Hello all,
I recently just had my first laser hair removal treatment. I have a Becker’s Nevus on my back/shoulder. It’s basically like a birthmark except that it can grow hair and mine does. As I’m told, it’s a congenital condition but for me it did not appear until high school but at some point in college got darker and the hair become more coarse. I finally decided I needed to do something about it and I did. I went to a local clinic and had Gentlelase done for both the hair and the hyperpigmentation. I have no idea what the settings were for the laser but based on what I’ve read online, I have Type II skin so you can probably draw your own conclusions on what the settings were. It’s been four days since the treatment and I’m seeing the pepperspots and I think some of the hair is already starting to fall out.
My question is about the effectiveness of the treatment. I’ve read a lot of different information about Gentlelase and laser hair removal in general but I’m curious about what to expect. On the clinic’s website it says some people may permenantly lose up to 50% of the treated hair after one session but to expect 20-40%. I’ve read posts on here where people say they’ve lost 90% or more after just one treatment. I wasn’t sure if that meant 90% fell out or 90% didn’t come back after shedding. I’ve also read a post on here (I think by lagirl) that visible hairs only represent 30% of the total follicles. Also I found the page below which seems to show that about 90% of hair is in the growth stage which, from what I have read, would indicate that 90% would be targeted by LHR at a given time. Or at least I think.
Here’s the article. Scroll to the bottom where it says “Hair Facts.”
http://www.pg.com/science/haircare/hair_twh_21.htm
FYI, I paid $300 for the whole thing, $150 for hair, $150 for the hyperpigmentation. The technician actually went over the area with the laser twice, once for hair and once for pigment. I wonder if I sort of got ripped off with this but I will tell you that I felt a different sensation the second time she went over the area so maybe the two treatments were necessary.