Laser Hair Removal - Who Did It Already?

[Schranz]

I know there are some threads on that topic here, but this one is a little different.

So guys/girls who had laser treatment already, please help me.

As I know, using laser threatment, you have to make up to 5 procedures to get rid of the hair forever, right? But the fact is that I am a guy and I don't want my legs were totally without hair, I just want hair to be less bushy and more thin. So what if I take just one or two procedures instead of 5, what result do I get then?

People who tryed laser hair removal already - can you help me with this? What was the result when you made 1st procedure and how does it feel - the hair fall out and then in some time grow back, but not as bushy as before and thinner?

The same with my eyebrows - they are JUST TERRIBLE - and this is not just my personal oppinion

Plucking out and waxing helps a little, but don't help much - the hair very dark and thick and long... If pluck too much then I look like a ladyboy (no offence here, this is just not my style))).

So I have an idea - what if I use laser threatment one time for my entire eyebrows - will it help? Well I know, that the hair will probably fall out first and for couple of weeks I will look like a bouddhist monk, but then they will grow back, and my eyebrows will be not as bushy as before. What you think?

P.S. Please no replies like - "try to love yourself the way you are" and "men with bushy eyebrows look sexy to me" - I love myself and I have my self-esteem, it is just about my hair, ok?

Edited December 28, 2009 by Schranz

[Sheryl]

An unhelpful response and angry retort to same have been deleted.

Schranz, I have had laser hair removal and yes, you will achieve less hair but still some if you have fewer treatments. The treatments need to be spaced 2 months apart so what you do is just stop when at the two month mark you like what you see. This should work fine on your legs. Eyebrows may be a bit trickier because there you want to consider the shape of the remaining hair. But perhaps they could just laser around the perimeter leaving a core line untouched, or untouched after say 1 session.

Anyhow I think you can get what you want, just need to discuss carefully with the doctor particularly on the likely look of the eyebrows.

[jackoneilone]

what sheryl said.

And be aware that you may need more than 5 treatments. There is no set rule and every person is different.

It works best on darker hair so thats good news for you.

What you may find is that within 3 treatments your leg hair is fine enough for you to be happy with it. Just depends on your personal preference. Also each treatment session would need to be spaced out ~2months or so for the next growing cycle to be zapped

Mate had done this. He did 7 treatments for chest and back, 4 treatments for legs and arms, 8ish for armpits/pubic region, 4ish beard region. Now completely hairless chest/back/armpits/pubic region with very fine minuscule hair amount on legs/arms and after a week of beard growth a very fine stubble in beard region, but thats exactly what he wanted. I believe it cost him about $3000AUD.

[adamx]

Wow, so many treatments for just 3000 AUD$! That is cheap considering the prices I have seen.

I have done it for ingrown neck hairs and it worked great but after a year back to square one. The pain level was excruciating even with numbing cream. I can't imagine doing large areas of coarse hair.

Where is this place? Thanks

[Schranz]

Sheryl, Jackoneilone, - thanks a lot...

adamx - how many procedures you had on your neck??

[waza]

Laser hair removal isnt permanent. For a cheaper permanent hair removal try electrolysis. Electrolysis is another hair removal method that has been used for over 135 years.[5] At this time, it is the only permanent option for very fine and light-colored hair. The FDA currently allows the term "Permanent Hair Removal" for electrolysis only. Unlike laser epilation, electrolysis is effective on all hair colors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Hair_Removal

You can buy the equipment for arond $100 - $200 and do yourself and if done correctly only require one treatment.

Edited January 4, 2010 by waza

[jackoneilone]

Wow, so many treatments for just 3000 AUD$! That is cheap considering the prices I have seen.

I have done it for ingrown neck hairs and it worked great but after a year back to square one. The pain level was excruciating even with numbing cream. I can't imagine doing large areas of coarse hair.

Where is this place? Thanks

He had shopped around and bargained down and then finally paid in 1 go to make it more lucrative. Also I think it was almost 3400 all up but yeah much cheaper than normal.

