My Laser Hair Removal Journal

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Session 1 - January 14, 2008

So I had my first session yesterday for Laser Hair removal and I have to say. IT HURT LIKE HELL! I have a strong threshold for pain but that was an 8.75 in my pain scale. She did my neck, upper lip and chin area, It was so painful that tears started to roll down my eyes especially when it hit the upper lip area, jawbone, right under the nose was extremely painful. OMG, during the test patch, I thought I can handle the pain without topical numbing creams but I overestimated myself, it was just the longest 20 minutes of my life. She used a YAG Laser 40 Joules at 10mm.

Today, my upper lip area is swollen, its not that red but you just have this numbing feeling and that it is raised. My upper lip is full but not my lower lip (she could have made it even LOL). I did notice small raised spots with white/yellowish color, is that crusting? This isnt good is it? I thought this was rare but I guess not for me. The are really tiny but theres quite a few of them.

So how do I know that she did a good job and she was thorough? Im assuming that there should be no hair patches is one?

January 16

She told me that those white raised whitehead like appearances is not crusting so tthats good. There is still swelling in my upperlip after 40 hours. Im getting a bit concerned. How long will this last? When can I start shaving? i have all these dark stubbles in my face and makes me look untidy and my skin not so good. I dont think I can stand looking like this for 2 weeks. I want to shave.

#2

I guess the pain you felt for 20 minutes will prepare you eventually for the tolerable discomfort you will feel when you finally realize that electrolysis will be your real solution.

You see, I say this from what I have observed quite fequently in my electrolysis practice. It goes like this: Women get facial laser treatments. They hang on for a year or two, spending thousands of dollars, ending with some satisfaction, no satisfaction or more hair than when they started laser.

When they finally look onward to electrolysis, the permanent solution, they are surprised that their face can be cleared after “X” amount of minutes or hours initially. They are happy to leave the office minus the evidence (hair growing on their face), no need to wait for shedding to occur. They are surprised that it “wasn’t as painful as laser (or tattooing)” and that the financial investment over a period of 9, 12?, 18? months was very doable.

I guess you will need to come full circle and discover this for yourself. There have got to be skilled electrologists in downtown Chicago or the Northern suburbs. Start checking that part out while you are doing laser, because you are going to need help beyond laser for your face at some point in time.

Dee

#3

Not missing patches may be some what of an indicator, but that still isn’t a hard and fast rule.

Are you male or female? What skin type are you? Is the hair dark and coarse?

In most cases it is best to treat facial hair with electrolysis. Treating the female face is very risky as the velus hairs on the female face can be stimulated by laser resulting in coarse terminal hairs springing up.
Male facial hair may become thinner when treated, but the operator must be extremley careful when over lapping/the tecnique used, otherwise the result can range from patchy to grid like.

So to sum this up, unless the facial hair is thick and coarse through out and you are being treated with a good laser by a skilled tecnician, who has good tecnique and knows how far they can the face with laser, you eventually will have to go for electrolysis anyway.

Sorry to sound so morbid, but as Dee said, most women (as well as a lot of men) wished they’d just gone for straight for electrolysis when treating facial hair.

Kind regards,
Benji

#4

Unfortunately, this is pretty typical for a man’s beard. Those dark, coarse hairs are so close together and absorb the heat sooooooo well! Which is a good thing…eventually. It may not help now, but after the treatments, use some cool compresses, 5-10 minutes every hour or 2 to help relieve some of the swelling and redness. Cold packs to use immediately after treatment would also be beneficial.

The white spots are where lymphatic fluid has filled the follicles to fight infection. Be gentle with the skin, no scrubbing or shaving until they have disappeared.

#5

If you’re male, this is pretty normal since the hair is so dense and coarse. You may want to use a numbing cream next time if the pain is too much. As Choice said, be gentle with the skin. Don’t scrub, use cleansers or moisturizers until you’re back to normal. Keep it clean and dry. Apply some pure clear aloe vera to moisturize and soothe the skin. It can take a bit over a week to get back to normal. It will look tidy once the hair sheds. Don’t shave until the skin is back to normal, but after that you can if you really want to. Shedding is just a bit faster if you don’t.

#6

Thanks for the words of encouragement Choice and yes thats exactly what the nurse told me, I just forgot the term. The white stuff are going away day by day and the swelling has started to go down today. I think I will try to shave tomorrow.

