General Laser Q

[Icephoenyx]

Has anyone ever been ok w/ just getting laser and not needed electro? I know this isn't very likely, but just wondering. Thanks.

Phoenyx

[Ms.Behavin]

If you have all dark hair then laser can work very well.  Some of us more er mature ladies have gone lighter,  I had reds and light browns, plus blacks on my face even in my 20's.  Laser did zap all my dark hair.  My electrolysis recommended doing laser for dark and electro. for lighter as laser is much much faster.

[seldom]

Has anyone ever been ok w/ just getting laser and not needed electro? I know this isn't very likely, but just wondering. Thanks.

Phoenyx

I generally will probably not need electro.  It is completely dependant on your complexion and hair color.  If you have fair skin and persistant dark hair...laser is recommended now over electro by many techs.  I am young enough where there is no gray hairs and I have no blond hairs.  It was a terrible sight.  First laser session removed 50%. 

So you can get away with just laser (and many people I know have).

[Icephoenyx]

I'm just worried that I will invest in laser and it won't do anything....

Phoenyx

[seldom]

I'm just worried that I will invest in laser and it won't do anything....

Phoenyx

The newer lasers work 99% of the time if you have the right complexion and hair colors.  The only reason it would not work is if you had blond hair and fair skin or grey hair. 

The who myth about "laser being doubtful" and "laser being no sure bet" and electro being better needs to be shot down.  The truth is if you have darker hair...laser is your best bet, and it would be freakish if it did not work.  Just make sure if you have fair skin/dark hair that they are using an alexandrite or if you have darker skin or lighter hair colors they are using a YAG.  As odd as this sounds Laser now is significantly better than electro, and CHEAPER in the long run.  There is only a minuscule chance it will not work. 

If you qualify for laser, going to do electro demonstrates a serious lack of intelligence and financial planning.  Electro should only be used to clean up grey/blond hairs.  Thats it. 

You are talking about an investment of a couple of grand, less pain and significantly fewer hours and dollars then electro.  Why burn your money on electro when the better option is out there. 

By the way anybody who has done laser fully, swears by it.  The skeptics are the ones who never went through the entire treatment cycle, or those who had treatment by an old ruby and an inexperienced tech.  The newer lasers, the alexandrites and yags...extremely effective.  If you can qualify, anything else is wasting money and time, and suffering more than you should. 

[Keira]

I think that you may be overselling laser's effectiveness.

A gg friend of mine did her lower legs with newer machines and she's got the ideal complexion for it and after 8 passes, she's still got more than 50% of her initial hair, though the remaining ones are slightly finer.

[seldom]

I think that you may be overselling laser's effectiveness.

A gg friend of mine did her lower legs with newer machines and she's got the ideal complexion for it and after 8 passes, she's still got more than 50% of her initial hair, though the remaining ones are slightly finer.

Body hair is differant then facial hair.  I am not overselling it.  I have yet to meet a person who used laser for thier face and had darker hair where it did not work. 
People should give laser a chance if they qualify before they do any electro.  I saw people here spend $16,000+ on electro and long painfull sessions, when I go in for two laser sessions for an hour and fifteen minutes total ($600) and get the same results if not better (I am not damaging my skin, which electro does).  To get the hair I removed from laser it would have taken over fifty hours of electro. 

The people doubting laser are generally those who dumped hundreds of hours and (tens of) thousands of dollars into electro trying to justify thier investment who never even gave laser a real chance or did not qualify for laser.  The truth is if they have blond hair or grey hair, they really do not have any other option.  I however did not have blond hair, and laser was a natural choice since I had extremely persistant dark facial hair.  Okay, I am technically ideal for laser, but it still works. 
It is not unusual if you have fair skin and dark hair to have 70-90% clear after the second or third session.

[Sandy]

I had a mix of dark and light (read gray) hair.  And I opted for Intense Pulsed Light (not laser but same principle.

I have just completed a six month course of hair reduction on my beard.  All the dark hair on my face has disappeared.  I still have quite a number of light hairs that I will electro in the next few months.  These hairs are much finer than before I started, though I can't be sure it it is because of the hair reduction or the HRT.  Also I do not have to shave for sometimes two or three days and while I may feel some small stubble, nothing really shows.

The IPL was definitely cheaper and less painful.  If I choose to spend hours in the electro-chair, it should be much reduced because of the IPL process.

I hear I should opt for galvanic rather than thermal type electro.  I still have to do more research.

-Sandy

[Lisbeth]

I had originally started out just doing electro and had finished 50 hrs.  Then I was faced with going full-time soon and didn't feel like my face was ready, so I did two laser sessions.  It worked quite well for me.  I haven't felt a need to do much to my cheeks since then.  And I was planning on going back and having the same done to my neck.

