How do you know what growth stage your hair is in? Or does it just mean that all the hairs that are visible will be zapped? Also can you wax or shave the hairs so that have been zapped or do you need to wait for them to fall out by themselves. thanks
To my knowledge, hairs that are still visible may not necessarily be in the growth phase, some may actually already be on the way out, Andrea?
I think that may usually be why treatments are spaced out by 4 to 5 weeks so that the hair will be caught in the right phase. That is one reason why it is important once you’ve begun treatment, to stay on the yellow brick road.
You can shave hairs after they have been zapped that I do know for sure, but I am not keen on waxing them. Plucking hairs will disturb the follicle that much is true. I don’t know if that would have a negative affect on treatment or not.RJC or Andrea will know that one.
[ November 14, 2002, 10:39 AM: Message edited by: Jgirl76 ]
Laser works best on actively growing hairs, but it’s hard to tell what stage a hair is by looking. If you shave an area a weeks or so before treatment, any hairs that have grown are active-- the percentage will vary by person and body area.
Some consumers report dark hairs literally flying out during treatment, These hairs were probably actively growing.
Treatment every 4 to 6 weeks does help ensure that hairs are treated as they grow in. Laser may also have a synchronizing effect on treated hairs, causing them to all start their cycle at the same time. This has not been conclusively demonstrated, though.
There is a certain time period before laser treatment when you’re not supposed to pluck. The following was my experience with the Apogee alexandrite laser. As far as after treatment, if the hair slides out easily, it was probably zapped successfully by the laser. If it doesn’t come out easily, it probably was not affected by the laser.
With the Lightsheer laser, some of the hair may not fall out right away. Also some hairs will get singed and form little black dots that appear stuck in the skin. I would not try to dig those out, you have to dig too hard. They will fall out eventually, but it may take a few weeks for them to do so.
RJC2001