My results so far after 4 years of LHR and a question about beards

I got my first treatment in 2001, my last in Dec 2004. I was 22 in 2001, pale-skinned half Italian with dark hair.

2001-2 four treatments, full back and full shoulders ($900 each) I don’t know what laser was used.

2003 nothing

2004
three more back and shoulder treatments using Gentle Lase ($220)

two treatments of my chest and buttocks ($230 each)

The reduction now, seven months after my last backtreatment and 7 treatments total is about a 60% reduction. I shave it now about once every 6 weeks instead of every 2 weeks.

An real improvement, but still disappointing. After 7 treatments and 1000’s of dollars, my back still has unsightly black hairs that require regular shaving. I suspect that after a couple years I will be shaving more often that I am now.

After getting my chest treated the hair took a very long time to shed, unlike my back which reacted much better to treatment. After a month hair still was coming out one by one. I also suffered from 100’s of whiteheads for the first three days, but which went away without scarring.

I then had a wonderful 2.5 months of very little hair after each treatment, but now after 3 treatments I would guess that there is a 30% reduction in chest hair. I am pretty satisfied with the results on my chest because chest hair does not look as bad as back hair. The reduction is enough that I no longer feel the need to shave my chest, which is great.

My butt area I found was not painful at all to get done, in fact it tickled more than was painful at some points. The first time I did not ask and did not get the full crack treatment. The second time I got a more of a hip tech, and she asked how deep I wanted it. As deep as you can get, so we got almost into my b.h.

Of all the places I’ve lasered, regrowth was the slowest. I was almost completely bare for about 5 months. When it did start growing back it came back quickly. Because again the goal was only to thin it out a bit, I am satisfied with the results, about a 20% reduction after two treatments.

I’m now thinking of getting my beard done. I don’t like the shadow effect. Any suggestions on how effective this might be based on the above results? What is the best laser for someone pain adverse, with tanned type 3 skin and coarse black whiskers?

How painful is getting the face done versus other body parts? I found the most painful areas were along my ribs.

What type of reduction have people seen after just 1-3 treatments? I accept my hairy body, I just want to make it a bit less so, no go smooth.

If you are near a good thermolysis practitioner with good vision equipment, and speed, you would get a better result in 4 to 6 weeks using Electrolysis.

an important thing with laser treatments is to get 5-8 treatments on a correct schedule, 8-10 weeks apart in order to kill most of the hair as it goes through growth stages. I’ve noticed that you weren’t consistent with your treatments, which is ok if you just want a slight reduction, but not effective enough if you want almost complete removal.

Also, did you experience shedding of all hairs treated on all areas every time?

After getting my chest treated the hair took a very long time to shed, unlike my back which reacted much better to treatment. After a month hair still was coming out one by one. I also suffered from 100’s of whiteheads for the first three days, but which went away without scarring.

I then had a wonderful 2.5 months of very little hair after each treatment, but now after 3 treatments I would guess that there is a 30% reduction in chest hair. I am pretty satisfied with the results on my chest because chest hair does not look as bad as back hair. The reduction is enough that I no longer feel the need to shave my chest, which is great.

I am surprised you didn’t get good results on your chest since laser worked so well on your back. I would guess that you were undertreated. I had 50% hair reduction on my chest after one treatment.

I’m now thinking of getting my beard done. I don’t like the shadow effect. Any suggestions on how effective this might be based on the above results? What is the best laser for someone pain adverse, with tanned type 3 skin and coarse black whiskers?

How painful is getting the face done versus other body parts? I found the most painful areas were along my ribs.

The best laser for the beard based on your description would be a Nd:YAG laser. My favorite Nd:YAG is the Sciton. It has the best cooling system and uses a scanner to treat larger areas than other lasers. The scanner has to be repositioned less often than a 10-12 mm spot so you are likely to have less patchiness with it.

Having the beard lasered hurts like hell! But it is worth it. After 3 treatments I had 40-50% of my beard gone.
After 6 treatments it is 80% gone. I am very happy with the results.