But that was all before HRT.  Now that I'm on hormones, the hair on my face and neck have gotten so light that laser would never work on them anymore.  So now I'm stuck with using electro only on my neck.

[Laura Eva B]

For me the jury is still out on the absolute permanence of laser ....

I was plucking the area above and around lips and my chin from a really early age, and was not willing to see if it would grow out to give laser a proper chance in that area as I was just eight weeks from RLE when I started treatment ....

So the real test of laser was my neck and under chin which had always been too painful to pluck / depilate and had a really dark shadow.

One treatment did the job "visibly" (!), there was no regrowth for months, and the salon made me wait 13 weeks to second treatment. I had five treatments over a year and a half, and its now been absolutely clear for a year.  Except I've noticed a few dark hairs starting to grow back !

If any more re-appear I'll be back for a "half price" top-up zap !

I did five sessions on arms over the same period and the result has been really good too - except there still is maybe 5% really fine regrowth .... but to be honest the salon said that although my arm hair was dense, because it was so fine laser would not be quite so effective, and it might never fully go away (the middle eastern girl treating me was honest in saying that she gave her own arms a "diy" top up every year !).

So laser is fast and wonderful, but maybe be prepared to see it as "hair reduction" with a little annual "maintenance" required ?  Maybe if you zap the really persistent little  buggers often enough even they will go away ?

I still think that its virtually an "instant solution" and so much better than electro if you really need to start RLE.

BTW, I used (and swear by) Nd YAG ... "Lightsheer" in my case ... which I think has a better reputation than Ruby, Alexanderite or IPL.

Laura

[Keira]

My feeling is that the a lot of the hair is reduced in size to be being very fine and light colored so as to be unoticeable, and some is destroyed.

The proportions destroyed and reduced to a fine hair depends on people's skin color and how deep the folicle is, the color of the hair, the type of hair it is, if you hit the hair in the correct phase, etc.

If your T is low and your hair doesn't respond well to DHT, I suspect that this fine hair won't become darker and bigger again, or it will take some time for the biggest darkest ones to become noticeable again.

Mediteranean women's hair is very responsive to DHT (that's why they are hairier than say a nordic woman), thus some of the finer dark hair become darker and bigger with time.

A very hairy man, never to go on HRT, who did laser I'd think could not expect it to be permanent in any way and would have to do frequent top offs.

[Icephoenyx]

I am only skeptical b/c I have hair on my upper lip that is dark, but a little sparse. I do have fair skin tho, in fact, I am as white as you can get! I guess I could get an opinion on this w/ a laser tech, but I am also worried that even at the laser clinic the ppl said that the average reduction is about 70 to 99%....not very good for tgs.

[seldom]

I am only skeptical b/c I have hair on my upper lip that is dark, but a little sparse. I do have fair skin tho, in fact, I am as white as you can get! I guess I could get an opinion on this w/ a laser tech, but I am also worried that even at the laser clinic the ppl said that the average reduction is about 70 to 99%....not very good for tgs.

If you have dark hair and the lightest skin, it will work great.  (I am in the same boat, ghost white, dark hair, but persistent).

Honestly, exclusively electro is to be advised against in your case.  Do laser first, and do cleanup of lighter hairs with electro.  Doing this is MUCH better than doing electro alone, and cheaper too. 

Also with YAG, my laser tech has both a YAG and Alexandrite.  She does NOT use the YAG on everybody, she uses the Alexandrite on me.  Largely because the YAG is not appropriate for my skin and hair color. A good tech/dermatologist will have both types of lasers and adjust everything for skin tone and hair color, and will use both lasers.  Most of the newer machines have both YAG and Alexandrites built in because which laser used is based on skin type and treatment method, and having both around is useful.  I asked my tech why she isn't using the YAG, she said because of my skin sensitivity and the Alexandrite is having ideal results on a low setting.   What laser is appropriate will depend on you.  I would say that if you do go to somebody that they have both a YAG and an Alexandrite laser.  If the tech or doctor is good, THEY will know which one to use. 

Sometimes you have to do maintenance sessions with laser, but maintenance sessions are either cheap or free, and you will have to do it once a year at most. 

I would say go for laser. 
For the most part these days, I would say the reduction is closer to the 99% then the 70%.  It is based on the individual, but if you have the fair skin and dark hair, you will be closer to the 99%. 

[Icephoenyx]

Are maintenance touch ups always required??

