I had a single laser hair treatment with Soprano XL set on 18 J/cm2 on my forearm. I had hairy forearms with thick coarse black hair and skin type III (Mediterranean/greek). I only wanted some thinning and no reduction if possible. About 50% of the hair has come back after 3.5 months and the rest seems gone and hair looks patchy. Will any more hair grow in the next 3-6 months or more? Does anybody have an idea? Should I start using rogaine to make hair grow?
it could go either way. It will probably still look patchy. For thinning only, electrolysis is the better option. Unfortunately, now done its also very hard for even an electrolysist to fix
“Thinning with no reduction” is not possible by definition. If you’re getting a laser treatment, you’re going to kill some hair if it’s effective, i.e. some sort of reduction in hair.
Hair grows in cycles. The hair you are seeing hasn’t “come back”. It’s new hair in the next growth cycle.
If you are worried, I would not get any more treatments and see how things go over the next year. Then you will be able to truly judge what is gone.
I should add that people don’t realize that regular growth without any treatments if often patchy too. The hair is just longer and people don’t notice it as much or pay close attention.
How long does it take for arm hair to have its final look after one treatment?
I had two treatments on my chest and abs and most of the hair is already grown back just a bit thinner. Well maybe 20% reduction too. I know chest hair grows faster than arm hair. Does anybody know how long it will take for arm hair to fully grow and have its final look?
It depends on how many hairs were in active phase of growth when you treated. So impossible to predict. Maybe 20%, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. The only way to judge it to wait 6-12 months and see how it looks.
Update: its been exactly 4 months now. The hair has grown a bit longer and covered some of the bald spots. I dont see new growth in the bald spots. The hair is very fine close to the wrist and more coarse in other places. Seems like that laser was more effective on the hair close to the wrist.
I still dont like the results and patchiness is quite noticeable. Hopefully it will get better in 2-3 months.
The patchieness never went away for me.
That is until I started electrolysis and all the hair started to disappear.
Sometimes it’s blood flow and type of skin that makes the difference. Some little patches seem to persist. There’s not many "natural " ways to even that out. If you are gong for thinning, laser isnt for you.
Seana
If you are gong for thinning, laser isnt for you.
It’s difficult but it can be done. Chris has done tons of thinning cases and has posted examples of successful work he’s done
Hi Seana. How many treatments did you get? I got only one. I am hoping for things to even out in a while. Dermatologist told me it will but can take up to 2 years. She said in 2 years it will not be even noticeable by myself let alone others.
I had 11 treatments on my face and neck.
In some places it made no difference at all. In others I got thinned hair so some progress. I’ve still had to do 100’s of hours of electrolysis cleanup. In my opinion, the further into treatment I got the more patchy the areas treated got.I’ve stopped treating noww for bout 10 months and have some regrowth where there wasnt any before. Also a little hyperpigmentation I’m praying will go away.
In some areas ( the chin) I had greyed so no effect was expected. but I had “splotches” of darker hairs that no amount of laser could treat and that was the most noteable.
Seana
Milad can you please share or private message me photos of your forearms before your laser session and how your forearms looked right after laser and now.
I am a male that is thinking about getting laser done on my forearms to thin out the hair there and also reduce the “density” (number of hairs per sq. inch) of the growth.
Based on your results, would you encourage others to do it or go with electrolysis.
To other males that have had laser done on their forearms, if comfortable please share your experiences too.
I wouldnt do laser on male forearm. I dont have photos of before or a quality camera to take pictures. I will keep updating this post every month. I think it will be patchy even in a year.
Today its been about 5 months since the single treatment. The hair has grown longer and covered most of the arm even the bald spots. There is some very fine hair growth in the bald spots. Overall the treatment did not work as expected. I wanted some thinning and maybe a little reduction only. The result was patchy reduction and not much thinning in other areas. I guess the results can vary from one person to another.
6 month passed. Hair has covered most parts. The result doesnt look good however. Not much thinning and still a bit patchy. It was a waste of money and also scared the **** out of me for a while.
Hi Milad (great name by the way! Good friend in Dubai is named “Milad.”),
If you could submit a photo, we all could better assess your potential outcome. As has been stated, you will probably have to wait a year for this to take on its final appearance.
Don’t blame yourself for having chosen laser; you might not have gotten the results you want from sub-standard electrolysis either. Although, in theory, electrolysis would have been a better choice.
In two weeks, I will be posting some photos of a returning patient. I’m doing a reduction on his full chest pattern. What I did, was to clear specific areas so that after our designated time, he would experience about a 50% EVEN reduction in these areas.
With electrolysis, you can always achieve an even reduction, and you can “feather” areas to give it a totally natural look.
For others reading this long post:
Prospective clients seldom consider elapsed time … i.e., how long will I have to wait (or do this) until I see the results I want? Clients only think: laser-off the hair FAST, I want this done quickly!
With electrolysis, your initial clearing will (obviously) take much longer, but you might only have to do this ONE time … and, in three months, you will have the “finished product” … an EVEN 50% reduction.
(Indeed, there are other electrolysis strategies to achieve this goal. For example, the electrologist might elect to thin the area gradually at each session: a good strategy to create a gradual and exact outcome.)
(I’m guessing that Jossie will post some photos of what only ONE clearing creates.)
Laser is like “carpet bombing,” and can therefore yield unwanted collateral results. Electrolysis is like a “smart bomb.”
By selecting individual targets, the electrologist can create a very precise “field of bombed hairs.” Such a result produces an exact thinning of the area (just what the client wants), or a sharp line (say a hairline, or beard line) … it all depends on the goal.
Note: Male “thinking”
During the last two years, I have had only ONE male client (from England, by the way) that had not previously had laser treatments. Initially, I decided to not work on anyone that had had laser, because my ability to predict treatment outcome was, as a result of laser, not possible.
Now, I do these cases because virtually every new client has been a laser client … and, mostly men. Yeah, my “species” always JUMPS to conclusions and wants everything done “yesterday.” I do it too!
Women are generally more cautious and thoughtful, and that’s an asset.
Remember, there are many hair removal choices. Caution and thoughtfulness should be your approach. Get the facts, and real reassurances (from your operator) before you spend your hard-earned money!
I loved this post so much, that I copied and printed it out to place in my Michael Bono book, ‘Treatment Strategy for Electrolysis’.
This post is worth several re-reads. Thanks, big guy!
Thanks for the post Micheal. The reason I chose laser was I though with one treatment I only get some thinning. However, I think it acts different on different skin and hair type. I did not want clearing of all hair. The result I got was completely unexpected. I will wait another 6 months and maybe ask an electrologist to even out the hair at that point. Till that time, I will update this post for other people’s reference every month.
I would like to achieve a similar result as Milad - I have thick black hair on my forearms that I would like thinned out.
Michael & other: If I went to a skilled and highly experienced laser practitioner, would that change your view about using laser to achieve this result vs. electrolysis?