Starting LHR treatment (Jan 11)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

After reading here for a while I decided to start LHR treatment for legs/underarms.

We have a beautician with a GentleYAG near by, so I called her up and went in for a consultation today. She pegged me as a Type III. (I tan easily and can get very dark but I’m pale as a ghost right now.)

She explained things to me, then made a few test zaps with the following settings: 18 mm, 30 j, 5 ms. The pain was manageable, there was redness afterwards but only looks mildly irritated now - I can still feel the sting.

The beautician said that she wanted to do 15mm/32j/5ms for the first appointment in 2 days, though. Does that sound any good?

She also said to come in every six weeks but I’ll only do that if there’s enough hair to justify it - they do grow fast so it’s possible.

By the way, I saw another customer who was there for another reason. She said she had done the same areas, including the face and was very happy with it. (That was one of the things I didn’t like - she took down my details in front of the other woman - so much for privacy.)

#2

If you’re type 3 you would probably get better results with GentleLASE vs the Yag. The yag will work on very dark coarse hair where the alex is better at that plus finer hair.

The first settings sound good, the second ones the 15mm is lower and not as strong. I’m not sure why she wants to use 15mm on the legs and not 18 since it’s smaller and takes longer. My current clinic used 15 on my legs the first time as well. I’m type 3 used different machine the Apogee and they used Yag on me, not sure what settings but I only had about 90-95% shedding.

You could ask if she’ll use the 18 on the next session, and if you don’t feel anything during treatment you can tell them that too like say you feel nothing to get them to increase it.

From my experience, even if it seems low, there’s not much you can do. If you go in there and say no I want the 18mm they’re probably going to just explain why they aren’t and that’s it. It’s fine to want higher settings but I’ve found it’s hard to get it!

#3

Hi Edokid, thanks for you answer! I did find a place with GentleLASE, unfortunately it’s kind of far from here.

I think she wants to use these setting because it will be my first time and a large area but seems amendable to raising them afterwards and she said she’d use the test settings for the underarms.

It’s one of the reasons why I said no to a package even though it would have been a little cheaper. That way if we disagree on the settings or something else crops up we could stop.

She also offered to zap the upper lip for free (and the other customer told me she had been quite hairy in that area but looks very clean now after treatment) but I’m very leery due to some of the posts I read about face laser here. What was your experience?

#4

This machine will work fine for the coarse hair. You’d need GentleLASE once it may seem like it’s not working anymore because the hair got too fine.

30J on 18mm is the max on that machine and a much higher setting than 32J on 15mm. No reason to use 15mm at all if you didn’t experience any side effects from 30J/15mm with 5ms (lowest is 3ms).

Legs have very long hair cycles, so you shouldn’t need treatments more often than once every 10-12 weeks. Underarms can wait 8-12 weeks.

You shouldn’t have much to treat at 6 weeks. I would ask about touchups if a lot of hair is missed. You can see that hair at 3 weeks after shedding completes.

Don’t zap anything that’s not coarse and dense, espcially on the face, if you don’t want to risk induced growth.

#5

Thanks for your answer LAgirl.

Test patch still looks sunburned the day after and is sensitive to touch, other than that it’s ok. (I actually dreamed about getting lasered tonight - I guess the consultation triggered a lot of strong emotions in me - only the area turned into a horrible deep purple red shade in my dream so I was very relieved to just see the mild redness when I woke up. :crazy: )

She said she’ll be using the 18/30/5 settings for underarms so I will ask her if we can use those for the legs too, since I had a good reaction at the patch which was at the lower leg. I’m still a little scared about the whole thing, so I won’t fight it too much if she says no but I’ll definitely expect her to do it the second time.

The beautician was very keen to having me back at the 6 week mark but it will be closer to 10 because I’ll need that long to scrape the money together for the treatment, anyway.

#6

Redness shouldn’t last more than a day. If it’s still tender tomorrow, they should lower settings slightly. Anything over 25J on 18mm should be good.

You don’t need to schedule your treatmenets up front. Call when you’re ready. No need to argue with them on timing.

#7

Good to know, thanks!

By the way I just bought a red lipliner to cover up the moles tomorrow. :blush: Has anyone else used this method? I just couldn’t think of anything else.

#8

You don’t really need to cover them up unless you really want to keep them as dark as they are now.

#9

Test area redness/tenderness did not last more than a day.

So when I went today the legs were lasered with the 18/30/5 settings. (Thankfully no convincing was necessary, she agreed immediately when she saw the patch.)

There was no numbing lotion used (she doesn’t like them) but she did cool the area before she started and used cooling pads throughout the session.

I immediately discovered there is a reason why the pain at the test patch was manageable. It’s just a test patch, duh! The proper session hurt. It hurt a lot! :o

Particularly the coarse hair areas (lower legs, bikini) with bikini being the worst. :eek:

So if hurt is any indication of efficacy, I’d say I stand a good chance of getting my lower legs/bikini cleared up but probably not the thighs, which are equally hairy but not as coarse.

