Laser on Face: Seeking Input from Hairtell experts

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello all,

Recently I decided to undergo laser hair removal to remove my facial hair (full beard). I’m a male who has just turned 26 and I very much hate shaving. My facial hair is dark, coarse, and prevalent.

After undergoing one laser treatment I decided it wasn’t for me. I think my experience was pretty typical: it took about 20 minutes, hurt like hell, my face was sore for a week, and I had the ‘burnt’ hair look on my face for about 2 weeks before the hair fell out. I believe they used the Nd: Yag laser, although I don’t know the settings.

For about 4 weeks after the treatment, a lot of the hair stopped growing, about 80%. After 4 weeks it has slowly returned however, and I would say 65-70% of the hair has regrown, with 2 or so quarter sized patches underneath my chin and patches near my sideburns as well.

My question is, can I expect full regrowth and facial hair recovery? I’ve had just one treatment, 7 weeks ago, and experienced 70% regrowth. I’ve read in some places that I could maybe expect to see the beard come in full again anywhere from 4 to 6 months after treatment (due to new hairs coming in). Is that a realistic expectation? I’ve done things like cut back on alchohol, get proper sleep, and exercise which I know increases testosterone levels in men, which contriubutes to facial hair growth. I’m not on any medications or steroids. Would be interested to hear about my chances from the experts here, including LAGirl and others.

#2

LaGirl stopped posting here a couple of years ago, around 2013 I think.

After only one session before stopping, yes I would expect full regrowth, though you might get lucky and a few dont return.I’m not a laser expert however.

#3

Thanks for the input!

From my perspective full regrowth would be the “lucky” thing, but I understand what you are saying. :slight_smile:

#4

What You describe is just the effect of a single clearance. If that had been done with electrolysis, the description would be similar, except for the timing.
What You observe as “regrowth” is just that the other hairs of the growth cycle, “the next ones” start to appear and to form a new steady state.

Real regrowth may also occur after laser treatments. But that will take at least one year to be noticeable - because of the length of the hair growth cycle. So everything You see now is just normal growth of hairs not present during the treatment.

If Your skin was sore for one week after a laser treatment, chances for a relevant kill rate should be good - soreness means that there is healing going on, and ongoing healing means that “something happened” in the skin. You can’t expect permanent hair removal without significant “side effects” - the aim is to destroy the hair stem cells and that means that there MUST be some kind of a wound reaction (because of the destroyed tissue around the follicle).