Hi all,
I am looking for some feedback about what I should expect after 1 session of laser hair removal. It’s been 2 weeks since I had it done on my legs and from what I am reading and what they told me at the clinic, I should expect hair shedding. I can’t say this is happening, ie my hair is out already (after shaving for the laser 2 weeks ago), almost 4-5 mm. Maybe later? Should I be worried?
I know that the 1 session should only remove 10-20% of your hair, but was I correct to understand that shedding should be almost complete and it’s an indication that the laser is working?
I prepaid 6 sessions so I am getting somehow worried…
Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks a lot!
Yes… you should get shedding but it varies for everyone. I found shedding on my legs took a bit longer than underarms and bikini line.
Give it another week. You should find that if you can grab a hair with tweezers and verrrry gently pull, it should slide out without any resistance. Try this with a few of the coarser hairs. If one or two come out this way then they probably are shedding, just need some more time 
You should give it full 3 weeks. Also, on the legs, the hair may be stuck as pepperspots. They just shouldn’t be growing as usual at 3 weeks.
Can you ask for the laser name and settings used? And your skin type?
Thanks eveybody. I’ll see how’s looking like in another week…
Some updates:
It’s been 2 weeks and a half since my 1st laser on the legs. I see some shedding is happening, but not much, perhaps 25% of the entire area treated. The rest of the hair is just getting longer and I don’t want to shave since I want to be able to observe if shedding does happen.
This is what they use:
LightSheer™ Diode system, and I remembere seeing an “18” on the displey when I had the treatment…My skin type is 3 from what I can estimate.
Thanks!
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You need to give it 3 full weeks.
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Anything that’s growing as usual and doesn’t fall out by 3 weeks needs to be touched up
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If they used 18J, that’s a pretty low setting and is likely the reason for lack of results. We recommend 25J+ if your skin can handle it, and a Yag laser if it can’t.
Thanks a lot LAGirl,
So I should be entitled to request a free touch up after waiting a full 3 weeks? I suspect it might not be an easy battle…I did pay $300 for this session and it doesn’t seem it did a great job. Somehow I was kind of suspicious from the beginning since my skin had almost no reaction after the treatment…With waxing, I am red and swallow for 2 days, so it’s not like I am that tolerant.
Thanks a lot!
Yes, I would ask. Not all clinics provide touchups, but I think customers should demand them. These are not cheap treatments and you’re paying to have the hair treated, all of the hair on that area. If all of it or a lot of it is growing as usual at 3 weeks, it wasn’t affected.
Good luck getting a touch up though. Expect a response kind of like “No, we told you that results take 8 sessions at least” to which you will reply that you understand that but they MISSED a spot. Then they will say they absolutely did NOT miss a spot, it’s just some hair takes many sessions before falling out and not to try and judge missed spots until after the 8th treatment. You will respond by ripping out what’s left of your hair and screaming into a pillow.
Sometimes, even the well-educated technicians say this, so I am pretty sure it’s just an industry-wide brush off and they themselves don’t even believe it.
MagicalPrincess,
What you are describing sounds really scary and I could see thatr happening. I’ll call the clinique on Monday and let you guys know the developments.
Thanks a lot for reply.
Good luck, I really hope they cooperate. If the spots were severely missed, I suggest taking photos, and filing a claim with your credit card for the refund. You’ll need a third party to verify that the treatment was not thorough enough.
I had to do the same thing when my tech missed like 40% of the hair in little stripes all down my legs. Please let us know how it goes!
Ok, so I finally called the Clinique to express my concern about having shed only partly, perhaps ¼ to 1/3 of the treated area. Now I am at 4 and a half weeks since my first treatment and let’s say 2/3 of my hair has grown long as normal in 4 weeks. I didn’t want to shave to keep the evidence.
The lady from reception was calm, patient and nice, I suppose. Nevertheless, she assured my repeatedly that what I am experiencing (i.e. shedding only that little) is normal, that only the hair that was in the active phase was treated, and the rest was not. I told her that I have done extensive internet research and everybody says that all or most hard should shed starting from week 2 and until week 4 or so, after which you have re-growth. She kept saying that having only few bold spots and rest of hair growing as before is normal…I asked her to document my concern in the file and she said that next time they can go to a higher intensity if I wish…
MagicalPrincess and the others, do you think I have a case for a serious complaint?
