Ruby or Alexandrite?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Okey I am a 22 year old male with alot of abdominal and chest hair, very coarse and dense dispersed all around the area with very little fine hairs, with this I know that I am a good candidate for laser and my skin type is around IV or III, but IV seems more accurate.

About six weeks ago I went to this salon to get a hair cut and they offered me a free test area with laser, aparantly it was ruby laser and the technicians were extremely nice but seemed a little unexpirienced since they hesitated when I asked them which machine they use…as if they weren’t sure and she told me they had two machines. The testing was painful but not extremely pain and now the area is growing back finer except for a dime size area close to my belly button but I am extremely pleased with those results it gave me a long time without hair and now feels softer.

Now two weeks ago I went to another place where was only for laser and they seemed more expirienced and organized than the salon that seemed to be new with laser, however they were extremely packed and my test patch was done really fast due to volume of people there. She used Alexandrite laser and explained to me that it was alot better than ruby since the wavelenght was higher and this was extremely painful, she said my skin was okey for the laser even though they had yag. After the test patch my pores were enlarge for a few hours but now two weeks after I feel that 10% of the hair is already growing back and meaning not all of them shed… or are shedding since I already know how to tell which will shed…

My problem is that I dont know if i should pay 250$ (offer for this week) for chest and abdominal with alexandrite laser that seemed to work less than the ruby… but the ruby laser would be around 380$…

Is there any reason why the ruby laser would have better results than alexandrite? I don’t understand why since I read everywhere that alexandrite is a better laser… or maybe I should wait more time.

Sorry for my grammar, english is my second language.

PS I might just pay for one treatment for chest and abdominal area with alexandrite and if it doesn’t work out switch to ruby

#2


Do not use a ruby laser. I didn’t even think they were still around.
Back when I was researching laser (three years ago) I read studies which showed that Alexandrite lasers have better outcomes than ruby lasers in the long term.

#3

Yeah I found the same information but I still see finer and smoother area in the area treated with ruby laser.

Either way I bought a package for chest/abs for 260$ with alexandrite and the appointment was supposed to be today, but aparantly their lights went out so it was reschedule for tomorrow… I am a little concerned that the area which I shaved earlier today will already have some hair tomorrow since it grows extremely fast and I can’t shave again since it will cause irritation… hopefully this doesn’t affect the results that I will receive.

#4

You probably should shave again :frowning: maybe put a layer of moisturiser on the area or use hair conditioner when shaving? The laser heats your hair up really hot and any hair which is above the surface will cause more pain…

#5

Couldn’t shave again and the tecnician said it was fine, and even better? I’m not sure why… I mean the hair wasn’t long or anything but kinda went against everything I read.

Their machine is Gentlelase Alexandrite so I think thats good, after 30 minutes of pain I finish my first seassion on abs and chest… now I hope it works. (finger cross)

Also is it possible for hair to be too dense and coarse for the laser?

#6

The denser and coarser the better, really. :slight_smile:

As far as having hair above the dermal layer, it’s not better, technician may say that because they can see the hair better or something?

I bet it was painful though if you did have longer hair! Goodluck.

#7

Well after 10 days since my laser on chest and abs I can already tell that not all hairs are gonna shed, I think around 50-60% of them will… is this normal?

And am really starting to not trust the lounge where I am getting the laser, it test patch will be around 4 weeks now and it’s already growing some hair and the laser never seems to get all of them I am not sure if its due to the tecnician or the settings but the Alexandrite laser isn’t working for me and I dont see myself continuing with it…

But on the other hand the test patch that I did with a hair salon which used ruby laser seems alot more smooth through the whole 2 months and seemes to actually have some pores that aren’t growing hair unlike the alexandrite…

I am so confuse as to why a less effective laser (ruby) gave me such good results when to compared to alexandrite…

#8

Also I just found a groupon with a deal of 325$ for 5 seassions for either abs or chest… they use GentleYAG Laser Candela Pro.

I think I might give that a try since I already tried alexandrite and ruby… it’s around 68$ a seassion which is 60-80% off from what the normal price I could get from other places. ( however it has a rule that the 5 treatments should be done before 6 months are done… but I read here it’s better to wait around 8 weeks between seassions) idks :S desperate here

#9

I would advice against Groupon. The price you mentioned is probably at around cost if not less, that means they will have to cut their expenses somehow which usually means sub par treatment.

10 days are not enough to tell about shedding, you need more like 3 weeks. Not sure how you can “tell” as shedding usually means you can pluck the hair with little to no resistance.
From experience, less than 100% shedding doesn’t mean that the treatment is useless like you make it sound.

If you’re type 3 or 4, i would also check a diode laser like the Soprano or Lightsheer.
You need to understand that there are a lot of variables and many of them are hidden so there is some level of trust that you need to have that it will be ok. You can control the type of laser, the settings they use and match it to your skin and hair colour but it still doesn’t going to tell you how successful the treatment is going to be. Rule of thumb is, good laser, good settings and coarse hair but you will still have to do a few sessions and see for yourself.
From a treatment point of view, the technician should look at how the skin and hair follicle reacts to the pulses and based on that decide if it’s effective or not.
I’m looking for a pinkish colour of the skin and to see if there are small bumps at the hair follicle, that’s a good indication for some serious damage to the follicle.
More than that is beyond your or your technician’s control.

#10

I can’t comment on the ruby laser. i have had good results from an alexandrite - shedding and clear skin for a while though not perm. removal. I have found there is always a catch with groupons, though. usually they make it so there is no way to optimally space the treatments you paid for. It is usually still a good price even if you only end up getting 3-4 of the 5-6 you paid for, but you will likely end up paying for more out of pocket.

Around here they tend to run them at times of year that people are thinking about hair removal but aren’t really the best time to have laser - ie summer, when people are tanning.

#11

The prices here are usually around 150-400 per seassion for the given areas that I want so 350$ for 5 seems like a good deal, but I will first visit the clinic to make sure it’s worth it.
(to be honest I also would just like to try that yag laser it seems more advanced, since the gentlelase didn’t have cooling down system but i dont know much about that so i might wrong)

Also I can tell which hairs will shed and not by the lenght of the hair since I start shedding from day 6 now by two weeks very few hairs shed, I also saw this pattern through both my test patches, the hairs are already half the size of a peny so it’s unlikely that they will shed.

I really appreciate your feedback, the technicians i’ve seen don’t really seem to know much of what they are doing… they seem to hire really young women one of which had even trouble remembering what type of laser she was using…

I have a question when you mean small bumps at the hair follicle do you mean right after treatment? Because I do get very noticeable bumps during the treatment and they go down after a few hours.

Since I live on a small island on the caribbean it also limits my choices drastically, I am not sure if there are places with diode but I will continue checking. :slight_smile:

#12

Manlymama, I agree it seems to be for that same reason.
But I have to admit even if it’s good for 3 treatments it pays itself out considering the prices here.

And considering how fast my hair grows maybe waiting 5 weeks before treatments might not be that bad. :0

#13

Yeah you still end up getting a discount - just not as amazing a discount as it seems on the surface. Good luck with whatever you decide!