Hope i am not posting too many questions! BUT Here is another one burning in my mind 
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I understand that during LHR you can ONLY use a razor during treatment, which can realistically be for at least 2 years . I am asked to shave before laser session .Then it begins to grow in as usual when one uses a razor, all stubbly and hard. Ideally then you would leave it alone to see if there will be shedding which may or may not happen in a month at which point you can only shave again. Having stubble all over these areas for so long might be really hard to handle!! [b]I dont understand why one could not wax as long as there will be enough weeks between treatments to allow the hair to grow back?? [/b] It would be alot softer than razor stubble, especially in the bikini area.
I want to answer…but so many misunderstandings of the process…I don’t know where to start.
Okay, let me try to explain a few things now I’m not sleepy.
Firstly, LHR if done properly, really shouldn’t take 2 years in my opinion. You shouldn’t have to treat the same hair cycle more than once.
Next, treatments should not be every 4 weeks, you should be hair free at 4 weeks!
Now, let me try to explain how the process works. You shave prior to treatment (usually the day before), so that none of the Laser’s energy is wasted on the portion of the hair above the surface. You have the treatment. After the treatment, the effectively treated hairs (which should be nearly all in a coarse, dense area), will start to shed. You think they are growing normally (but a bit slower), when in reality about 2 weeks later when they have emerged a few mm, they start to fall out.
At about 3-4 weeks post treatment, all the treated hairs should have shed. Then, depending on the body area, you will be smooth and hair free for some weeks. Then, the next growth cycle will start to emerge and the hairs are natural with tapered ends, not stubbly! Once all of this growth cycle emerges (another few weeks), it’s time for your next appointment.
Now it’s this period of hair growth that they say you should only shave. If you wax, you’re removing the very hair that will be treated at your next appointment! Hair that would come back after waxing is from different follicles.
For me, I did not shave during this period. I wanted to monitor how the hair is coming through so that I would know when to go for my next appointment. For somewhere like the bikini like, hair will start to come through 6 weeks post treatment and by 10 weeks post treatment it will be time for the next treatment. So 4 weeks of putting up with hair (natural, not shaved) is not a big deal imo.
I hope that has cleared things up a bit. But in short, waxing or root removal is completely incompatible with LHR because you are ripping the very hairs you that need treating.
Thanks for your patient response stop! I guess i have not seen the hair shed so my stubblies are still with me weeks after the laser. Ok I will try to have more patience. Something life is always teaching me and is not my strongest point!! No worries i will not wax…just hope i get one of these hair free periods you mention!
If the hairs have not shed 3-4 weeks after the treatment, the clinic should retreat. If they do not, or if you continue to not have shedding then you need to look for a new clinic.
When it came for my sister’s legs to be treated, we started at a new clinic. She hardly had any shedding, which we expected because after the app she told me the tech had missed huge areas and was not listening when my sister highlighted this. They ended up retreating the whole legs at week 3!
Good to know …hope they will because there is no where else to go here! They had told me to go ahead and shave but if i do that i will not catch the shedding. Hope it is ok that i went with tweezers and took out the hair which would slide out easily to help the shedding along?
Yes, that’s fine. Be very gentle though, so you don’t pluck anything. If you exfoliate (using an exfoliating mitt before you shower) and moisturise after, it will help shedding along.
If you do shave the area before it has shed , (due to a special event ie. not wanting stubble legs at a wedding ),say one week after laser, and then discontinue shaving again after the wedding , can you still discern if the hair growing will shed ?
Stop flooding the forums rachard no one is going to your stupid clinic, now we all know to avoid Laser Clinique in San Diego that’s for sure since you’re such a scam.
I’m actually in San Diego and almost considered going here about 6 months ago. Probably glad I didn’t now