I have been going to sona now for many years and
they pretty much forced me too quit. They wont let
me get treatments until after 5 months from each
treatment, I pretty much have full regrowth during
week 8-9 after treatment. We all know your supposed
get relasered with in 2 weeks of regrowth but sona
management just dont care about their paying
customers, they just keep on charging money for
doing everything the wrong way.So I would not
recommend sona to nobody. The place is very clean,
the nurses are very nice but management are a bunch
of crooks.Maybe some in upper management could
respond and explain to the world why they wait so long
between treatments.I have not made progress on most
area,s in years but people who get lasered on time
2 weeks after full regrowth seem to do better.
hair is most vulnerable and easy to kill in its first stage of growth, anagen. it usually lasts up to 4 weeks or so on most areas that people commonly get treated. so yes, i would agree that it’s not in your best interests that they make you wait longer, because then you’re just treating hair in its dormant stage, which makes it go away for a bit, but always comes back because it wasn’t killed altogether.
I’m sorry you haven’t had the best experience, maybe it’s not working well with your skin type?
I love SonaMedSpa. I thought their timing was a bit long, but only two treatments on my underarms wiped out at least 80%. I’ve stalled the third treatment to see if anything more comes in besides the few sparse hairs. Same with two treatments on my legs. I can’t believe how effective it is. I have pale white skin and dark hair. At first I thought their timing was long, but more and more hair grew in and I followed their schedule. It has been very successful for me. I’m sorry it isn’t working for you.
Talk to the people there. It ABSOLUTELY is in your best interest to wait as long as they recommend, so you have the most amount of hairs possible in the growing phase when you go in for your treatments. You do not have to get the hair lasered within 2 weeks of re-growth. I don’t know where you got that from, but its wrong. Hair can remain in the active phase for many many weeks, depending on where it is on your body. There is no hurry. So, if you’re really not happy, talk to someone there. The nurses should ALL be able to tell you what I just did, and further explain it. I used to work there. I TOTALLY agree with your views on the management. And your comments on the nurses. But, this shit costs money, and you should be happy.
it’s actually absolutely necessary to kill hair in its active growing phase, and for most areas that people get done, this phase lasts about 4 weeks or so. and hair is most vulnerable and easily killed then. waiting 5 months doesn’t have any medical backup. what’s their explanation for waiting this long?
The five months wait is only after three treatments I think. I have had treatments at Sona and I am extremely pleased with results. I asked about the treatments times, and they told me that after treating thousands of people, they calculated a schedule to be most effective within five treatments. I have had three treatments on my underarms,and there is virtually nothing left. Two treatments on my legs wiped out a great deal as well. I am extremely pleased with my results, but I also have white skin and dark hair.
The anagen phase is a different length for different areas of the body. And, the amount of hair actually in this phase varies from area to area too. Four weeks is a good average, but it doesn’t mean that it is the same everywhere. For example, at any given time, the hair on your head has 90% of the total in the anagen phase. These hairs may be in this phase for a year or more (which is why the hair on your head gets so long). Your eyebrows, on the other hand, only have maybe 15 % growing at once. And this anagen phase lasts for only a month or so. So, obviously, a treatment to your scalp will actually kill more hairs at once than a treatment to your eyebrows. And, you would have to come in more often to catch the hairs in this growing phase in your eyebrows than your scalp, because you would have gotten more on your head with the first zap. Like I said (or maybe I didn’t), I used to work at Sona. I do believe that their mathods and spacing are the most effective in only five treatments. You could go in every four weeks, but the whole point of the Sona way is to catch the most amount of hairs possible in the anagen phase, so you only need the five treatments. I don’t want to sound like I’m brainwashed or anything. The management there has a lot of room for improvement, but the science behind their concept is sound, if you understand it. There’s a chart somewhere that I’ll link to showing the duration and percentages of the hair in these phases. OK, enough lecture. Ask the nurses there if you’re still unsure. Or, ask me. I don’t mind!
the problem is that for most effective treatment, hairs need to be treated as soon as they come out when they’re most weak and vulnerable. the longer they remain untreated, the more blood supply they get and they get more permanently established and harder to kill. this concept applies to other hair removal methods, like electrolysis. bottom line, hair is more effectively killed when it’s new and weak.
Sona’s method is extremely effective. The treatments I’ve had so far at Sona have been very effective,and I am extremely pleased with results. The power levels are increased with each visit and should kill those hairs that may be more stubborn. I can’t complain about their timing schedule because it is working very well for me.
their method will still work. we’re just talking about the shortest time to kill the most hair here.
There’s a chart somewhere that I’ll link to showing the duration and percentages of the hair in these phases. OK, enough lecture. Ask the nurses there if you’re still unsure. Or, ask me. I don’t mind!
Here is a chart that shows follicle depth and growth cycles for hair on various areas of the body:
The chart showing the growth cycles is near the middle of the page.
RJC2001
great link. thanks.
the problem is that for most effective treatment, hairs need to be treated as soon as they come out when they’re most weak and vulnerable. the longer they remain untreated, the more blood supply they get and they get more permanently established and harder to kill. this concept applies to other hair removal methods, like electrolysis. bottom line, hair is more effectively killed when it’s new and weak.
I’m sorry, but I disagree here. The whole trick is to heat the hairs up for half the amount of time necessary to actually kill them (this is called the “thermal relaxation time”, or TRT). It is important to get this timing down, because this is how you avoid thermal damage to the skin. You heat the hairs up halfway, then the cooling down period (for the other half of the time) actually still serves to kill the blood supply to the hair. Hair isn’t thinner or weaker at all when it first comes out. It may appear to be because you’re looking at the thinner end of the hair as opposed to the thicker area at the base. This is also why shaved hair seems to grow in coarser. It isn’t, it just looks that way. Any way, the TRT of hair can change during the course of treatments. It usually needs to be shortened, because the hair is finer. A good practitioner can gauge how long to zap the hair. The hairs don’t get any more permanently established as the treatments progress. In fact, the most permanently established they are is probably at the start of treatments. As you notice, a hair-free period is (hopefully!) enjoyed after a treatment, even if some of the hairs come back. These hairs are being affected, and usually actually weakened a bit. The blood supply is the same amount, regardless of the age of the new hairs, too.
The amount of time between treatments should depend on the length of the three growth stages, as well as how much of the hairs are in the anagen phase at once (thank you so much for finding that link, RJC 2001). In my opinion, rigidly sticking to an every 4 to 6 week schedule is a waste of time overall, and will ultimately mean more time spent over the years to achieve the end goal.