theMonkeyMan Treatment Log

Guess I should share my experiences.

This will only cover new treaments. For my past treatment on beard area, please search the forum. But I will have to get my beard (front of neck) re-treated as I have about 50% regrowth now, and have to shave it daily again.

Started treatment with a GentleLase at City Laser in Sydney.

Last week had 3 test spots done - 2 at 16J and 1 at 18J. Test spots were on tricep area. Limited pain was felt (turns out this is a bad test area - not indicative of the true treatment)

Friday morning had treatment on full arms and part of underarm (wanted to keep a patch of hair in the underarms). Started at 16J had to go down to 14J. Extremely painful. Treatment should have lasted 15 to 20 minutes - lasted 30 (which sucks because payment is $70 per 5 minutes rather than set price per area - so $420 ouch!)

Friday afternoon I had chest and abs done. Used Emla beforehand, and had treatment at 16J. Any area the cream hadn’t reached full potency at was very painful, the rest was moderate pain. Time went to 16 minutes (because the tech started chatting with the clock going - I’ll have to keep an eye out for that and stop her next time). So I tried to use of the rest of the time until 20 minutes by having her zap my feet/toes and touch up the armpits. Cost $280.

Arms were red and raised but mostly subsided by evening. Chest and abs were a disaster - covered in red spots, raised skin (bumpy like chicken skin) and very tender. This lasted until Sunday (still lots of red dots everywhere - but the skin is no longer sore to the touch)

Interestingly, this tech made a comment which the techs from years ago also made - when geting zapped by the laser, the hair was being violently ejected from my skin - being shot out. When I had my beard treated the technician was actually worried about the hairs hitting the laser and damaging the lens (which I thought was a silly worry - hair can’t break glass). Apparently this tech witnessed the same thing and said it was very rare - she’d only ever seen it happen once or twice before (this was the chatting that cost me an extra $70). Dunno if other people have experienced this or not.

Scheduled for full legs on thursday and buttocks/brazillian on friday.

Am very tempted to switch to a different clinic that uses the Soprano XL to reduce the pain involved (though they don’t do male braz - so I might be stuck with GentleLase for that area)

I’ll update when shedding begins. But today I tweezed 2 hairs, and they definitely didn’t glide out the way a treated hair would (from my past experience), so I’m a little concerned.

I think for the areas of my upper body that weren’t lasered, I’m going to get it waxed (as I have fine hairs everywhere, except perfect smoothness where the laser went, and it looks weird)

  • Soprano is not as poweful and there are no longterm reports of permanent results with it yet. I wouldn’t jump to it if the only issue is pain. Have you considered using a numbing cream? It sounds like it’s necessary in your case. Icing helps a lot too, before and after.

  • Full arms and parts of underarm took only 30 mins? That seems somewhat short. Make sure they’re overlapping well.

  • I’m assuming they’re using 18mm spot size with those joules?

  • How many treatments did you have on the beard originally?

I used Emla on my chest for the treatment. Didn’t use it on the arms (didn’t think I’d need it).

She was pretty quick with the gun. Beofre she starts, she uses a white make-up pencil to devide the skin into small grids - then zaps through each grid and moves to teh next. Seems like a good way to tracks what’s been done and what hasn’t. They quote full arms as a 15 to 20 minute procedure, but I think that’s optimistic on their part.

Yes - they are using 18mm spot size. She seems to have a whole case of these 18mm plastic tips which she constantly replaces as the procedure goes along. I guess they heat up or something, I dunno why she has to do that.

The beard - I’d have to look at my old posts. It was either 9 or 11 … I don’t actually remember off hand. The first bunch was CoolGlide YAG, then the later were Palomar Estelux IPL since the YAG wasn’t providing results on the thinned out hair.

Did Emla help? How long did you leave it on for?

Just over an hour with a serious plastic wrapping around me. It definitely helped a lot. I was able to have treatment at 16J instead of 14J. Also - when she zapped an area that hadn’t been treated, I quickly realised that I wouldn’t have been able to withstand an entire treatment of that sensation. That being said, there was still some considerable pain over the pecs and the collarbone/breastbone. And the skin was quite tender for the next 24 hours.

I’ll need to use a bit more Emla next time and be more careful not to rub it in.

Also, ice the area afterwards. And apply ice-cold aloe vera gel.

Ok, I should add another note for anybody following my treatment.

I also had part of my underarms done (same time as arms). I wanted to leave a small patch of hair in each , but had about 1/3 of the space lasered. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel a thing (and I did not use any numbing cream on this area).

