Super cheap laser package through Living Social

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I think this is probably my first post. I’ve been reading this site for a few months and just thought I’d say the info has been great.

I’ve been contemplating doing laser hair removal for a long time. As far as I can tell, I’m a type II. Usually burn, don’t tan very well, light skin. I’m also extremely hairy, everywhere. Really dark coarse pubic-type hair on my shoulders/upper arms and back. Normal dark hair on chest/stomach.

Moved to NYC a few months ago and there seems to be a ton of clinics here. Finally making a bit more money now so I started looking into it. I really want to go to a good clinic and assuming I have the money, don’t mind spending more to get good results That said, I found a deal I couldn’t really pass up. Living Social had a deal for laser, $169 for 6 treatments of a large area. It’s for a place in south Brooklyn. They had a few good reviews on yelp and one or two bad ones that were mostly just for the receptionist being rude.

Had my first treatment last Tuesday. They didn’t really ask me any questions about my hair or skin type. I was of course skeptical due to the price. It’s a Russin-run place that’s more like a spa place. The girls were decently nice. Had me fill out some forms asking about medical history etc. Took me back to the room and had to shave me as I didn’t have time to do it beforehand. (Getting my back done). She was quick. Didn’t apply any numbing cream or anything. She used the Gentelase. I stupidly didn’t ask the settings (even after reading all the great info her). It hurt pretty bad. I jumped a few times. Not sure how bad it’s supposed to hurt. I have a bunch of tattoos, with a full sleeve on one arm and it was probably comparable to some of that pain.

She had to go around the small tattoo on my back and also said it wouldn’t hurt as bad next time cause the hair will be less coarse.

It will be a week tomorrow. I’m already seeing a small bit of shedding. Back was kinda bumpy at first but didn’t hurt really afterwards and went away pretty quick. I’m assuming a lot of that was the shaving.

Some cons about the experience:

  1. She said I need to make my next appointment for 5 weeks from now. From what I’ve read this isn’t enough time and I’m not sure how she would know when my next hair cycle will come in. That was a bit sketchy.

  2. They said they charged $10 for the shaving(which is fine). I went to give them my cc and said they couldn’t take cards for a tip. I don’t have a problem tipping them but they didn’t try charging me for the shaving. I ended up giving her a $40 tip. Like I said, don’t mind tipping at all for good service but it was weird to ask for it. I understand we’re in NY, they’re Russian and tend to be pretty straightforward but geez!

Pros:

  1. They seemed to use the right laser. I’ll try to get settings when I go back next.

  2. They actually covered a pretty large portion of my back, all the way up to my neck, sides and down to just above the butt area.

  3. The hair is not growing at all and starting to shed just a little.

Like I said, for the price I couldn’t pass it up. I want to do the stomach/chest and shoulders too but I’ll probably go to some place closer, even if it costs more and pick somewhere recommended on here.

Also, Would love to do my upper arms too as they have really dark coarse hair on them but like I said, have a full sleeve tattoo that goes all the way up on my shoulder. I’m guessing Electrolysis would be good for that? It doesn’t seem to be super dense, just thick and ugly.

I don’t have any pics right now but I can try posting some when the hair starts growing back.

Also, I’m male, 36. Thanks for all the great info here!

#2

Hi. I’m sure others with more knowledge will weigh in. But I’ll say that:

  • $169 for treatments of a large area is incredibly cheap. My best laser deal was a Groupon for four treatments of a medium area for $180.

  • You will need electrolysis if you want to treat the tattooed areas. You’ll need to make sure they stay off those tattoos or they may damage the ink. My tattoo had issues unrelated to laser hair removal – so I’m having it partly removed right now with laser tattoo removal. And although that works, it hurts several times worse than LHR.

  • I think using LHR in combination with electrolysis is a smart approach. I’m a bit older than you, so white hairs are also a factor for me. Get your LHR done before they turn white!

  • Five weeks is not enough time between appointments. I’ve been going in every eight weeks, which some here would say is still not long enough.

  • A $40 tip must have gotten their attention. No wonder they want you back so soon. :slight_smile: Sounds like you’re off to a good start. Just remember you are the client/customer so you shouldn’t get pushed into anything.

#3

Everything sounds pretty good to me, good laser etc. The fact it hurt is a good sign, if it didn’t then you’d have reason to be worried. 5 weeks is definitely pushing it, it should be more like 6-8. For clinics that want me to book right away I usually say I’m really busy and need to call closer to since my schedule changes. Sometimes with these group deals it’s hard sine they say they’re filling up fast etc, but some places will book a few appointments at once so even if they did 3 more appointments 5 weeks apart you can always just call and cancel the next one then say I’ll see you at my next one or something.

That’s weird to ask for a tip especially for laser but it’s not unheard of. Every place is different. I find it a bit rude to make an issue out of it or say they can’t take it on credit card especially if you’re paying for the shaving. They’re just being cheap since on the credit card they’d have to claim it as income vs cash. I can understand some of it though since they lose a lot on these deals, they only make about 50% of the total you paid. You’re lucky they have GentleLASE, here in Toronto like 99.99% of these deal sites are Soprano XL, IPL, or ELOS. Only once has it been GentleLASE and it was the worst clinic I’ve ever been to.

