very scared about patchy results on beard

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

Your reaction is exactly what I would be having! I would be seriously FREAKED OUT! I’m looking at your photos right now! I’m probably “OCD” because I’m a total perfectionist — so, having this problem would be too much; especially not knowing the actual outcome! Get those suckers to commit to a time-frame and resolution of the problem!

Maybe you should switch over to the laser board and get expert opinion from them. I only do electrolysis (for 30 years) and I am not qualified to comment on laser. (We do have a laser tech in “our” medical spa. I did electrolysis on her chin that had full 80 unit beard hairs. Now, ain’t that a “hoot!”)

LAgirl is our resident expert on laser — I’d absolutely follow her instructions!

#22

The place you’re going to basically doesn’t know what they’re doing. ALL hair should shed. What they’re telling you is wrong. You are a poster child for why this board exists and why people should do their own research before embarking on this.

By “touchup” I mean treating ALL those areas that still have hair at 3 weeks. ALL of it should fall out at 3 weeks. Whatever doesn’t was either missed or was treated at low settings.

Please call the clinic and ask for settings as I mentioned. We can only help so much without the right information. We’re trying to help you figure out how to take care of this problem.

You shouldn’t be getting burned. Some irritation is fine for up to 3-4 days. This area has dense growth. Pain should be expected because of that too, but a numbing cream applied properly should help a lot.

Either way, you need to be retreated on all those areas with a good laser at good settings. Whether your clinic can and is willing to use proper settings is impossible to tell without us knowing what they already used and advising you on what they should switch to based on that.

A dermatologist rarely knows anything about hair growth. That’s not going to help you. If you stop now and don’t do antyhing, those patches are going to remain and will appear on your face once in a while. I don’t advise that. But it’s up to you. I don’t think that was sound advice. You already started it and need to even things out now. Otherwise, this will remain like this for good.

#23

LAgirl…maybe i should just fly to you and get treatment with you or whomever you recommend? because i have called a few different places and none of them have told me that it should all fall out after the initial treatment…they all say u will need at least 6 treatments to get all the hair…

if you are certain that you can sort out the patchiness then i am prepared to fly over because i want to get this fixed ASAP…the spas are telling me that its a process and will take months…plus u are really scaring me when u say it will end up looking like this forever if i dont do anything about it…

ill post the settings and dates soon, but what do u suggest ??

#24

the dates were, for the 1st treatment, february 11th. and the 2nd treatment was on march 4th…

i would say it took 2 weeks for the hairs to fall out after the 1st treatment

ill post the other settings soon.

#25

I saw your laser pictures and I wish I could help unfortunately I only have one advice but it’s good:

Don’t, DONT pick or squeeze the area. Please, just do not do it. I also had tons of pepperspots and debris after my first session and picking them made everything worst.

What helped healing was buying good quality tea tree oil and mixing it with a basic cream and leaving it on overnight. Very pure aloe vera in the day time also helps.

Even putting nothing on helps but please no more picking!

#26

Where are you located? You should add your location to your profile. We may have recommendations.

I’m a consumer, so I don’t own a clinic, though there are plenty all over the US who are competent. We can recommend a good one near you once you state your location.

Many people you speak to on the phone when you call are just receptionists and don’t know any better.

If you leave it alone, it won’t go away on its own. New hair will grow in and it will look ok, but then the patches will be back, and it will cycle like this because whatever treatment you already had killed some of the hair in the clear patches. So you need to impact the rest to even things out.

Please call your clinic and ask for name of the machine, joules, spot size, and pulse width. We need to know this.

Your treatments were only about 4 weeks apart. So technically, your second treatment was a touchup since it’s not enough time for new hair to grow in. They just treated old hair that they missed in your last treatment, this second time.

#27

im in vancouver, canada… ill post the settings as soon as she calls me back and gives me that info

thanks for all ur help btw

ps. reading your last sentence on the touch up…now that ive had the 2nd treatment, is it possible that the remaining areas will all fall out in a few weeks? or is that unlikely and it will just remove some areas or create more empty circles?

#28

You American’s and your sue everyone attitude, can’t anyone be trusted!?

There’s nothing wrong with your treatment except the place doesn’t know what they are doing. Like I said, the bald spots are in the shape of a laser pulse showing they definitely were treated. That really only happens if spots are missed but I don’t see how they could miss so much, hence probably low settings.

All hair should shed after your treatment, I’m not sure if you’re phrasing the question wrong when calling. You need at least 6 treatments to remove ALL the hair and be hair free, but ALL hair should shed after 1 treatment. It sounds like they’re trying to tell you that you think you’ll be done after 1 treatment.

