Hi stoppit! I was wondering if you could update us about what happened on your sister’s arm? How long did it take for the ‘stuck’ hairs to fall out, or are they still there?
Hi bea,
Yes, it’s much better now (8 weeks since test patch). I think most of them have gone and she has some finer hairs visible now in that area.
I think it was week 5-6 when she went to the clinic for feedback. So it definitely took some time for the ‘stuck’ hairs to go.
It’s a very noticeable difference compared to the surrounding area (very good!), although I told her that that may change in the next few weeks.
She is going for her first set of treatments in about 8 weeks, so by then the test patch will be a kind of indication of what 1 laser treatment can do for her.
She’s away at uni otherwise I’d take a pic! I will do so on the weekend.
I’m feeling good about starting her treatment now. On her underarms and bikini she has very coarse hair, which is great. Her arm hair is also dark and coarse, so I expect to see good results. It will really make a difference to her as currently she always has to wear long sleeves.
How is your arm treatment going?
Also, it’s almost a year now, so is Clare coming back?
Would be great to go to her.
I will update when there is anything to update 
I have no idea until I next go in. Tamzin is just as good so I’m sticking with her anyway as she’s done all my recent treatments so knows what’s going on.
Here is my sister’s forearm with test patch.
It’s 10 weeks post the test patch date.
I can see some thinning. A test patch is just that. An area needs to have several treatments over a year to see further reduction because of hair growth cycles, as you already know I’m sure.
Yes
This post was for bea mostly. To show that the ‘stuck’ hairs have gone and it looks ‘normal’ now. The hair is a bit finer as well as thinning.
thanks stoppit - it looks great, very natural!
Just thought I’d update that I had my 3rd 3-quarter arm treatment on 21/06/10.
I had a slight tan from a few weeks before but we still used 40J/15ms.
I got very red and lots of welting. As it was a hot and sunny day and I was a bit concerned about going out with ‘hot’ arms, after treatment the tech put me in a room with cold packs on my arms for about 10mins. Other than being very itchy and the skin going slightly dry/scaly and a bit dark in patches due to my scratching, everything seems to be fine. The hairs are only about 0.5mm, so I imagine they will continue to come through slowly until they shed.
Looking forward to having more or less hair free arms through July and into August!
May I ask if you would mind posting a photo of your arms once the hair has grown out a bit? Arms and thighs are the two areas where I don’t know how much of a reduction to expect, so it would be incredibly helpful
Just thought I should update my thread. Will be adding photos soon, I hope.
It’s now 8 weeks post Treatment No.4 on my arms. I have quite a bit of hair and since I haven’t shaved in a few weeks, it’s about 3-4mm long. However, it’s quite fine and doesn’t feel at all prickly when I run my hand back and forth on my arm.
The only ‘problem’ is that because of my many years of epilating and waxing, the hairs stick out at random angles and don’t lie flat. If it wasn’t for that I would be very happy with the reduction and the fact the remaining hairs are fine and not that obvious. As it is though, they look messy as they always have done when they grow out so once my treatments are over for sure, I will still need to shave or wax them until I can have electrolysis.
As for my thighs. Well, I posted a pic of 16 weeks post Treatment No.4 on the front thigh in April and it was looking good. However in the weeks after this, some more hair started to come through and some were semi-coarse. By this point, it was too late to go for another treatment. After some time I decided to wax, so that when all the hair would come back I could go for a fifth treatment if need be. It’s now 5 weeks since I waxed, and pre Laser by 5 weeks I’d be very hairy. However, I only have some fine growth present at the moment (similar to the pic at week 16 post No.4). Since waxing now seems to last quite some time, I may not bother with a 5th treatment. I will have the remaining hair further reduced with electrolysis in the future.
My lower legs are still experiencing the 90% or so reduction I achieved in 3.5 treatments.
If you continue to shave or wax your arms, I’d recommend making sure it is done in the same direction so that you can retrain your follicles to all grow in the same direction again.
You can’t wax between treatments if you’re still planning on more laser treatments. So I would decide on that before you wax on any area. Once you wax mid-treatments, it’ll be hard to tell what’s what.
Well I decided to go for a 5th arm treatment, 12 weeks since the last. Hopefully this will be my last.
She used 40J/5ms at 12mm spot size (apparently the highest for this sport size).
My skin was very red and welted for the longest period yet. I really hope to get a good reduction from this treatment.
Here is a photo of my sister’s arm 8.5 weeks after her first treatment (rhs photo). The patch which is more sparse is where she had her test patch, so it has had 2 passes.
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/8127/armafterfirst.jpg
It’s not a great comparison due to the lighting and slightly different angle. I will try to make the next one more comparable.
Very nice.
I have a question - is that regrowth of your sister’s arm hair after 2 months the thickest and densest it got before she went back for another treatment?
Also, after electrolysis, how long does it take for the first few hairs to pop up? Is it like waxing eg. after 2-ish weeks of a hair-free period?
Hi smurf,
Sorry, I missed this. Yes, we didn’t notice much more hair come back before she had her second treatment.
She is due for her third this week, some 14 weeks after the second. Later than we would have liked but with uni exams and the snow, she was unable to attend earlier.
I will try to get an updated pic before then.
As for electrolysis, I think it depends on a lot of things, including the length of the hair cycle in that area. Electrolysis definitely makes things come back slower in my experience of areas where I have had full clearances such as underarms. But the more important thing is, that with every next full growth you get, the hairs will be less and/or finer.
For example, I had two lots of Laser treatments on my toes and top of feet thrown in with my leg treatments. Some coarse hairs were destroyed as I saw a permanent reduction in density. About a year later (a few months ago), I had my electrologist do one full clearance. Now, the hairs are both sparser and finer just from one clearance.
My update:
I had my fifth 3-quarter arm treatment in September at the highest settings possible on the Apogee Elite YAG 12mm spot size.
I decided not to go for a sixth as I didn’t see a huge difference between the results post treatment four and post treatment 5. It seemed to me no point to spend over £100 just for the elimination of a few hairs here and there, as most hair remaining is finer.
I also had treatment on my hands and fingers. The hands have seen a reduction and the hairs are finer. However, the fingers seem to have developed more hair, a risk I knew I would be taking. I’m in no worse off position though and will tackle these with electrolysis.
That’s not to say I’m not very pleased with my results. The hairs are much sparser and mostly on the finer side. I’m doing quite well with just shaving as it lasts for about a week before I even notice the hairs again. I plan to reduce the hairs further with electrolysis in the future.
I’m pleased to say that I think I am done with my Laser journey, having successfully reduced the hairs on my underarms, legs, bikini area and three quarter arms. All areas had good results in less than 6 treatments, except underarms for which I had 6 then switched to electrolysis.
Thanks for the update! Great job keeping a detailed thread here.
My sister’s progress:
Arm 15 weeks after second treatment.
The hairs in the last photo (15 weeks post treatment 2) are long than the second photo which was 8 weeks post treatment 1.
But I think it’s clear that there has been a further reduction. The hairs that are visible were also finer and more fluffy. I hope this won’t be a problem for eliminating them.
She had her 3rd appointment a few weeks ago.