Electrolysis instead of Laser

[Tess2016]

I love the idea of Laser over Electrolysis so I have been researching options to get hair colour back from the roots.. There are some options, and I did try a pill last year which claimed it did just that but nothing happened..

Tess..

[Maybebaby56]

Hi Liz, IPL stands for Intensed Pulsed Light. It was what the clinic referred the treatment as, but it is still a Laser.

Sorry to be pedantic, but, no, IPL is not a laser.  It is exactly what the name suggests, an intense pulse of light produced by a flash lamp.  Like a laser, it develops very high fluence, i.e. lots of Joules of energy per unit area, but it is not coherent radiation of a single wavelength. IPL is a broad spectrum of white light. The end effect on the follicle is the same, though.

~Terri

[V]

I still recommend Biotin products. They are DHT blockers.. I have wondered about those brushes for a while.. Its nice to chat with someone who has actually used one and succeeded with using it.. Hair transplants are very costly and invasive.. But if I can get some results using a Laser Light Brush that appeals to me so much more than transplants. I really like the idea of using a Laser Light Head Set, just put it on and carry on doing other things..... They are expensive but still cheaper than transplants.. I like the idea of stimulated my own hair growth too..

Tess..

OK, but I know that Finasteride works for me, as as I've been living in stealth for some time now, I don't want to do anything that might cause my hair to fall out again. So I'll be sticking with Finasteride, until the day they prise it out of my cold hands 
I think that a variety of approaches, done at various stages, seem to help. You do need to give the light comb a year to see any effects, not the 3 to 6 months that it usually says on the box.

Thanks V I wasn't sure what you meant because what you describe is different to my experience but then I am having different laser to IPL type you had. The laser they use on me will kill the follicle at the first pass which is one of the big advantages over IPL, it will not change the number of dormant follicles you have, nor treat them but once zapped, that follicle will not grow another hair...dead is dead. Electrolysis fries them with heat and Lye and Laser fries the follicle with heat as the the hair pigmentation heats up.

I too have had hair implants which were taken from a strip in the back of my head and I am about 6 months down the track and dealing with the last of the ingrown hairs coming through. I will be able to style a fringe easily now, once my hair has grown out. It will be a year in at the beginning of August since I cut my hair which was a buzz cut prior to that. I am so impressed with how the hair is growing and how natural it looks. I can see already after 6 months growth that it will thicken nicely over the next 12 to 18 months

Liz

Hi Liz, my clinic where I had my treatment always called it "Laser/IPL", so as I'm no expert, I just repeat what the clinician stated to me.
It might be that it is actually 'just' IPL, hence the very long time required for treatment.
But I do remember my skin reacting badly to conventional laser treatment, as it was almost like a burn scar, hence I sought another option. One side-effect was that the IPL had a skin-rejuvenating effect (the machine could be used for rejuvenation treatments), and as my skin is very soft and thin, it really seemed to help me.

It's really wonderful to hear you have had success with your hair transplant. I'd love to have a fringe, maybe one day...
I wish you all the best 

Sorry to be pedantic, but, no, IPL is not a laser.  It is exactly what the name suggests, an intense pulse of light produced by a flash lamp.  Like a laser, it develops very high fluence, i.e. lots of Joules of energy per unit area, but it is not coherent radiation of a single wavelength. IPL is a broad spectrum of white light. The end effect on the follicle is the same, though.

~Terri

OK, yeah maybe you are right. But I do know for a fact that the light source for the IPL "wand" is a laser light source, and not a lamp. At the clinic where I went, the machine had the "warning laser source" stickers on it, and the clinician had to have a laser light treatment practising licence, which was regularly checked and renewed by the health authority. She couldn't legally use the machine and operate her business without the certificates and licences, which were clearly displayed in her treatment rooms.

[Tess2016]

Hi.. My thoughts are related to changing the grey hair at the root so the Laser will work, which in my view is the best option to remove unwanted hair.. There are some options available which include these...

http://www.biovea.com/au/product_detail.aspx?PID=6845&deptid=0&cid=0&OS=204&NAME=GRAY-ELIMINATE-Advanced-Anti-Gray-Hair-Treatment-2oz-60ml

http://www.biovea.com/au/product_detail.aspx?NAME=FOLIGAIN-ANTIGRAY-HAIR-FORMULA-60-Capsules&PID=2564&OS=210

If it work, it will be the cheapest option. For me I could try to get some value out of my Infinity-G, which is supposed to remove grey hair too, but not so sure when it comes to white hair.. If I can get some colour  back into my grey hair follicles, it might be possible to remove the hair using laser, partially on the face which is a pain in the neck...

Tess...

[LizK]

Sorry to be pedantic, but, no, IPL is not a laser.  It is exactly what the name suggests, an intense pulse of light produced by a flash lamp.  Like a laser, it develops very high fluence, i.e. lots of Joules of energy per unit area, but it is not coherent radiation of a single wavelength. IPL is a broad spectrum of white light. The end effect on the follicle is the same, though.

~Terri

My Technician explained IPL as a more scattered light which would account for the number of passes to actually kill the follicle. The Direct laser is as it sounds a more directed light beam. My technician said that she had good results with IPL for many years but that for a far better, less painful and quicker result she uses laser.

But what you also need to remember is the hair need to be in the active cycle and not the last stage before being replaced because it is already dead.

I understand the reference now and why people use the term laser/IPL but what i think gets lost in the terms is that there is a big difference to the end results.

Liz

[Tess2016]

How is the growth cycle determined..??

Tess...

