Male face, neck and chest hair removal - London

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi there,

I am 26 year old male, skin type bordering between I & II, and live in London. I want to commence LHR on my beard and chest hair.

From reading the (several) threads on here regarding male beard removal, it appears this is not just a popular treatment, but also a very difficult one to have done effectively. I am going to check out some clinics in London over the next two weeks and then decide where to go. Instead of shelling out for a full course, I’m just going to have them start with my neck rather than full beard, and see how it goes. One of my questions is, should I be looking for a clinic that uses a Yag or Gentlelase? The hair is reasonably coarse, and I have heard that beard hair tends to be longer, thus suggesting a YAG may be more appropriate? Any advice on lasers or settings very welcome.

I am hoping the chest will be fine to treat with Gentlelase. I will use this thread to document my progress.

If anyone knows of a very good LHR clinic in London (preferably with a technician experienced in male face hair removal!) then let me know. Seems difficult to find a professional clinic here for some reason.

#2

Chin area hair is deeper, so a Yag may be necessary. There are several recommended clinics in London that have both alex and Yag machines. I’d go with that. Neck hair shouldn’t be too deep.

Run a search for London here using Advanced Search and expand to last 5 years. Lots of discussions of clinics and recommendations.

Get some consultations and post settinsg they want to use here.

#3

I had my first consultation yesterday. The clinic uses a Candela Gentlelase Long-Pulse Alexandrite laser.

I felt they were pushy on the sales side, the nurse in my consultation relied on the information I had provided on a form, rather than examining my skin herself, to determine that I was a suitable candidate. Maybe this didn’t matter, as she could see the skin on my face anyway. But even before the patch test (done by a separate technician), she wanted to know if I would go ahead right then and do a full treatment along with the patch test. A bit strange - shouldn’t they advise you to wait a while after the patch test to fully see how your skin reacts? When I asked, she said that nobody they have treated has ever had a severe reaction to the laser, in terms of scarring etc.

I went ahead with the patch test. I told them right now I just wanted my neck and chest treated, with a view to maybe doing full beard depending on the results on my neck.

The tech was young and has only been working there for a couple of months. She claims to have seven years experience of using various different lasers, but she took a job at this clinic because they use the Candela Gentlelase, which she believes is the best.

For the patch test, on my neck she used a 15mm spot size, at 22J and then 24J. I found this would be the maximum I could tolerate on this area. For my chest, she used an 18mm spot at 16J and then 18J. I was actually fine with this. It hurt, but not anything as much as the patch test on my neck.

The clinic is relatively cheap compared to others, but they refuse to do top-ups at three weeks. I may call back to challenge them on this, as it doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t do it if the tech has missed some spots.

Any thoughts on the above? I am probably going to check out a few more clinics. Recommendations welcome, I have been through a detailed search for London, but for almost every clinic with a glowing review, you can find another thread where someone has had a negative experience at the same place.

#4

  • On 15mm, max is 30J on this machine, just to give you perspective. Those aren’t bad settings. Good settings for the chest too.

  • I would go by what your SKIN can tolerate, not what YOU can tolerate :slight_smile:

  • If they are knowledgeable enough to overlap properly and not miss spots, then it may be worth a shot. But I wouldn’t prepay for a set of treatments just yet.

#5

Thanks LAgirl. Is there any reason she wants to use 15mm rather than 18mm on my neck?

#6

I would ask her. 18mm penetrates deeper.

#7

I just had a consultation at another clinic. This one also uses a Gentlelase alex laser.

The tech was pleasant. Suggested using 18mm at 14J, increasing up to 16J, 18J etc. with subsequent treatments. I told her I would rather go with the highest settings my skin can tolerate from the first session, and she said no. She said we would start at 14J (maaaaybe 16J) and she said there was no point going higher because it wouldn’t matter - she said a higher setting would just increase pain and have no effect on results, and that 14J would be effective.

From my own research I believe you need to go with the highest settings your skin can tolerate from the beginning.

If I can get her to go with 16J, would it be worth pursuing my LHR treatment with this clinic?

She did a patch test, randomly using 12mm at 20J on my inner arm, where there is no hair. This seemed a bit pointless?

All thoughts and opinions welcome…

#8

It’s unfortunate the technician is refusing to treat you at the highest setting your skin can handle.

Everyone is different, but in my experience the pain at 20J isn’t that much worse than 14J. Besides, pain isn’t the best criterion to go by. Results should be the first priority, and delivering more energy to the follicles ensures better efficacy.

If you can get her to use 16J it would very much be worth it, in my opinion. But 18 or 20J would be even better.

