Worried about laser settings

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hey all,
Sorry to put up another post asking about settings. I’m just a bit confused because of what they are telling me vs. what I see on this forum.

First off, I am getting legs and chest done with a QUANTEL LEDA laser. Results have been pretty decent so far, first session was at 18j, second was at 21. Pain was negligible at 18 and manageable at 21 but… well, it was painful-ish. I don’t know any of the other information about what settings it was on. This particular laser has a very large spot size. She told me that I should get pretty good results at 21 if I can tolerate it each session, and she would not go any higher for safety reasons.

So I am pretty ok with that, just see how it ends up working. Also the operator is good and I feel like I can trust her.

Second, I decided to take the plunge and get my beard done. (I’m a guy obviously) But I was fairly keen to get it done with the candela system, seeing as I have read about it here, whereas the other system I have not. Long story short I felt a lot more rushed at this new clinic, and not as much time was spent in consultation as I would have liked (especially as we are talking about my face here). The machine was a Candela alexandrite Gentlease mini. Spot size was 18mm. I asked her what setting she would use and she said 9j. I was like… erm, isn’t that a bit low the other place was using 21. And she was adamant that this was pretty high. So I went with that (kinda glad I did because it was pretty f**** painful.) Plenty of burning hair smell, and my face has been looking like it has bad razor burn for the last three days.

So my first question is: Are there other settings on the machine that she could have set which render a 9j setting as worthwhile? I know from what I have read here that most people reccomend at least 16 on this machine. I glanced at the machine on the way out and I saw the 9, then under that a squarewave looking icon with 1.5, and under that was some other icon and 5300 next to it.

My second question is: if I am not happy with how the candela is going, is it safe to have my other technician do my face as well? Yes I would be having it zapped like twice every 5 weeks that way, but given the package I bought, the price difference would be negligible.

Thanks for any feedback!!

Nero

#2

9j on 18mm on GentleLASE is GOOD for a MALE BEARD. You can’t start a male beard on 16 joules. That might permanently scar your skin.

Yes, for body areas one needs at least 12-14J on GentleLase. BUT for a male beard, 9J is totally fine. In fact, for the first three sittings, I’d strongly advise you to stay under 10J. Once the hair density becomes less, you can move upto 16J depending on your skin type.

#3

Hey thank you so much for your reply! Making me feel a lot better about the money I’ve dropped into these sessions.

Also in good news: it has started shedding today. I have hated shaving for well over 15 years and I’m getting some seriously evil delight in seeing some of these hairs fall out.

#4

For the record, I started my beard at 18J on Gentlelase (18mm spot size as well) and have no permanent damage. It’s also a lot riskier to start that high, but I got good results with it. Hopefully she will increase it from 9 as you go on.

#5

Thanks for the feedback Brenton. Do you have a thread with any progress pics or anything? I would be interested to see.

I’m also having a dilemma as to whether I should shave today. I would kind of like to see the progress of it falling out, but I’m getting itchy already and I hate having facial hair. Any ideas?

Also, if anyone is interested I can log my progress. I’m taking pictures.

#6

I probably should have, but I don’t, also because I never really took pictures (it never really crossed my mind to ever do so). The electrologist I saw yesterday took some pics of my beard before she began treating it, so that would be the progress after all my laser. Maybe I can find a facebook photo or something before my laser, but it may not be very good. I kind of just kept a mental note of settings used. I can always call my dermatologist and ask for the settings they used as well if that would help. I’ll probably be able to have electrolysis progression pictures. I can verbally tell you what happened after my laser though: I think after about the second treatment (or maybe third, but I think second), I could already go longer without having a shadow. Now I don’t have any shadow because the hair is a lot finer and sparser. The goatee area didn’t end up really ever changing.

There’s nothing wrong with shaving. It may take a little longer for the hair to fall out, but you can shave (I normally waited at least a few days before shaving.)