Probably because you didnt have it done sufficiently and repeatedly. Some something like that Id say 8 times should do it in each growth phase.

There numbing creams suck as they are weak anesthics eg upto 5% lignocaine which dont work well on the outside of skin.. I use my own concoction thats compounded and made for me

6% lignocaine

6% tetracaine

20%benzocaine

in a lipoderm base.

This works fast and numbs deep. in about 25mins you wouldnt feel a thing.

[peanut]

I've done it.

And my advice is: don't do it. It's not worth it. I did about 10 sessions (Bumrungrad hospital) and still did not go away completely, a lot more than I was told I need.

What's wrong with having lots of hair? Many guys would love to have that.

Besides, the result of a few sessions is unpredictable, what if you spend all that money and end up looking like a freak? You can's exactly control which hairs will go away.

[jackoneilone]

also be aware that there are many treatments that are often confused or referred to as LASER HAIR REMOVAL eg IPL, CPL, SIPL

Even within actual laser there are probably around 4 wavelength types 1064nm eg Nd:YAG , 755 alexandrite, 800Pulsed diode laser and the ruby short type 694nm. A very popular laser is the alexandrite laser eg candella gentlelase, cynosure apogee.

These lasers are clinically proven to work and work much better than IPL etc

Light reading-clinical comparison of 4 hair removal lasers and IPL : lol

http://www.palomarmedical.com/FileUploads/...CLT%20paper.pdf

also dont forget that quite often due to the pain involved they may "tone down" the intensity and or power of the device especially laser as it can be quite painful and irritating. With that numbing formulation then can pretty much go full blast.

Edited January 6, 2010 by jackoneilone

[Kf6vci]

Well, it was all a big misunderstanding language wise. A nurse sitting at a shopping mall said it would "cost 200 Baht". She didn't mention that it was per hair!!

Bored and having hairs between the eye brows, I went for it.

Felt like a hot iron, despite the gel and then the odd jolt. Not pleasant!

But the real pain set in when I had to pay, I think 8 x 200 Baht :D

Most hairs grew back, but les noticeable.

P.S.: by letting hairdressers shave your ears, this will trigger some obscene groth. And they refused to do the procedure on the eyers.

[adamx]

schranz: I had two treatments...I just wanted my ingrown hair problem gone and after the treatments it was amazing - i had ZERO ingrown hairs and shaving finally shaving was uneventful.

I had mine done at Bumrungrad (coolglide/ Yag laser?) and at Vejthani. $$$

Maybe they didn't go full blast on me because I was in pain? I think those who get coarse hair done are very brave cause the pain was no joke.

[wpcoe]

Laser hair removal isnt permanent.

I've done it.

And my advice is: don't do it. It's not worth it. I did about 10 sessions (Bumrungrad hospital) and still did not go away completely, a lot more than I was told I need.

I'll issue a third opinion, based on my laser hair removal (not) experience: It isn't a sure bet.

I signed up for a "guaranteed" hair removal program at a well known skin care clinic in Bangkok. I followed their recommended regimen -- I think it was every three or four weeks? -- and at the end of six months they said my prepaid program was over. They "guaranteed" the laser treatments up to, but no more than, six months. I still had hair regrowth at that time, and now -- some five or six years later -- I'm at least as hairy as I was before the treatments.

FYI, I have rather dark (almost black) body hair.

[Sheryl]

I signed up for a "guaranteed" hair removal program at a well known skin care clinic in Bangkok. I followed their recommended regimen -- I think it was every three or four weeks? -- and at the end of six months they said my prepaid program was over. They "guaranteed" the laser treatments up to, but no more than, six months. I still had hair regrowth at that time, and now -- some five or six years later -- I'm at least as hairy as I was before the treatments.

FYI, I have rather dark (almost black) body hair.

If their recommended program was anything more frequent than every two months they either don't know what they are doing or don't care.

Sessions need to be spaced properly apart in accordance with hair growth cycles.

