Laser Beard Removal (my experience and questions)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I am a 24, almost 25 year old guy that has decided to get laser beard removal. I’m 5’8, 110 lbs, half Korean and half Caucasian. Let’s just say that I’m not that most masculine looking guy, and I think my full beard looks weird on me for these reasons. Not only do I think I look weird with facial hair, but I HATE shaving, and my facial starts growing back 12 hours after I shave, and if I shave every day my skin gets irritated, bumpy and red. I try to shave only 2 - 3 times a week, but during the days I don’t shave I have to deal with scruff and the undesirable five 'o clock shadow. My dad is very European, and my mom is 100% Korean. Unfortunately, I inherited my dads hairiness and not my moms side of the families hairiness (they have little to no body and facial hair). I’ll even post some pictures of myself with a few days to a week of beard regrowth, and me clean shaven just to put an imagine to my description.

Okay, now for my laser story. I went in for a consultation in late March of this year. I’m going to this place in Redondo Beach and I got a package of 8 sessions for about $1,050. I started my first session this month on the 8th. I’m not sure what the joules were or anything like that, but I do know that they are using the lightsheer duet laser on my face. For me in some areas, the pain was about a 3 out of 10, and where the hair was more dense and thicker, about a 4 to 5 out of 10, so overall, I don’t think it’s that painful. I have pretty high pain tolerance, and I know some guys on here are claiming that it’s the most painful thing, but I have tattoos all over my body, and to me, tattoos hurt way more than laser hair removal. But anyways, I’m getting my whole beard done, all of it, I want it all gone. When I got to the office, they sent me to the room where I would be doing my laser, and I met my doctor right away. The lady that is doing my laser is very nice and seems like she knows what she’s talking about and doing. She put numbing cream all over my face and let it sit there for about 25 to 30 minutes before we actually started doing any lasering. After it was over, she gave me some stuff to wash my face off and some moisturizer with some SPF in it to put on. I was expecting my face to be really red and sensitive after the laser, but it wasn’t that red or sensitive to me at all. Not sure if it’s because of my own tolerance to pain, or because she’s not using high enough stats on the laser machine, or something like that. My face was however, a little swollen (not too much) and a tiny bit bumpy. That all went away by the following day. The next day when I woke up, I noticed a very small amount of patchiness in the regrowth of my beard, but you really wouldn’t be able to tell if you saw me for the first time or looked really close at my face. The facial that was growing back however, somehow felt a little different that my facial hair usually does. I tried shaving it 2 days after my laser appointment (I called and asked if it was okay and they said it was). When I was shaving, the hair was acting very stubborn, and it some places wouldn’t even come off at all no matter how many times I went over it with my razor. I’m not sure if this has something to do with the laser hair removal process, but I’m a little curious if it’s normal, and if it’s a good or bad thing. Other than that, I haven’t been shaving as much because she told me about shedding, but it’s been 7 days since my laser appointment and my beard regrowth pretty much looks the same as it did before my first session, except now it’s harder to shave.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my skin is warm and I have yellow undertones. I’m tan skinned, but I haven’t been tanning at all since last Summer so I’m not as dark as I used to be. I know that lasers work better on pale skin with dark facial hair, so I might have different results that my fairer skinned counterparts.

Anyway, that’s all about myself and my experience so far. Let me know if I missed any information I’m supposed to give and stuff like that. Thank you to everyone who reads and helps me out! :slight_smile:

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#2

Your hair is in the process of shedding. It’s not uncommon for the hair to look all stubbly after shaving at this point. After another week or two, that won’t be a problem. I can’t judge if the settings are too low or not, but it’s not uncommon to start with lower settings on the beard because it’s so dense, and it helps thin it out a little bit so higher settings can be used more safely.

#3

Oh, okay. So what is shedding exactly, and what will happen when all the hair is shed ? I’ll attach a picture of what my beard looks like right now. I haven’t shaved since Sunday.

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#4

Assuming the settings were high enough, the hair will basically fall out. Ideally it’s supposed to be smooth, but since the face is so dense and is so hormonally controlled, you may just see it be gradually thinner over time.

#5

Ahh, I see. Well, hopefully it’ll fall out eventually. I do want to have smooth skin on my face. Next time I’ll ask the girl who’s doing my laser what the settings were so I can put them on here.

#6

You could always call and ask. Make sure you get joules, spot size, and pulse width. In general, the chin and upper lip have a very difficult time getting a reduction with laser, so for those, you will probably need electrolysis

#7

AusMu,

One way to check what’s going on is to pluck your beard hairs. If they come right out with no resistance- they are definitely shedding. If you can’t shave- pluck :wink:

The reason the hair is stubborn and difficult to shave is because it was burned at the base- this takes away a little of the malleability of the hair, and makes it stiff. A medium strength though painless tug with tweezers should prove this.

Beard hair is difficult to treat because the hairs are usually large and closely packed making higher fluences impractical. I would try to stay at a treatment leaning more towards 5 out of 10 in pain than 3 out of 10. The advantage with the Lightsheer Duet if they’re using the HS hand piece is that is sucks the skin, which stretches it out making it more difficult for the laser to target the chromophores in the skin, and more selectively target the hairs. Keep this in mind when judging the pain level as well. The less targeting to the skin, the less painful it should be.

Beard hair is in telogen for 3 months, so your treatments should be scheduled about 6 weeks apart, or when hair begins to grow back (after the initial ejection).

