vklepil, how long does it take for your arm hair to fully grow back after it’s shaved or lasered?
Shaving and lasering is not the same thing and gives completely different results, so that’s not really the right question to ask. How quickly the hair grows differs, so his shaved arms may take shorter or longer than yours to grow back out. But general, the stubble is there within a day or two for most people.
Laser is a permanent solution. The same hair doesn’t “grow back” after each treatment. After you treat an area, the hair sheds within 3 weeks. Then another 7-10 weeks later, NEW hair in the next growth phase shows up.
Please take a look at our FAQs at the link below.
The time needed for full (body) hair growth depends on multiple factors. Some of these factors are:
- Current phase of the hair cycle (Anagen, Catagen, Telogen)
- Fully grown hair length
- Hair growth rate (mm/day)
These are specific to each person.
On my arms, now the hair measures almost 4 cm at most. I waxed my arms 9 months ago, and I think about 1 month ago the hair reached maximum length. But, there is still room for hair growth as I observe it is getting darker as time passes. I think there is about %20 more to come.
If I shaved it would require 15 days less, and if I lasered then it would require 1 and a half months more to get to this amount of hair on my arms.
No, I said nothing about the depth of hair on the face or elsewhere. I like the diode over the GentlrLase primarily because it has a deeper wave length.Longer wave lengths mean deeper penetration of the joules. The joules and pulse width are determined by skin type and as always, there are some exceptions.
I overlap anywhere between 10-20%.If you read my other posts,i explained some reasons for patchiness–hair cycles. At the time of tx (on large surface areas) patchiness does happen even though all the hairs are treated. Not all the treated hairs are in anagen,therefore no visible shedding of those hairs. When the patient returns, there are obvious areas where laser effectively targeted and others where it did not. Any clearer?
Now I would like to properly introduce myself. I am a board certified dermatologist whose sub- specialty is hair. I have used a psuedo for the purpose of this site. I do not recommend drug therapy for any threads simply because it is irresponsible.
Laser is NOT Permenent. It is a long term reduction(about 70%) with maintenence tx periodically.
Laser is NOT Permenent. It is a long term reduction(about 70%) with maintenence tx periodically.
Does this mean, after a sufficient amount of time, all the original hair will be restored? I wish it does, and if it does, will the final hair pattern match the original hair pattern? Or, some hairs will be much coarser and some others will be much finer.
The thing is, it is over one year since my last arms treatment, and now at relatively hair free zones I notice ultra thin hair coming out of some pores. Is there any chance that this “ultra thin hair” will turn out into coarse hair? Here are some photos that may give you an idea:
Although I would have much more hair, I definitely prefer my original hair over the one I have one. I really despise my hair pattern and think I need professional help from a dermatologist specialized on hair.
Vellus hair, which I think is what your describing as “ultra thin hair” can be stimulated to become a dark terminal hair through waxing and tweezing. LHR can also stimulate vellus hairs to becomes terminal.
Vellus hair, which I think is what your describing as “ultra thin hair” can be stimulated to become a dark terminal hair through waxing and tweezing. LHR can also stimulate vellus hairs to becomes terminal.
No, I don’t think those can qualify as ‘vellus hair’, that’s why I used a different name. To me they are neither biologically vellus hairs nor do show the behavioral characteristic of vellus hairs. The reason is they are unusually long to be vellus hairs; instead they are just thin but way long hairs.
I also don’t think vellus hairs can easily be stimulated to become coarse hairs: at least not to the level what I mean by coarse. Look at the pictures I posted. Please be a little more reasonable; try not to lead people count on possibilities such very low.
Dear Vklepil,
Yes, I agree with you on the terminology of “vellus hair” as well as looking for a board certified dermatologist whose sub-specialty is hair problems.
Under pathological hormonal changes puberty,menopause,GSH injections–etc.“vellus hairs” can convert into terminal hairs. Pdeco1 under the definition of “vellus” is correct also.
zsazsa9:
So, can the hairs as I describe not to be vellus hairs become coarse? Under what conditions?
Under pathological hormonal changes puberty,menopause,GSH injections–etc
But, I don’t fall into any of these categories you listed. What is a GSH injection by the way? May I be eligible to take GSH injections? Are there any side effects? I’d be glad if you answer a little more in detail and guide me what I could do next.
Thanks.
vklepil,
“GSH” is “growth stimulating hormone”. It would be irresponsible of me sight unseen to say what your next course of treatment should be.Look for a dermatologist who is connected with a teaching hospital.
In addition, and endocrinologist at the same facility would be helpful.Having both physicians working in tandem could prove beneficial.
I hope you understand my position. With medical licensing, I am limited to what I can say.
Good Luck,
zsazsa
15 days to grow back to full length for arm hair? Wow that’s quick, which is good since stubbles looks very bad. I might do my arms but afraid it may take too long for my arm hair to grow back to full length.
15 days to grow back to full length for arm hair? Wow that’s quick, which is good since stubbles looks very bad. I might do my arms but afraid it may take too long for my arm hair to grow back to full length.
Of course no!
Shaving = 9 months - 15 days = 8.5 months
Lasering = 9 months + 1.5 months = 10.5 months.
Hope it is clear now.
