Laser Hair Removal - YouLookFab Forum

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Laser Hair Removal

Nicole

Veteran

I'm curious about laser hair removal. Is it effective? Is it expensive? Is it permanant?

If you have had it done, I'm curious to know what body parts you have had done and what kind of success you've had with those body parts. Any other information or personal experience is appreciated!

Thanks!

General

16 replies

Latest reply was from Sihaya

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Hmm...I've been looking into it myself lately. I haven't had it done, but a friend of mine did. She had her bikini line and underarms done. It was recently, so I don't know about longevity (I think it's good so far), but I do know it cost her about $200 or $250 a session, and it took about 5 or 6 sessions to zap it all. The reason is that hair doesn't all grow and form at the same time, so you have to zap it several times to make sure you get all the hair. She showed me her underarms and it looked really good--there weren't any black stubbly bits that show under the skin when you shave, it was totally smooth. I assume the other bit was the same, but of course she didn't offer to show me that (thank goodness, hee hee). She said it hurt and her eyes watered the first time, but then it got better (plus she's a total wimp). Also, the place she went offered to do "touch ups" for free if the hair ever grows back (because it's not supposed to).

Sihaya

Veteran

I am considering this too given the amount of time, energy, and money I spent on hair removal (I never shave). What I've found out so far is that regrowth can happen and is more likely to happen to people with darker skin.

Anonymous

I did laser hair removal on my shins and arm pits. Yes, it is expensive...those prices mentioned above are accurate. Yes, it does hurt a bit but l got used to it after a few sessions.

The hair removal works best on people with light skin and dark hairs. The lasers need a certain level of contrast in order for the laser to work. I have (had!) a mixture of dark and light hairs on my shins and now I have no dark hairs. But I still have the light hairs since the laser does not work on light hairs. But its OK since the light hairs are very fine and not noticable.

Overall, I am happy with the proceedure and some day when I have some spare $$$ I will get the bikini area done. Having the hairs zapped off has made my life much simpler and it's really nice to have smooth skin and no raser stubble.

Anonymous

I have had it done on my upper lip.

Marlene is correct - it is most effective on people with light skin and dark hair. My hair is dark, but my skin is fairly tan, so I wasn't an ideal candidate. My mom took me in to get it when I was young, so I had it done while I was going through puberty, so obviously my case was a little different (I had to go in for a lot of treatments), but it is quite effective. In between treatments, it took a very long time for the hair to grow back, and the hair got thinner and thinner when it did. It was very expensive - around $300 per treatment, but I think you can find places that do it for less but perhaps with some increased risk (of burning you, scarring, etc). It definitely hurts, but it's worth it in the long run. Later on, I'm thinking of getting my underarms done.

I wrote this really fast because I have to run, but ask me if you have any other questions.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

I would love to have my underarms done. They are very sensitive, and I get razor burn, no matter what I do. At least I'll be prepared for some pain now. My friend really has no pain tolerance at all, so I wasn't sure if it really was as gut wrenchingly awful and she made it out to be. I suspect it's somewhere in between.

julijuli

I had it done on the bikini line last year but i only made it to 3 sessions. So, there is some regrowth but I plan on continuing soon when i have some spare cash. It was a bit painful, but I would consider it equal or possibly less to the pain of waxing. Plus if like me you suffer from ingrown hairs this is a great solution. I know the place I went to sold a cream that you could use ahead of time to lessen the pain (which I didn't do!). So, you might look into that as well. I would also recommend doing research to make sure that the place you are going to has a Doctor on staff who trains the technician.

Nicole

Veteran

Thanks for the all info ladies. Here are a few more questions I have about the proceedure.

1. How long does the actual treatment take? I know it depends on the size of the area, but for the body part you had done, how long did it take?

2. How long do you wait in between sessions?

3. Does the time you wait between sessions affect the success of the hair removal?

3. Do you pay for the whole thing up front? Or each session individually?

4. Is the pain over when the proceedure is over? If not, how long does the pain last?

Thanks!

mirah

I have had laser treatment done on my upper lip . Whatever has been said above is all true..the contrast between the skin and hair color needs to be higher for the lasers to be more effective. However there are many more types of lasers now available and if you take a consultation from a doctor they will be able to guide you to what will work best with your needs.
Another suggestion is please go to a place which has at least one MD.

