removing beard

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello.

I am glad to stumble across a Forum to find people with same, less or severe hair problems than I have. I’m a male, aged 30 and also want to remove my beard. I am also sick of shaving in the morning and then realizing that I need to shave again in the afternoon. No matter how good I shave, my boss is always on my back about coming to work looking with a 5 o’clock shadow.

Anyway, I had 2 Treatments with Lightsheer. My first treatment, what can I say but I was nervous, scared and did not know what to expect. After the first treatment, my skin was like sunburned, I developed a honeycomb shape on my face and neck, should have taken holidays instead of going back to work next day(that’s another story) and on the 9th or 10th day (shouldn’t of had the goatee), hair started to fall as I rubbed my face. I was quiet excited but on the other hand quiet embarrassed.

I just had my 2nd treatment 2 days ago and this time I was not so nervous. More hair popped out but still, very dark around the chin area and upper lip.

I would like to ask – I have read throughout the Forum in regards on what to and what not to do before and after the treatments like for instance:

What are the consequences if you use tweezers to pull out the dead hairs but instead you actually pull out the sturdy hair? (Should have asked the doc eh?)

Anyone found the cure to eliminate the redness, acne look faster than 1 or 2 weeks?

#2

</font><blockquote><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>quote:</font><hr /><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>Originally posted by Big’D’:
<strong>Anyone found the cure to eliminate the redness, acne look faster than 1 or 2 weeks?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>i use aloe and tea tree oil right after treatments, and tend skin in between to prevent ingrown hairs. just make sure that you get pure aloe and tea tree oil, not lotions or toners. keep the aloe in the fridge. it takes away the soreness.

good luck.

#3

BiG D

I have had 3tx on my full beardline with the alexandrite.I am also 30yrs old and it sounds like we have the same beard.Everthing “sheds” except the goatee believe me its almost impossible to get this area to shed. I have been lasered on that particular area 8 times (7 aleaxandrite and 1 Lightsheer)I believe these are terminal hairs that aren’t meant to be removed at all.They are too deep and I have just given up on them.I was going to do one more treatment but I have decided to not have it now.My 3rd TX was back on Mar18th and evertyhing has grown back, except it is finer and my beard lighter.I don’t want to mess with another tx because I feel some what fortunate that through this process I have not lost the symmetry in my beard.It can be embarrissing if this happens (or patchy etc)I feel like I’ve sort of dodged a bullet with these treatments.The most disturbing part of doing the beard is the so called "LHR experts can’t agree even amongst themselves what is “permanent” and if they can keep things relatively even or what.You will get regrowth,I know this for a fact because I have it.IT is finer so I have “minimized” my shadow after I shaved.I suspect over time it may come all back just as thick, but frankly I really don’t trust alot of these people in the industry because their is no consensus on end results etd. Its just the patented “well laser is always unpredictable” hmmmm…something doesn’t seem right here.I’m considering doing Electrolysis on some of my dense hairs on the Goatee to thin it out but not until I learn more about it.My advice to males considering this on their beard is just beware.There is no way IMO to avoid looking patchy and unatural until at least 3txs are done.You will not want to go to work following a tx and you will not get a close shave(because the hairs take on a weird texture) for about 5txs.

#4

Hi: because the face is so very hormone-dependant, both in men and women, it takes many treatments to thin out and remove facial hair. I have found that in both men and women, the hair reduces from the outer perimeter in to the “goatee” area, which is the very last to go. We advise our patients that at least 9 treatments will be needed, with additional follow-up once or twice a year, to maintain 70-90% permanent reduction. The hairs that are removed are gone, BUT, there are many more vellus hairs in the face that can be recruited through-out the adult lifetime to become coarse terminal hairs. In the beginning, with a very dense coarse beard, there definitely will be a patchiness - almost a “moth-eaten” appearance to the beard. We always stress this to our patients, because, as you have seen, it is very disconcerting. Everything evens out as the treatments progress, but it takes patience on the part of the client. We cannot control or remove the testosterone that makes men grow hair, we can only deal with the hair itself. That is true regardless of modality, whether we are using laser or electrolysis. I hope this informations helps. ciao

#5

HairFetish

Thanks for your input.You spoke of the vellus hairs on the beard.These vellus hairs come back thru the same follicles as the previously eliminated hairs is that correct? I ask this because my goal is/was to reduce the kind of hair I had on my face from coarse thick to a softer thinner hair.I have achieved this except for my gotee which is exremely stubborn.The patchiness really thru me off guard,believe or not it was never even mentioned to me only “maintenance” I didn’t really think much of the patchiness issue because I guess I figured it wouldn’t show when I shave but believe me (for me anyway) it showed.Which leads me to my other question , do you recommend that a male do say just 3-5 treatments to thin out the beard so they still have some shadow.I ask this because doesn’t it look odd to have no beard hair on the male face? I really don’t see any adult males with no shadow even after their best shave.So do you think one has to be careful not to go too far with their treatments?

#6

Hairfetish

What do you recommened putting on the face to get past the red and rashy look as soon as possible? also do you know if thinning the beard is becoming more mainstream ,any idea how many men have done this to make shaving easier? Also How does doing Lhr on the neck tend to go in terms of permancy ,it is my understanding that it is not as influenced by hormones so it may be easier to stay clear. Thanks

#7

“I ask this because doesn’t it look odd to have no beard hair on the male face?”

