YIKES! She said I could shave if necessary. I’m 50% excited, 50% freaked. Well, I guess only time will tell. I think I’ll stay home tonight… I look awful. LOL. I’ll keep you posted- and MzDeadly-- tell me how your appointment goes.

-nola-

p.s… I still smell like burnt hair.

Oh, yeah.
She told me to put Neosporin on it. Any other ideas? I just put some on when I got home from class-- but I’m afraid it’ll make me break out. I’m just SO red and irritated.

Many people are allergic to Neosporin. Should you be one of those folks, you may find Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera to be a good one-two-punch.

You would put the Tea Tree Oil on nightly, and the Aloe Vera on in the morning, and throughout the day as needed.

I was making pasta sauce this evening and I started thinking.
I was a habitual, hours on end plucker too. I wonder if that’s going to cause me problems.

My laser practitioner has assured me over and over that we can eradicate the hair. I trust her fully, she’s been an electrolysist for 20 odd years and she’s a family acquaintance-- but I read all of your posts and they just seem so iffy. Some people get no results, and some people get some. Anyone get rid of ALL of the facial hair they didn’t want?

Also, I’m wondering if the power level she used (20 I think) was too light. I’m experiencing big time redness (read my previous posts)… maybe she couldn’t go higher… But I see people here going up to 35! … Just wondering. Sorry for rambling.

Hmmm well I remember after my first treatment my hair was still stubbly and dark and my face felt like it was sun burned and so did the bikini…I got my side burns done, upper part of eyebrow, chin, cheeks, and neck (hairy as heck!!) The burn went away in a few days, but I did put on this lotion they gave me at the center called…

Post Laser Facial Lotion…for all Skin types…by AmeriPure. It says it contains ALOE, VITAMINS A , D AND E…

Check with the laser center you go too, they may have some lotions they sell there…Though they seem rather expensive…my company gave mine to me…(though my laser treatment burnt a whole in my bank account!) :smile: $$$

I will let you know NOLA how the second treatment goes. I still have the stubble on my face, and am assuming it is from plucking so much, that the hair will take longer to shed and let the new growth in that will need to be zapped again.

I too have been reading this site in preparation for my laser treatment - for just over a year!! I am very nervous!
Can anyone tell me if they bought ela max cream for pain releif, and if so where did you buy it?
I’m in North Ca and can’t find it at the usual drug stores, Longs etc.
How did you all find the pain?
Also have to pick son up from pre-school 45 mins after treatment - will I need a mask??!!

My first laser treatment is scheduled for this Weds - 2 days time, just upper lip which is soft and fine but plenty of it. I’ve never shaved it just bleached it for 15 years.
It does feel empowering just to be doing something about it, but I’m very scared of shaving, and shadows with stubble (Gulp)

Well I’m off to feed Andrea’s cats! This website is the best!

I purchased Sonacaine from Sona for the pain. It was actually a lot less expensive than anything I could find online-$29 for 60g

Well, I’m a little confused today.
My skin has calmed down a bit as far as redness is concerned. Now It just looks like stubble and some crusty whitehead-ish bits. I don’t know what’s worse. Plus, I don’t feel smooth AT ALL anymore… The treated areas feel crusty and … well, hairy. Very stubbly. I don’t know what happened, if this is normal, or if the procedure simply failed. Should I shave it?

-Discouraged nola.

Don’t worry, the hair takes time to shed! I had a treatment on my chest nearly a week ago and the hair is still there, I know it will start falling out over the next few days though!

The proble, with shaving is that it may cause further irritation to the skin giving you more redness and blackheads.

No need to feel discouraged quite yet!

It’s funny because even if I tried to shave, I think tons of the stubble would still be there because a lot of it seems ingrown. This is so gross. I feel pretty much as hairy as I normally would if I went 2 days between shaving. Horrid. I can’t help but feel discouraged, between the whiteheads, redness, and stubble. It’s so unsightly. I never go out with hair on my face, I would shave and pluck so retentively. This is really difficult. Even the ones that look ingrown will fall out? It seems like a lot of people here were just able to rub off the singed hairs… None of mine even look singed. It’s just my normal stubble + redness + whiteheads. I don’t know what to do.