#7

Um, now I’m concerned. I went for my second session today and asked to go higher, and she said she could change it to 8. I’m like… isn’t that less? She said no, on their machine it is set differently and a lower joule setting is stronger.
wtf?
any advice here?

#8

What she’s telling you is false, but I’m pretty sure you didn’t need me to confirm that for you. 8J might be alright for the beard as mumbaigirl said, but definitely not for body work (maybe I’m wary about 8J because my tech was willing to go so high on my beard on the first shot.) It doesn’t sound like she is going to go higher (i.e. 12+) on the face after a few treatments. Are you getting treated at a “spa” or a dermatologist’s office? I generally have found myself to get better treatments and higher settings at a dermatologist’s office. It might be more expensive, but with some searching, I found one that was comparable to spa prices but willing to use beastly settings. That might be where to start looking if you want to find a new place.

#9

thanks brenton, yeah i might ask around. No idea why she would think that, seems bizzare. Is there any harm in getting a face treatment done in two weeks at the place I am getting my chest done? You don’t have to wait to get another treatment for some reason?

It is a skin clinic, they do laser and skin treatments. So not a normal spa, but not a dermatologists.

#10

The laser at the other place is a diode. It’s not necessarily a bad laser, but I don’t know enough about it to tell you what settings would be good. I’ll post the information here in case someone else can give you better specifications (You might want to PM the user Romeo… he won’t tell you what settings you should use, but he can tell you what settings are high enough to get results.) I’ll post the information here about the laser in case someone else can give a better idea:

Wavelength 808 / 980 nm
Spot size 50 x 12 mm / 10 x 12 mm
Pulse width 6-60 msec
Pulse width Low Fluence Mode 312-3240 msec
Power density up to 60 J/cm²

My guess is for the face they would use the 10x12 mm spot size.

I am surprised about the skin clinic using low settings. I would’ve expected a skin clinic to use higher settings. Maybe you can ask the place with the alexandrite what settings they would use on a body area (say your arm for example), if they will still keep it that low, then find a new place. If they’d bump it up to 14+, then you might consider staying then. I’d look around in the meantime (most people overlook a dermatologist’s office… probably because it tends to be more expensive, although sometimes you can find one that isn’t too extreme!) Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.

#11

Found another place who only does laser, and they said they will start on 12, then go up to 14 if my skin is ok, then maybe go up from there. so I will try them instead. Thanks for the help Brenton, much appreciated.

#12

Had a session on 12j with the Alex. OUCH. Spent a couple nights with an ice pack on my face. Anyway, it’s been a week now and I’m getting good shedding on my cheeks, but I’m doubting the chin area is going to be falling out. Can someone direct me to some information on why the yag would be better for that area? I know I’ve read about it, but I need to be able to explain to the technician the theory behind it as she thought the Alex would be far better.

#13

The YAG has a longer wavelength so it can essentially penetrate deeper. Here’s a pretty picture to explain:

http://www.body4real.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/laser-hair-types.jpg

In reality, the chin and upper lip are very difficult areas to treat with laser, even with the yag. Take my advice, and do electrolysis at least on those areas. My hairs were so deep that even my electrologist had a hard time reaching down far enough to kill them (she did, but not without some bleeding.)

#14

Ah, thanks for that Brenton. Are there particular settings on the YAG that should be used for light skin? I will start looking for a good electrologist, the hairs on my chin are super deep as well.

#15

Hard to say, but normally on YAG, someone with light skin can go pretty high. To give you an idea, my dermatologist went over my beard with 20J/18mm/3ms on Alex and then immediately went over my beard again with 24J/18mm/10ms on YAG. That was a really strong combination, but my guess is that if we only did YAG and no alex, we probably could’ve gone higher.

#16

thanks very much for the help Brenton :slight_smile:

#17

As an update I’ve got close to full clearance on my cheeks, decent clearance on my neck and upper lip. Just the chin hair is not going anywhere. But I am pleased with the overall clearance, so I will probably buy another 6 sessions then look at electrolysis.
I can feel my FACE for the first time in 15 years! Very exciting!