hi, I am a 19-year-old girl with dark facial hair on my cheeks, chin and upper lip. the cheeks bother me the most. I used to bleach my hair up until last year when I started to remove it using a home remedy which made my cheek hair thicker and longer. I then waxed my face thinking it will get better but huge mistake and now I feel depressed all the time. I started laser this July 28th, 2017. I have only had three sessions with my third one being on 30th September. I know I will need touch ups and that this is not permanent. it is working though and my laser lady has been treating Asian (Pakistani, Indian) people for ten years now. after my third session a lot of the hair has fallen out which is a good thing. however, I still feel extremely depressed about my future. will this be a lifelong battle of me going to laser for years? I don’t want that. I wish I had never touched my face and I live with this regret every single day. I feel so hopeless. sometimes I think I should let all my hair grow back and just try to bleach them again and pluck the rest. my mum says that won’t work because my hairs are not as fine as they used to be. what if the only option is laser now? I feel so terrified. my laser lady says not to worry because stress makes it worse. I feel ugly. I feel like I can never make it right or be happy again. so, it there anyone here who has done laser on their face and what’s it like years later? Is it worth it? did it help? did it make it worse? Anyone with experience please. thank you.
Hi purple! Laser can definitely sometimes help, but it depends on how thick and dark your hair is. In some cases, unfortunately, laser can stimulate new hair growth.
Unless your hair is as thick and coarse as a man’s beard, I would recommend getting electrolysis. I’m in my 20s and similarly thought that hirsutism would ruin my life, but electrolysis is a godsend. It’s slow, which is annoying, but it can kill any hair you have and doesn’t run the risk of prompting new hairs… I’m basically hair-free now and won’t even have to go through touch-ups in the future, unless my hormones flare up or something. So I really recommend it!
Good luck and be kind to yourself. Chances are your hair would have worsened anyway and it’s NOT your fault. My hair got a lot worse in my late teens, too. 
It’s out of our control (have you had your hormones checked, by the way?), but electrolysis can get rid of it (and laser, too, if your hair is super dark and coarse). You’ll be okay!
Hi Purple Potato. You are in the same situation as so many others. You are not alone. Many people have done exactly what you have done - try everything. Laser yields different results for different people. I do not know if you are an ideal candidate. Time will tell.
I think it would be a good idea to track your menstrual cycle. Is it regular? See if your overall health is okay.
Did the laser tech mention discussing this with your doctor?
In any event, if you want to continue with laser and do not see diminished hair growth, then electrolysis is the only solution. Since most electrologists offer free consultations, I think it would be a good idea to check it out.
thank you for replying. my menstrual cycle is ok and i know laser isn’t permanant. i don’t mind if my hair comes back as long as it comes back finer. my technican has told me that i would always need touchups like once a year or twice becuase some of the hair will always comes back and our body can produce more follicles too. so far i have had good results but i dont know why it feels wrong.
NO, my hair isn’t super dark or coarse but it is thicker than before. however, i think it was like that before the laser which was due to waxing and plucking. i went to a clinic who said laser would be better for me compared to electrolysis becuase that will scar my face. now i feel more troubled than before becuase the people i have talked to at my laser place have said they have had good results. electrolysis is more expensive and i don’t want to get scarred. i don’t have the money for it. am i doomed then? will it not get better? my hormones are ok becasue i had a blood test two years or a year ago i think and i get my periods regularly. are u speaking from experience? did you have laser that didn’t go well? Please help me
A couple of problems here, so for the sake of being precise: Laser reduction is permanent. A certain percentage of hair follicles are permanently disabled. If the laser can’t “see” certain hair structures and colors, then laser has done all it can and then electrolysis is needed. Laser touch-ups will not work if laser cannot “see” the hair.
Our bodies CANNOT produce NEW follicles. Hair follicles are developed at 22 weeks of gestation and we are born with all the hair follicles we will ever have. We cannot make new follicles. So, when we perform electrolysis or laser, we are disabling hair follicles that grow hair. We keep eliminating bothersome hair follicles until we reach the bottom of the barrel. When new hair follicles are stimulated over one’s lifespan, we need to keep punching them to stay ahead of the game of Whack-A-Hair. Things may stay calm or you may always have to chase hair.
laser works best with dense hair with lots of color contrast between skin an hair ( so ideally light /white skin and pitch black hair.
As hair gets further away from that ideal, effectiveness begins to dwindle.
I personally have had a dozen sessions with an alexandrite laser and still had to remove most of the hair with electrolysis anyway when it grew back. It wasnt good economy for me. Electrolysis however has been the only thing , for me , that has worked and so I share that with my clientele ( I actually became an electrologist) .
Hormone levels are a important ting to keep track of. If you haent been plucking waxing or threading your hair, but hairs are still being stimulated into growth phase, while there could be a lot of causes for this, they are usually hormonal. One of the more common causes of hormone imbalance is polycystic Ovarian Syndrom (PCOS) which can present with symptoms of heavy or irregular menstrual cycle.
I wont try and talk you out of laser ( I’ve come to realize over time such efforts are pointless) but I will say when you’ve tried laser and its still a mess, consider trying electrolysis.
Seana
Hey! So I had laser on my stomach and it didn’t help/possibly made the hair a bit worse. I only had 1-2 sessions, though, to the best of my memory (this was years ago). Electrolysis (and the drug Spironolactone) have been the answer for me, because I had very noticeable, bothersome hair, but it was only medium-brown and medium-coarse. A good electrologist will NOT scar you and while the process is a little bit slow, I found it to be completely worth it, because I’m almost hair-free now.
No matter what you decide, please don’t despair! There really are ways to deal with hirsutism and you’ll start to feel loads better once you’re seeing even small improvements. Good luck!!