Clients often want to rush things and sometimes ask to come back sooner. And sometiemsw clinic staff, either out of ignornace or a desire to give the anser the person obviously wants to hear will say it's OK to come back sooner. It's not, will be a waste of money.

As the various reports here show, esponses to (properly done) laser hair removal vary greatly by individual and cannot be completely predicted. In particular the number of sessions needed cannot be known in advance. A skilled practioner will often say "not less than X" times, which means more than X times but how many, who knows.

[johndpoole]

It will likely not get rid of all the hair even after 5-treatments. The good news is you will see where you are at before you go in each time. I believe they also have the ability to turn up or down the laser according or maybe they just hold it in one place longer. Don't be surprised to see some blistering and scabbing after treatments in certain areas. The thing you may want to consider is that it is not going to remove hair uniformly. You will likely have bald spots on your legs which may be more unattractive to you than having lots of hair. But if you just go for a couple treatments you can see what is going on and stop before it gets to that point.

It is interesting how folks don't like what they have ... Asians wanting to be lighter skinned, Westerners wanting tans .... many Asian women loving hairy men....

[wpcoe]

Coincidentally, this week's (January 8, 2010) issue of Pattaya Mail newspaper has an advertorial from Romrawin Clinic running the full height of the paper. This is an excerpt from the bottom section with some telling information that I highlighted in yellow:

My period of re-treatment fell within the recommendations, however I guess I should have been told I would need to re-treat 1x or 2x per year for the rest of my life? I think I was about 45 at the time, so a few dozen more treatments should have been *expected*?

[sky2008]

I've done it.

And my advice is: don't do it. It's not worth it. I did about 10 sessions (Bumrungrad hospital) and still did not go away completely, a lot more than I was told I need.

What's wrong with having lots of hair? Many guys would love to have that.

Besides, the result of a few sessions is unpredictable, what if you spend all that money and end up looking like a freak? You can's exactly control which hairs will go away.

I've also done it many years ago at Apex, but it was not worth it either. It was very painfull and now I still have as much as before. My hair was not dark enough 'they said' so they had use the strong laser that did hurt a lot and at the end, the hair still came back. I did many treatments, untill the moment I got bored with it as it came back even after 10 times. Then I got to use the electrical machines again, but it made my hair grow back under my skin, so now I finally came back again to waxing. I have less hair then before, but I do have to wax regularly. I like to wax in La nature Bangkok as they do not re-use the wax from previous customers (it is done in oh so many places, some are cheap, but not all, but many re-use the old wax). Here the wax is thrown away and the service is very pleasant and reasonably priced too. I was actually recommanded by a male customer who gets a full body wax there ones every two months. I am happy to wax now and can tell for myself that even though I do have to go back there, I feel happier than with the laser treatment.

[leelewadee]

I've done it.

And my advice is: don't do it. It's not worth it. I did about 10 sessions (Bumrungrad hospital) and still did not go away completely, a lot more than I was told I need.

What's wrong with having lots of hair? Many guys would love to have that.

Besides, the result of a few sessions is unpredictable, what if you spend all that money and end up looking like a freak? You can's exactly control which hairs will go away.

I've also done it many years ago at Apex, but it was not worth it either. It was very painfull and now I still have as much as before. My hair was not dark enough 'they said' so they had use the strong laser that did hurt a lot and at the end, the hair still came back. I did many treatments, untill the moment I got bored with it as it came back even after 10 times. Then I got to use the electrical machines again, but it made my hair grow back under my skin, so now I finally came back again to waxing. I have less hair then before, but I do have to wax regularly. I like to wax in La nature Bangkok as they do not re-use the wax from previous customers (it is done in oh so many places, some are cheap, but not all, but many re-use the old wax). Here the wax is thrown away and the service is very pleasant and reasonably priced too. I was actually recommanded by a male customer who gets a full body wax there ones every two months. I am happy to wax now and can tell for myself that even though I do have to go back there, I feel happier than with the laser treatment.

