Quick Question: If hair does not shed at all

after 8+ treatments, what does that mean exactly? does that mean the practitioner should up the joules?

My chin is refusing to shed at all. My upper lip is shedding in patches.

did you hair get lighter or much thinner?

Hair did not shed at all, so no, it is not thinner. It’s still as dark and coarse as it ever was.

Hair did not shed at all, so no, it is not thinner. It’s still as dark and coarse as it ever was.

I would be bitter too if that happened to me. I would say either you were undertreated or were not treated with the correct laser.

I know that there are a few on these forums that really have had good luck with the alexandrites. But I don’t think they are suitable for male beards. They are too likely to cause swelling and scabbing at the fluences needed for successful treatment, and the pain is incredible. I never would have had my beard done if the only laser available was the alexandrite. You would be much better off with a diode or Nd:YAG.

The follicles are deeper on the beard and the Nd:YAG penetrates the deepest due to its 1064nm wavelength.

RJC2001

hair should always be shedding after the treatments, otherwise it’s not working at all. most likely, you are being undertreated and the tech doesn’t know what they are doing. if you have light skin and dark hair, you should be getting much better results than that. i would try another practitioner at least for one treatment.

I’m so unoptimistic. I’ve tried over 5 different clinics, all the same result: no shedding.

My last treatment 3 days ago was with the CoolGlide YAG laser, practitioner said she used 45 joules. My upper lip is totally cleared but my patchy chin refuses to shed at ALL.

My biggest beef is when the practitioner sees that the treatments are painful, and so reduces the joules. I told her how I did not shed from last time. I told her I didnt care if treatments were painful, I don’t wanna spend any money to feel at ease and get no results. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

It is SO HARD going out in public with a patchy face that refuses to respond to treatments. Looks like some horrid skin disease. People get treatments to feel BETTER about their appearance yet my unfortunate encounter with laser for facial hair is making me anti-social.

I’ve been seeking electrolysis but the apilus center I contacted said they won’t take anyone before september.

The chin is the toughest area to treat. 45 Joules is a pretty high setting for the chin. Did you blade shave before the treatment. I would not have any hair above the skin before a beard treatment. Hair above the skin will degrade the effectiveness of the laser.

Maybe the tech is missing those spots. Just before you go in for treatment, you should take a cosmetic pencil and mark the stubborn areas so you can be sure she doesn’t miss them.

Sept. is a long time to wait for an electro treatment. There are not many electrologists in my area, and I never have to wait that long. There must be a lot of dissatisfied laser patients in your area filling up the schedule.

What other lasers have you tried? If you have lighter skin, you may get better results with a Lightsheer, but just a warning, it is going to hurt like hell! But since you have gotten rid of some of the hair, it may not hurt as much as it would otherwise.

IMHO, the best Nd:YAG laser is the Sciton. I had zero patchiness with it. Go to www.sciton.com and check out the Clear Scan. It has a better cooling system too so the pain will not be as bad. A lot of clinics won’t use the Sciton because it is an expensive machine. It actually has two lasers in it.

Other than that you better make an appointment with the electrologist of you’ll wind up waiting until Oct. or Nov.

RJC2001

I was surprised too when she said 45 joules, considering my prior treatment session with the Lightsheer was only 25 joules. Practitioner said that they were different machines so it’s not the same thing. Funny thing though, for 45 joules it didn’t hurt so much.

I now use an electric razor to shave. I shaved at about 9-10 AM the same day I had a treatment at 4:30 PM. I’ve never been comfortable with a blade, my beard is too coarse and the razor burn is unbearable, not to mention my face is very red after shaving with a blade. I even used Mach3 but I still had razor burn, terrible itching, and redness.

If I don’t get any results this time, I will book an appointment with the dermatologist in charge and seek his opinion on whether I should try a different laser with different settings, or give up laser altogether.

45 Joules is not the same on a YAG as it is on a Lightsheer, so that part is true. If the Lightsheer didn’t work at all, I am really surprised. If 45J didn’t hurt that much, they should have used a higher fluence. No pain, no gain. Did your hair get finer after laser treatments?

I have to say I am really surprised you did not shed at all. 2 weeks after a Sciton or Lyra-i, hair would shed in clumps when I shaved. And using a blade would help accelerate the shedding. On my last treatment, my practitioner turned up the fluence to about 48J and some hairs did shed right away and quite a few more shed at 10 days.

If I had my choice of machines, I would go with a Sciton at 50+ Joules and long pulse mode. It has a better cooling system than the others so higher fluence can be used without damaging the skin. Since it uses a scanner, there are fewer missed spots. Did they ever try adjusting the pulse width? That can make a huge difference.

If that does not work you are left with electrolysis. I can’t blame you for being discouraged.

Keep us posted.

RJC2001

25 joules is pretty low for LightSheer. most use 30-45 on it. you might be undertreated and might get much better results at higher joules.