I really hope that I dont end up wasting $1000 for 6 treatments only to end up where I started. I dont expect 100% removal of hair, but at least 90% reduction is acceptable to me. I just heard a lot of encouraging testimony from people who did Laser and found good, maybe not perfect results. Im ok with that. Why are there a lot of people donig this laser if they dont work. I have coarse dark hair so I was told I have some chance of hair reduction to a good degree. Ill cross my fingers coz I really dont want electrolysis

#7

I don’t see where you’re getting that you won’t get results. You have a good skin type for it and it sounds like they’re using good settings since you’re getting a reaction. Let us know how shedding goes. I would still avoid shaving for a few more days. Btw, icing the area helps with the swelling.

#8

yeah that’s not always true. granted laser hasn’t gotten every single hair but it’s reduced the hair on my [full] face/neck by about 90%. yes i will finish up with electrolysis but that’s because it will be less expensive than getting hte full treatment with laser again.

also, electrolysis doesn’t always work either. it didn’t for my mother and it didn’t for this woman http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/48053/page/3#Post48053
you will probably say that’s because the tech didn’t do it correctly, but whatever the reason, it doesn’t always work.

#9

Both laser and electrolysis work IF they’re done correctly and on the right type of hair, by an experienced practitioner. Laser probably won’t work on your remaining hair. Laser only works best on the coarse hair. Once it gets too fine, you need to switch to electrolysis. You may want to read the electrolysis section of this forum to learn how to find the right electrologist with the best equipment to actually get you results - AND how to make sure you get results based on your schedule of treatments etc.

#10

Okay, JillB, I guess I shouldn’t expect you to know too much about my position on laser/IPL and that’s okay. I listed three catagories for one’s possible laser outcome for the face and have openly said many time that there are people that are very happy with their laser reduction, but they still need electrolysis, so why not start with electrolysis if you have a good practitioner nearby. If one chooses to spend their wad on laser and then have the cleanup crew (electrolysis)come in and finish the project, that’s OKAY. That’s one very good approach that can work, but can sometimes go screwy as well.

Anyone that does electrolysis and complains of it not working is truly missing an important ingredient in the electrolysis plan whether it be from an inept practioner, an uncommitted client, physical happenings in one’s body enviroment or cheap equipment that isn’t strong enough to kill a sturdy hair. I could go on, mind you, but will spare the regular hairtell readers who have already heard it all too many times.

Maybe you would like to explain your mother’s experience, rather than say it didn’t work. We could help her, or you, decide where things went wrong. We are very patient here and would gladly involve ourselves for the greater good on your dear mother’s behalf. ELECTROLYSIS WORKS 100% OF THE TIME WHEN IT IS PERFORMED CORRECTLY ON ANY HAIR COLOR, ON ANY SKIN COLOR, ON ANY SIZE OF HAIR. That is a fact that has been in practice for over 130 years.

I am an electrologist. I am non-territorial. I am grateful for both laser and electrolysis and frequently refer clients to a local laser practitioner for appropriate areas. I referred one of my own daughters to one last month for certain areas other than the face. There is not one facial problem I haven’t been able to handle and I would not want to be responsible for sending a woman to the laser practitioner seeing what I have seen over the years with some facial outcomes. If the client resists my advice, then she can’t lay blame on me. She takes responsibility for the gamble of no results or increased hair growth. I’ve seen too much that has gone wrong with lased faces and it’s not worth the risk to encourage a woman to lase her face.

Glad you had 90% reduction, I really am.

#11

The very thread this person offers to purortedly show that electrolysis doesn’t work all the time, is in fact a great example of at the least, poor scheduling, if not failure of practitioner to clear the area. It plainly says the person did 4 months, and quit, then later did another 4 months and quit.

Regular HairTell readers know that one would need at a minimum 9 months of treatments (notnecessarily every week, but regularly during that time frame) to be able to complete even the smallest job.

When I say that, one must understand what I mean. If someone had upper lip hairs that could be cleared out in 30 minutes in the first treatment, that person would need another 20 to 30 minute treatment in 3 weeks or less. The next treatment would be in about 3 weeks, and would be about 20 minutes again, and soon, the treatments would become either 5 minutes a week, or 15 minutes every 3 to 6 weeks. After the 9 months were done, one would possibly want to do quick touch ups once every 3 months with a 5 to 10 minute treatment until one had nothing at all to do. The total time spent would be small, and the results would last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, many people just do a little here, and a little there and give up. All the while, they have never really given it a fair “try” in the first place.

Its like getting on a bus, letting it go two stops, getting off, catching the next bus to come along, regarless of route number, and again getting off after only two stops, and then complaining “The bus system doesn’t work! I did not get to where I wanted to go, and it wasted my time!”