I also had my feet and toes done. Mildly uncomfortable, but that’s it.

5 days later, all redness gone from all areas. No shedding yet. I am exfoliating with some type of exfoliating-glove and it is very effective at preventing ingrowns, as well as infections (and whiteheads). I am also quite stubbly.

Having test patch with Soprano XL tomorrow. Based on outcome, will either have GentleLase treatments on Thursday/Friday, or try to get Soprano treatment for this weekend.

Had a test patch with a Soprano XL machine today. Before I get into that, I will outline what treatments I have had to this point.

Several years ago, had front of neck done with Altus Coolglide Nd:YAG and Palomar Estelux IPL. There is a treatment summary already on this forum, so I won’t mention further.

In 2004, had a full body wax. Only did this once. Wasn’t particularly enjoyable, and took over 3 hours (in 2 sessions). Took a few weeks for the red “blood spots” to clear up and only really had less than a week of actual clearance before regrowth started.

About 3 years ago had some electrolysis work with James from this forum. He got me comfortable with getting eyebrow work done, but I couldn’t handle the pain involved with brazilian area. He also treated my fingers, but the fingers ended up not responding well at all.

Continued electrolysis in Ottawa on face (eyebrows, forehead, nose etc) and shoulders. By this point was comfortable enough to just listen to an iPod and doze for an hour session.

Had the GentleLase treatment last week and found it very painful.

Had the Soprano XL test patch today on my inner leg, just above the ankle. It was a 3" * 2" area, using SHR mode at 10J. The tech was aiming for a total of 6 to 8KJ treatment, but stopped at 3.8KJ. I’m glad she did. I found this treatment to be at least as painful (if not more) than last week’s GentleLase.

My skin did not get red and raised at all, but it was a little sore for about an hour after treatment.

I’m not sure why my skin reacts like this - but that was a long way from being pain free.

Guess I’ll finish this first treatment with GentleLase and see if I notice a difference in regrowth between the test patch area and the rest of my leg to judge efficacy.

As for the electrolysis side of things, if you had “some” electrolysis for your fingers and they didn’t respond well at all, then that tells me that “some” electrolysis does not equal the 9 > 12 > 18 months worth that is needed to accomplish the goal. Electrolysis works 100% of the time if the certain rules of engagement are followed. The area doesn’t matter, the hair size doesn’t matter, the hair color doesn’t matter and the skin color doesn’t matter. Electrolysis is permanent hair REMOVAL like no other method.

Just wanted to clarify that one statement.

Thanks,

Dee

You’re misinterpreting “did not respond well” (or rather, you’ve incorrectly assumed what I meant by it). A couple of the sessions went fine. After the last session (which is why it was the last session) I was left with tiny bloody lesions at the pore for each hair that was treated. This lasted for several weeks, and my fingers looked like I had a severe case of road-rash. Since that time, the hair which has regrown has come it at odd angles.

I did not experience this type of reaction on any other body part that I had electrolysis on.

I also don’t agree with your claim: electrolysis does not work “100%” of the time, or there would never be a need to re-treat a follicle; which isn’t the case. Electrolysis is susceptible to various parameters and factors to determine efficacy, including growth cycle of the hair.

But I am not listing this treatment log to cover my electrolysis work, only my laser work. I am simply providing background of treatments which I have had in the past, so that readers know what experiences I am able to draw comparisons to.

I do not want this thread to be hijacked into a discussion about electrolysis. This thread details laser hair removal, on a laser forum. I am not interested in discussing how or why past treatments may or may not have been successful. If you wish to continue this discussion, please start another thread.

I would take care Monkeyman, or you may find that the experts on here who devote hours and hours of their time for nothing to help us all, decide that they are not interested either in helping you

I can post wherever and whenever I please. You made an incorrect statement about electrolysis on THE LASER FORUM so, I corrected that incorrect statement about electrolysis on THE LASER FORUM. I will do it again if necessary. You can choose to get angry or you can choose to post anything you want about your electrolysis opinions by starting your own new thread in THE ELECTROLYSIS FORUM. How’s that sound?

Love it Dee, work :smiley:

Dee - please indicate where in my post I made an incorrect statement about electrolysis? You didn’t correct anything - you made an incorrect assumption about a post, and decided to add unnecessary input.

