I think if anything, only the odd here and there are coarse enough, oh I need someone to see my arm in person who will give me expert advice and not just want my money! It’s too difficult online.
It’s been about 6 weeks since I had my test patch done and thought I would give an update.
With underarms, the area is still clear but two hairs have grown back and they are longer than a cm and still dark, thick and coarse.
With my legs, the hairs are taking very long to come out but seems like they are growing just here and there.
I don’t understand my arms though. Most hairs have grown back with probably the odd hair here and there which may have actually shed, but still have a couple of pepper-y things.
Just wanting to know views on here.
Sounds like the hair on your arms may not be coarse enough. The rest sounds normal. New hair from the next phase should be coming in on underarms. Legs have long cycles, so you may not see new growth for a few more weeks.
Is laser only worth it if you get e.g. 3 appointments?
What if I just get one or two for arms to kill the few coarse hairs that may be present, and the rest do whatever?
I don’t mind paying if it means hair is more spread out on my arms.
You can do whatever you want if you think you’re getting something out of it.
peace1, if your arm hair is borderline coarse enough then you may get a small reduction. If you have the money to spend and want to try, then go ahead.
I, myself, plan on lasering one arm (I did electrolysis on the other). My hair is not coarse enough to be ideal, but I suspect I will have some results since I am so pale, so for me it is worth a shot. My clinic offered me four treatments for $300 and then I will finish what’s left with electrolysis, so I feel it is inexpensive enough to be worth trying it as an experiment.
But if you’re not seeing shedding, then that’s a bad indication. You may be wasting your money, and electrolysis might be cheaper in the long run.
I have booked an appointment for underarms + bikini thong.
They will be using the Lightsheer diode on me.
It’s been 10 weeks since I went for my consultation and test patch but I want these treatments going so I just booked it.
Anyway, I want to keep a sort of chart for the treatments so I can come back here and report back with pics to see if I am making any progress, what do you suggest I write? I want the technician to fill it in with the settings and any other info needed. For example:
Laser: Lightsheer Diode
Area:
Settings:
Pulse Width, Joules
Okay so I went for my first appointment today (bikini thong and underarms).
Let’s start off with the actual treatments:
Before I started I asked her about using higher settings to see how skin reacts and she told me that we can’t do that because you’ve already has a test patch done and we don’t normally do two. So she said that normally when you go to an appointment they test out higher settings for that area anyway to use for next time.
One thing I didn’t get about is that, for example, my appointment was 45 mins and we were done before 30 minutes, so I don’t think it would have been a problem to test out something on the leg or arm? The reason is that I’d rather go straight into those settings when I have my arm appointment, rather than do a lower one, than the following appointment do higher. That’s what I assumed from this forum anyway. So I left it to her.
Then I asked her if she could write the settings down for me for my records. She questioned me as to why I wanted that and asked whether it was just for my personal records? I said yes. Maybe she forgot to do that but just before I left before I paid, I asked the worker if she could call the person who did my appointment to write the settings down, so she came after a bit and wrote it.
Okay so we started with bikini line. She also marked part of my leg for it. The thing is, I shaved a few days ago and didn’t do it today so I know exactly where the coarse hairs are, because at the top of my leg next to the bikini line, there aren’t really any hairs there except very few, small, fine ones. I didn’t want laser-induced hair growth there. Lower down there are a couple of hairs that are coarse though. Anyway, she treated the uncoarse area which I didn’t really want, but this clinic tends to think you should put laser everywhere, whether coarse or not.
It actually hurt quite a bit. I saw the number 16 on the screen, and way lower down she went to 12 (I’ll put the settings later) but lower down it hurt like crazy, whereas the part where I mentioned earlier with no hairs didn’t even hurt.
Underarms felt like they were burning, smelt like it too, but I could take it way more than bikini line.
Bikini thong
PW30 j’s 14/12
Underarms
PW30 j’s16
They are using the Lightsheer Diode for my laser appointments.
I don’t know but for bikini thong I don’t think I can go any higher (I don’t know what the highest is) because it feels like such a sharp pain. After it is done I don’t feel anything. But it hurts quite a bit.
After that she told me not to use deoderant etc. and said that they have some products such as tea tree cream or something like that, which can be used instead and better for the sin. I was just nodding to it as in I understand. But she said to me, okay I’ll get the products out then so you can pay for them. I was thinking, this place doesn’t even ask! I said to her no, I won’t be buying them as I already have stuff. But it feels like at every chance they want you to buy their stuff or pay for the higher packages.
And they make the price plans so confusing. A woman was telling me about them and it sounded sooooooooo gibberish. I think they do that so people who don’t speak English get even more confused and end up paying for the 6 treatments package. I just said, it’s okay I’ll call when I’ll need an appointment.
They also have a new thing where you have to pay 50% deposit when you book an appointment, whether on phone or at the clinic. If you don’t call before 24 hours they’ll keep it.
I don’t get this because not all customers will cancel or not turn up for no reason. I explained to her that I have an irregular monthly cycle and I don’t want to have an appointment during those days because my body is really weak then. To that she said, people still come. I know others might, but I am not like others, in that my skin acts very sensitively, so I asked her about appointment cancellations because it may fall in next week when I have a leg and arm appointment. She said she’ll ask her manager, then when I went to pay she said she’ll get back to me when she asks her, but I doubt this will happen because last time I went she told me she’d send e the pricelist by email which I didn’t get either. So it’s an empty promise.
There is a considerable difference between this laser industry, and my electrologist who thinks according to the client’s need. I wish there was a odi-version of a laser clinic in the UK too.
Which clinic is it?