To answer your questions from my experience:
1. I took 6 sessions but will need at least 6 more since I have dark skin/dark hair plus i wasnt able to finish my previous sessions regularly.

2. 3 - 4 weeks which is equivalent to the hair growth cycle. Since all hair dont grow at once you need multiple sessions to cover as many follicles as possible.

3. yes. if you do it within the recommended period the chances of making sure all hair is gone is higher. I wasnt able to make each session in the 4 week time span resulting in regrowth.

4. Its upto you. If you pay up front they usually provide a 10-20% discount. I tried the first session at full price and based on the results decided to pay up for the remaining 5 together. My total cost was around $1200. I think I got a $25 /session discount.

5. I would have pain (its more like pin pricks) during the procedure and afterwards for about an hour or so. I used to apply aloe vera gel since the pain is mostly the stinging caused by the high temperature of the laser which raises skin temperature in the area and the gel had proved very effective in cooling.

The cream that someone mentioned above which is applied before the treatment also helps. I did not try it but my friend did and she had a painless experience. Also she has better results than me mostly because her skin is much lighter than mine.

Its been a year since my last appointment and overall my experience is positive. The hair has become lighter and sparse. I do need to remove them once every while. But once I manage to get the remaining sessions done I'm hoping it would be long term.

Hope that helps

Lannie

A friend of mine had laser hair removal done on her face and underarms. She said the facial hair procedure wasn't too bad, but the underarm hair removal was excruciating (and she's not a wuss about pain). The hair removal was very successful (she has dark skin and hair), but she did start having skin issues afterwards that she'd never had before. I'm not sure if she might still be dealing with that, but certainly she did for at least a few months after the procedure.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

What sort of skin issues, Lannie?

Lannie

She started to have acne on her face in the areas where the laser treatment was done, and she'd never had those issues before. I guess it makes sense, because I imagine that laser is very irritating to the skin.

Antje

Veteran

Regarding laser hair removal of facial hair and the contrast issue someone mentioned above: I went for a consultation once and was told that they wouldn't do it because the hair "wasn't dark enough". I was pretty bummed since it certainly is dark enough to bug me But I guess I should be glad that they didn't let me waste my money.

Nicole

Veteran

OK...so if you don't want to have laser hair removal, what hair removal solutions do you use?

I shave my legs (daily) and underarms (daily). I tweeze my eyebrows and any stray facial hairs that may pop up. I used to use a dipilatory on my upper lip, but found that I don't have the need for it anymore. I just use a magnifying mirror and a good quality pair of tweezers. I try to check my trouble spots every day or every other day. I have assigned my family the job of telling me if any weird hairs are growing in places they shouldn't be.

I'm not sure I'm ready to shell out that much money for hair removal. If an upper lip is $1200 (and still not done), then a bikini treatment would probably be a lot more? I guess my first priority would be my bikini line because I don't have great success with shaving that area.

Becky

Veteran

Nicole, have you tried waxing your bikini area? Yes, it hurts, but only for a bit.

marianne

Nicole, I do exactly the same thing - shaving and tweezing. I've been using an electric shaver on my legs and I like it better. It's not perfect but it's a lot easier on the skin, and nobody is going to look that close. I use it on bikini area too, but only when I go to the beach, which is rare.
I tried waxing my legs before, and liked it, but I had to have the hair grow out to be long enough to stick to the wax, and it just didn't make sense to do it regularly. Still I'd like to try it on bikini line.

Sihaya

Veteran

Bikini waxing is great once you get used to it. The salon I go to uses a special kind of hard wax that's blue in color. They are more expensive but it hurts so much less that it's worth it and with waxing I can go a month without need for a touch up. I wax my upper lip and chin hairs and tweeze in between. I wax about once a month. I wax my underarms and sometimes use Nair though my underarms are sensitive to Nair so I only do that when desperate and out of time. I use Nair about once every 10 days in the summer on my legs and it works great. I avoid shaving like the plague because I don't like the hard re-growth on my skin. And I also have my eyebrows waxed about once every other month - this is tricky since different people have varying skills and there are some that have done damage to the shape of my eyebrows which are tricky to begin with. So when I find someone who knows what they're doing, I try to stick to them.