Sooooo happy with LHR :)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Just thought I’d post a bit since I’m happy with my results so far. I did 4 sessions IPL on my abdomen with Lumenis One IPL, around 6 weeks apart. Didn’t have tons of hair but enough that it covered my stomach. After the 4th session I realized it was IPL and that IPL isn’t as effective so I basically stopped. I let it grow for probably 5-6 months. I’d still get a bit of really fine hair, but if I shaved it off, it wouldn’t come back for a month and was totally unnoticable. Last session I had with an alex laser I did on my abdomen as well just to finish it up a bit, so that’s 5 sessions in total. I was already really smooth since before I did that though but the finer hairs are all shedding now.

Anyway, I’ve been so used to being hairless there that it just seems normal. I was looking at some old pictures from my old phone when I had got my tattoo which was right after I did my first IPL session. You can clearly see that I had obviously shaved my stomach and that I was in the regrowth phase, but the hair was all really dark like black and coarse and stubbly looking. I was so surprised I had totally forgot it even ever looked like that. When I look at my stomach now it’s so completely smooth, even more so than when I’d wax. With waxing you’d always get a little coming back, or it would feel a bit rough or whatever but this looks just like my asian friends that I hate for being naturally smooth. Just so happy with the results!

I’m a bit surprised though since generally IPL isn’t as good I’ve heard but my best results have been from the IPL!

#2

How interesting! Got any before and after photos to share?

#3

Let me check and see what I can find. I don’t think I have any where it shows all the hair since I always waxed it away but I should be able to upload the ones that show the stubble or whatever. They’re on my other computer I’ll check after and see what I can do!

#4

Thanks for posting an update. Glad you’re happy.

IPL works too, especially on light skin and very coarse hair and at correct settings. It’s more of a concern when it’s being used no darker skin or finer hair or at wrong settings. The biggest concern is that more people report regrowth after 6 months or so when using an IPL. But if high settings were used on the right type of hair, it shouldn’t be an issue.

#5

I’ve had the same experience with laser on my stomach although my laser is not IPL… a good experience so far, hair has shed after 2 treatments with almost no regrowth (yet). It has been 5 weeks since my last treatment… I know that’s soon so we’ll see how it plays out in the next couple months!

#6

Hi edokid, I’m glad to hear you’re happy with your laser hair removal experience. How hairy were your legs/arms/stomach before the LHR? Also, how hairy are they now? Were you looking for a reduction in hair, or a complete removal?
I am looking for a reduction, but not removal because currently my legs are very dense and thick with hair, and my arms are also getting very hairy.
Thank you,
Benji

#7

Hey there,

I haven’t done legs yet, it’s prob my last area I’d treat. My stomach was pretty hairy, not crazy, but def enough, but just on my stomach, so was smooth everywhere else. That’s where I did the 4 IPL sessions then 1 Apogee to finish it. I’ll get the odd fine hair that comes back but I haven’t shaved it in months and to be honest I have close to 100% removal. You can clearly see the difference because I got a tattoo after my 2nd IPL session further to the edge of my stomach, and there will be a little bit of fine hair that grows over it but smooth everywhere else! So happy with the results on my stomach. Unfortunately I can’t really comment on the in between cycles, as even before laser I used to wax my stomach all the time, and then during laser I’d keep it shaved so I never really got to see a progression in reduction.

My arms are similar to my legs, def more hairy, as well as on the top of my hands. Always looked weird as I have a smooth chest then have hairy forearms. I’ve done 2 sessions on them now, 1 with GentleLASE and then another with Apogee. It’s been 6 weeks since the last session so the hair is starting to come back a bit now. I actually have photos I need to upload as I do have before pictures on this one. I don’t think the hair has fully grown back yet, as it’s not as coarse as normal it’s more fine, but right now 6 weeks after my 2nd treatment there’s I’d say a 80% reduction. HOWEVER, I’m not saying that’s the end result, that’s the result at 6 weeks, all the hair hasn’t grown back yet so it’s definitely not going to be 80% after only 2 sessions.

Here’s the thing though, I think using laser for a reduction would be difficult. The reason I say that is when I look at my arms, it’s definitely been reduced, but I don’t find it looks natural. I’ll try to take a picture later and upload it. I want to make it clear though that’s it’s NOT patchy, I’ve got full coverage with the laser on my arms. (Just going to make up numbers as an example here) The thing is before I started laser, lets say per square inch, I had 150 hairs. Right now on my arms, I’d say it’s more like 5-20. They’re much more spaced apart, if that makes sense. The thing is that they’re still just as dark as before since this is a new cycle, so now it looks more like I’ve taken a hairy arm and plucked out a bunch of hair.

Sorry it’s really hard to describe what I mean! It’s basically like this: Someone with a really hairy arm will have dark thick coarse hair. Someone with NATURALLY much less hair on their arm, will have finer, lighter not as coarse hair. When you do reduction with the laser, it definitely thins out the amount of hair, but it still says fairly dark and coarse, so it doesn’t look natural to me, it looks like when you wax an area and then the hair is coming back, if that makes sense?

#8

I would say reduction is definitely possible, but you should expect to have about 4 treatments. That way, you’ll impact hair in all cycles of growth, which would mean ALL the hair will be treated and either becomes a lot thinner and weaker or will be gone altogether. You can also do some blending afterwards with electrolysis.

Btw, waxing 2-3 months prior to first initial treatment synchronizes the hair and usually speeds up the entire process. It sounds like this happened in edokid’s experience. I’ve had the same experience.