[Maybebaby56]

My Technician explained IPL as a more scattered light which would account for the number of passes to actually kill the follicle. The Direct laser is as it sounds a more directed light beam. My technician said that she had good results with IPL for many years but that for a far better, less painful and quicker result she uses laser.

But what you also need to remember is the hair need to be in the active cycle and not the last stage before being replaced because it is already dead.

I understand the reference now and why people use the term laser/IPL but what i think gets lost in the terms is that there is a big difference to the end results.

Again, I apologize for sounding pedantic, but as a chemist having some background in analytical spectroscopy and photochemistry, I wanted to try to clarify things a bit.

There is no "scattering" outside the optics of the probe. The number of treatments required to kill a follicle depend on when the hair follicle is destroyed. All epilation treatments, laser or electrolysis, are most effective in the anagen phase, when active growth is occurring.  The follicle is not "dead" during the telogen (resting) phase, only dormant.

There can be quite a difference in the results of different light sources on different skin types because the wavelength of the light determines the depth of penetration, and what absorbing chromophores are maximally affected at each wavelength.  Nd:YAG lasers @1064 nm penetrate slightly deeper than Alexandrite lasers at 755 nm.  IPL produces intense light somewhere between 500-1200 nm, depending on the bandpass filters used by the manufacturer.  The result is less selective destruction of the dermis.

@Tess The hair cycles respond to specific hormonal signals from the body, depending on what type of hair it is.

With kindness,

Terri

[LizK]

Again, I apologize for sounding pedantic, but as a chemist having some background in analytical spectroscopy and photochemistry, I wanted to try to clarify things a bit.

There is no "scattering" outside the optics of the probe. The number of treatments required to kill a follicle depend on when the hair follicle is destroyed. All epilation treatments, laser or electrolysis, are most effective in the anagen phase, when active growth is occurring.  The follicle is not "dead" during the telogen (resting) phase, only dormant.

There can be quite a difference in the results of different light sources on different skin types because the wavelength of the light determines the depth of penetration, and what absorbing chromophores are maximally affected at each wavelength.  Nd:YAG lasers @1064 nm penetrate slightly deeper than Alexandrite lasers at 755 nm.  IPL produces intense light somewhere between 500-1200 nm, depending on the bandpass filters used by the manufacturer.  The result is less selective destruction of the dermis.

@Tess The hair cycles respond to specific hormonal signals from the body, depending on what type of hair it is.

With kindness,

Terri

Hi Terri I asked my Technician for a simple way to explain the difference for people, so I can only tell you what my Technician explained to me. She also told me that an IPL treatment may not entirely kill the hair on the first pass but will weaken it and eventually kill it with enough passes. Where as direct laser will kill each hair it is directed at first time so long as the the hair is at the right stage of growth. Sounds like we are talking about the same thing to me.

Hugs
Liz

Hi Tess
There are three phases of hair grow(I won't go into a technical description I am sure you can find plenty of those on Google) and hair removals are only any good when the hair is in the active growing stage...as in the other stages the hairs are either dying/replacement or dormant. So you need them to be active growth stage to kill them and not dormant or dying/replacing Stage. Hope that helps but google hair cycle if you want an in depth description,

Hugs
Liz
 

[Heather14]

I want to start electrolysis but right now the price is prohibitive. Laser will not work since I have red hair and my body hair is light in color. I don't plan to do my legs though. I really enjoy the art of shaving my legs. For me it just feels so feminine and I love how my legs feel just after finishing and putting on lotion. I plan to start to research places and find out their prices so I can work towards that goal.

Heather

[V]

I want to start electrolysis but right now the price is prohibitive. Laser will not work since I have red hair and my body hair is light in color. I don't plan to do my legs though. I really enjoy the art of shaving my legs. For me it just feels so feminine and I love how my legs feel just after finishing and putting on lotion. I plan to start to research places and find out their prices so I can work towards that goal.

Heather

You like shaving your legs?
Huh, I need a hedge trimmer for mine 
I hate doing it, it takes ages and in 4 days the hair is back and visible again.
Gonna save up for IPL on them eventually.

[EmilyMK03]

I really enjoy the art of shaving my legs. For me it just feels so feminine and I love how my legs feel just after finishing and putting on lotion.

I chuckled when I read that.    Shaving my legs was enjoyable the first one or two times, hehe.  But every time after that it's just been a hassle!  lol

[Tess2016]

Ha.. Soooo funny.. 

I simply hate body hair of any kind but thankfully I do not have to use a "Hedge Trimmer"  .. Since I do have hair, I shave it off using an electric shaver.. for sensitive skins.. My Philips 7000 is just wonderful.. Better than a razor.. Technology in hair removal is improving all the time.. I am hoping they come up with better options in the near future, partially for grey hair.. I do not made paying for a device if it works but.. some professional options are way too expensive. In the mean time I will persevere with my Infinity-G, which does not seem to do much.. They told me at least a years.. That really does not make sense going by hair growth cycles, it should be quicker than that to see some change.. I need to determine my growth cycle and I am thinking it might be difference over different parts of my body..

Tess...

[Dayta]

I chuckled when I read that.    Shaving my legs was enjoyable the first one or two times, hehe.  But every time after that it's just been a hassle!  lol

I think there's a point after which the mundane activities of being a woman no longer bring joy by themselves, like putting on bras, for example.  I kind of feel like it's progress when I become as annoyed by them as other women. 

L

[V]

I think there's a point after which the mundane activities of being a woman no longer bring joy by themselves, like putting on bras, for example.  I kind of feel like it's progress when I become as annoyed by them as other women. 

L

Hah! So true!