Laser Hair Removal - Starting Now :)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi everyone! I’ve been reading this forum for a while and learnt a lot. Thanks EdoKid, Lagirl, James and everyone else for your all the information you provide.

I am 18 years old and I am a guy. I’ve always been a little bit hairy but about one year ago I decided to start taking care of this problem.

CURRENTLY

Legs/Feet - Waxing
Brows - Plucking
Chest/Face/Abdomen/Armpits/Neck - Shaving

FUTURE

Legs/Feet/Brows/Abdomen/Chest - Waxing
Armpits/Neck - Laser

I found three places in my town that offer laser hair removal. The place I get waxed and other two that are big franchise companies. The lady that waxes me seems to understand a lot of LHR and has talked me into before but it’s a little more expensive than other places. Guess I should visit everything and ask for info.

So yeah, as soon as my exams end, mid July I’ll be starting my LHR and try to keep you updated.

Thanks everyone and good luck to you all!

#2

Do you know what types of laser is used at the 3 places? That will help a lot in determining where to go. If you’re 18 then price is probably an issue, but still want to make sure it’s a good machine and not just IPL for example. Underarms are a great area to treat, I get really good results there. Try to find out what lasers are used and let us know and then we can give a better idea. Did they say how much underarms were? I pay $60 for mins which I’ve seen a few places, but they can go upwards from there. I wouldn’t pay more than $150 for underarms though.

#3

Thanks for the quick answer! Money is not really a big issue for me since my mum supports me, though I can’t spend like a lot.

One of the places, the cheapest one, uses IPL I am almost sure. They ask for 30 euros. Doesn’t that method work?

The other two use laser and ask 45 euros each. The franchise use Alexendrite 18mm and the lady that waxes me I gotta ask next time I go there. She tried it on me once like 3 months ago on a little spot on my leg and the hair has come back already. Sparser and lighter though.

#4

Please read our FAQs carefully at the link below.

What is your skin type? If you’re Portuguese as your handle indicates, you’re probably at least a type III or darker.

Yes, type of machine matters a LOT in whether you’ll get any results. Settings matter as well. You need to do proper research to find a place that has the right machine for your skin type. IPLs are NOT good for hair removal, and especially bad for darker skin types.

Alexandrites are great machines, especially with 18mm spot size. She may be using the GentleLASE which is a great machine. If you’re light enough for good high settings on it, then that’s the machine I would choose if you want to get good results.

Also, what part of neck are you looking to treat? Face? Back of the head? Laser ONLY works on COARSE DENSE hair. Make sure not to treat hair that doesn’t fall into the category. It will not only not work, but can make hair worse.

Also, realize that you may need touchups laser in life since you’ll be developing new hair into late 20s.

Also, you can get only a few treatments on legs and get a good reduction where waxing may not be necessary.

And hair grows in cycles. So the hair you see on that treated spot is NEW hair from the next cycle of growth. You’ll need 6 treamtents at least on any one area where you want to remove almost everything. For reduction, 3 treatments may be enough.

#5

Thanks once again for the quick answer! I’ll make sure to read the FAQ.

I am not very tanned. My skin type is III or IV at very most.

I want to get the front of my neck treated only since I have long hair and the back hair is not noticeable.

I realize all the hair developing unfortunately. Thanks for your time :slight_smile:

#6

IV you’ll have to be careful with alexandrite as it could burn you or cause pigmentation so just watch there. Skip the IPL it’s not even laser and isn’t very good. Find out the other laser type, but do a test patch with the alexandrite. Keep in mind though as summer is now here your neck will definitely get a bit darker, underarms are usually fine even for darker skin since they don’t see much sun. If it’s 18mm alex then it’s most likely GentleLASE as LAGirl said. Apogee Elite is another alexandrite but it’s only a 15mm spot size. The new Apogee does have 18mm but chances are it isn’t that machine since it just came out and they would have had to buy it very recently.

#7

Make sure that the hair on the front of the neck is coarse and dense. Just dark and long is not enough.

#8

If the hair is only dark and long and dense will you still achieve a reduction albeit not as great as a reduction than if the hair is coarse?

I’m trying to understand if long, dense , brownish with some reddish hue hairs on forearms would respond? Very dense. Not looking for a complete removal…just a reduction. Definitelty do not want IHG.

#9

I think the hair is coarse enough. I may upload some photos soon so you can tell me better.

Also, when it comes to neck hair I am just aiming at reducing, so I have to shave less often and the hair comes back less and sparser.

The only place I really really want total removal are my armpits.

#10

Laser doesn’t care about density. It only cares about coarseness of the hair because coarse hair has enough pigment for laser to “see” it. Long hair doesn’t have more pigment. Multiple long hairs also don’t have enough pigment. Each individual hair has to have enough pigment for laser to target it and disable it, i.e. it has to have enough pigment to absorb enough heat to disable the hair.

#11

Length means nothing (you shave it for laser anyway). Density only matters because if the hair is sparse, then electrolysis is cheaper than a full laser treatment, but density has no bearing on effectiveness. The two important things are the darkness of the hair, and how coarse/thick each individual strand is.

#12

Just to clarify why I mention density and advise to have COARSE and DENSE hair for laser. If you have sparse coarse hairs, then you’re subjecting yourself for potential induced growth on the areas between these sparse hairs.

#13

Hi everyone again!

I posted some time ago as I would start LHR sometime in the future.

I’ve talked to my mom and to the lady who usually waxes me and I am about to start my treatment.

We decided to wait a couple of weeks as it’s still hot here and I would like to go to the beach.

I am starting my treatment firstly on my underarms. They’re a small area. They are really white as I don’t get much sun there. The hair there is really dark and dense. I rarely waxed that area, so that’s a good thing I guess. I am confident and I think I am a good candidate. :slight_smile:

She’s charging around 50/60 dollars a session for both underarms. It sounds fair to me as she’s using a real Laser machine( I’ll ask for the specifics next time) and she has been doing this for years and years.

My main probblem with LHR is that as long as I start it I can no longer wax that area, right?

How many sessions will the underarms take in your opinion?

Even when most of the hair is gone, there will be always few hairs appearing somewhere. What the heck do you do with those hairs? I don’t feel like shaving or using creams and chemicals to get rid of them.

Also, what are the intervals between the LHR?

Thank you all, and wish me luck in this journey I am about to start!

#14

About 6-8 sessions. Some people need less I’ve heard, but you shouldn’t need more. The little stray hairs that are left behind you can get electrolysis on. It will take only a few minutes.

As for the intervals: You should wait until you see dark, coarse regrowth. Enough of it to justify another session. This tends to be 8-10 weeks for many body areas. It will be up to your judgment though. Don’t let them make you get treatments every 5 weeks or something silly like that, though.

#15

Yeah, no waxing in between treatments… I told my friend about LHR and she totally wanted to do it until she found out that she couldn’t wax in between. But I think that’s a bit silly since you hardly have any hair grow between, til right at the end, and I’ve found the hair that grows is softer since its growing in, rather than blunt tipped hair that has been shaved.

#16

You can’t remove hair with the root during treatments because hair needs to be present in order to target it with laser. Shaving is the only thing that’s allowed. I’m not sure what you mean that you don’t feel like doing it. You will have to do this between treatments while waiting for the hair to grow out.

You’ll need about 6 treatments spaced about 2 months apart.

That price is fine, but type of machine and settings are the most important when determining whether you’ll have successful treatments that will actually produce permanent results. You should find these out before you commit to anything.