Missed Spots? Or Growth After First Session?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Well I don’t know how to post the pictures here, so look at the latest pics in my LHR journal - http://lanilhr.livejournal.com

The newest entry are pictures taken from last night which is almost 3.5 weeks from my first session. The remaining hair is not shedding. I can pull on it and nothing. I plucked a few out of curiousity and they are deep and rooted so they have been growing normally for the past few weeks.

My question… Is this regrowth? I don’t think this hair ever shed. I don’t think it was missed spots b/c you can go to my journal and see how my face looked after treatment, it appears she got every inch and I doubt she had this much missed spots.

Perhaps this hair was unaffected by the treatment and I should ask for the settings to be turned up? Or maybe this hair was not in the correct growth cycle before my session and only started growing a week after?

What do I do? Do I go in for another session? Do I wait for the hair that did fall out to start regrowing first? How long do the cycles normally last? I don’t want to wait too long and miss this hair’s growth cycle shrug

So yes please someone give me advice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

#2

male facial hair is pretty resistant. i think it’s a combination of missed spots and some hairs being in incorrect phase, and some hairs not responding at this time either because they’re in the wrong phase or because they weren’t affected by this setting. after about 3-4 treatments, all hairs gets synchronized and will be in similar phases. i would think that you should see a bit more shedding over the next week. after that, i would give it 4-6 weeks before you go in for your next treatment. you can also try asking your provider for a free “touchup” for these hairs sometime this and next week. some don’t mind doing it.

#3

Well she did say she would offer free touchups but this is quite a large area to do for free (I would imagine at least) I will call her when I get off and maybe she can do a touchup free or at a discount or something? shrug

#4

if she offered, you might as well ask. it can’t hurt, but may help, especially if it’s free. i would ask for free, not cheap <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

#5

Well I called her and she said “Well it’s been a month so it’s probably just regrowth, we can do a 2nd session Tuesday if you like” So I had to reassure her it wasn’t regrowth, it never shed, and that the spots that did shed are still smooth and showing no regrowth. So I’m going in Tuesday to show her and see what she says. I have a feeling she’s going to want to just do my whole face again and charge me for a full session <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Guess we’ll see

#6

I’d bring an article that shows how long the growth cycles are for the face. it was floating here somewhere. try to search. basically, you can say that even if the hair was under the skin, it should have been targeted and considering the growth cycle, there wasn’t enough time for new hair to develop AND come out of the skin yet.

#7

I would definitely ask about this being touched up for free. It looks like there may be a combination of missed hairs and hairs that were in the incorrect phase of growth. The worst she can say is “no” but I doubt that’ll be the case.

~ Megan @ Hair Removal [hair-removal-options dot com] A Guide to find the best hair removal option for you

#8

I read your livejournal. Your stats are the same as mine. I had a dozen or so laser hair treatments on my male beard. My advice is to please stop now before you end up like me.

The “missed spots” come no matter how much overlapping or 3 week reshooting is done. Many other men get the same patchy results. Especially young men.

I stuck with laser for many treatments and now I’m left with hypopigmentation, scarring, and that ridiculous patchiness! I can only hope it all just grows back over the years so at some point I might look normal if I grow a beard. Even with a close shave I feel the patchy beard shadow to be disfiguring.

#9

I believe Lani already read your story and chose to do this knowing it. you have to account for the fact that he’s also not using the laser/IPL that you used and i do not believe he is expecting 100% removal with laser alone.

#10

I won’t defend either ‘side’ of this argument, but will restate my experience with an Apogee Alexandrite with 6 treatments on full (male) face & neck over the past 16 months. I have experienced a “patchy” result every time that I cannot clearly attribute to poor technique. I would like to feel that these areas were missed, but I cannot see how such large regions on my face would be consistantly missed by various technician’s who use a dry-erase marker to map my skin and are quite careful to be comprehensive. I think that (at least some) male faces have distinct areas that will “resist” a given treatment. For me, the “defiant” hair is gradually being eliminated, but I expect another 6 treatments at least will be needed to get significant results (and then, who knows how much hair will return after a year?).

Yes, the patchiness is annoying and forces me to shave MORE often (but not my entire face). I must continue with either (or both) LHR or electrolysis as I DO NOT WANT to have my current patched appearance for long. I have been fortunate to NOT have any pigmentation issues (only short-term redness and inflamation). Thus, a newbie should consider that a patched clearance is likely and be prepared to accept this or have a plan to address it. I would urge all males considering facial LHR to understand that partial clearance (i.e. a “thinning”) is risky. Even a single treatment MAY leave areas with a significant (and permanent) variance in reduction.

FYI, my remaining hair is along the jawline and in the goatee beard region. It is largely (but not fully) symetrical, so it might appear as an intentional “look” that I have created (while shaving drunk <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ). Of course, it shows a shadow all the time (with the black hair below the skin surface), so this appearance affects me greatly.

#11

just to clarify something. i do believe men’s (and women’s actually) faces are some of the hardest to treat and i don’t think patchiness is necessarily attributed to missed areas. The chin and upper lip regions are most difficult and require more treatments for both men and women. so, i agree that when both men and women are considering treating this area with laser, they should be aware of what they are getting into and that it might take a considerable amount of time to see an even reduction. they can also read sslhr’s previous post about this point.

#12

While I appreciate the concern that I should stop right now, it’s not going to happen. My face will be hair free. I’ve read extensively about LHR and know the risks and I know what to expect. Please go spam your warnings elsewhere, they are not welcome here. You should have educated yourself more before picking any random practitioner who promised you results. I hate to sound harsh but I hate ignorance. The internet is the biggest source of information in the world and it’s clear you have access to it. Why didn’t you research this first?
(PS This is for jimmyjones or whatever… I see him all over the forums spouting the same crap)

Anyways, I’ll step off my soap box now. I ended up letting her do a 2nd full session on me. Paid the full $130 because she wouldn’t do it for free or at a discounted rate. Yes I’m a passive avoidant. I don’t care. She told me if the hair wasn’t gone after the 6th treatment (which will be free) She will do a 7th treatment for free as well so I went ahead and got that in writing and did the session.

So I updated the journal. I hope to have more shedding next week like I did last time. I’ll post some more pics and update again in a couple weeks.

PS I know it may end up patchy after so many treatments, it’s ok with me. For $650 I couldn’t pass up the 6 sessions of laser on my face. I do plan on following up with electrolysis if the areas that remain are small enough for it.