My Laser Treatments 26/F/UK, Type IV

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi there everyone,

So far I have been roughly documenting and asking questions in my earlier thread ‘First Laser Consultation (UK)’.

Well today I asked the aesthetician about my treatment settings and she kindly printed off the settings for all my treatments.
I thought it would be helpful to other users so I’m documenting all this information in this seperate thread so it’s easier to find.

I have had normal shedding about two weeks after every treatment.

Laser: Apogee Elite Nd:Yag

Underarms
1st Treatment (17/07/2008) - Joules:30, Pulse Width:30, Spot Size:12mm
By the time of second treatment, underarm area looked almost like a full growth.
2nd Treatment (11/09/2008) - Joules:25, Pulse Width:25, Spot Size:12mm
3rd Treatment (20/11/2008) - Joules:30, Pulse Width:25, Spot Size:12mm
4th Treatment (19/02/2008) - Joules:35, Pulse Width:30, Spot Size:12mm
Reduction at each treatment from 2-4 has been noticeable. About 10-20% of a full growth left (re: coarse 'underarm hairs). Underarms are much smoother, much less ‘grey’ looking.
5th treatment (29/04/2009) - Joules:35, Pulse Width:20, Spot Size:12mm

Bikini Thong
1st Treatment (19/02/2009) - Joules:35, Pulse Width:30, Spot Size:12mm
Significant reduction, maintained until the time of 2nd treatment. Large patches with no hair visible.
2nd Treatment (29/04/2009) - Joules:35, Pulse Width:20, Spot Size:12mm

Staring full legs tomorrow! She said she will use 30J for the lower leg and 40J for the upper.

I am being treated at Renew Medica, Oxford Circus branch in London.

#2

If you’re truly a type IV, you should have no problems going 35j or higher, so do some testing and don’t treat them too low. The pulse settings are fine. The spot size is good.

#3

she does test patch for higher settings but sometimes she’s had to go back down because it’s too painful. she said it’s because of the coarser and more dense areas of hair.
i would say my pain tolerance is quite high too. i don’t find waxing or electrolysis at all painful.

if they too low, what does it mean? the hair is shedding fine from all areas and i think 5th treatment will be the last on my underarms. does it mean i may see the hair come back because the follicles are not completely destroyed?

#4

You shouldn’t go lower just because it’s painful. If you can’t handle the pain, use icing or a numbing cream. It’s in your best interests to get treated at as high settings as your skin can handle without burning.

And yes on your last point. You want high settings to make sure the hair is damaged permanently. On a Yag, for a type IV, 25 joules is pretty low. 30j is ok with those pulse settings, but 35+ would be much better.

#5

Need opinions:

I thought my fifth underarm treatment would be my last. Now it’s 6 or 7 weeks since my fifth treatment. The right armpit is looking great; yes there are hairs but they are fine and not much thicker than the hairs on the rest of my body - the sort of final reduction I wanted to achieve. Ok, that might change in the next few weeks though.

The left armpit on the other hand has 3 clusters of hairs that are a lot thicker - I would say about 30 visible so far.

Obviously, I’m going to wait until about week 9 or 10 to decide but if still only the left armpit has these hairs, what should I do? Ask the laser clinic if they would just treat the single armpit? Or would the money be better spent finishing these off with electrolysis?

#6

Most people need 6-8 treatments on this area. You should wait full 12 weeks. Then get another treatment. There may be more hair on the other one by that time too. You really just have to assess whether the hair is coarse enough still for more treatments. If it’s not, that’s when you switch to electrolysis.

#7

thanks, let’s see how it goes.

another question - i had my legs treated just over 7 weeks ago (will be 8 on Thursday). i didn’t book an app for week 8 as although there is hair, there doesn’t seem to me, to be enough to warrant 2nd treatment yet. However, I do need to call fairly soon if I want to get a slot for week 9 or week 10.
my instinct tells me to get both 2nd leg treatment and 3rd bikini treatment at week 10. i know my aesthetician would disagree though, saying the 2nd treatment should be 6-8 weeks. what do you think? is 10 weeks too long a wait for a second leg treatment?

#8

Legs have some of the longest hair cycles and usually only need treatments once every 12-16 weeks.

#9

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d update. It’s been 10 weeks since my last set of treatments.

I’ve had 6 underarm treatments and feel I’m done.
There is just a little bit of fine hair that I shave once every one to two weeks. If I want to finish it off I will do so with electrolysis.

I’m 10 weeks from my 2nd Full Leg Treatment and so happy with the results on my lower leg!! Such an amazing reduction and sparse, much finer hairs left. I will see how the growth is after the 3rd but I feel it may well be my last treatment there!
The results on the thigh haven’t been as impressive; still lots of thicker hairs left. I think that may be because there were a LOT of missed patches (had a different aesthetician last time) and by the time I noticed, after shedding, it was beyond their touch-up period… going to complain about that.

10 weeks since my 3rd Bikni Thong Treatment and wooweeee I’m hair free on most of it! Just some hair left lower down where it was most dense that will take one or two more treatments… hopefully they can work something out in terms of cost since it’s maybe a 1/4 of the area usually treated.

Ok some good news - they have a new pricing structure (not listed on the website yet) - slighter higher for peak times and less for off-peak.
For example, Full leg used to cost me £220, now it’s £235 peak and £200 off-peak.