RJC2001

That’s a good question for me to answer because I’m weighing out this ‘reduction’ thing right now. I had two treatments with the Syneron Comet on the legs and abdomen area. At first, my goal was total removal. But now, after seeing the full results of just two treatments, I’ve decided to stop (…or just possibly go with just one more …maybe) at this reduced level. I wasn’t expecting such a high percentage decrease, but that Comet lived up to it’s hype. I easily have at least a 50 reduction after two treatments on the legs. I would describe the hair on my legs as " sparse - in the electrolysis range". It’s tripping me out that after all these years and all this technology, getting permanently cleared is a complete reality. I wasn’t expecting this level of clearance until my forth or so visit, but where I’m at now is fine. Like you, it just doesn’t bother me anymore. As for the abdomen area, yes, it has cleared slowest by far. I’m not sure why, but it’s almost like it’s a waste of money. I would put the reduction here at no more than 20%(?). Next is back and shoulders. Total cost so far $998. Was it worth it? Most definitely hell yes.

Like you, I’m considering it to thin out my lower beard. I don’t like the idea of electrolysis there because I know there’s way too much dense hair there for efficient electrolysis. I would just be giving some practitioner’s kid braces, and I’d like all the discomfort minimized to a half hour session. So I’m gonna talk with my aesthetician about some low level preliminary Comet runs. Face hair is more shallow rooted, I would think it would respond better. I’ve found the two biggest factors seem to be 1) The hair root’s depth, and 2)Any surface bone present (not good) so that RF stregnth has to be dampered when going over these areas.

Good luck
Mantaray
recovering from throat surgery
I never want to see another carton of ice cream again. bleeech!

That’s a good question for me to answer because I’m weighing out this ‘reduction’ thing right now. I had two treatments with the Syneron Comet on the legs and abdomen area. At first, my goal was total removal. But now, after seeing the full results of just two treatments, I’ve decided to stop (…or just possibly go with just one more …maybe) at this reduced level. I wasn’t expecting such a high percentage decrease, but that Comet lived up to it’s hype. I easily have at least a 50 reduction after two treatments on the legs. I would describe the hair on my legs as " sparse - in the electrolysis range". It’s tripping me out that after all these years and all this technology, getting permanently cleared is a complete reality. I wasn’t expecting this level of clearance until my forth or so visit, but where I’m at now is fine. Like you, it just doesn’t bother me anymore. As for the abdomen area, yes, it has cleared slowest by far. I’m not sure why, but it’s almost like it’s a waste of money. I would put the reduction here at no more than 20%(?). Next is back and shoulders. Total cost so far $998. Was it worth it? Most definitely hell yes.

Like you, I’m considering it to thin out my lower beard. I don’t like the idea of electrolysis there because I know there’s way too much dense hair there for efficient electrolysis. I would just be giving some practitioner’s kid braces, and I’d like all the discomfort minimized to a half hour session. So I’m gonna talk with my aesthetician about some low level preliminary Comet runs. Face hair is more shallow rooted, I would think it would respond better. I’ve found the two biggest factors seem to be 1) The hair root’s depth, and 2)Any surface bone present (not good) so that RF stregnth has to be dampered when going over these areas.

Good luck
Mantaray
recovering from throat surgery
I never want to see another carton of ice cream again. bleeech!

What did they do, take your tonsils and adenoids out? Ouch, that has to hurt at your age!

You got great results with the Comet! Do not expect 50% reduction on subsequent treatments. As the hair gets finer, it is more difficult for the laser to treat. But the Comet works a little bit different so that may not apply here. Didn’t you shave your legs before you started getting Comet treatments? You might as well get another one as long as it’s working.

I’m surprised you didn’t get as good of a result on your abs. Mine responded very well to the alexandrite, the diode and even the Aurora. No ab treatments in two years for me and still only 5-10% of the original hair remains.

Since the Comet has a diode laser component it should work quite well on the beard. Beware, it will probably still hurt like hell though. I had a Lightsheer diode test spot on my beard and the pain was incredible. While it did work I went with the Sciton because of the cooling system, the scanner, and the absence of post treatment redness. From my experience, beard hair follicles are quite deep! Another reason I went with the Sciton.