Thanks a lot!
All the hair should shed no matter what. I’ve never seen that before, I always get 100% shedding (except on my face but male’s face is different). My underarms are and have been 100% smooth since they shed 3 weeks ago, same with my full front. When I do my forearms, they’re 100% clear as well. Search for my post my before and after pics on my forearms. You can see my arms before and then what they look like after shedding. They sound like they’re being difficult, if it’s not too late I’d maybe position it another way if possible. I’d tell them you’ve been treated with laser at another clinic but switched due to some reason. Tell them you had 100% shedding there which is why you know something isn’t working here. That to me would work better than just saying people on the internet said this or that. If you can tell them they’re wrong because of your past experience it would probably be better.
They missed spots, and they are not cooperating. I would just tell them you are taking your business elsewhere or getting a statement from another laser center that the spots are missed patches as opposed to unresponsive patches. Threatening to file a claim with the CC company may work, but it’s a lot of effort. I only went that route because I had a whole package of treatments instead of just one. If you’ve already had the treatment and you have the option of just going elsewhere from now on, it is probably the more practical solution (unless of course, the new clinic gives you the same issues).
Wow, so it it really messed up…I did pre-pay the 6 sessions! $1800 of credit card…
Then I would ask for a refund of the unused sessions, and find a new clinic (if you have better clinics available to you). If no other clinics in your area offer touch ups on missed areas, then you probably will be stuck with these guys, but you should insist on following a grid from now on so that it’s less likely they will miss spots.
Feel free to be vocal during the session if you see them skipping around too much.
I wish I had better advice for you, but laser places tend to be bullies. It’s your word against theirs and no matter how much “internet research” you do, they will always come out on top as the “experts”.
Well, i wouldn’t say you need to see 100% of the hair shedding, but you should definitely notice a huge change in the growth of the hair. In the lower leg there are always areas that react differently to the treatment so shedding seems different there.
But if you’re saying only 25% of the hair fell and they used 18 joules on you then i would have to agree that something is wrong.
Oh, and if your non-shedding hair forms some sort of clump or pattern, then show them because there’s no way they can deny they missed spots if they are in perfect stripes or cubes or some other geometrical pattern which is clearly the result of the way she moved the laser. It’s much harder to prove missed spots when they’re more spread out (since that theoretically COULD be caused by something other than missed spots). The only way I could prove mine was missed is by showing photos of perfect one-inch stripes down my legs (literally too perfect to have been caused by any natural phenomenon).
Thank you guys, it’s so good to have some advice…My bold or hairy spots are not in a clear shape. The technician when with the laser first along the leg, one strip after another, and after that she went in the perpendicular direction. She told me she’s been working at the laser place for about 1 year, and I think part time only…didn’t inspire a large degree of thrust hearing that…
MagicalPrincess - I noticed you OC location, I live in San Diego, so not too far from you. Would you happen to know a good place in OC? I might be willing to travel 1h or so for that…
Odi, 18 J I understand as being a low setting, isn’t it? The person I spoke to over the phone with the complain told me that “since I have done very well first time, the doctor authorized I go to 19 J next time”…I told her I did very well based on what, just skin reaction (which I had none)? And did the doctor looked in my file in between my 2 months of treatment, I kind of don’t buy that…
Oh boy, I hate this kind of situations, and I thought I picked a good place…My immediate plan is call another place I had in mind to get their opinion on shedding (thanks Edokid for suggestion!) and then ask to speak with the doctor directly…
Thanks everybody again!!
It’s hard to trust a place that thinks that doctors are like gods. They don’t do the treatments themselves, and usually talk with their nose up in the air.
I’m not sure what the size of the hand piece they used on you but we use the Soprano XL and it’s a similar technology to the Lighsheer, and when used in single pulse mode we try to use around 35 joules. So unless the hand piece they used is larger than 12mm i would say 18 joules is close to nothing.
Many of the technicians in this field are working part time because the clinic doesn’t want to hire people to just sit all day long and do nothing, so they try to set it up so they will only come when there is work to do.
Probably half of the resumes we get are from people who still work at other clinics and want to change places cause they give them max 20 hours a week.