I’m a 38-year old male with Type II skin. I had my first laser treatment last Friday on my upper legs.
I’ve got thick, coarse dark-brown leg hair. I started shaving last year for triathlon/cycling, and constantly got ingrown hairs. My lower legs are fine—it’s the thighs/butt that cause problems. I got my legs waxed a couple times last year, and that also resulted in ingrown hairs. I bought a Remington iLight IPL home device, but only got minimal shedding and it takes forever.
My plan is to get complete removal from above the knees to waist (except for an area around the base of the shaft). And I’ll get 2-3 treatments on the lower legs to thin it out but not go completely bare.
I found a clinic in the area that seemed OK. I shaved everything on Friday morning, and went in Friday afternoon. The technician did a couple test spots with a GentleMax on alex 18mm/12j/3 ms, and I could barely even feel it. She then went to 14j and treated the entire area. I told her I thought 16-18 might be more effective given my skin type, but she said that 14 was recommended. I had taken a couple Advil before the session, but found it to be entirely tolerable with no pain. Some of the denser spots felt a little more intense, but certainly not nearly as bad as waxing. There was no immediate redness, and no redness later.
When my wife had her legs done 8 years ago, she said it was quite painful despite massive amounts of EMLA. She got noticeable redness after the treatment and had to use ice packs on her legs.
I know I shouldn’t expect shedding for a couple weeks, but I’m worried that I wasted my time/money on this first round. Should I have insisted on doing at least 16 joules, and probably 18-20? Will a session at lower power set me back by suppressing growth for a while but not killing the follicle?
The technician recommended I come back in 6-8 weeks, but I’m thinking 10-12 is better for the areas I’m treating.
My lower legs have a bit of a tan. The tech tested it with the YAG mode on the GentleMax on my shin. I don’t recall the settings. I think that I’m better off waiting for winter when my lower legs are pale again and doing that with the alex mode. Do you agree? The tan is barely noticeable. If you didn’t have the upper leg to compare it to, you’d probably think it wasn’t tanned at all. It’s probably still the color of Type II skin.
Also, the technician refused to do my scrotum. I told her I’d already had a vasectomy so that fertility isn’t an issue. She said she’d check with management and maybe do it next time. Is that typical?
For those curious about permanent results, my wife had LHR on her legs/bikini area about 8 years ago and it’s been totally permanent. She was cursed with dark, coarse hair from inner thigh to the lower leg, and it’s 99.99% gone. She can go two months without shaving, and all that grows is about 10 scattered long, thin hairs. For those who question whether the results are truly permanent and complete, she’s a perfect example of how it can work. I didn’t go to her clinic, though, because they had her use several tubes of EMLA each time, and I’ve learned since that that is a big no-no. Perhaps they no longer do that. She used another clinic for the underarms, but I think that clinic didn’t turn up the juice enough because the results haven’t been quite as good as the legs, and my wife didn’t like the owner/technician.