Wow too long for me, I’ll leave my hairy arms alone then. How about legs? You probably have hairy legs too, are you going to reduce it? The legs are more convenient to do since they are covered most of the time.
When is a good time to do laser hair removal for the arms? Summer or Winter season? I was thinking of Summer so I have Fall, Winter and Spring for the hair to fully grow back, then do it again over next Summer if needed. The good thing about doing it in the Winter is that I’ll be wearing long sleeves all the time so it’s not noticeable and I’m supposed to stay away from sunlight.
When is a good time to do laser hair removal for the arms? Summer or Winter season?
My swift answer is Winter. But, it’s just me being a person very sensitive about having a natural look. So, I don’t have to walk around along the summer with hair free or semi-free arms with my contradicting face covered with very coarse beard.
I was thinking of Summer so I have Fall, Winter and Spring for the hair to fully grow back, then do it again over next Summer if needed.
I think you meant the end of the summer so you can wear long sleeve shirts. Otherwise, it’d look weird that you lose all of your hair overnight :). Ok, I understand you want see first the results then you want to go for subsequent treatments.
About the 9 months (that I mentioned before) needed for full regrowth of arm hairs:
Wow too long for me, I’ll leave my hairy arms alone then.
Yes, 9 months or more is required to see the final results, but at around 5 months you can have a healthy idea of how your arms would look 1 year later. So, you don’t have to wait for 9 months. Good news is, you can do it twice in a year. One at the end of summer, then another one in the middle of Winter, and next summer your hair would already be long enough. If you are not that hairy you can do it even three times since you’d need less time for hair to grow. However, LHR practitioners do not recommend treatments spaced more than 3 months apart. They say it lowers the possibility to catch hairs in anagen phase, and laser can’t affect a hair not in anagen phase. So, this is another story.
Let me tell about my experience, I’d say I received a total of 5 arms treatments. The practitioner in my first session was superb and I had excellent and synchronized shedding. Shedding completed in 1 month, and I had a 1 month hair free period, then I began to see new hair coming out. After 1 more month (at the end 3rd month) my arms were already so hairy, so asked for another session, and they treated me at the 4th month mark. So, you can also decide for yourself if you want another session within 4 or 5 months. The reason why I say 9 months or more is required is that some hairs reach maximum length in 4-5 months, and some don’t (I think it is due to different hair cycles, and different hair types (vellus, fine, average, dark, coarse, etc.)). And, you still have newly-emerging or half-way-through hairs after 4-5 months.
How about legs? You probably have hairy legs too, are you going to reduce it? The legs are more convenient to do since they are covered most of the time.
You bet! I have hairy legs, or at least I had. Legs rejoice ;); you don’t have to expose them in public. No, I don’t seek for further reduction soon. Maybe later. The thing is, I already had 3 sessions for lower and 2 sessions for upper legs and, in terms of reduction, the results are terrific; %50-60 are gone. However it is not very uniform. My last treatment which covered full legs were 2.5 years ago, and here are some photos that show the condition now. Sorry, I don’t have before pictures.
In order, front, back, left outside, left inside, right outside and right inside.
And, one last thing I have to warn you about; to assess the results for legs, you have to wait longer than you’d wait for arms. So, it’ll be more than 4-5 months. But who cares, you can cover them all the time.
Shaving according to my friends does make hair grow thicker. It makes sense too since the hair has been around since we were children and got longer and thicker as we grew older, so the top half of the hair is thinner than the bottom half. The old hair is shaped like a cone while the new hair will be shaped like a cylinder.
Did you do your back? I notice my arm hair is thicker than my back hair. How about your pubic hair, are you going to reduce it? It’s the thickest of all body hair, I think.
Laser IS permanent. From your other posts zsazsa, it seems you’re using very low settings on your patients. That is possibly why you see hair come back. I have had treatments at high settings with a 95% + reduction and nothing came back. It’s been almost 2 years now.
Also, what’s the advantage of having deeper penetration when most of the hair is not deeper than what an alexandrite laser can achieve? Also, do you realize that the spot size plays an important role in the depth of penetration, i.e. that’s why GentleLASE gets superior reviews and results with an 18mm spot size?
rsuryarse, shaving DOES NOT do anything to the structure of the hair. It has been scientifically proven. It’s an old-wive’s tale. Most people feel that way because they start shaving when they’re still developing NEW hair (in their teens). That new hair would have grown in regardless. Shaved hair DOES feel pricklier, but that’s because the the ends are thinner than the middle of the hair shaft where you cut it. The only things that affect the structure of the hair are the methods that remove it with the root (i.e. waxing) because they stimulate more blood flow to repair the follicle and underlying medical conditions, medications, etc.
Is this process reversible? If an area of the body is patchy, I want to grow back the hair so it’ll look more even. I guess not since it’s permanent.
A friend of has very little hair on his body, he broke his arm and was on a cast for a few months, after the cast was taken off, his arm becomes VERY HAIRY. Why is this? If he shaves his arm hair, will it grow back to his original hair length or the new HAIRY hair length.
Another male friend of my who went through laser hair removal end up getting rid of all his arm hair and leg hair because the result was too patchy but he’s ASIAN, so it doesn’t look that bad on him.