You won’t end up looking like that forever unless you keep going to this place and having the same treatments. Having a doctor on site is actually worse, because it means they probably do all kinds of treatments, vs going to a place that only does laser all day every day. Also, I’m pretty sure you signed an agreement saying they aren’t liable if you’re burned or have other issues and that results aren’t guaranteed. You look fine to me in the pictures, not burned or anything, just a poor treatment.

#29

so what do u suggest edokid? should i fly to toronto and have it done there somewhere u suggest?

i told them i dont want to be hairfree forever/long term… i just wanted to go over it once, have it all fall out and then let it grow back finer and less dense so i dont have to shave as often… were my expectations unrealistic?

i dont understand why anyplace would perform this treatment on mens faces if they knew this is how it would end up looking, just asking for more problems then its worth for the spa…

i dont understand your last paragraph, u say i wont end up looking like this forever unless i keep going back and having additional treatment? so your saying i need to dump this place asap and go to someone else?

my last treatment was on the 4th so i guess the only thing i should do now is wait a couple weeks and see what falls out the 2nd time?

#30

You won’t get results from just one or two treatments which is why I say you won’t keep looking like this. Even if someone actually misses spots, 1 or 2 treatments aren’t enough to give super noticeable results. I say if you keep going here and they keep missing spots or producing these results, then you would have a weird result in the end.

You just need to find someone else that will treat you, doesn’t have to be in another city. Give it a few weeks, the 4th is too soon to tell, I’m sure most will fall out and you’ll have most of it gone in a few weeks.

When you say you don’t know why people do face treatments if it will look like this, it’s due to your clinic. They probably have no experience in treating a face, but the problem is that I bet if you did chest or legs or something else, the results would look the same in that area as well.

#31

i really hope you are right when u say most of it will be gone in a few weeks… i dont think this place has a lot of experience on full mens beards…they said they had done a few … so that may be it.

#32

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any great recommendations in Vancouver. You can explore getting treatments at Edokid’s clinic in Toronto or at one of the reputable places in the US (NYC, Florida, and San Antonio have some great experts).

However, you may need several treatments spaced several weeks apart, so it may make sense to find someone closer. If you’re willing to follow our advice and go to consultations and ask for settings to report here, then we can help you find a good clinic in your area. There are lots of clinics in Vancouver and just because they haven’t been mentioned here, it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

#33

what about in Seattle?.. i would rather not go to a bunch of local clinics and ask all these questions and report back…i would much rather go to a place that you approve of… something on the west coast would be nice…

#34

Also, BRR on this forum is in Washington State and got great results. You can consider the clinic he recommends, though he says there are many technicians there and you should ask for the most experienced person there. Cadell’s in Bellevue, Washington.

#35

its seems like LAgirl and Edokid are giving conflicting advice… Edokid says that if its properly done, all the hairs should shed after the 1st treatment… this is what i want, and I will stop after this point…

but you are telling me i need several treatments, several weeks apart to treat the missed areas…

#36

It all depends on what stage your hair is at. Since you had two treatments, it’s hard to tell what hair in what phases was affected. There is a chance you may need more than 1 treatment to even things out. You’ll just have to see how it goes. Once you go and get it done properly with good overlapping at good settings, ALL this remaining hair should shed (this is very important this time). Then you’ll have to wait at least 8-10 weeks and see how the new growth looks at that point. If it’s comes in patchy at 10 weeks, you’ll need another treatment, i.e. more treatments until it’s even.

#37

ok i understand…and were talking about just targeting the dark areas that were missed right? not doing the entire thing? because the 1st treatment did get rid of A LOT of hairs. probably around 70% at least…so if i go back and do the entire face again, wouldnt that be risky?

#38

When I say 1st treatment too I consider that 2 treatments because for me like I said I had to do 1 treatment, wait 4 weeks and do the second treatment and then all the hair was gone. Again though I never had patchiness like that it was completely even shedding. There’s no point travelling far I don’t think; I’ve yet to meet someone that’s removed their beard with laser. There’s twice as many hairs there and it takes longer.

I’ve had 7 sessions on my beard and I’d say I’ve removed maybe 50% of the hair on cheeks and neck, and maybe 10% on chin and none on upper lip. So if you think it’s worth flying to Toronto for treatments, I just say to that that personally I’d invest in electrolysis.

#39

If you got rid of 70% of hair the first time, what exactly did they treat 4 weeks later? That’s not enough time for new hair to grow in again.

#40

they went over the entire face again because several large areas didnt shed at all. but most of the face got cleared.