I would say see how you respond to your test patch and then decide. You will need to wait some time I guess. If you can see a reduction, you will be more confident.
I don’t know about anyone else but if 2 or 3 treatments can give me even 50% reduction, it would be worth it.
I think you just need to know when to stop. In my opinion money is only wasted when people keep having treatments to remove the last 20-30% of hair but it’s too fine to respond.
Take for example my lower leg. After 3 treatments there has been a great reduction but I’m not hairless. It would be completely pointless for me to have had a 4th as the hair left will most likely not respond. Has it been worth it? Absolutely. I have gone from needing to wax every 3 weeks if I want to keep on top of it and then dealing with ingrowns and scars, to shaving once every 2 weeks and even when it grows out it doesn’t feel prickly at all.
I wouldn’t touch your upper arm or upper legs with laser. But it should work on your lower arms and legs. Do electrolysis on upper. If you want to try upper legs with laser, you can do one treatment and see if there is good shedding. I wouldn’t do a package there. I wouldn’t test upper arms because the hair there on you is pretty fine and there is a chance of induced growth on that area.
Yes, you can do as many treatments as you can now and then stop for Accutane.
If I look at my arm now I can see my fine hairs growing back from the shave but there are a few hairs more to the right (just above the elbow) which kind of look like the underarm here where laser was tested.
I wanted to ask if it was normal for the place where laser is done to feel achey? My arm and leg have been feeling like that.
I thought I’d post the settings used. I wasn’t told my skin/hair type. I will try and find out in future if necessary unless you can tell from pics.
The machine used was a XC Diode. She gave a reason for that too (probably coz I was asking questions which she maybe didn’t expect) and said something like, it is because we get people who are really fair with dark hair (or something like that but a reason similar to it, I just don’t remember exactly what). She also said because my skin is light it will work well for me and there are other machines (she mentioned one which is supposed to be good used by others, I don’t remember which, maybe GentlLase? but provided the above reason for not having that there).
Underarms - p/w: 30 j’s: 14,16.
Bikini - p/w: 30 j’s: 12,16.
Arms - p/w: 30 j’s: 20,22.
Legs - p/w: 30 j’s: 20, 22.
You can Google “Fitzpatrick Skin Type” and figure out your type.
I’m guessing this was a LightSheer XC diode machine. I don’t know what those other numbers are besides Joules. Joules look fine. The other two numbers should be spot size (which isn’t adjustable on this machine and is fixed at 12mm I believe) and pulse width (which is half of the joules on the auto setting if that’s what they used).
LAgirl: I think p/w stands for pulse width, so the pulse with was set at a constant 30. The two numbers after j are the joules settings for two different treatments I think. So for her pits, they start at 14J but then worked up to 16J for example.
Yea I thought p/w = pulse width and with the joules thing I didn’t understand it but thought people here might guess. Hmm so did she not write spot size down?
Achey meaning when you arm or body aches e.g. after exercise.
I am probably this: IV Light brown skin Burns minimally, tans easily - although I don’t know if I tan easily as I haven’t seen the sun in ages on my skin.
If they’re in fact using LightSheer, those settings are really too low to cause any permanent reduction. Joules on LightSheer with 30ms (auto) setting should be around 25J at minimum. If your skin can’t handle that without burning, you need a Yag.
The hair sheds, even for ineffectively low settings (for example, the “home laser” scams like Tria or Silk’n cause shedding, but don’t work at all).
Shedding means the individual hair was heated and singed a bit, but it doesn’t prove that the heat was intense enough to be transferred from the hair to the follicle itself, let alone damage or destroy the follicle. If you have no shedding, it didn’t work, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that shedding indicates that it worked. Only time can tell us that, unfortunately.
Okay so I know members have said see what happens at 3 weeks, but if the settings are too low is it likely to not have worked? Should I call to ask which machine exactly they are using? Also should I ask, if I go for a normal treatment, for the settings to be increased? Thank you all for your help. Wouldn’t have a clue on all this but received a text from the laser place stating IPL for the face costs £150 until the end of March and it’s on offer - I know that isn’t good at all.
Shedding means that there was enough heat applied to make the hair shed, but it doesn’t mean that it was enough to disable the follicle permanently. That’s why we always recommend to treat at highest settings your skin can handle safely.
It would help to confirm what machine this is. It’s likely LightSheer XC with a 12 mm spot size as I can’t think of other machines that use “XC”. But doublecheck.
I would also ask them to test higher settings on you. If they’re not willing to, I would consider checking out other clinics.
I’ve had a consultation already but should I go again and ask them to do it on another area with a different setting or just go in and get a proper treatment and request a higher setting? Travel is not a problem for me as it is round the corner. Also would it be possible for you guys to type up the questions I should ask them as that will probably make it easier as I won’t miss anything.
peace - I would go back and say that you also want to have a test patch done with their YAG laser.
They only got the Lightsheer mid last year and at that time they were just using it on themselves to get to grip with settings. They haven’t been using it long enough on clients to know how effective it (their settings) are in the long term.
What she did say was that this machine would be good for my skin and hair type but if the YAG is better I don’t want to be paying for nothing, thank you everyone.
Oh I read your whole signature earlier and missed the actual YAG part! Okay so I call them, and ask for another consultation. With YAG, and they will allow it?
How have you progressed after being treated with the LightSheer XC?
I just had my first treatment with LightSheer XC (12 mm spot size) on my lower legs, lower arms, underarms and bikini. I’ve been treated with several kinds of lasers over the years (other body parts) and this was by the far one of the most painful lasers I’ve tried. I did 22 J/ cm2 on my arms and underarms.
For my bikini and lower legs I found the pain to be almost intolerable (the hair there is REALLY coarse). Even with numbing cream applied, I couldn’t handle any higher than 20 J for lower legs and 14/16 J for bikini. I cannot imagine being treated with this machine on a higher setting than 25 J as suggested here, on such dark coarse hair…OUCH! However, after reading about optimal settings I now worry that my treatments are ineffective.
The pain doesn’t depend on laser as much as it depends on how high the settings used are. It’s supposed to hurt if you’re not being undertreated.
If you can’t handle the pain, but your skin can easily handle the setting without burning, you should be using a numbing cream to get the most effective treatments.
I came to update this thread with what I’ve noticed:
I had my consultation on the 9th of this month so it has been two weeks and I have noticed shedding:
Underarms and bikini have almost all shed, so the skin looks mooth however there are still a few dark, coarse hairs which are long but seem like hey have had laser touch them so hopefully they will fall out.
Legs - the area seems clear, it just seems a bit dotty not because of hair but because of the holes the hair came from, I am suprised it seems there is no hair there.
The only hair left is on my arms which I am looking out for, right now it seems there is no change.
So does this mean lightsheer isn’t for me? I have no idea but I do know in the most coarse areas the hair has fallen out, with some hair still needing to. It was painful, I didhave to grit my teeth, but I could bare the pain. As stoppit mentioned, they have only had the lightsheer for just over the year so do not have that much experience with it, LA Girl do you think I should just ask them to switch to YAG from now on and treat me at the highest setting possible without my skin burning? Thanks all for reading.