Renew : )
Well being charged 50% of the treatment cost if you don’t turn up to an appointment without 24hours notice has always been their cancellation policy.
Now I haven’t been in 8 weeks but both my cousin and good friend had appointments yesterday (independently, because they are both in jobs that get extra time off after Bank Holiday’s). I saw my friend yesterday after work and she booked her next appointment for 2 weeks and wasn’t made to pay 50% at the time of booking but they did tell her about the cancellation policy as I described above. Her only complaint was that she was offered a drink by everyone that walked past.
As for the price list, they hand out the pricelist cards (which I have taken a photo of for people who ask on here), if you ask for it. Again, my sister, my cousin and my friend were all given these.
Price brackets/packages are quite clear in that.
As for the finer hairs. I was recommended not to go very high on my 3 quarter arm treatment because of induced growth.
But neither myself nor the clinic cared about the thighs as I’ve never heard of induced growth there. Having said that, they always draw the lines where I say (well Tamzin does anyway), so I’m sure you can direct them in the same way if you’re vocal.
They are far from perfect and I don’t like one tech in particular (as I have updated) but on the whole I think they offer good treatment and prices. It sounds like a different clinic that you’re describing.
If you are unsatisfied, I suggest changing. I know someone who had successful treatment at the Private Laser Clinic at the Royal Free Hospital.
p.s. It won’t hurt where you have very fine and sparse hair, even at really high settings.
What skin type are you? Those settings are pretty low on LightSheer. We generally recommend at least 25J wth 30ms pulse width, and if your skin can’t handle that, you should be using a Yag instead.
I have no idea what my skin type is. I did ask her to write that down because I a useless at observing.
Looking at the chart, I a probably IV (unless stoppit thinks otherwise as you’ve probably seen more pics).
I also thought they were low, but it hurt quite a bit. But I also don’t want to be going there for 6 treatments when I can have 3 because they’re a rip off. They actually don’t trust my judgements at all, whereas they probably take stoppit’s more. It might be because I am younger. But all she said to e was “leave the settings to me”.
Hi:
Personally and ethically I think anyone who does not give proper notice and then just doesn’t show up should have to pay for the time they’ve booked.
The person doing the work has to earn a living and besides that you are not only wasting their time, but that of anyone else who may have needed that time slot.
Alicia
I think you are Type III-IV.
You won’t be done in 3 for the underarms. I’ve never heard anything less than 6 for a decent reduction.
Bikini thong is possible in less, if the most of the hair in the first treatment is in the same stage and good settings are used.
To be honest, I didn’t interfere with those ones - they were at the limit of what I can handle even though they weren’t high. Given I was done in 3 treatments, they were obviously fine.
Many electrologists use the same principle. Instead of going to the maximum point of what the skin can handle. They use the minimum (or close to it) that will make the hair slide out nicely. Especially if the client gets bad skin reactions.
To be honest, unless you can demonstrate you understand joules/pulse width/spot size and how they effect treatment, they probably won’t take your opinions that seriously (this goes for any clinic). They will also always err on the side of caution because they’d rather make you spend money on an extra treatment than be in trouble for burning you.
Just saying treat me higher or “People on a forum told me to do such and such” isn’t something they are going to respond to.
I think you should perhaps try another clinic. Maybe they will suggest a YAG instead.
Virtually all clinics have this policy and as you said, rightly so.
Even Parkside will deduct time from your package (half of whatever the treatment length was) if you don’t turn up without 24 hours notice.
Unless you suddenly fall very ill, most people know they are under the weather by 24 hours before.
I had an appointment at the beginning of the year and that morning the trains were running a greatly reduced service because of the snow, so I wasn’t sure I’d make it. I called them from the station and explained and asked if they would charge me if I couldn’t get in and they said no, as it wasn’t my fault.
I did manage to get there late and they still saw me.
I think that too, but I wanted to ask if, given a situation, it would be okay for an exception. I’d never miss a treatment for no reason, and I’d let them keep the money too. I have done this for electrolysis where I turned up 15 minutes late because of the train so I lost 15 minutes too. I was just explaining to the my personal problem.
To LAgirl, odi and the rest of the experts, since we avoid treating the upper arm because of the induced hair growth risk since the hairs are fine, is this also applied to really high up the legs, going towards the bikini line? The hairs are almost the same, or even finer, and some hairs are a bit thicker than upper arms hairs, but as a whole they’re not thick or very dark. Should that area be avoided?
Also behind the thigh, the hairs are similar, even if they are dense, should that be avoided too? Is there risk of induced hair growth there?
The thigh area is not considered a risky area for laser induced hair stimulation. In fact, the thigh area is not as responsive to laser reduction, whereas the lower legs do respond nicely if the hair is coarse and dark. Strange, but true.
Dee
I have noted the same as Dee.
I had my first 3 Full Leg treatments on the whole leg, including the back thighs were the hair was very fine. It shed, but as expected returned with time.
I did have very coarse hair on the front thigh (same as lower leg) but it is taking longer to respond. Whereas the lower leg was “done” in 3 treatments, I’d had 4 front thigh and could maybe even do a 5th now as there is still some coarse hair (it made its appearance after about week 18 post 4th treatment).
Okay so I have highlighted two areas in the picture below. The one on the left first: that part isn’t really considered as the “thigh” but more like inner leg, but upper, where you’d expect to see almost no hair at all - is that included in your conclusion?
Then the picture on the right is back of the thigh, which you’re saying isn’t either.
So I guess I should just not do my thigh area as most hairs are not like leg hairs and if any, they’re probably very few, and since the lady doesn’t want to increase settings, I’d just be wasting money right?