Whatever you do, AVOID APEX PROFOUND BEAUTY. They will take your money and run!

No professionalism, no results, no skilled staff.

[Goinghomesoon]

Oh, so glad that this process hurt others (well, no, not really *glad* but it's helpful to hear). I've just had my pits done for the first time and it hurt, even with the numbing cream on for 45 mins beforehand. The good news is that 1 month after the first treatment and I have no sign of regrowth yet. But has anyone come across a better numbing cream that I could buy commercially, cos I"m not as enterprising as Jack and probably wouldn't be bothered making my own. I was thinking of having other areas done, but not if I can't reduce the pain level.

*Edited to add the process REALLY REALLY HURT

Edited August 7, 2010 by Goinghomesoon

[sbk]

Gawd GHS, I was thinking of doing this but I haven't ever even waxed and a friend of mine told me you'd better wax for awhile first so you get used to the pain. Now you've convinced me!

[eek]

I dont know about the different methods..but i had IPL laser removal. I had 2 treatments on my legs and 2 on my underarms. I get practically zero growth now..just fine hairs which i go over with a razor or wait until i can use the epilator on. Im ok with that. But..I do really urge that its a good idea to have waxing done first, because it will desensitize you. As mentioned, Laser hair removal hurts!! If you dont have tolerance already built up..it will likely be a wasted session. Numbing cream is a good idea too and/or ice machine thingy that they use. ALso..make sure the person doing the ipl really knows what they are doing. Much of it is technique based (or so i read).

[Sheryl]

With the numbing cream (Emla, and AFAIK the only one available in LOS) the length of time it is on makes a huge difference. When I did my laser hair removal I found I needed it on for a full 2 hours to get completely numb. 45 minutes is very short. Thing to do is to test yourself, if you can still feel a pinprick then insist on waiting longer.

If you live near where it's being done you can ask them to give you some to self-apply in advance thus avoiding need to spend hours in the waiting room.

One warning, though. This stuff (Emla) does have side effects and if a large area is involved (as would be with legs) and it's on a long time, considerable systemic aborption is likely. Read up on it before deciding. I did experience some transitory neurological effects when having it applied to both legs and left on for 2 hours.

[Goinghomesoon]

Thanks Sheryl that's really useful, I'll try that. I have been waxing for years and started with lasering my underarms because that's where I find waxing hurts least. Hopefully if I leave the cream on longer the laser won't make me sound like someone in labour next time

Edited August 8, 2010 by Goinghomesoon

[MisterMan]

the secret to painless laser? ICE!!!!!!!

I have been going to a major clinic only because a friend recommended it.

I have had 5 treatments and the hair is nearly gone.. also on face I have had 5 and am very happy.. also the 2 stray hairs are gone and they only got 1 zap each.

however the first few times I paid extra for the numbing cream. I saw the tube, it was from sweden but still painful. my friend said ask for ice. I did and was told it would not make a difference. the next time I got a different girl and it made all the difference. Ice pack for a few minutes then laser. The next time I said just ice.. and they were even able to put the laser stronger. not sure what kind of laser they used. I have been to a few branches and the laser was different.

but I am very happy with the results. I still have a few more treatments to go.. When I walked in the told me the price I said ok. then i asked about any promotions and the price changed drastically.

[DutchBen]

Hello all,

I am trying to find a hospital or clinic that uses an alexandrite laser, every single one I have contacted use Yag or other. Does anyone know of a place that has an Alexandrite. I would much rather go for the most effective kind of laser rather than waste time on other stuff.

Thanks,

Ben

[Sheryl]

I don't know which machine it is, but whatever Dr. Nusra at Bumrungrad uses for hair removal, it worked for me.

[irlguy1]

I have done it on chest back and upper arms and it hurts like a bitch lol but worth every minute of the pain.

Few more treatments and I am sorted.

Just bite down on a mouth guard and think of something fun.

[Sheryl]

Tell them to leave the numbing cream on longer. makes a huge difference. they always try to rush it. I found I needed a good hour for it to really take effect.