When did you start seeing laser removal results?

[Charlie Nicki]

I just had my first session this past Saturday and the girl said after 5 sessions it was very likely I would have no hair, which doesn't mean the process is finished, since it can always grow back after a while. She recommended 12 to 15 sessions at least for my beard. And then touch-ups once or twice a year depending on how it looks.

Well after this session my beard is growing virtually at the same pace, which she told me would happen, it could slow down or just grow at the same speed. My question is, when did you guys start really seeing results?

[Colleen_definitely]

About 1.5-2 weeks in I started shedding hairs.  There was noticeable thinning after my first session.  After session three my cheeks were almost completely clear and there was probably a 50-60% thinning on my upper lip and chin.

According to my tech I am responding better than average and have a high pain tolerance so she can zap me harder than other clients.  The growth rate of the hairs never really changed until I started HRT and even then it hasn't had enough time to slow it much.

[LizK]

I just had my first session this past Saturday and the girl said after 5 sessions it was very likely I would have no hair, which doesn't mean the process is finished, since it can always grow back after a while. She recommended 12 to 15 sessions at least for my beard. And then touch-ups once or twice a year depending on how it looks.

Well after this session my beard is growing virtually at the same pace, which she told me would happen, it could slow down or just grow at the same speed. My question is, when did you guys start really seeing results?

After 2 sessions of laser(waiting 10 -14 days for shedding to finish) I was starting to see less black hairs and by session 7, I had very little visible black hair but of course you need to keep going back over it. I am on session 11 over 18 months and from what I can see I don't have enough black hairs at the moment to warrant further laser. My electrologist is nabbing the last few stragglers as we systematically clear my face.

I have been on HRT 12 months and have noticed a significant slow down recently of facial hair growth in the last 3 months. After 6 days the secondary growth is only just long enough to work with and hardly visible the odd primary growth that is left, is really long (in comparison) but not that visible unless you a really up close.

[Charlie Nicki]

Thanks for the answer. So I should expect some shedding in the next few days?

I get the feeling she was easy on me, like she didn't use the big intensity I guess since it was the first time.

[Colleen_definitely]

Use a white wash cloth to gently scrub your face in the shower and you'll know when they start coming out.  Looking at lots of hairs on the cloth is the most enjoyable part for me.

I would say you should start seeing something soon.  It does depend on the person so maybe they're already coming out, or perhaps they're going to take a bit longer.

My tech went a bit easy on me the first time, but I still got noticeable results.

[LizK]

Thanks for the answer. So I should expect some shedding in the next few days?

I get the feeling she was easy on me, like she didn't use the big intensity I guess since it was the first time.

When you first notice the hairs begin to shed(10 to 14 days) there is a real tendency to want to "help them" come out by "sliding the hairs out" . You may feel little in the way of sensation however the cells that make up hair follicles are similar to stem cells in that you only need once good live cell to reproduce the hair. The temptation was just about overwhelming and after one session early on I "assisted" the pulling out of the hair after rubbing my fingers over one and it popped out. After about 10 minutes of "assisting" I noticed there was a mild sensation of stinging across the area. The hairs seem to come out completely without resistance in most cases. All this hair came back with in a few weeks. The skin will push them out once they are completely dead or you can exfoliate regularly to help the process.

Make sure you are getting proper laser treatment. The techniques for using facial laser is different that say IPL which is often sold as laser when it is not the same thing at all. With laser the flat end is placed on the skin and fired and then moved next and fired and so and so on. If they use a sweeping motion firing continuously then they are using IPL and not what is considered Laser.

[Kendra]

Depends on your hair color and type. 

In my particular case laser was 80% successful on body (long term reduction) and a Fail for my face.  My body hair was black, but my beard was dark red or would lighten from dark to light red during summer.  (And yes, that freaked people out a bit since I am half Japanese but also half Welsh).  Facial hair is now permanently gone. 

After wasting money on facial laser I switched to thermo electrolysis, very happy with results.  I'm not saying that's always the case - we are all built different and going to different places.  Another benefit of electrolysis is shape the eyebrows (can't allow laser too close to eyes).

I think laser requires 3 things to be effective: the right equipment, operator skills, and color of your hair and skin in that area.

[LizK]

Depends on your hair color and type. 

In my particular case laser was 80% successful on body (long term reduction) and a Fail for my face.  My body hair was black, but my beard was dark red or would lighten from dark to light red during summer.  (And yes, that freaked people out a bit since I am half Japanese but also half Welsh).  Facial hair is now permanently gone. 