Nola-

Hang in there … it does get better and it does work! It’s not at all unusual for the hairs to take awhile to fall out and that fact that they are still there doesn’t mean that they weren’t treated or weren’t affected – I’ve seen those hairs referred to as “tombstones” on this board … LOL!

In a couple of days when your skin is healed and doesn’t feel irritated anymore, try LIGHTLY exfoliating – this will help you shed the hairs. They will all eventually fall out but it might take a couple of weeks. As your practitioner said, shaving is okay but resist the urge to tweeze!

It will be worth it in the end, so keep your eyes on the prize! :smile:

-Cathy

CJ-
Thanks so much for your response. I’m sure you can imagine how frustated I am. My practitioner assured me that I would see major improvement and then to wake up extremely stubbly this morning–yucka.
I want to shave/exfoliate so badly right now. If I shave will it keep the dead hairs from falling out? I don’t see how that would inhibit the shedding. Thanks again for your kind words. I just want some relief… the past 36 hours have been crazy, I’ve been walking around with my head down and burying my face in my text in class. So unsightly…

-nola-
feeling a little better after buying new Valentino sunglasses to make up for the hair/scab issue

I shaved it really lightly today and I think because of the scabbing it didn’t make much of a difference… Oh well. Will that quick shave keep the hairs from falling out?

Nolagirl, I don’t think shaving will affect the hairs zapped by the laser falling out or shedding.
From what I’ve learnt I think it’s fine to shave, just no plucking or pulling at them.

I am now 3 hours post my first laser session!
I am both pleased and worried!!
Plaesed as the treatment was totally painfree (just a warm senastion), hardly any redness, just a burning feeling for an hour after, and I am now the owner of a hair free, baby smooth top lip - Yea!
:grin:
Worried as I know the hair will grow again soon, and I’ll have to deal with stubble and shaving (Gulp)
Question- Can I use tend skin on the area?
Also worried that it didn’t hurt, I do have a lot of fair hairs which I know won’t be affected by the laser, but some darker too, although all of them are fine and soft. Did the laser actually have any effect I wonder?
Setting was at 20 (is this joules?, does this sound about right to those who are experienced?! Caucasain type 3 skin)

I’m sorry to hear about the problems you’re having Nolagirl. I hope with some gentle tender care your skin recovers quickly. I bought some aloe vera gel, and there’s Tend skin which I use on my bikini line after shaving and can’t live without! It stops most ingrowns and razor rash.You can only get it online I beleive or try ebay for cheaper prices.

Well I’m off to enjoy the day with my new clean upper lip - better enjoy it whilst it lasts!!
Will update here in a day or so.

Must be encouraging to be immediately smooth. I felt stubble pretty much right away.

Practitioner said I can come back in a week for another go. Too soon?

I’m still feeling sort of blah about the whole thing. I feel like she didn’t zap the majority of the hairs or something. I feel so stubbly and gross. I don’t know-- I just wish this nightmare would be over. I’m trying to scrape together the money for my next appointment; not going to be easy.

What an emotional rollercoaster this is… The promise of a solution made me so excited but the reality of it all is setting in and it sucks. I’m even more self conscious now than I was before because I have spots, stubble, ingrowns… It’s gross. I want OUT!

Nolagirl, please relax!
It has only been 3 days.
Yes, the “whiteheads” are normal.
That is the “injured” hair folicals.
The blackspecks are the “burnt” hairs, they will fall out but not for 2 or 3 weeks.
Shave until then but do not pluck!
Tend Skin will help for the “razorburn”.
Lastly, yes, areas were probaly missed, they don’t get everything, that’s why it takes like 5-6 visits.
Hope this helps!

OK… You’re right, I’m going to relax.

-relaxes-

It’s going to work.

cuzn_it, could you please tell me why one shouldn’t pluck the dead hairs? a few days after treatment, the hairs pretty much fall out on their own, no? so what’s the harm in giving them a bit of help? as long as you stick to those that are about to come out and don’t require yanking, would it be ok? i’m just curious. the nurse who did my chin told me to exfoliate a couple times a week, which is fine and all, but i’d really like to minimize the number of days i have to walk around with these ‘tombstone’ hairs without scrubbing my face raw.

thanks in advance.

r.c.