I’m not interested in you defending or shilling for your line of work. If you are actually interested in the usefulness of these forums for new treatment seekers to get information, you shouldn’t dilute useful treament logs with flame posts. Or you can just say “I can post whatever I want, wherever I want” as you appear to be doing. But that really isn’t helpful to anything other than your ego.

I am not looking for your so-called “expert” advise. Unless you are a forum moderator or admin, you have no special standing on this forum; you are just another poster like the rest of us, regardless of how many posts you have made.

This thread is intended to provide a log to others looking for information. It would be nice if people didn’t have to sift through a bunch of unrelated flame posts in order to find the information that they are seeking.

I think the largest problem with this mutual misunderstanding is the fact that it has to do with an electrolysis statement on the L.A.S.E.R. forum. Had anyone said what you said on the electrolysis side it would have been assumed that most people reading would have enough experience, or reading behind them to understand that one needs to find as good a practitioner as possible, and follow a certain schedule for getting the job done as quickly as possible.

The problem here is, MANY (most?) people who come here to read the L.A.S.E.R. forums don’t ever cross over to the electrolysis side, and therefore don’t have any basic understanding of the procedure. They don’t know that anyone who finally has enough informaton on what you meant when you said you had electrolysis and did not respond well to it at all, would be talking to their computer screen like a kid watching Sesame Street; “You had one bad treatment from someone who either had the treatment energy or the insertion wrong!(maybe both)”

So it is that the administration here at HairTell wants everyone to know that just like a statement like that about L.A.S.E.R. on the electrolysis side would quickly have a similar reply, so it is on the L.A.S.E.R. side when making gross misstatements about electrolysis.

Electrolysis DOES work on any hair, any color, and on any part of the body. The problem is that many people don’t get the kind of treatment where this becomes clear to them quickly. The reason for this can be the fault of the practitioner, (not enough skill) or the customer (not giving the practitioner a fair amount of time or treatments) but scietifically speaking, their is no hair problem that electrolysis could not handle, IF given enough time to clear all the hair, and then reclear it all on the proper schedule.

Studies done using radioactive markings so that hairs can actually be positively identified, prove what I just said. The growth cycles make it hard for the average person to believe this, as they experience the next wave of new hairs coming in, appearing to be the same hairs, although they be in different follicles.

.

Monkey Man said:

Dee - please indicate where in my post I made an incorrect statement about electrolysis? You didn’t correct anything - you made an incorrect assumption about a post, and decided to add unnecessary input. [b]James already addressed this very well and I feel no need to convince someone like you who is convinced he is right no matter what logic is applied. [/b]

I’m not interested in you defending or shilling for your line of work. If you are actually interested in the usefulness of these forums for new treatment seekers to get information, you shouldn’t dilute useful treament logs with flame posts. Or you can just say “I can post whatever I want, wherever I want” as you appear to be doing. But that really isn’t helpful to anything other than your ego. [b]I think it is helpful, so new posters like yourself know right away that your demands and impolite behavour is not accepted here and never will be. Again, I will post wherever I want or whatever I want in any forum on hairtell and if you don’t like it, go find another place to throw your demands around.
[/b]
I am not looking for your so-called “expert” advise. Unless you are a forum moderator or admin, you have no special standing on this forum; you are just another poster like the rest of us, regardless of how many posts you have made. [b]Thank you for making me laugh today. You are really out of touch and not very observant. I have been posting here since 2003, heading toward 5,000 posts. I VOLUNTEER my time here as a practicing electrologist who works on people SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. I don’t want to be a moderator by the way because I don’t want to be beholding to anyone or anything. I can stop contributing whenever I want for whatever reason I want and James could do it all. Right, James? :wink: [/b]

This thread is intended to provide a log to others looking for information. It would be nice if people didn’t have to sift through a bunch of unrelated flame posts in order to find the information that they are seeking. Well, you just ordered up another flame post. If you want more to come, keep putting your finger in my face.

If you don’t like it here, www.cosmeticenhancementsforum.com is a laser-based website and I’m sure they would welcome you with open arms, as long as you are polite :confused: .

Please pass that cup away from my lips! :o

Let’s all settle down. MonkeyMan, electrologists here get offended when people say “electrolysis doesn’t or didn’t work” which makes it sound like electrolysis doesn’t work in general. It’s the same type of offense that laser operators take to people saying that laser doesn’t work. The fact of the matter, as you also know through experience, is that both methods work well IN GOOD HANDS when done properly.

themonkeyman,

How have your gentlelase treaments gone thus far? Its been almost three weeks or so since you had your treatment. Any signs of shedding or hair growth stoppage??