Male hair removal on the face/neck

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I know there’s lots of posts on this but don’t want to hijack them. I’m considering doing laser on my face, I’m male 26, skin type 3. My hair is dark coarse, typical facial hair I’d say. If I shave in the morning I’m fine all day, and usually will go a few days without shaving. I of course have lots of stubble by then, but just typical stubble, short and still looks fine. So I’m not like some who have said they shave in the morning and then by 5 they have facial hair again.

What I’m wondering with laser on the face though, is how well does it work? Facial hair just seems different, like it grows faster than say under arms, or maybe that’s just because we notice it more? I mean when you shave your legs, it’s still awhile before they’re totally grown, but shave your face and its back in a few days. Does laser still work on face, or would you need touch up treatments constantly, and if so how often?

I’m being realistic, what I don’t expect is to have a smooth face that I never have to shave again. What I would LIKE though is to not have to shave as often, meaning the hair is reduced so I can go longer. I don’t mind shaving every day, but I find even when I do shave, it’s obviously not completely smooth, you can still see the dots from where hair is. I’d love to be able to shave, but look smooth, so maybe have finer hairs. Just debating if it’s worth spending money on or not. I just don’t want it to be something like I have to go 2x a year for touch ups for the rest of my life, and if I stop going for a year then all the hair comes back or something!

#2

Same here.

I want my Maustache thinned so i don’t have to shave every day. Even if i do shave i still have stubble there and i would like to be able to go for a week without shaving and also after i shave i want the stubble not to be that obvious but not sure if u can do that !

#3

It’s doable, but you need someone very experienced with male beards in order not to end up with patchiness.

#4

Thanks, I’m going to email them and check. Most places I’ve checked don’t list beard or neck under their price list online, so I’m hoping the fact that this one does means they do it often. It’s hard to find places with alexandrites, there’s so many providers but they all use different machines on IPL.

#5

Hi:

I hate to burst your bubble on this, but laser may only get you
partway to where you want to be.

You can give it a try, but if you still aren’t satisfied
as I wasn’t, then you will have to go to electrolysis.

We used lightsheer for ten treatments before I went on to electrolysis.

Alicia

#6

That’s fine, I don’t expect to be totally smooth. Face wasn’t even an area that I would have considered it was just because it seemed so inexpensive, but not sure if I want to go to this place, seems a little sketchy, I checked the building and its in a condo you have to buzz into, so not an actual office. I asked if they are experienced in handling men’s beards and they said:

“…However, as you may know, laser hair removal can only destroy only active-growing hair each time the service is performed. When this hair begins showing, it will start to fall off, and the remaining hair will look as a patch. The lighter the skin, and the darker the hair, the more visible it will be. However, after two or three treatments, this will look much better. If the skin is dark, however, it will not be very visible.”

So not sure about that.

#7

I wouldn’t trust a beard treatment to someone with that kind of response.

#8

Hi Lee:

It sounds like they are being honest with you about
the patchiness some people experience until a few sessions
have been done.

Do you know what machine they are using and how long they
have been doing laser?

Percentagewise,the number of men getting facial laser
is pretty small, but hopefully they would have
had some experience with a male face before.

Alicia

#9

Yeah I agree. They’re using CynoSure Elite Alexandrite/Yag. I’m not crazy about doing beard, I just found their site and their prices are incredibly low, but after looking into it I noticed they operate out of a condo and so that just seems a bit iffy to me. I only considered beard because they had it listed. I think if I ever was going to consider doing face, I’d probably start small and just do my upper lip for a few sessons, see how that goes, then maybe neck or something. I’ll ask the current place I go to which does GentleLASE if they have experience as well even if a bit more $$$.

#10

Lee,

As someone whose still working on their face, I can say this - prices vary but experience and quality equipment should always be the standard. I’m even more skeptical considering the danger to my skin (I’m a III/IV) and really want someone with experience, who knows what they’re doing even if that comes @ a cost. I can say that @ this point I’m easily 75% hair free (I never shaved once from May to August) but not quite where I want to be (which, like you is maybe shaving once or twice a year)…and I’ve only went to people with the GentleLASE (though all three had different costs and my current provider is with a Dermatologists office and ironically costs the least of them all, lol $75.00 per treatment for full face & beard - yeah, I got a special).

#11

Wow $75 is cheap, was that a typo though when you said you want to shave once or twice a year? I’m not expecting that much, once or twice a week would be amazing a year would be incredible lol. I’m thinking I might test it on my neck at my current place, they said $100 for next, or $200 for neck and beard. I wanted to test just my upper lip to see how it worked but they said $65 for that which seems a bit high since for only a bit more I can do a much larger area (or under arms as they were only $60). Still figuring out what I want to do but will see. The hardest part I find is it doesn’t matter what clinic you ask about treating male beard, they all say oh yes we have experience doing beards and we definitely overlap to make sure nothing is missed and so on. I’ve done only underarms using gentlelase and it was one treatment at only 16j at 18mm and that was 5 weeks ago. The hair shed completely around 2 weeks and I’m still hair free, it’s only starting to just come back a bit now. I had no redness or irritation or anything. Can I ask what settings you useon your face?