[seldom]

You may need them in the future, but once the maintenance touch ups happen, and no hair is growing back, its gone for the most part.  Basically if nothing grows back after two years...its pretty much gone.  The maintenance touch ups are just to help get rid of the stuff after the first year.  It is largely to clean up what was missed and make sure everything is gone for good.     

[cindianna_jones]

you guys are soooo lucky to have laser available!  I did electro in the 80's before laser was around.  Hundreds of hours in the chair under the needle.  You have no idea how horrible it was.

Cindi

[Keira]

I know Cindy, started electro in 94, finished in 2000!!!!
It was the only thing that moved forward for all these years!!
Because I tweezed my beard out (you heard that right!!!) for years, my
beard shaft were all bent in 20 different directions making electrolysis painfully slow.
God knows how many hours I spent on that; I don't want to know!!

But, the operator is the best in the city, possibly the whole country,
top notch equipment and personnel and in spite of the zillions of twisted hair
killed, my skin looks very good.

[Icephoenyx]

so how many treatments have you all personally needed? I have had 2 and the techs say that they usually do 4-6, but I can't see it being done that fast...

[seldom]

If you have exclusively dark hairs, most will be gone, but you may have to be back for quick maintenance visits.  I know people where it did only take five.

[seldom]

Hi just to add,

For the Diode Lightsheer and the Altus CoolGlide laser there is no such thing as "perfect" or "better" skin complexion.  YAG is a very old laser, so it may be that it only works on lighter skin. :: hunching shoulders :: I'm ignorant of that laser.

Laser technology of the newer lasers focuses on the color of the hair follicle and not the color of the skin.  So asian, indian, hispanic, black and other people of color are no longer behind the wall of "sorry.. laser only works on light skin."  That is sooo 90s.

So please before you continue to spread knowledge that is partially incorrect be careful.  You left out well over 50% or more of the world's population.  Laser is not only for light skin.

So here's the story about skin that isn't light.  When your laser operator uses the laser she'll have to be sensitive to or understand that the more melanin one has in their skin the easier it is to heat up.  So the laser operator can not use the same heat setting she would for lighter skin that doesn't tend to hold on to heat as well.  My laser operator would use a setting on my skin initially that was more intense of a zap, but it was quicker.  Whereas on lighter skin she could use a higher setting with a longer pulse because the skin around all of the heated up hair follicles wouldn't hold on to the heat as much as on lighter skin.

That's it.

In 2003 July I started laser hair removal.  At first I'd go every 4 weeks, but I forget after how many visits I was going every 8 weeks because nothing would grow back.  In 2005 (though I really think it was 2004) I didn't shave and haven't shaved since.  Rumor has it that darker skin can't have treatments as good as lighter skin.... "Debunked!" 

It's not true with the newer lasers.

I haven't shaved my upper lip since 2004.  (oh the tears with the upper lip)

Please help to stop spreading untruths.  I respect that you didn't know this, but going forward please be specific.  The majority of the world is melanin filled.  (India, China, Latin America, and Africa) lots of women out there read great places like Susan's to get information about laser.  Please be careful not to mistate more than what you know for fact.  Lots of women will have read your posts and post like yours and will be very discouraged when what you're saying isn't true. 

Much like the old days when I used to get in trouble for talking about laser and saying it worked and being poked at and ridiculed by those who strongly felt that electrolysis was the only way to get permanent hair removal.  Until my results were complete lots of people swore I wouldn't have the same results as those with lighter skin.. again.. "Debunked!"

Congrats to anyone who has had success with lasers of any kind and electrolysis.  We all went through a very hard struggle and we are all stronger for it.

"God bless us everyone."

YAG is a relitively new laser in terms of laser hair removal and works on darker skin.  Both Coolglide and Lightsheer are YAG lasers (as well as Candela's gentleYAG, which rounds out the three YAG lasers on the market).  Before Coolglide and Lightsheer there was Alexandrites, which really only work if you have light skin and dark hair, and they do work well if you fit that profile.  Before that there were Rubies, which did not work, and only really reduced hair moderately.

YAG is not an older laser, it has only appeared in the last decade and Alexandrites in the last fifteen years. 

YAG lasers, such as Coolglide, Lightsheer, and GentleYAG work on dark skin, but NONE work on very light or grey hairs. 

Actually with the YAGs darker skin works better than lighter skin, People with lighter skin actually need a LOWER setting, or else their skin gets damaged and Alexandrites tend to work better than YAGs for people with lighter skin (I have a tech who uses both who has been doing this for years).  The lighter the skin and darker the hair, the lower the laser setting and laser strength needed.  Why? Because it takes to the laser much better. 

I am such a nerd on this.