There are, and I know plenty. I wish I were one. That and PFB are the main reasons why I am having LHR performed on my beard.

#8

Here is a horror story slowly becoming less horrific…

I am a 34 year-old male with light brown skin (I’m half-Mexican). Shaving has always been the bane of my morning existence because my skin is fairly sensitive while my beard is quite thick in density and extremely thick in the case of the diameter and coarseness of each hair. After enduring a lot of discomfort and shedding a lot of blood shaving and after spending thousands on different shaving creams, blades, electric razors and prescription products – I decided to take a more radical approach. I started Lightsheer laser treatments to remove my beard in June of 2001. While the average male undergoing this treatment needs only 3-4 treatments to achieve total beard removal, I have had about 25 treatments – and counting. Slowly but surely, at the rate of about 5% at a time, my beard has almost disappeared, blotch by stubborn blotch. Apparently, I have the most resilient beard of any of the hundreds of patients ever treated by my laser treatment clincian.

The clinician has expressed surprise at the evidently strange way my skin reacts to the laser treatment. First, mild but unremarkable redness. Then after about two days I experience an incredibly prolific outbreak of tiny whiteheads on my face and neck. After the whiteheads go away (I have to shave for work, unfortunately), my skin takes on a very coarse texture. Eventually, my skin reverts more or less to normal, except for the blotchy appearance of my beard, which is to be expected. Do you have any idea why I would break out in this strange way? My guess is that it’s just the heat from the laser?

There are three horribly stubborn patches that remain – my lower right chin, my left jawline, and a few small bits on my right jawline. (If I shave closely and apply a camouflaging product from menaji.com I can do a decent job of looking presentable. As for the moustache area we have basically conquered it – but only after having my dentist inject my face with local anesthetic on three separate occasions so the lip and hupper chin could be fiercely attacked at a high level of voltage (or whatever).

In general, it has been a grueling, painful process. But I feel I had little choice. If we ever finish I will be delighted, but the returns are becoming less and less noticeable in the last few months so I worry that the overall effect will never be adequate. Shaving is unbelievably easy now, compared to before, but it does me little good if the aesthetic effect is not achieved.

By the way, I tried the Alexandrite laser early on and that seemed somewhat less effective, though maybe I will try the stubborn areas using that one next time.

RMS

#9

** Gulp **

Well, I’d been planning to get my beard thinned (after I’ve paid off the mortgage from my current treatments!) but this is all making me think twice, to be honest.

I’d talked about it briefly to my technician, who didn’t mention patchiness, but she did say that the male beard actually helped stop the face slipping as it aged (like roots in a cliff stopping a landslide). She recommended only getting a few treatments, if I was going to do it at all.

But by the sound of it, this could be worst thing to do if it causes patchiness. Any comments?

#10

^ Bump ^

Any comments?

#11

If you are having problems with post-treatment redness and/or have dark skin, you are better off having your beard treated with a Nd:YAG laser like the Sciton. Lyra-i, or Coolglide. Beard hair follicles are often very deep and the Nd:YAG lasers penetrate deeper into the skin.Before I had my beard treated I had 3 test spots done, one each with the Lightsheer, Aurora IPL/RF and the Sciton. Based on the results and track record with previous patients, my practitioner recommended the Sciton. The Lightsheer left a lot of redness, and was extremely painful as expected. It did result in a lot of hair being removed in the test spot. The Aurora was less painful and there was no redness. It did seem to be effective too. There was considerable pain with the Sciton, less than with the Lightsheer, and very little redness. We went with the Sciton because of the redness factor and it’s excellent track record with beards. Since we were dealing with very coars e dark hair, the Sciton was chosen over the Aurora. I went to work right after my first treatment and nobody noticed anything. There were a few red spots around some of the hairs but they were very small. I could have dismissed them as minor razor burn.I have had two treatments so far on my beard and I am very happy. About 50% of the hair is gone with the last treatment being in May of this year. I will have at least 2 more treatments with a Lyra-i another Nd:YAG laser. It is an upgrade over the previous Lyra. My goal is not necessarily 100% beard removal, but if that happens it’s fine by me. I will be happy if it can reduce my beard shaving time to 5 minutes or less. Right now it’s about 10 minutes. Before Sciton treatments it was 25-30 minutes. When I shave my beard now with my Braun Activator, it feels like I used a M3 Power blade.The chin (goatee) area is the most stubborn area to remove hair from. My next treatments will probably be at a higher fluence. The back of the neck, right at the crook, has been very stubborn for me, moreso than the beard. I may have electrolysis there. The front of the neck has been very responsive to laser. The bottom 2 inches of my neck in the front are hair free, most of that removed by a single Apogee alexandrite laser treatment. The hair there has not come back and it is not going to come back. Ever.RJC2001

#12

Thanks, RJC.

So would you say your hair has been removed evenly, or is it patchy like RMS found?

#13

There was a little bit of patchiness after the first treatment, IMHO not a major problem. There was some patchiness after the second treatment, but it disappeared after hair shedding was stopped two months later. It seems like it takes longer for the beard to shed the destroyed hairs compared to other areas. It probably has something to do with the size of the hair bulb relative to the diameter of the follicle as it reaches the skin surface.RJC2001

#14

Awesome… well, it sounds like my beard will be the next project. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />