My Experience at Beauty and Youth Spa, NYC

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
1

I’m sharing my experience with laser hair removal, in case other people find the information useful. I have dark, almost black hair, and mediterranean, sort of golden skin.

The main research I did was to find a place that was cheap. I now regret this, and wish that instead I had found a place that was effective, or at least honest.

Last Thursday, February 1, 2007, I had a laser hair removal treatment at one of the cheaper options here in NYC, a place with the cheesy name of Beauty and Youth Spa. I went in and consulted with the nice Russian lady, who had no qualms at all about the color of my skin, which I’d been concerned about. I blew over $500 on what was to be the first of six treatments. That was a low price considering I had quite a lot of areas done.

It’s now 8 days later, and seems to have had no effect whatsoever. Maybe immunity to lasers is my superpower.

My stubble was growing back just like normal later in the day after the treatment, and has been growing normally since. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t really growing, I just hadn’t shaved very close, but no, it’s all growing back exactly like normal after a totally normal shave, ingrown-hair zits included. The nice Russian lady assured me that lasers do not cause ingrown hairs, but then again, she also said that lasers do cause hair removal.

She also didn’t charge me tax or give me a receipt, since I paid cash. I’d like to think that cheating the tax man and cheating your customers are two different things, but maybe they go together.

I’d suspect that the laser that the other large Russian woman zapped me with was just a fake, but I don’t think a fake would have hurt so much, or burned one of my birthmarks black. It’s a little scab now. I don’t know if it will come back or not, or if it will be replaced by a scar. I had no great sentimental attachment to that birthmark, but before the treatment, I had asked the first Russian lady specifically if the laser would do anything to my birthmarks, and she assured me that it had no effect on them. She also said that the laser didn’t hurt at all. In fact, I can’t recall anything she said that later turned out to be true.

Turning my birthmark to a cinder didn’t hurt nearly as much as when the technician turned her laser onto a very, very sensitive part of my body, which is darker than the rest of my skin. I don’t know why she would even be pointing her laser there, since that part of my body doesn’t have any hair on it at all. What it does have are a lot of nerve endings, which did not appreciate being burned. This hurt for about a day. I have not ruled out the possibility that this “spa” is actually a fetish parlor, where sadists pay the management to inflict pain on unknowing victims, who foolishly also pay the management.

I’ve been reading about hair shedding, but haven’t experienced it myself. OK, that’s not true, I had one hair that looked kind od shriveled, so I tugged it and it came out easily. But at over $500/hair, this is not a good deal. I’m wondering if anyone can recommend a laser hair removal place in NYC that might actually remove some hair, or at least tell me honestly if their lasers don’t work on someone of my skin color.

At least, I hope this post will be a warning to others, that laser hair removal does not necessarily work like the ads and the salespeople promise.

2

I could imagine her tongue was hanging out of her mouth like a dog when you plopped down $500 in cash. No tax? Do they charge tax for laser services in New York? Did they specifically ask you for cash? Did they at least offer to give you receipt? Imagine if one of our hairtell readers is an IRS employee and see’s this.

I’ll try to help out on the shedding part: it has only been nine days since your last treatment. You may still shed yet as it can take up to 2-3 weeks to shed.

Do you know the name of the laser they used? What area was treated? By any chance, did a doctor take a look at you before hand?

Does anyone know where the state of New York stands on their laser protocols? Who can use the laser? Training required?

Dee

3

shedding usually doesn’t start until the 2 weeks mark and can last up until 3.5 weeks. up to that point, it still usually looks like the hair is growing. what it’s actually doing is coming out of the skin to fall out. don’t be discouraged YET. you haven’t waited enough to make any kinda of conclusions.

now, i do have some questions as you didn’t provide important details.

  • what laser was used?
  • what setting if known? did it hurt?
  • are you male or female?
  • what areas were done?
  • did you shave before treatment?

Once again, you need to give it 3 weeks. You would have seen the same thing at an expensive place at this point. Let’s see what happens after 3 weeks and then I can give you another suggestion if you need a more knowledgeable place. But I wouldn’t dismiss this one yet. And yes, please ask for a receipt next time no matter what and I wouldn’t treat more than one area to start so you can see how things go.

p.s. since laser is attracted to pigment, that would happen to your birthmark given that she lasered it. she should have probably asked if you wanted it to remain intact and covered it with something white. also, don’t let anyone treat areas without much hair or with vellus hair. that can stimulate that hair to get darker in some cases on some areas.