Bad news - Clare (my recommended Aesthetician) is leaving for Australia! :(:frowning:
She’s fantastic and very thorough. Next week is her last so I’ve squeezed in my next appointment before she leaves and will be asking her who she advises as being just as thorough. I will let you know.

#10

We hear frequently that thigh hairs are less responsive to laser.
I’m wondering about the hair “roots”. It seems that a great percentage of “roots” have white bulbs, meaning the hairs are not new, growing hairs. Laser cannot “see” white. Would waxing prior to laser assure darker “roots”?

#11

That’s an interesting theory Dee.

I waxed regularly for years and years before my treatments though. And I’m quite sure my ‘roots’ had black bulbs always.

It’s very strange - hairs of the same thickness on my lower leg are gone but not on the thighs. Maybe it is to do with the root being deeper? Most of the energy is probably deposited higher than the root of the follicle.

#12

Hi stopit

I’ve had one treatment there and I found their pricing structure very confusing. I’m pretty certain I saw Clare she was very nice. I let it go at the time aand figured I’d work it out when I went back. But they couldn’t find my appointment. I had called to change days and been told it was no problem but when I got there they had no record of any of it including the original one. Anyway luckily she was available but when it came to paying I was charged a lot more and I had gone off peak. I’m also going to wait a full 10 weeks not the 6wks booked by the Receptionist. And I certainly wasn’t going to sign up to a package.

The unpublised pricing structure was a farce reminded me of Sk:n when I went there a couple of years ago. I think straight forward one arm leg etc is probably ok when it comes to sorting out the pricing but anything else gets confusing.

At the end of the day I can even forgive bad pricing structures but what I will really get annoyed about will be if the treatment hasn’t worked. It’s too soon to tell at the moment at 3 weeks. So I shall wait and see.

But I am really pleased for you that it’s worked out so well.

#13

Hi thereish,

Not happy to hear that at all.

As far as I know they do not offer packages - they say that everyone requires a different amount of treatments.

I agree about the new pricing structure as I was surprised to find out about it. But they didn’t hide it from me. I called to make my appointment and initially asked for a time of 5:30pm, the receptionist let me know straight away that they now have a new structure and the new prices, so I changed it to a morning appointment no problem. I haven’t been in the salon since my last treatment (before the price change) and I would have hoped they have a new price list at the counter. In fact I shall check it next week.

It does seem straight forward though, they already have a price list for all the different areas and now effectively two price lists - one for off peak and one for peak and the respective timings. I think it’s always wise to check at the time of booking how much it will cost.

If you had gone off-peak surely the price should have been lesser one? I would certainly complain.

Thankfully, I’ve never experienced customer service issues. I always gets text messages reminding me of appointments or when they have offers running. So on a number of occasions I’ve had discounted treatments. Last time I had 2 treatments together coming to over £250 so I was entitled to 10% off the cost (which I didn’t know) but the Aethestician told me and she made sure they discounted at the counter.

I also never book in an appointment when they ask me. I say I’ll call when I need it - so I’m never booked in in advance.

I do hope your treatment works and the hair sheds.

#14

I apologise that I don’t have a before picture but try to imagine a indian subcontinent lady with our typical coarse, dark, dense leg hair :stuck_out_tongue:

This is a picture of my lower leg after 2 Laser treatments and 10 weeks after the 2nd treatment.

I shaved the lower half of my lower leg 2 weeks ago.

I’ll let you guys judge for yourselves :slight_smile:

My Lower Leg

#15

Hi Stopit can you tell me since having the hair removed from your armpits with laser have you found that you sweat more? A friend of mine has had it done and she says the sweating is the only down side!
thanks Leo

#16

Thanks for the update about Clare.

Also, wow! That looks great after 2 treatments!

Thereish - how was your treatment with sk:in? Some people seem to have success stories with them and others don’t. I don’t intend to go there as they don’t have the right laser for my skin type, but I’m just curious.

LAgirl - what would be your recommended joules for skin type V on Yag? How do you personally know so well what the best joules/spot size/pulse combo are for different lasers and skin types?

#17

Thigh hair is not usually coarse enough on women. Most people have much more coarse hair on lower legs compared to upper.

#18

smurf, skin types are not exact, so we can’t really recommend specific settings. you need to find a clinic who’s knowledgeable based on their experience and is willing to test your skin to see how high they can go without burning you. you can post those settings here and we can weigh in whether they’re high enough for permanent reduction. but we can’t tell you over the internet how high you can go on YOUR skin.

#19

Leo - possibly, I’m not sure. Sometimes I think that maybe this is true but I can’t decide conclusively as I’ve also changed deodorant. I used to use a heavy duty one but since I started with Laser, a much milder one. For me it’s not significant enough that I can say for sure.

LAgril - I appreciate what you are saying but maybe you have not seen many women of my ethnicity. I had full on leg hair before I even started menstruating. Most of the hair on the front of my thigh (before Laser) was as coarse as on my lower leg. It’s this hair that I want gone. I’m not concerned about the finer growth.
My sister is on a whole different level too; it’s incredibly coarse and dense all over her legs - including backs of legs and even all over the knee! It also grows very long.

#20

What I said was that MOST women’s upper leg hair is not as coarse as lower leg. If yours is, then you’re in the minority.

Either way, I mentioned in the posts above that your joules settings are relatively low for someone with a skin type IV since you’re using the Yag portion of this machine. 25-30j is really low, and this isn’t even a 15mm spot size that Apogee Elite normally has.

There is a thread on the forum by lalaka who is African American at typep VI and her settings are same or higher than yours.