I will say that the Lightsheer is probably not the best wavelength for your combination of skin/hair type. I would do aggressive Yag treatments on you, but again, I’m not a practitioner- just a technical expert with lots of clinical observations. You could, theoretically, deliver a good amount of energy to the hair follicle using the Lightsheer, but the HS hand piece has a max of 12J/cm2. This is horribly weak for your skin type/hair type+ wavelength (800nm). If they’re using the ET handpiece, the difference in spot size defeats the purpose of the higher energy availability.

I don’t think the Lightsheer Duet has the capability of being aggressive enough to successfully remove hair on your beard, but then, I’m neither a stranger , nor am I averse to being proven wrong :wink:

#8

Aw, I wish I would have know that sooner. I’ve already paid the money for 8 treatments, so I’m already committed to this place for practically a year. I thought the lightsheer duet was good for all skin types, or at least that’s what they told me. They said they even get a lot of African American clients, but I don’t know how many treatments they needed or what they had done.

Oh, and I tried the plucking thing just now and yes, some of the hairs are coming out pretty easy, but not all of them, and not very many.

#9

The hair removal market is saturated by people out to get a quick buck and have no regard or care for long-term or “permanent” results – no matter how much money we are willing to spend. It’s a sad reality, but it makes doing extensive researching on the proper lasers and the clinics themselves that much more important.

All of the hair should “shed” by three weeks, if I remember correctly, after your treatment. This means that the hair has responded correctly to the laser treatment and you can be assured that there have been some follicular damage.

#10

AusMu,

Wait the three weeks, and see if any shedding occurs. Plucking should not be painful if the hair is going to shed anyway, so if you’re having difficulty plucking some hairs (you feel pain) or if you pull one out and it’s doesn’t have a round black bulb at the end- or a white substance- that hair is likely anagen. But again- wait the three weeks.

As for the Lightsheer Duet, nearly every hair removal laser is FDA approved for all skin types. Some are even FDA approved for incision, excision, and tattoo removal- this does not mean you go and perform surgery, or tattoo removal with these lasers.

And yes- the Lightsheer Duet CAN BE effective on all skin types, but the proper parameters must be used. A medium fluence with a wide enough pulsewidth is best for skin type IV and above. You would have no problem at all, however, with Yag :-/

#11

Some of the hairs are coming out easily and have a black bulb or white substance at the end, but not all of them. Then again, it hasn’t been 3 weeks yet, so we shall see my results when I hit the 3 week mark.

Well hopefully this place isn’t trying to rip me off. I saw this place on TV on that CBS show “The Doctors”. Dr. Marcus (the owner of the place I’m going to for laser) was on TV himself advertising laser beard removal for men. I’ll even post a link to the video of the segment aired on TV.

#12

Hello everyone! It’s officially been 3 weeks and 1 day since my first session. I have to say, I am happy the way the results are going so far. I have noticed a significant decrease in hair growth on my face, especially my neck area. Some areas on my cheeks are a little patchy, but that’s great news to me since I want it all gone eventually. My chin and mustache are pretty much the same, but I figured that would be the case since that’s where hair growth is most thick and stubborn. My facial hair also grows in a lot slower than it used to, and less coarse too, which makes it easier to shave and less irritating to my skin when I shave. My second session is scheduled for June 19th, and I’m excited! If things are going this well after my first session, I’m excited to see what my results are going to look like after I’m done with all 8 of them!

#13

We are, too! Please come back and report. You will be paying forward in a very valuable way, as many lurkers follow posts like yours.

I am so very happy for you now and look forward or giving you high- fives in the future. We have a LASER SUCCESS STORY thread that I hope you contribute to when you are completely satisfied one year post the last laser treatment.

#14

I have to say that I found laser to be much more painful than my tattoos. I know everyone feels pain differently so that doesn’t mean anything.

#15

I have grown out my facial hair for 3 and 1/2 days now. I took some pictures to share of what my beard regrowth looks like now. You can clearly see the patchiness in some areas, especially the neck and the facial has thinned out overall. I’m pleased with the results so far. Can’t wait for session two in 13 more days!!

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#16

UPDATE!

Today I went in for my 2nd session. I asked my technician what the settings were. I wrote them down.

Joules: 20
Spot size: 10 mm
Pulse: 30

I hope that gives some more information for the people who are wondering.

It hurt a little less today than last time. I’m excited to see what my face is going to look like in 3 weeks!

#17

What laser are you using?

Great pictures! Thanks!

#18

I thought you said you were using lightsheer, but I don’t believe 10mm exists on the lightsheer so something seems off.

The settings (even on the max spot size for that laser), are on the weaker side which is OK early on for a beard treatment because the hair is so dense, but eventually they need to go up higher once the hair is less dense or else I would say at that point that you’re wasting your time and money.

#19

UPDATE!!

Hello everyone. It’s been 3 weeks now since my 2nd session! I am very happy to announce that I have been having AMAZING results from this laser! I’ve only had 2 sessions done and I have seen and felt a DRAMATIC difference in the density and hair growth on my face. It grows back VERY slow now, and what does grow back is very thin and very easy to shave. I no longer have a 5 o’ clock shadow right after I shave, and still don’t have one after almost 2 days without shaving. I’m absolutely floored by my results after 2 sessions, and I still have 6 left!! I don’t have any pictures to post right now, but I promise I will post some soon!

1 Like
#20

Thumbs up!

Anxious to see your pictures. Patchiness seems to be the outcome for most beard cases, but if it makes shaving less, it could be a good trade off.