#12

So it has been almost 4 weeks now since my first treatment session (out of 6). I was expecting a period of no hair but I never got one. Yes there seems to be less hair growth but they were growing all the time after i shave. I did shave on day 8 which my RN told me its ok to even shave on day 4 as long as the redness is gone. Everytime I shave, hair seems to grow back just less. I dont see striping or patches of hair just hair growth everywhere (just lesser volume). So Im not sure what to do from here. The jawbone is where I have to say I had a hair free experience but not my chin or upper lip area. Should I just stop this since it might not be working? Im glad I didnt pay the package. Anyone experience the same thing in these areas.

I dont know what to do. I dont want to continue if this will not work because it is expensive. Im not asking for permanent results after 1 session but I was expecting shedding and no hair for even a few days but I didnt seem to get it. Please share your experiences

#13

I don’t think getting a hairfree period after the first session is guaranteed. At the first session, your hair is in lots of different parts of their growth phase, and there’s a lot more hair just about to grow out which hasn’t been affected by the laser you got. So assuming you did shed some hair all over the area that was treated, I think it is okay.

You should get a hairfree period after the second treatment, because now all of the hair is “fresh” and growing, so that the laser can kill it.

Henrik

#14

That’s good to here your results haven’t come out stripy and so on, it would generally suggest that the laser technician is skilled. When you said you had a hair free patch for a period of time on your jaw, was the hair denser or thinner in that area?

If it’s a male face your treating, as long as you are the correct skin andhair type you should see results (just how it comes out is what is not always certain, this does depend on the practioner though as I mentioned before). Have a look to see what the regrowth is like for a couple of weeks. If it’s consistently finer then it shows that youv’e had a good treatment and the hair is reacting well. This is not a rule of thumb, but most people usually experience the most reduction after the second or third treatment. As Henrik said, this is because all the hairs are now in anagen (and are thicker than they will be after lets say 5-6 treatments).

Kind regards,
Benji

#15

Have you tried pulling on the hairs? Are they sliding out easily or they’re all strongly attached? How often have you been shaving?

#16

Well the jawline hair is actually not there or it feels like its notor maybe its just thinner thats why I feel its not there but I didnt see that in the upperlip and chin area. Im looking at that area and hair keeps growing everytime I shave it. After the first week, i shave almost everyday coz i dont like to have facial hair. Also there are areas where the hair grows longer, I guess that area was missed. Ill talk to the practitioner and ask her that I just wanna get half of the package because after the second or third treatment and I still dont see improvement, I will stop. Does that sound fair? Maybe I should go with that other practitioner who uses the Diode instead of the YAG that was used on me

#17

You didn’t answer my question. It’s really hard for us to judge without before and after pictures or detailed descriptions and answers to the questions. If you’re shaving every day, you’re not letting the hairs come out and fall out of the skin. And if you’re not willing to pull on a couple hairs to see if they slide out without resistance, we really can’t tell what’s happening.

#18

I have tried pulling out hairs and its not different from the feel you get when I was plucking before I had my first session. I have been plucking my facial hair for 10 years now so I know what if theres a difference and theres none. After the first week of my treatment I started to shave every other day. Its been 6 weeks since my treatment and I shave once or twice a week and here is what it looks like. My second treatment is nextweek, I am hoping that I see better results. Im allowing myself to go up to the 3rd treatment and if I see progress (IM NOT EXPECTING MIRACLES just progress and improvements) then I will proceed. Here is a pic to show the results of the first treatment 6 weeks after. I hope this attachment works.

#19

Can’t see the image. Can you upload it to www.photobucket.com and post the HTML tag here?

You should see an improvement in 3-4 treatments definitely. You should take pictures throughout the treatments because it will help you judge the reduction later. It’s easy to get used to less dense hair after a while.

What exact Yag machine is being used? You mentioned the settings were 40j on 10mm (somewhat low spot size, but one has to be careful with men’s facial hair to avoid too much irritation), but you didn’t mention the pulse. Can you find out the name of the machine and the pulse? Also, does your clinic have experience in treating male faces?

Are you still seeing an overall reduction in density? When you shaved 2-3 weeks after your treatment, did you see shedding hairs on the razor blade?

#20

I knew there was something wrong with that attachment. I uploaded it in flickr I hope this works

She is using The Cutera CoolGlide® which is a long pulse Nd: YAG It utilizes a 1064 nanometer wavelength. She did tell me that she had male patients. Yes I think there is a reduction in density as you can see in the photo. I dont know what you mean by shedding hairs on the razor blade, when you shave the hair, it sheds.

My next appointment is on Tuesday. Are there things I can suggest to make the treatment more effective? BTW, does that topical cream really work? will it really take down the pain. Im thinking of using it coz that last time was like hell. Is it common that people use those topical anesthetics or should I just buck up.