4

Sad story, funny tale! Thanks for the report and let the folks here know your progress in a week (along with the requested info). Certainly, your new Russian friends didn’t adequately explain their treatments. Laser hurts when it works - no pain, no gain (errr, “loss”). BTW, I do not pay a line item sales tax on my laser or electrolysis services in Texas.

5

I should have been more patient. It’s now 12 days after the treatment, and my hair is starting to fall out in mangy patches, so I have to count this as a success so far. I guess I shouldn’t have believed the saleswoman when she told me my hair would fall out in a couple of days.

Now I’m wondering if I should go back to this place. On the one hand, they’re dishonest. On the other hand, they’re cheap, and the treatment seems to be working so far. For $560, they did my chin, upper lip, underarms, around my nipples, whole legs, butt, and bikini line. That’s cheaper than a lot of the other places I was calling.

They said they use a Palomar Medilux. Anyone know of the reputation of this machine?

6

Oh, and they used setting 4 on my face and setting 5 elsewhere. They said they would turn it up next time, because that’s what they do, turn the setting up every time.

Now, I don’t see why they would do that. I’d think they would try to find the optimal setting, and just use that for every treatment.

7

This is an IPL machine rather than a laser. If you have very light skin and dark hair, you can have results with it. There was a debate on this forum whether you can have better results with a true laser like an alex. You can search for it by typing in the laser name in the search feature.

You shall see more shedding within then next 18 days. Please report back and let us know how that goes. At that price for all those areas this is probably one of the best deals you will find. So, it’s up to you. It doesn’t sound like they’re dishonest, just salesy. It’s hard to sell someone on a treatments that “hurts like hell and will not remove all hair within days after treatment” if you know what I mean. It’s not the best service you can get, but probably not that bad for that price. In any case, you can have a few treatments there and switch to a true laser after 4-5 treatments or whenever you feel you’re reached diminishing returns with this machine.

8

Regarding the tax: NYC requires collecting 4% service tax to be submitted quarterly.

9

I have actually been to the Beauty and Youth Spa. It is indeed a down-at-heel place run by recent Russian immigrants. It’s fairly dingy, no doctors, and it’s unclear what real experience the workers have. I think they basically bought a used laser to add to their manicure/waxing business. That said–it’s my feeling that if you are an informed consumer, a dirt-cheap place like this is not necessarily a bad option. If you are someone whose skin/hair combo is easy to treat with a laser, and you research the type of laser, settings, etc., you may be okay. I am reserving judgment on B&Y until I have a couple more treatments. (I have fair skin/dark hair and lasers work well for me.)

I strongly second the suggestion above re having only one area treated. Not a difficult/controversial one like your face–do something small, cheap, and usually easy like underarms. In a few months you’ll be able to tell if this laser is working for you, what settings, etc. Even at a swankier place–don’t start with so many areas. You’ll waste money while they figure out what works for you.

Re the birthmark: yeah, they should have told you that moles/birthmarks will usually burn/scab over. (Another example of why, at a place like this, you need to be really informed on your own.) I actually like this as it removes minor dark spots/sun damage from your skin. In my experience, moles however heal and remain exactly as they were before. I have been told that sometimes they heal lighter in color, but that is not my experience. Good luck and keep us posted.

10

Here’s the latest update: I’m estimating that at least 80% of the hair that was actively growing at the time of the treatment has shed, and shows no sign of growing back so far, although of course it’s still early.

Approximately 20% of my hair that was growing at the time still seems to be growing perfectly normally, like I’d just shaved. Much of it’s distributed in very distinct patches, so it looks like the technician missed a lot of spots. I wonder if my skin would be perfectly hair-free if the technician had been more careful about covering every spot. But then again, I also have a lot of single follicles that are still growing stubble, surrounded by hairless skin. I don’t know if these are tiny spots she missed, or just resistant follicles.

This hair that is coming back is coming back as normal stubble. I shaved recently, and this stubble is growing back as it normally does on me, ingrown-hair zits and all. This is an 80% reduction in the number of ingrown hair zits I would normally have after shaving, so I’m pretty happy.

My birthmark has healed, and I think it’s a little lighter than it was before. I’m pretty happy about this too.

The above report describes only the hair on my body. On my face, it seems to have had almost no effect.

All in all, I think this was a good deal. My skin looks great! I have much less stubble than usual, and many fewer ingrown hair zits. My underarms have no dark shadow visible through the skin like they normally would after shaving, just a tiny bit of stubble.