#4

Thanks for the replies, I’m a bit more encouraged now. I didn’t make an appointment, I did exactly as you and said I was really busy and would have to look at my calendar and call them back. I just hope they’ll still honor the deal if I set my own appointments.
The weird thing is, they never tried to charge for the shave once I got up to the desk. They reminded me more than once in the back room that the shave was $10 but just took the tip I gave them. I just assumed, if they really wanted to charge for the shave they would take it out of the tip.

Think I might look to make an appointment for an hour or so of electrolysis on the upper arms till my next LHR appointment.

Also, here are some pics of my chest and upper arm/shoulder(the one w/o the tattoo). The shoulder is about a 5 days to a week after I shaved it.

Chest.jpg
upper arm

#5

Yes it’s cheap, but what settings are they using? I had a super cheap groupon for $150 for 6 treatments on large area, but they refused to go past 12J. From what I have learned on this forum , it is simply a waste of time as the hair would grow back after finished with treatments. Now, it should take about 1 year to complete 6 treatments, Which I completed 5 treatments on 1 area before I switched places. I would have been very upset if I wasted 1 year of my time and energy getting treatments done that didn’t even work, I wouldn’t want to do that of they paid me to. It would be worth the money to go somewhere else to get it done right. See if you can get the settings they are using. Good luck.

#6

Your hair seem to be coarse enough to get decent results. You should call them up and ask for settings. 5 weeks might be too early.

#7

I would recommend to call and ask for specific settings.

Go back in when there is enough new hair to treat, not on a random schedule.

You should shave 1-2 days before yourself if you can. Freshly shaved skin can be sensitive.

#8

Thanks for all the info!
It’s been 4 weeks now, pretty much everything has shed. There are two spots that didn’t really shed, it hasn’t grown in either. It just stopped growing. Not sure if that’s good or bad. I guess it’s good if it’s not growing back but is all the hair supposed to shed?

Also, called and made my next appointment. Like I said, they wanted to do 5 weeks, I told them there was no hair growing yet. I have my next appointment on the 21 which will be 7 weeks. I asked them, if there’s no new hair growing if I could cancel or change it and she said no problem. Said, “it would be a waste of time if there’s no hair there” which I guess means they kinda know what they’re talking about.

I will say, the last few weeks have been awesome with bare, hairless skin. Can’t wait till this process is over to see the results.

#9

Glad everything is going good. Keep us updated! :slight_smile:

#10

In regards to shedding, is the hair supposed to grow normally until the actual shed, or does it just sort of remain shaved and black spots start falling out?

I had my treatment one week ago, and the hair is growing back as full and fast as if it were just shaved normally.

I’m a little worried that the settings weren’t strong enough. Hopefully the hair is supposed to grow normally until it starts falling out.

#11

It looks like it’s growing back normally then around day 9-10 they will just slide out.

#12

Went in for my second appointment today, it’s been just over 6 weeks and hairs are starting to come back in, albeit lightly.

This sessions was really painful. The hair was just growing in so no need to shave. I’m coming to think maybe I’m just a pussy that can’t tolerate pain. I have over 30 hours worth of tattoos over various parts of my body and this seemed a lot more painful than that. It was almost intolerable. Not sure if it’s me or it’s them.

I looked at the settings, looks like for my back they used 14joules with a 15mm spot size. She said they raise the settings each time so I’m thinking last time was maybe 12? Should it be that painful at that setting?

I was inquiring about pricing for other areas and we decided to add my shoulders and upper arms. She did it for $70 since one of my arms has a tattoo coming up onto the shoulder and she couldn’t do that part. For the arms/shoulders and around the neck, she set it to 10joules as she said anything higher would be way too painful. That hurt almost just as bad. She said that was the lowest setting.

She also said she could tell my skin was sensitive cause it gets red really easily. They don’t do any numbing cream but said I could get some from my doctor. I’m fairly new to NYC and don’t have an established doctor yet, anything I can buy OTC anyone can recommend? I really want to keep doing this but the pain is ridiculous.

#13

  1. You should shave as closely as possible one day before the session. Longer the hair above the surface, more the pain and higher the risk of burning.

  2. You sure it was the 15mm spot and not the 18mm spot? 14J on 15mm is not considered high on GentleLase. I think the pulse width is fixed at 3ms on GentleLase. May be they are using low DCD(cooling)settings.

  3. 6 weeks might be too early for this area. You should wait till you have a good amount of hair to treat.

  4. What’s your after care? Pure cool aloe vera gel might help with the redness. Check with your clinic.

  5. They should have no problem suggesting you a numbing cream. Icing before the session also helps. Avoid caffeine the day you have laser treatments.

  6. I’m not an expert but from what I have read on this forum anything below 12J is not very effective for permanent hair removal on GentleLase (unless the area to be treated has very coarse and very dense hair like the male beard). Go through LAgirl’s posts.

#14

Thanks. She did just recommend Lanocane(sp?)to get from my doctor.
Just remembered, I took a picture of the screen before we started. Not sure what you can tell from this. I did have hair coming back in, whether it was enough or not, I’m not sure cause I don’t have any experience with this.

Yeah, I kinda questioned the 10J too for the shoulder area. The hair is really coarse though. Medium density I’d say, definitely not like a beard.
My hair grows pretty quick. if I shave my shoulders, back I can feel stubble within a few hours. Probably grows faster than on my face really.

#15

PM Chris from Romeo and Juliet hair removal with the pic. He might be able to help you! His id is Romeo here.