My story and many questions.

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I am a 30 year old male who has fair skin (From reading the FAQ Type II or III) with coarse dark hair from head to foot.

I have had some experience with LHR in the past. I had one session in 2001 of my entire back and shoulders (I checked the companies website now and they use LightSheer don’t know what they used then.) It took about 6 hours to do my entire back and shoulders. There was intense pain (It was bad) even with using a numbing creme for some areas. I had reddening for a week or two with a few incidents of what seemed to be infected areas. So I decided not to continue treatment because of the pain and after affects. The one thing I can say about the first time was that it seemed successful because the hair didn’t grow back for about 3 months. So I was thinking about maybe sucking it up and starting a true treatment cycle but after 6 months more hair grew back then was there before.

So flash forward to 2007 and I decided to give it a go again because back hair sucks and I had heard of people that had had succes getting rid of the natural sweater. So I went into a clinic and they recommended the Cutera Prowave (I wish I had seen this website before I went). So I spoke to the people in charge and they said with my skin type and coarse hair I was an ideal candidate and I would see vast improvement in 4-8 sessions. SO I signed up for 4 to see where I would end up because I was skeptical because of my previous attempt.

The sessions were much quicker and far less painful then in 2001. The treatment for upper arms, shoulder, neck and entire back took about an hour. I still had reddening and what seemed to be small little “zits” infections happen but it was far less then in 2001. So I had 4 treatments done at 6 week intervals (that was what was recommended) and because of financial considerations (Wow does the economy ever suck right now) I could no longer keep up the treatment.
SO it has been about 6 months from my last treatment and All the hair is back but just slightly less coarse. No bald spots and even some added growth in some areas where there were slight bald spots. So I am discouraged again about ever getting rid of the hair. So that is my background.

So now I have a good job again and am trying to save and have a chance to remove the hair permanently with the right information. (And Hopefully have a much better chance at success)

So here are my questions:

  1. I know I probably should have used a different kind of laser (Not IPL) for my more recent LHR try. But in frequent posts on here it mentioned the back was able to be done in Approx 1 hr. Why did mine take 6 in 2001? I know I am big (6’6" 220lbs) but come on. 1 hr? is that even possible?

  2. Should I even try again considering the reddening and zit like things popping up. As well as the hair regrowth. I am worried if I try again I will just keep on getting hairier and hairier until I really do look like Chewy from Star Wars.

  3. What about electrolysis for those areas? Considering my size it would probably take a really really really long time. But I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that?

Sorry for the length and the randomness of the entry.
Trying to do this from work. So dont’ tell the boss.
Just kidding.

#2

Hi Johnny,
With regards to the zits/infected area’s did it look like my results?


I was a bit worried about it, then after a week it all cleared, of course i’m only a week after my treatment so can’t say whether i was successful.

While i didn’t have a hugely hairy back my treatment only took 45 minutes, it was using a gentlelase from candela (proper Laser, alexandrite, ideal for type I/II skin).

An hour seems about right. I had the EMLA cream and where the hair was thick it did hurt, and on my spine i was even twitching involuntarily.

I would space the treatments to 8-10 weeks apart as the growth cycle for hair is between 6 and 16 weeks so doing it dead on the 6th week is likely to miss some still dormant follicles (this is info I’ve gleaned from other posters).

hope this equally random reply helps :0)

#3

Yes, looked exactly as the pic posted on 11/19/08. Nice close up feature too.

The first time I did it in 2001 it was like that everywhere and stayed that way for about 5-6 days. But I am much hairier than you in a bigger area.

But is that normal for the whitehead zits to last that long or even to appear? It is quite embarrassing and tough to have a job that requires personal contact with those little zits everywhere. If I start again I will need to purchase some turtlenecks.

Thanks for the pictures.

#4

Regarding the electrolysis part of your question, I personally am not intimidated by back hair on a man. Some? many? electrologist are and for good reason. It takes stamina on the part of the client and the electrologist to get to a first clearance. Back hair should be tackled with microflash or picoflash thermolysis only. Speed is important. Sensation is important and the faster forms of electrolysis are awesome for an area like a back. Time to completion depends on time spent on the table upfront to clear the amount of hair you have. My clients are finished in 14-18 months with about 80 hours invested, timewise. It is assured permanent hair removal. However, I had one man that was truly like “Chewy”. He fell out of the normal man back hair and what I described above would not apply to him. He would have benefited from getting laser first, I do believe, but he was against it because he was afraid of more hair being stimulated. My thoughts? I think any and every follicle that he was born with had a hair in it anyway and there was nothing left to stimulate.

