Need your help - Photos included

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello - First, this is a great forum and I’m very glad I’ve found it. I have a few questions and would also like to share my story as well.

I am middle eastern, 28 years old, it looks like type 4 skin (need someone to confirm by checking my photos). I have thick black coarse hair and have very bad skin with black heads and deep ingrown hairs because of shaving/waxing. I am very paranoid about it and it does affect my social life sometimes, I do dislike being hairy that’s for sure!

Over two years ago I prepaid 5 treatments after lurking here and discovering that a diode laser would be best for my skin, but unfortunately I do not. I found a clinic that has the Lumenus Lightsheer Laser and the tech/owner seemed to be knowledgeable. The areas I paid for were front/back neck , full arms and shoulders.

I have completed all these treatments finally over two years later. I never followed any time period and would go randomly for example after a few months or 6-8 weeks (wasn’t very serious at the time). I do regret this but I can’t change this now and I’m not sure if this would negatively affect my results. As currently I do not have good results around my neck area but on my arms I do see a difference. Mind you, I do have very course hair and probably need more sessions.

Looking ahead, I have started consultations with new places as I was not very satisfied with my results and it seems like after you prepay they don’t even give a crap about if and when you come.

Anyways, I found a well experienced spa but the issue is that they use an alexandrite laser and one thing that kind of turned me off though was the lady asked me what I do for a living and then she said “oh so money is not an issue” then proceeded to tell me I should come back every 4 weeks and “as soon as they come out you need to zap them”. But after reading here it is probably ideal to go back 6-8 weeks although this is not written in stone. So she did come off a bit money hungryish but she did no her stuff and not to mention this place is much more expensive then the old place, they have set it up as an upscale spa etc. But I can talk to her about the length in between treatments and I don’t care about the price. I am also happy to find out that the alexandrite laser is more powerful than the diode, so this is another bonus.

QUESTIONS:

  1. By me not following a routine and attending random sessions impede my results compared to coming every 6-8 weeks for example? Can it?

  2. From looking at my photos you can see how course my hair is by the stubble as I shaved, after looking at my skin tone do you recommend the Alexandrite laser?

If yes, what is the recommended setting for the Alexandrite Laser for my own knowledge?

  1. Is waiting between 6-8 weeks ideal compared to her claim of 4 weeks?

  2. What acne body wash do you recommend?

Edit: so it turns out that I have 1 more treatment left for the neck so I might as well try to get the most out of it, with that being said what are the ideal settings for my skin type? So I can make sure I communicate that to her.

Pic 1
Pic 2

Thanks for listening!

#2

  • 6-8 weeks is too early anyway. Treatment spacing that we recommend is 8-12 weeks. So your spacing probably has little to do with lack of results. Please read our FAQs at the link below.

  • There are several factors that contribute to lack of results. The most important one is treating hair that’s not dense and coarse. The other is treating at settings that are too low to kill hair.

  • I can’t tell much from your photos. You say you’re treating neck, arms and shoulders, but the photo seems to be of your stomach and lower arm only. Lower arm only has a few sparse hairs showing. I don’t know if paying for laser is worth it if this is all that’s left there. Electrolysis would be better to get those few remaining hairs.

  • You seem darker than a type IV. I would definitely look for a Yag laser if you continue any treatments on any areas.

  • You don’t mention anything about shedding. Did all treated hair shed 3 weeks after each treatment? That’s what should happen.

  • In order to help you further, please provide photos of the actual areas you still want to treat. We need to see what type of hair is there. Shoulders are prone to induced growth btw, so we don’t recommend treating that area with laser at all unless you have very dense coarse growth there.

#3

Neutrogena makes a great body wash. Anything containing Salicylic Acid is good for ingrowns/acne.

#4

Attached are the updated photos of neck and chest. My shoulders were just waxed so I will add that when I get growth.

I do not recall major hair shedding after 3 weeks.

I talked to the lady that does my treatments and she is offering me two complimentary treatments in the same area. (have given her a couple referalls in the past)

Can you also suggest the proper settings for the Lightsheer so I can check against her settings and make sure she increases her settings if need be.
Chest
Neck

This after a couple days shave

#5

Your hair is coarse and you should be seeing good shedding. So it sounds like either settings or the technique is wrong. Are you committed to this clinic?

You should find out whether she has a 9mm or 12mm spot size LightSheer. In terms of joules, we don’t recommend treating on anything lower than 25J on this machine. If your skin can’t safely handle that setting, you need a Yag laser instead.

Also, to use this machine well, they need to use compression and up-and-down method instead of lightly gliding over the skin.

#6

It would be nice to get the free treatments, and I going in and knowing what you want does also. It seems like lots of these places are used to their customers not knowing much about the treatments.

I have a treatment scheduled with her for just the front/back of my neck, this is for this Saturday the 13th.

I would have to say her tenique seems to be okay with going up and down as far as I can remember she doesnt glide lightly. But, I will mention some of the things i’ve learned.

25J at the minimum, what would be and ideal setting 27J?

#7

As high as you can go without getting burned.