Hello. First post here. I just had a question. I’ve have IPL treatments done before and have had great success. I’ve had about a 90% reduction in 2 areas. The place I went to went out of business so I had to find somewhere else to go. I found a new place and I’ve had 3 treatments with a candela yag laser in a bunch of new untreated areas all over my body. It doesn’t seem to be working. Only small patches shed. I know IPL is like the least effective form of laser hair removal so I was just wondering, since IPL worked shouldn’t I respond even better to the candela yag laser? I’m going for a treatment in a few days and I’m going to find out what settings the technician uses cause right now idk what they are.
What areas are you treating? A common myth is that the hair just needs to be dark. This is not enough. The hair needs to be very coarse as well (like lower legs, underarms, bikini). If you are treating arms, tummy, butt, upper legs, face, or anywhere other than the three places I mentioned, there is a good chance it wont work.
Also, what skin type are you? Yags are fine for very dark skinned people, but pale people would be MUCH better off with an alex or even a diode laser.
What areas? What settings?
It’s not just about the machine. Settings need to be right. Having a machine doesn’t automatically qualify you to set correct settings. It sounds like they’re undertreating you or the hair is too fine regardless.
More info on the type of hair and settings would help.
I’m getting my cheeks, lower arms, lower back, legs, stomach, and brazilian area done. I have an appointment in 2 days so I’ll ask her what skin type I am and what settings she has it on. I feel like its on the wrong settings. Especially since even in the whole brazilian area its not completely shedding.
I would find all these things out before you have an appt, so that you don’t have an treatment that’s a waste of your money.
Cheeks pretty much always don’t have hair that’s coarse enough. In fact, I wouldn’t touch that area with laser because it can actually induce more growth.
Stomach is usually only coarse enough at the middle of the happy trail area.
So both of the above, you need electrolysis.
Bikini and lower legs should get great results if settings are good. You should be seeing all treated hair shed within 3 weeks after each treatment. If it doesn’t, then something is wrong and the hair is not being affected.
Lower arms, lower back, and upper legs get average to minimal results depending on how coarse the hair is. Most hair there is not very coarse.
Read our FAQs at the link below. You can figure out your skin type using the Fitzpatrick scale there.
According to the skin type thing I’m probably a type 1V. I called and requested the info for what settings I’m getting. I’ll be getting a call back tomorrow. Gah I wish these places didn’t require up front payments. I’d like to be able to pay per treatment that way if it doesn’t work I didn’t just waste all my money. I also called an electrologist just for a consultation. Anything I should ask the electrologist? I’ve never been to one.
You will be happy to know that most electrolysis providers are perfectly fine with payment for services rendered, at the conclusion of the appointment. Payments up front are not even accepted with some practitioners. Those that do take them, often grant a small discount for those who pre-pay, but they don’t usually push the program.
You should ask the practitioner about their equipment, and experience, and how many cases like yours they have treated, and what they guess your case will require to be cleared. How often will you need to come in, and how soon can you look clear in between treatments, as you continue to work on the area.
Things like disposable probes/needles, and gloves and autoclaves are pretty standard, so the practitioner will most likely tell you about those without even asking them.
You may wish to request use of Ballet Gold probes/needles, as they are reported to be more comfortable to the client during work, but your practitioner may not want to buy them just for you. In that case, you may have to buy them yourself, and bring them in with you for your appointments.
Electrolysis and LASER work well in combination if people want a lot of areas treated . The only thing is, you have got to have the right color and coarseness of hair for the LASER part. The hair should be dense in number as well. If you don’t fit the criteria for LASER (permanent hair REDUCTION FDA [color:#FF0000]CLEARED)[/color], then you are back to electrolysis (permanent hair REMOVAL FDA [color:#FF0000]APPROVED[/color]) or temporary methods ([color:#FF0000]hamster on a wheel stuff)[/color].
When asking for settings, find out the name of the machine, joules, spot size, and pulse width.
For electrolysis, ask for type of electrolysis and name of machine. Then you’ll need to sample a treatment to judge whether the hair is being released without resistance after being zapped and that you don’t have any bad side effects afterwards.
omg this can’t be right. Ok I’m going to 2 places for LHR. One is to finish treatments for my upper lip. That is going fine but I called to see what settings and laser she is using. That place is using the gentle lase on me but she wouldn’t give me the settings she’s using. How can she not let me know that info? She said its not their policy to do that. Now I’m off to call the other place. The place where treatment isn’t working. They better not say the same thing.
Upper lip hair is usually not coarse enough. So you won’t “finish” with laser, ever. You’ll still need electrolysis at the end to kill the fine hairs that remain.
You will definitely need to switch to electrolysis at some point (either to get what hair is left, or to treat the new hair that the laser caused to grow which happens on female faces sometimes).
Just plan on needing electrolysis, either way.
Demand the settings. I am of the personal opinion that it is not appropriate for them to withhold that information from a patient. This is a medical procedure, and you are entitled to know what they are doing. Would you take drugs from a doctor if he refused to tell you the type of drug or the strength? NO! Tell them that you will challenge the charges on your credit card and request a refund if they don’t provide you with this reasonable information.
The fact that they won’t tell you indicates to me that they are knowingly under-treating you to prolong your treatments and make more money off of you. Shameful.