To clarify here are pictures of the one leg before the session:

Upper thigh: http://i51.tinypic.com/ok7vvk.jpg
Bikini: http://i51.tinypic.com/14boq9t.jpg
Lower leg: http://i53.tinypic.com/2v7xkdu.jpg

After the session:
Bikini (yes, it nearly goes down to the knees):frowning: http://i51.tinypic.com/rw6ss6.jpg
Lower leg: http://i55.tinypic.com/256wvww.jpg

At the moment the only area that looks lasered is the bikini (ow, ow, ow) and the lower legs, thighs look untouched. Which sort of confirms my earlier thought about forgoing any significant reduction on the thighs.

I must say though, that clearning up the two areas (lower legs/bikini) would still be a significant improvement for me.

It was a crazy morning for both of us, so we completely forgot the underarms. I’ll make an appointment at the 3 week mark for them. :wink:

PS. I have this awful feeling she may not have been very thorough and that’s why she was pushing for a 6 week appointment. Essentially a “touch up” which gets paid as a 2nd treatment? :whistle: That’s why I’m glad we forgot the underarms - if half of the hair is still there after the shedding period, we’ll get a chance to have a heart to heart talk. :confused:

#10

All looks and sounds good. Keep up updated on how shedding goes at 3 weeks.

On these areas, you should probably wait around 10 weeks between treatments. Legs have long hair cycles.

Touchups should be done at 3 weeks. That’s when shedding completes and you can see what was missed.

#11

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am getting the bikini area done soon and I’m not looking forward to it! :eek:

#12

LAgirl: I’ve always thought that having a lot of coarse hair which responds badly to almost any kind of temporary removal (like shaving, waxing, etc.) was a curse to be endured and had resigned myself to feeling self-conscious about it forever, but thanks to this place I’m beginning to have some hope that one day I may look forward to summer without a feeling of dread.

Ennovi: Maybe your technician will let you wear a numbing cream! Mine doesn’t like them for some reason, so I’m planning to take my own xtra, xtra cold packs the next time and try cooling, zap, cooling zap and see if that will help a little…

Perhaps subsequent treatments will get more bearable as more and more hair dies off in that area.

On the bright side the pain did NOT mean I was getting burned or skinned alive. :grin: Redness went away by the next day, like in the test patch.

The laser also seems to have “zapped away” the usual after-effects of shaving (Normally I’d be itchy for days while fighting bumps and ingrowns.) In fact that’s how I stopped feeling paranoid about the technician not being thorough enough, because the only places that did feel itchy and bumpy are two small bikini spots near the buttocks that had been shaved but didn’t get lasered due to me squirming so much!

#13

If your results are going to be anything like mine, and it sounds like you’re getting there, you will be ecstatic after you’re done :slight_smile: Your life will change even.

#14

First session for underarms today:

Before:

After:

It hurt just as much as the bikini area :eek: but I tried the idea I mentioned in an earlier post (cooling, zap, cooling, zap) as well as some choice cuss words and somehow I got through with it.

Since it’s been nearly 3 weeks after my first full legs session, I’ve included a couple of post-shedding pics (sorry for the poor quality - old camera).

Lower leg after shedding: http://i54.tinypic.com/95opjo.jpg

I would say about 90-95% of the hair fell off.

Upper thigh/bikini after shedding:

Same for the bikini - about 98% of the hair fell out.

As you can see there’s plenty of pepperspots and red dots from where I picked on the pepperspots :blush:

Only 70%-80% of the hair shed on the thighs and my best guess is, she simply wasn’t thorough enough in that area.

I don’t know, the pictures don’t really do justice here. Legs actually look and feel about 100 times better than before treatment and I totally understand how people can get hooked on this.

#15

Everything looks good. Thanks for keeping your updates!

#16

omg, i am so terribly jealous of your 3 week pictures. here is hoping that im in a similar boat within the next month or two! i hope you are enjoying it!!! ::looks sadly at own bumpy rashy legs::

#17

Thank you for the support LAgirl and timeofday.

Timeofday I know exactly what you mean. This is the first time my legs have felt this smooth in at least 25 years. Hopefully regrowth will not mean tons of ingrowns, bumps and rashes like I get with waxing/shaving/tweezing and other temporary removal methods.

Despite the first success, I read in the “GentleYAG for pale skin type I/II” thread that Types I-III are better off with another type of laser and now I’m worried again. (As I, naturally, want the best result for my money.)

The beautician with the Yag lives just around the block while the place that offers GentleLASE is pretty far from here. :frowning:

#18

Hey notadelphin,

Good stuff. From my own experience, I think you will be happy with the regrowth. As soon as I started Laser, my legs started getting better.

#19

For the first 3-4 treatments, GentleYAG is fine as long as good settings are used and the hair is very coarse. It’s only an issue once the hair gets finer.