trying laser hair removal for full arms

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

Well, for myself, I get some shedding at about week 2 but at week 3 it really kicks in. I don’t shave at all during this time as it will only slow down the process. It looks like the hairs are growing but at a very slow pace - I can compare as usually there are odd hairs that were probably missed in the overlapping, which are actually growing and they get to twice the length in the same period of time.

My sister’s was a different case entirely. Since her hair is coarse, after shaving, you can see small black dots. It remained this way after treatment (test patch) until about week 6, when they started to disappear (I guess slough away). She had no hairs ‘growing’ out in the first 2-3 weeks and therefore no shedding. The important thing for her is that nothing new started coming through until after week 8.
She is only 2 weeks since her first proper treatment and so far it looks like the situation will be the same again.

To sum up, I wouldn’t shave. If the hairs are going to shed in about a weeks time, it will be easier for them to come out if left alone. If they don’t then at least you can tell that they just seem to be growing normally or if any new growth is coming through.

#22

IS the hair growing as usual or there are just dead hairs stuck in follicles that are not growing or shedding? Dead hairs are called pepperspots and they’re fine. They may take longer to fall out. As long as nothing is growing, you’re ok.

#23

LAgirl-I think the hairs left now may be dead hairs–they are longer because they were growing up until a few days ago but now it looks like they may be done growing. If they don’t shed by the end of week 4, I might have to shave, just because there are events I will have to wear t-shirts for, but I’ll wait until then to consider shaving, like you said, stoppit, to better see what the growth is like–maybe my hairs are like stoppit’s sister’s case, that they won’t really fall off until week 6-8.

#24

You can shave if you need to. You’ll still know when they shed because the stubble will be gone. Some people find that hairs shed easier if they don’t shave (perhaps because they are easier to pull out or fall out when they are slightly longer and extruding from the skin), but I’ve never had a problem. I shave my underarms every day and the shedding is going well, same with my legs after each treatment.

You should still know when the hairs shed just from looking at the stubble. If your hair is so fine that you can’t see any stubble when you shave, then it was probably too fine for laser anyway.

#25

Hm, good to know. I definitely have stubble when I do shave. I’ll see if having the hair longer right now speeds up the shedding this week, but if not, I will probably start shaving again next week. Thanks!

#26

I shaved this weekend because there still wasn’t any more shedding (at 3.5 weeks). So I got about 20 percent shedding–3 or 4 small patches on each arm–the first few days of week 2, but nothing after that.

I thought that after shaving, if my hair doesn’t move past a pepperspot-looking phase, that would still be a good sign, because it would mean that no new hair is coming in (as this should be the hair-free period) even if some of the old hair didn’t shed off (like stoppit mentioned happened for her sister). However, 2 days after shaving, the hair is growing back in like normal–the only places that aren’t growing back are the few patches I mentioned that shed a week or so ago. This means that the laser really only worked on those few patches, right?

#27

Pretty much, yeah. Go ask for a touch up and show them. Be prepared for them to say they didn’t miss spots and this is just the hair that was not in the right phase (even hair in the wrong phase should shed though). You’ll have a little argument on your hands, but you basically just paid them to treat 20% of the hair. And since only 20% of THAT is in the right phase technically, you’ve paid them to treat 20% of 20% of the hair (that is only 4% total).

I had my arms lasered recently and every single hair either shed before week 3 or turned into a pepperspot. You shouldn’t have any growth at all going into week 4 like this.

#28

I couldn’t find any information on settings used. Can you call them and ask and post for us? It’s likely that there is little shedding because the settinsg were too low. So you need to be equipped with information before you go in for a touchup to avoid getting a touchup at low settings too.

#29

I probably won’t be able to do a touch-up because I’m going on vacation soon; by the time I get back, it will already be around the 7-8 week mark (which is when I would have gotten a treatment anyway if I didn’t need a touch-up) and I’ll just get my second treatment then. I definitely will ask her about settings then though. Just so I have an idea what better settings would be/know what to suggest if it turns out her settings are pretty low, can people post what kind of settings they have if they have had any arm treatment with the cutera nd:yag? Stoppit, judging from the pictures you posted, your sister’s hair growth seems similar to mine–do you by any chance know the settings used on her arms? And MagicalPrincessKitty, do you know what settings are used on your arms (since you said you got great shedding results last time)? You might have a completely different skin type and laser used on you, but just thought I’d check. Thanks!

I’ll also tell them next time that only 20 percent shed and specify the areas.

Thanks for feedback, everyone.

#30

I have type I skin, maybe type II with black hair. We used a GentleLASE which doesn’t help you much since you used a yag, but we used the second-highest settings, and next time we will be using the highest settings physically possible as well.

I am not familiar with yag settings, so I personally have no clue what would work for you. Sorry. :frowning:

#31

Just call and ask for joules, spot size, and pulse width numbers and post here.

#32

Had my 2nd appointment today and wanted to post settings. The chart said spot size 10, “fluence” 65 (I’m guessing this is joules?), and pulse width 15. The laser is a Cutera nd:yag. Does this sound like high enough settings? The only thing I’m concerned about: I told her how my arms only shed in a few small patches last time, and she said that’s normal, especially for the first time, and that each time it will shed more. Does this sound right?

#33

Considering these settings, you should be easily able to use an alex laser as well.

10mm spot size is somewhat small. I guess they have an older machine.

Everything should shed each time. So no, that doesn’t make sense. You should ask for a free touchup on anything that’s growing as usual 3 weeks after the treatment.

#34

Okay, good to know–thanks.