As soon as my dormant follicles wake up, I plan to go back to this place to have them zapped as well. The question is, should I let them turn the intensity up, like they said they always do? (Regardless of the client’s skin color or the efficacy of the last treatment, apparently.) I don’t know if the scattered hairs that escaped the treatment last time are the result of too weak a treatment, or just sloppy coverage.

I’d rather have a few hairs escape the treatment than risk burning my skin. Last time, there was just momentary (but unpleasant enough) pain when the light hit my skin, no residual pain or redness (except for the birthmark and abovementioned sensitive hairless patch.) That’s a lot better that a lot of the horror stories I’ve read on this site. Maybe my plan should be, have a bunch of treatments at this low level, but not expect them to get rid of every last hair. The stragglers I can have removed with electrolysis later.

What do you think? Should the intensity be turned up or not? I think it should definitely be turned up on my face, since it didn’t even hurt before at that low level, and also had almost no effect. I’m not sure about the rest of my body, though. Thanks for all the advice!

11

it sounds like they missed a few spots. 80% is still pretty good. Since you have mediterranean skin, I would be careful about turning the settings up too high since this is an IPL. If you want, get them to test a few spots at higher settings next time you’re in.

The hairs that look like slight stubble are “pepperspots” which take a bit longer to fall out or will be burned on your next treatment, whichever comes first. They’re dead hairs stuck in the follicles. You can exfoliate to help them out.

Can you describe in more detail the effect on your upper lip and chin? What type of hair do you have there? It may be too fine for the treatment. In general, if you don’t have a lot of hair there and/or it’s not coarse, you might want to do electrolysis there instead.

12

My stubble is genuine stubble, stout bristly hairs poking out of my skin. I also have a lot of pepperspots, but they aren’t annoying enough for me to have mentioned in my last post. When I shave (or used to before this treatment) I still wouldn’t look hairless, since you could see the hair through the skin, under the skin, ready to grow out. It was particularly noticeable where the hair was dense, like my underarms, but also noticeable on my legs. These pepperspots I have now are much less noticeable than those underskin hair stubs used to be, so I don’t mind them at all. Am I correct in assuming that if I just leave them alone, they will work their way out eventually? I’m not exfoliating much, since I have hardly any ingrown hairs, and that’s what I normally exfoliate for.

My chin has stiff dark bristles, which I normally pluck. I would pluck maybe five hairs once or twice a week, but now that I’m not plucking, I see that there are more of them than I thought. The treatment didn’t bother them at all.

My upper lip has much finer hairs, so as I read more, I’m wondering if laser is the best thing for this area. I noticed maybe one hair shedding, although the hairs are fine enough that more may have shed without me noticing. I don’t know if the fine regrowth I see on my upper lip is the shaved hairs coming back, or new hairs starting, or what.

13

for your face, definitely go with electrolysis. don’t get any more IPL treatments there. On this area and for such a relatively small amount of hair, some of which is not even coarse, electrolysis is really best. to add to that, you have darker skin, which is more prone to activating more follicles to grow on this specific area after laser. it’s not worth it and not necessary.

yes, pepperspots will work themselves out or will be burned off on your next treatment. if you scrub gently in the shower and exfoliate a bit, they’ll come out faster like i said above.

good luck.

14

I plucked my facial hair and will probably keep doing that, at least until I do a lot of research on electrolysis (which I should have done before doing laser, er, IPL.) As I was plucking my upper lip, I noticed a dark spot that I don’t think was there before. It looks like a few other spots on my face that I got after spending too much time in the sun for a summer, so it’s not like it’s terribly out of place, but it’s not a good thing. I don’t know if I can really blame this on the IPL, but it counts as circumstantial evidence. No more facial IPL for me.

I think I’m also going to skip further treatments around my nipples, since there’s very little hair there anyway, just like on my chin. If I care that much, I can do electrolysis.

I’m still quite happy about my legs and underarms, though, so I’ll be back to do more on those when the hair grows back (which it hasn’t yet, yay.) The only question is, should I let them turn the intensity up, like they say they do every treatment, or should I insist on staying at this low level? I’m inclined to stay at this low level, but are there any reasons to turn it up?

15

you want to make sure to kill the hair, not just disrupt it. shedding doesn’t mean that it is killed for 100%. that is why using settings that are high but still safe on your skin is best. do test spots like i said if you’re not sure what that point is.