After wasting money on facial laser I switched to thermo electrolysis, very happy with results.  I'm not saying that's always the case - we are all built different and going to different places.  Another benefit of electrolysis is shape the eyebrows (can't allow laser too close to eyes).

I think laser requires 3 things to be effective: the right equipment, operator skills, and color of your hair and skin in that area.

Kendra I could not agree more..Laser will not work for everyone. I have great results with laser taking care of about 60-70% of my facial hair. But I am fall into the category of the right hair and skin tone. Dark hair with a slight olive Mediterranean skin colour(thanks to my Spanish grandfather) which seems to work really well.

I went to a proper Medical Grade laser Clinic staffed my Medical staff and not beauticians. They are professional and skilled. I had stopped going to my Laser clinic and original  Electrolysis due to travelling time and extra cost $60 per hour cheaper. So I have gone to this other woman the same one I had switched to doing my Electrolysis and she gave me "Medical grade laser treatment" but it seems to stop working and I would see a few hairs die off and bam next few weeks they were back...I began to be suspicious so I went back to my original Laser Tech and she asked me the technique the operator  had used and the Laser woman slowly shook her head and said no that was IPL you were having....She then went on to "guess" the salon name with no prompting from me.

So back on track now and the difference in results is like chalk and cheese. Noticeable after the first treatment. The laser does permanently kill a percentage of the hairs with each sweep and it may take several to kill some of the tougher ones. I am done for about 10 weeks and no longer than 5 minutes to do my entire face. It is a race between the electrologist and the laser tech as to who will get them first. The last one was treatment 11(I had 8 IPL Treatments)...At the very beginning the tech said to me that by about session 11 or 12 we would now need to space out the appointments even more and she is right as we have moved from 6 weeks to 10 weeks and it is doubtful I will have enough hair then especially if my Electrologist has her way and nabs them first.

I no longer have any work done by this Salon... and even though I have to pay more for the electrolysis I am able to get the injections free so the cost is actually $40 cheaper when you take into consideration the cost of the injections.

As an aside dental block injections are far more effective than a needle into the top lip.

Liz

I might have one or two more sessions but there is so little there,

[Colleen_definitely]

With laser the flat end is placed on the skin and fired and then moved next and fired and so and so on. If they use a sweeping motion firing continuously then they are using IPL and not what is considered Laser.

This really depends on the laser.  The unit my tech uses has the ability to do a sweeping motion with the detail wand/gun/whatever.  It fires at a rate of something like 2-4 Hz and she sweeps it along.  It's a Lumenis Lightsheer Duet machine and most assuredly a laser.

The best way I've found to figure out if they're using a laser or an IPL machine is to just ask them over the phone what brand and model they use.  A quick internet search later and you can figure it out pretty quickly.  If they don't want to tell me then I assume they have something to hide.

[LizK]

This really depends on the laser.  The unit my tech uses has the ability to do a sweeping motion with the detail wand/gun/whatever.  It fires at a rate of something like 2-4 Hz and she sweeps it along.  It's a Lumenis Lightsheer Duet machine and most assuredly a laser.

The best way I've found to figure out if they're using a laser or an IPL machine is to just ask them over the phone what brand and model they use.  A quick internet search later and you can figure it out pretty quickly.  If they don't want to tell me then I assume they have something to hide.

Absolutely agree and will not argue about you with that machine. But when I asked, not one person told me that a sweeping technique was being used on them. This is hardly scientific I know but it did alert me to ask some questions...and am I ever glad I did. So I always tell people about what I found in the hope it might help someone else ask a few question and worst still I discover here in Australia it is common practice to deceive people over stuff like this... and worse.

Not Only can the laser you are getting be applied that way,  I was reading, but if I read it right that particular laser sucks the skin up slightly to get even better result...it looks like clever technology for sure...

You are right about the people will tell you straight up or they are hiding... when I eventually asked the real laser place I went back to what kind of laser they had, she fired out something at the time which I went home and checked...yep no doubt about it.

I think your idea of calling and asking is a good one...the person I went to did a presentation at out support group talking about Electrolysis and after seeing her for Electrolysis, she told me she had the same laser as I was already getting for half the price, and I believed her. (Sigh, shakes head at own stupidity)

We live and we learn....I hope you get a great result.

Liz

[Wanda Jane]

Yeah, it takes a week or two or the hairs to start falling out. A couple weeks after the first treatment I noticed patchiness where the hairs weren't growing. That was exciting and I knew it might work. I guess it was after the 3rd I was really seeing a huge difference. I had #5 about 2 weeks ago and i have about 20 black hairs left on my whole face. Mostly on upper lip. I'm 55 so if it'll work on this tough old face, it works.