Two weeks after a laser treatment on the beard, you can look forward to this:

[image]http://www.hairtell.com/photopost/data/500/205280051_edited-med.JPG[/image]

RJC2001

Hey RJC, I didn’t mean to leave your reply hanging for three days, but I’m really mulling over this next treatment. Yes, the Comet worked really great and yeah, I shaved, creamed, and epilated for years before now. Then, growth and stubble really got on my nerves. But now, the hair is so much more sparser (I think way more than 50%, and very much more than 50% on the lower legs. More like 70-80%. I feel like the Just Two-Treatments Syneron Comet posterboy) that it doesn’t even bother me even two weeks without shaving. As it is now, I feel I still have some hair, but it’s not an issue like it was before. If I go for another treatment, I’ll be in the three or so hairs per square inch range more or less “hairless”, and surely it would be my last as electrolysis would be a much more feasible way to wipe out the last few holdouts. Right now, I’m in what I call the very hairless asian male realm. This has long been a goal in that it doesn’t raise the eyebrows like being completely smooth does here in the beach communities of San Diego. You gotta understand that Southern California isn’t as carefree and liberal as the media play it up to be, people are vocal and can be downright nasty, and it really gets old. I take a lot of shit for having hairfree legs. It’s now in kind of a middle ground, I feel comfortable, and I just can live more stress free. Besides, I have to get the rest of my body caught up. If my arms, back, and chest were more hair free, the whole thing will look more balanced, and I’ll feel more confident about proceeding further. In any case, I’ll let you know. I’ll most likely get the third treatment so I’ll let you know how that goes.

Yes, the surgery hurt, and I’ve learned that off the shelf Extra Strength Tylenol does more for me than liquid Vicodin Elixer, go figure.

Your report shows that the Comet is very promising. Even 50% hair removal would be very good after just two treatments, but 70-80% is incredible. I got 50% hair removal after one Apogee laser treatment on my chest, and my practitioner said that was really good, better than she expected for just one treatment. I will have to keep working on my practitioner to get a Comet. I guess they are very expensive.

When I was in San Diego a few years ago, there seemed to be quite a few men there that removed their body hair. When I was at the beach I was one of the few guys there with chest hair. It was during that trip that I first decided to shave my chest. And I’ve never looked back!

If I had to choose between chest and leg hair removal, I would have chosen the chest area first as that is where the biggest hair problem was.

RJC2001

LA Girl, the treatments on my back were spaced about 8 weeks apart in two groups, one last year and one three years ago.

My back shedded completely and quickly. My chest took nearly a month, but all the hairs eventually came out. It was so slow I eventually started to pull them out with tweezers, which was sort of fun.

My experience is that even the limited claims of those that offer this service are misleading. I was told that the reduction would be about 20% per treatment, and that most men need “four to six” treatments. It was only for that reason that I was willing to pay $900 three times when I was young and poor, and I did keep the schedule for the first three treatments. It was money down the drain.

In fact the reduction has been about 10% per treatment, so I was ripped off, just as I would have been if I bought a car marketed as 200hp that turned out to be 100hp.

Now that LHR is much cheaper and I have more money the limited results are not such a big deal.

results are usually worse for men than women, but I am experiencing at least 80% reduction after 3 treatments on bikini for example. Right now, i would say I’m at 95% 5 weeks after my last, 3rd treatment. 20% reduction each time is an approximate I would guess estimated by the fact that at any point in time only about 30% of your hair is in its anagen growth stage, the only phase where the hair can be killed. Then add the fact that the tech might miss some of those here and there, so there goes the 20% result. I think I’m achieving more than that because I had more hair in its growth stage when I first came in, plus all the hair is coarse and black on light skin. If the tech is good and using the right laser at right settings, you should be having better than 10% reduction after each time. Although, once again for men it’s different, since you’re constantly developing hair, so some of it is completely new hair and there is a just no way to tell.

LA Girl,
Not all body area’s grow at the same rate.
I was told 10-12 weeks for the back area.

yes, i agree. didn’t mean to imply that. gave as “an example”