Yes, that test spot was pointless since you have no hair there, and since the 12mm spot size and settings are nothing close to what you will actually be treated with. Instead, she should have conducted test spots at 16, 18, and 20J with the 18mm spot size.

#9

Those settings she wants to start at are fine regardless, so it would be ok. Of course, what she’s saying is wrong and the spot test was pointless. :slight_smile: I think you know the answers yourself now!

#10

Went for another consultation today… all went well until the tech told me she would start at 12J on 18mm, and increase it in later sessions. Told her I can handle 16J and even 18J and she said under no circumstances would she start with that.

Le sigh!

I have one more consultation I’m going to on Monday and then I’ll choose which place I’m going to have my treatments done.

I’ve gotta say…London kinda sucks for finding a place that ticks all the boxes for LHR. And not one of the places I’ve gone to is willing to do touch-ups at three weeks. I’m by no means an expert, but I seem to know more about LHR from reading this forum over the past few weeks than many of the techs I’ve met. Some of the crap they spew is incredible…

#11

Hi, im not very knowledgable myself with settings and stuff but, whenever I check out a new clinic I always research into who the senior nurse is and I book an appointment with that person. Chances are they will be experienced.

If you want to be in 100% good hands then, if I remember correctly some of the actual Doctors in Harley street do hair removal themselves. But consultation is not free, and they charge more.

Finally, are you sure you can take the pain involved with starting off on 16 to 18js? Have you hade it before? Its not like the elastic band on your skin feel they make it out to be. Theres a lot of hardcore pain involved :)even with the anaesthetic cream.

Hope it helps, and i wish you good luck.

#12

I met the senior nurse at the first two clinics. The third clinic was more like a beauty spa so I only met a technician there.

The spot test at the first clinic was carried out at 16J and 18J on 18mm spot size and I was able to tolerate it.

I had a fourth consultation today with a doctor at a hospital in London. Definitely by far the most professional. They also use an Alex. He did a patch test on my neck and chest at 30J on 12mm spot size. Painful of course, but that’s what I was expecting. I think I am going to go ahead and have them treat my neck. Unfortunately they only use a 12mm spot, so I’m just doing neck with them. For my chest, I’m going back to the first clinic that will treat it at 16/18J on 18mm.

I’ll continue to update this thread with my progress.

#13

Max on 12mm is 40J, just FYI. I would use the larger spot size on your neck or even a Yag laser because they penetrate deeper and those hairs can be deep.

#14

I had the first session on my neck on June 2. It was at 24J on 15mm. It’s now 11 days later and I am seeing lots of hairs have shed. Will examine at 3 weeks to see if any spots have been missed.

Will update with progress at 3 weeks!

#15

Within two weeks all the hair had shed from my neck. There were two missed patches which I had treated on June 29 (almost exactly four weeks since the first treatment). The missed patches were treated at 26J on 15mm. It’s nearly five weeks since the first treatment now, and there are only a small number of hairs beginning to grow back.

How much growth should I wait for until I have my second treatment? Should I wait until it looks as thick as it did before I started LHR?

I also had the first session on my chest on June 29. This was at 18J on 18mm. The skin had some darker blotches on it for a few days afterwards but these are gone now. The shedding is beginning and I’ll update once I’m at three weeks.

#16

Everything sounds good so far. Facial hair has shorter hair cycles, so you’ll probably need treatments every 6-8 weeks to start. I would assess at 6 weeks.

#17

Why haven’t you included the names of these clinics in the thread?

#18

I had the second treatment on my neck today. It’s been exactly ten weeks since the first treatment on my neck… I would have thought I’d need to go in much sooner than this, but the hair was really slow to grow back. Even today, the growth was considerably less than prior to the first treatment.

I used EMLA to help with the pain a bit…I only managed to apply it for 45 minutes, and there was a 15 min gap between removing it and having my treatment, but it really did help with the pain. Today’s treatment was at 26J on 15mm.

As for my chest - it was very slow to shed, maybe between four to five weeks. It didn’t shed 100% at all, maybe 75% - but the remaining 25% that didn’t shed wasn’t in patches - it was all over my chest. So I don’t think it was missed patches, because it’s too evenly spread for that. Any ideas what might have happened there? More is beginning to grow now, so I’m going for my second treatment next week, which will be about seven weeks since the first treatment.

#19

Hi Jason thanks for letting us know how the treatment goes with you.

I want to have the neck area lasered as well. Did you go to a barber to shave before the treatmen and make the neck-line so the technician knows where to target ?

#20

If the hair is not growing as usual, it was affected. Some hai remains as pepperspots and takes longer to come out.