#12

Yeah, I know I got an awesome “summer special” so I jumped right on that price. The previous place I was going to for my full face and neck was charging me doublt that ($140)! Hahaha, no that was not a typo, lol. I’d like to make it as close to “permanent” as I can achieve; but I think now that time has passed that the best I’ll get will be shaving once every three months which is still pretty good! I’ve been using 18mm spot size with 14joules the entire time. Altough I did have 3 sessions a long time ago on the GentleYAG (but I don’t know what the settings were) and I think the main reason was that their other laser was being fixed and out of service so they switched me to that rather than miss my appointment. I like the GentleLase b/c it’s much stronger energy at similar settings.

#13

I am a male 35 years old. I have brown skin & dark coarse facial hair(strong hair).I had my first treatment 2 days ago for my entire face (mouthstache, beard, ears, nose, eyebrows) over at Romeo & Juliet in New York City. I paid $1750 total for 6 full treatments plus 6 touchups. The place & workers there were extremely friendly and courteous. My technician use a yag laser for my treatment. It hurted like hell. I mean really hurt bad almost brought me to tears. But i took it like a man. it feels like this imagine some taking a rubberband & stinging you on your face 25 times in a row. Well i do have very sensitive skin & dark coarse hair so that might be why it hurted so much although she did use numbing cream but i still felt pain. I go back in 2 weeks for my next treatment. I’m just waiting for shedding on the facial hair thats been treated. I highly recommend Romeo & Juliet to anyone looking for laser hair removal. 5 stars all the way! Laser hair removal is all they do & they are very good at it.

#14

Awesome thanks for the reply. I’m going tomorrow to do my forearms and going to do a test patch on my face to see how it reacts. It’s $100 for the neck, or $200 for neck and beard at the place I go. I found another place it just sounded a bit sketchy it’s $70 for neck or $119 for full face/beard but not sure what they were like didn’t sound too good. I’ll see how I react to the test. How many sessions did you have before you started to really see the benefits of it? Like had it be easier to shave or not have to as often or what not? Thanks!

#15

To: Lee M.

Its your face so make sure you got to reputable place. Also make sure they have experience. The place i am going to Romeo & Juliet in NY City is rated #1 for laser hair removal. I paid $1750 (credit card), for me a lot of money but worth it in the long run when i think about how much i will be spending on pricy gillette mach 3 blades & shaving cream for the rest of my life. Plus i have rosacea & shaving irritates my face and I HATE getting up in the morning & shaving 5 days a week. HATE it with a passion. I had my first treatment on my face 2 days ago just waiting for the hair to shed might take up to 2 weeks. My next treatment is 2 weeks from now. She said i should see some patchiness but it’s normal.

#16

To: Lee M.

I notice you had IPL on your abdomen. But for you face make sure they use a laser that cater to your skin type & facial hair. I am west indian & have brown skin so dark coarse hair (the perfect hair for laser removal). DO NOT USE IPL on the face. Laser is more efficent & does a better job. Do the test patch & see how it goes. The place i went to gave me a free consultation & test patch.

#17

sorry to hijack your thread (Lee M), but I have just signed up on this forum and I am surprised that there is nothing new in the world of hair removal technology since 2004 when I last checked…
Would also like to say hello to everyone on this forum and hope to get to know you all.

I actually wax my neck and I use the threading on my face cheeks because personally I can not start with laser which I believe would solve all my hair problems since I have got a lot of hair on body due to steroids and hereditary issues.

good luck Lee M I hope it all goes well.

#18

Just because they rank number 1 on Google doesn’t mean that they are the best, it only means that they know their way around the internet.

#19

To Starsky, I’m not doing IPL on my face I wouldn’t do IPL anywhere now actually. The reason I did IPL on my abdomen was because when I first considered laser hair removal, I remembered a good friend works at a plastic surgeon so she gave me a really good deal to do hair removal only $100 a session for a huge area. I was able to give the guy there a deal from what I do for a living so I ended up getting 2 sessions free and only paid $200 for the 4. On the 4th session I asked what type of laser they used and found out it was IPL, was really disappointed as I found this forum probably after my 2nd session. That’s when I switched to gentleLASE on my underarms, and am going tomorrow to do my forearms and test patch on my neck with it. In all honestly though, the results I got with IPL are REALLY good I haven’t shaved my abdomen in about 2 months and I can count maybe 20 random hairs if that in the large area treated. I’d still stick to true laser though but I’m not against IPL but I agree I wouldn’t do it on my face. I’m skin type 3, I’m really not very hairy but I just hate hair, so now it’s like an obsession since I started laser. My chest is naturally smooth, back shoulders etc, only place I had it was abdomen which is now gone. So fore arms, under arms, face it’s all more just cosmetic now where as my abdomen was the only place I really hated having hair.

#20

You’re right odi. I should’ve been more cautious when saying they are the best in NYC.

But so far i am really happy with my first treatment with them & how it went thus far…