[Rowan Rue]

It wasn't until the third session I really noticed a difference. I ended up doing seven session total. That was four and a half years ago and zero regrowth, so I've been super happy.

[Charlie Nicki]

Thank you all especially ElizabethK for being so insightful. So I did ask the first time and they said it was a new technology called AFT which, according to them, is better than laser and APL since laser is more aggressive and might hurt more (their words not mine). I have no idea if this is accurate or not but this place is a big chain in 4 different countries so it made me feel safe (I also have to point out that they have great customer service). If any of you can read Spanish please take a look at their website and tell me what you think:

https://www.depilarte.co/blog-depilarte/depilacion-aft/

EDIT: I just realized that AFT is some sort of advanced IPL. Crap, am I losing my money? I keep reading about AFT and seems like a good option, websites say it's safe and efficient. My skin is white-ish, like Latino white...something like Elizabeth described and my body hair is black, thoughts?

[Ofelia]

My first results were after the first session.

I saw few results after then. The damage it did to my follicles disrupted my electro process afterward too. I know it is different for everyone, but if I had my time again I would forget about laser and go straight to electro. 

[Colleen_definitely]

Thank you all especially ElizabethK for being so insightful. So I did ask the first time and they said it was a new technology called AFT which, according to them, is better than laser and APL since laser is more aggressive and might hurt more (their words not mine). I have no idea if this is accurate or not but this place is a big chain in 4 different countries so it made me feel safe (I also have to point out that they have great customer service). If any of you can read Spanish please take a look at their website and tell me what you think:

https://www.depilarte.co/colombia/

EDIT: I just realized that AFT is some sort of advanced IPL. Crap, am I losing my money? I keep reading about AFT and seems like a good option, websites say it's safe and efficient. My skin is white-ish, like Latino white...something like Elizabeth described and my body hair is black, thoughts?

I would not risk money on it personally.

[Charlie Nicki]

I found this info on AFT in case you guys want to read it:

http://www.hampshirelaserclinic.co.uk/treatments/hair-removal-aft.php

[Kendra]

I thought Aft is where boaters throw things overboard. 

[Katya]

I started with the best electrolysis tech in my locale, who kindly gave me a free trial session to see how well I could tolerate it, and then she told me that I should first go elsewhere to get six or eight sessions of laser and then come back to her after that, and she would then do electrolysis only on whatever little is left that the laser could not get rid of (a few grey ones, which laser can not work on grey).  She also was kind enough to point out to me specifically which are the best laser machines.  Obviously this electrolysis practitioner had nothing to gain by sending me away to a different competing business, so I am inclined to trust the advise.  She also is in a unique position to freely tell me plainly which laser machines/practitioners are really best, as she has no vested interest in selling me on one or another.  She knows I will probably be coming back to her later for some electrolysis in any case. 

Think about this a moment ... since people would tend to go for the less painful less expensive alternative first (laser) ... and then typically only resort to the more painful and tedious and expensive method (electrolysis) as necessary ... who do you suppose has looked really close up at a lot of faces after they got various forms of laser/IPL and evaluated the comparative results of different laser machines of all the laser practitioners in town?  Yah ... the local electrolysis expert winds up doing cleanup on whatever the laser places can't get, so she knows which ones work and which don't.

Oh ... and ask your MD for an Rx for really strong lidocaine to slather your face with, so the laser tech can turn it up full power and really zap ya good     

[Charlie Nicki]

Update: I had a consultation with another laser clinic and finally had very clear info about AFT, and other lasers.

AFT is basically improved IPL and can mostly be a waste of money. Since I already paid for bulk sessions of AFT, I'm gonna use those for my chest and stomach and then will get diode Lightsheer laser (which apparently is the most powerful laser) on my beard.

Depending on the results I get from AFT (and hormones) on my chest and stomach, then I will make a decision if getting laser there as well or not.

To sum it up: AFT is a fancy name for IPL, don't let them fool you. Go straight for real laser ( Lightsheer, Alexandrite, Yag).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kendra]

Did you prepay for AFT(IPL) with a credit card?  Your card might allow a refund for unused portion if you let them know quickly.

The IPL provider might voluntarily refund if you tell them you plan to file for an unused refund - some merchants prefer to avoid charge backs.  If the get a high chargeback ratio that can affect their merchant credit card rate.