Hello YeaYea!
Having regrowth after 3 weeks does not sound right. I’ve had my upper cheeks treated with the Gentlelase Alexandrite and the hair usually takes about 8 weeks to grow back. Depending on the density of your hair, it’s possible what you are seeing is the hair that was not treated coming back. Your practitioner might have also used too low of a setting as you suggest. A setting which is too low can cause “laser waxing” which essentially disables the hair that is treated but does not destroy it. The hair comes back in roughly the same density although sometimes it may come back lighter (just like waxing). Were the energy settings all that you could stand, or were they just recommmended by the practitioner? If you can handle it, I would suggest a test patch at a higher energy setting. I have found that many practitioners go with lower settings because of the discomfort that the laser causes. To me, it’s painful at a low setting or a higher setting. So I would rather go with ther higher setting and get results instead of just temporarily stopping the growth. Do you remember what energy setting was used? As far as the 8-10 treatments go, I don’t consider it impossible since I am in that range right now. My hair growth was extremely dense, though. And I didn’t go in for regular treatments at first. It was a learning experience for me. On the face, you should see about 20% reduction per treatment (this number is variable depending on body location, but it is a good average for the face). If the correct laser parameters are used, and assuming no hormonal problems, you should get rid of facial area hair at the rate of 20% per treatment. So:
Treatment 1: 80%
Treatment 2: 62%
Treatment 3: 50%
Treatment 4: 40%
Treatment 5: 32%
Treatment 6: 26%
Treatment 7: 21%
Treatment 8: 17% etc., etc.
The 20% is conservative. So it’s possilbe to see results quicker than listed. You will also notice that some hairs come back lighter (I have read evidence that some hairs in the catagen phase may be partly affected-giving lighter hair). It’s just important to note that the loss will be gradual and will come to a point where results will barely be noticeable. Sorry to ramble on so much, but I’m pretty interested in the subject. Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any questions!