So… an aggressive, professional electrologist with quality equipment can help you, but one may not be available for long appointments in your area.

Just telling you what is possible and ideal on the electrolysis side of things even for a tall guy like you. It’s not easy, but it does work for a lifetime.

Dee

#5

But is that normal for the whitehead zits to last that long or even to appear?

Some people i think not, I’ve always had ‘sensitive’ skin, i don’t really get spotty and didn’t have acne that bad except for a brief period in my teens, but i get shaving rash very easily, and ingrown hairs easily too. Also if i spend time in a dirty environment i have to make sure i shower very thoroughly.
Anyway, in answer to your question: depends on your skin :0)
Once white heads appear then 5 days is normal (imho). For them to appear at all is debatable. I personally didn’t mind that much as i can now see on my test patch (which was at a lower setting) that didn’t have white heads, is now visibly producing more hair than the rest of my back which was done at a higher setting (but caused the spots).

Can you perhaps do it on a Thursday morning? they won’t appear white until Friday afternoon, you can stay in hiding of the weekend and then you only have to endure Monday and maybe Tuesday?

heh, sorry i now have a mental image of Chewy in a turtle neck.

off topic:
the pictures were taken with a low end sony cybershot on close up mode, despite sony making me use only sony accessories (usb connection cable, sony memory stick rather than standard sd card) the images produced are very nice and easy to obtain. That’s at medium resolution to, it goes up to billboard size i think. eeeguh can you imagine my neck at billboard size?

#6

Higher settings are necessary to thermally “destroy” the hair. These are temporary side effects and I agree that if this is what it takes to lessen the regrowth, then that is the approach I would want.

#7

Dfahey,

I was just wondering I tried to google the difference types of electrolysis (galvanic, Thermoflash, Picoflash) and couldn’t find a layman’s article on the differences. Is there a thread on here that has that information that is easily to obtain?

And as for the whiteheads. Yeah I could probably live with it.
I might try to do what I have seen others do. Go in for a few laser treatments again until the hair growth has been minimized then try electrolysis till I get it all gone. Have to work on a timeline though. It would probably take a couple of years.

Thanks,
Johnny

#8

-They’re not zits. It’s just your skin healing. It can get worse if you sweat and don’t keep the area clean and dry until it heals. So that’s important if you want minimal side effects.

  • Find someone with an alexandrite laser like GentleLASE. And make sure they are going to be aggressive on the settings. Yes, it will hurt. You can use a numbing cream, but I wouldn’t use it on the entire large area. It’s not always safe.

  • It sounds like in your past treatments there was a combination of inexperience in terms of treatments and misinformation on spacing etc. For the back area, you shouldn’t have treatments more than 10-12 weeks apart. You shouldn’t need to if treatments are good. You should experienced shedding of treated hair within 3 weeks after each treatment and then have a hairfree period. It sounds like your first treatment wasn’t too bad, but you didn’t continue with them. I doubt you had more hair grow in from that. It’s just that the difference won’t be noticeable 6 months after only 1 treatment. You’re seeing hair from other growth phases that you never treated.

  • If you do start this again with a proper laser and settings and spacing, make sure you can commit to at least 8 treatments spaced properly. Also, make sure to come in for touchups for any missed areas 3 weeks after the treatment. You should see those areas because other hair should shed by that time.

  • I wouldn’t do electrolysis on these large areas yet. That will take years and years and lots of money. If the hair you describe is dark, dense and coarse on the areas you’re treating, you’ll be able to get a good reduction of upwards 80-90% with effective laser treatments. You’ll still need electrolysis for the other remaining 10% or so if you want to be 100% clear, but most people in your situation are usually happy with a good reduction like that.

  • For your size, treatment of your entire back would probably take 1-1.5 hours. You don’t want them to rush. It’s important not to miss spots.

#9

lagirl,

Thanks for the tips I took a photo and so you could check out the back.

Do you think I will get good results?

The hair on my back used to be as dark and thick as my chest hair and it has become a little finer from the previous treatments as seen in this pic of my shoulder.

DO you still think it is best to do laser for a while and then try something else?

Thanks, any help is great.
Johnny

#10

Hi Johnny.

Lagirl is out of the country for 3.5 months, but you never know when she will pop in. Maybe some other laser experts can comment on your pictures. I throw my two cents until then.

You have a lot of hair, even though it is finer than previous times. I would not give up on laser. Punch the hair again, hard, with an alexandrite laser, stay on a good schedule, with a good technician. If the hair gets any finer, then the only permanent solution for the remaining hair is electrolysis. A combination of of E + L is the best we have to offer for permanent hair removal for such an area as your back.

Dee