I am a white male and have tried many lasers. I use to go to a woman who had the Candela Gentlelase laser. I, like many others had many treatments and spend (wasted) a lot of money. As far as duration between treatment I often wondered about this and it’s true effect on the effect of hair removal forever.
I would see this woman who owned her own clinic once a week and was doing a full body hair removal. I have a lot of hair (dark) and am very light skinned. It’s been quite a few years since I have gone so bear with me on the setting stats. I believe I could tolerate 28-30 with a topical gell. A topical I got from a pharmacy in CA (Compouding pharmacy was the name and it was $100 a bottle) and was custom made for plastic surgeons. I needed a script from my doc to get it. It was very effective. 3-4 times more effective then that of emla IMO. There are probably better ones know but there wasn’t at the time 5 years ago.
So I decided to try an experiment. Each time I went into her office I had her turn the setting up as about as high as it could go which I believe was around (50) (Don’t qoute me but im pretty sure that’s what it was). I had her treat a small spot on my stomach WEEKLY for (6) months (about the size of a nickel which was about the laser spot size) for a total of (24) treatments weekly. Yes, weekly! I wanted to know if the permanent removal of hair had more to do with preventing the cells in the shaft of the hair follicle to ever have a chance to regenerate vs. waiting for a growth cycle to come around and treat in the anagen (the growing phase). I guess I just wanted to do a small experiement. Mind you, I also did the same experiment on my beard (side burn area). I have beard hair that is as thick as it gets period! I could shave twice a day easily!
Well, I treated my arms, chest, shoulders, back, legs, etc… in the normal span of 4-6 weeks intervals. I went every week because I was treating a different body part each week. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I got permanent hair removal on both the treated area on my stomach and beard area. It has been over (5) years now and still no growth. It’s gone and aint coming back.
So the question is and I still dont know what the answer is, was the permanant removal of my hair from those areas a result of a very high setting or the short weekly durations between treatments or both? I can say that even with the high strength topical gell (Btw, like I said used by plastic surgeons in Beverly hills and is not something you will find easily on any internet search without jumping thru hoops like I did to find it) that it was still very painful when performed at those higher settings. both on my stomach and face. Face was definately more painful and could never withstand doing my entire face at that pain level.
So the question is? If I had performed the sessions at a (28) or a (30) setting weekly vs. every 4-6 weeks would I have had permanent removal? I don’t know cause it became too expensive to continue with crappy results but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that permenant hair removal with a person like me who has light colored skin and dark hair is possible with that laser which is definately a dinasoar by todays standards. I am living proof, trust me it’s gone 100% in those areas.
I also tried the Palomar Estelux on my face and it worked the same way all the others did. Removed for a while then grew back fully but I wonder if I had gone (24) straight weeks with the Estelux (IPL) would I have had permanant results? I can say that the Estelux was absolutely tolerable even at it’s highest setting with my topical gell on my face. I did do my arms a few times as well. That was almost painless with topical.
So I am thinking about buying one of the new FDA released machines. The Silk’n (IPL) HPL as they call it…lol or the TRIA which is actually a laser and treating myself weekly for six months to see if it might actually disable the hair for good. I dont know if either will be powerful enough but that begs another question?
If the laser or IPL damages the follicle enough to cause it to fall out then it’s obviously reacing down deep enough to damage the hair follicle. Again, I personally think it comes down to duration. If you wait 2-3 or 4-6 weeks to treat I don’t believe anyone will ever achieve any permanency of hair removal. I think that has been proven year after year with machine after machine. I think the whole hair growth phase has people thinking that is the holy grail in effective treatment of permanently damaging the hair foolice to the point that it can’t regenerate cells to even start a growth phase again. Well that has been proven to be false!
I watched the youtube video on Good Morning America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJg4merJVs where Becky woorly experimented with both machines. She apparently got better results with the Silk’n then the TRIA. Apparently a lot better results with the Silk’n so is the IPL more effective? She contacted TRIA and they stated over the long term it would be. Personally I think that’s just BS but I dont know that for sure and neither does anyone else cause in the past no one could afford to buy thier own Laser or IPL machine and experiemnt on duration of treatments as possibly being the key to extinction of the hair follicle.
So I am starting to wonder if the higher frequency or setting of the machine is less important then duration between treatments. My thoughts as I stated before were if I never gave the hair follicle a chance to regenerate any new cells to even begin the anagen phase that I could possible truly disable the follicle.
It worked for sure in the combination I experimented with cause all the hair around the hairless spot on my stomach grew back to it’s original thickness. I just dont know if it was the frequency, the higher setting or both or just frequency that caused it to stop growing.
Im starting to believe it’s the frequency and considering these machines are under $1k it is possible to experiment with that theory now I believe. The question is do I try it with the Silk’n or TRIA? I not sure yet but im leaning towards the Silk’n.
If it was about how powerful the machine was then the most powerful machine at it’s highest setting would permenantly disable the hair as long as it is in the anagen phase. Right? Obviously that is not the case for anyone.
It is in the laser centers best interest to treat you as many times as possible to generate more revenue. And the laser centers go by what the manufactor state. They are not going to treat you weekly, although they could but they were making millions treating people weeks apart knowing that it is not permanent. Maybe they didn’t know that at first but they surely do now. Those who work at laser centers and who are techs know that it’s complete BS that the hair will be gone in 6-8 treatments 4-6 weeks apart. I was the ideal patient. Light skinned and dark hair for the laser/IPL to pick up the melatonin. My hair is as long and thick today as it was before I treated and I treated more times then I can count by a laser and quite a few by an IPL.
Well, when I decide which machine to go with considering both have pros and cons I am going to document it every step of the way and then wait 6-8 months after to see if any hair returns. I will post a you tube video for all to see. I have nothing to gain or loose (Except hair) and certainly don’t work for any laser/IPL product company.
These before and after photos I always see are such a joke since none of them detail how long the after photo is. Do they really think people are that stupid? Well, I guess I was at one time but the proof is in the pudding. It dosen’t work at 4-6 week intervals. But there is a formula that does remove it forever, im living proof. And to say that when it was also my beard hair that is also gone is saying a lot cause believe me it’s thick and coarse.
The silk’n is loud and needs it’s cartridge changed after 750 shots and they range from $50-$75. 750 shots is a decent amout I guess. Im sure that price will drop as newer machines enter the market over the next few years. The advantage of the Silk’n is that it has a much larger spot size which is a plus for sure and can run for a much longer time.
The TRIA is a true laser (not very powerful but a laser) but im not really sure if it matters if it’s a powerful laser or IPL as long as the heat is reaching deep enough to disable the follicle. I mean were talking MM here not inches into ones skin so how deep is the hair follicle in the dermis? Not really deep at all. But the TRIA is cordless, quiet and doesn’t need cartridge replacements. But it only lasts a 1/2 hour then needs a two hour recharge. I guess 1/2 hour is long enough if just conducting an experiemnt tho. Silk’n (2) I guess will be out soon and can treat darker skin colors but I have light skin so it dosent matter to me.
So what do you experts think? I would really like to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. Thanx.