Laser hair removal question...

[Helios]

Hi,
I'm not sure where this post goes but anyway I have a quick question,

So I've had my first Laser session last week. The thing that is freaking me out is that all most 1/3 of my hair looks white. I have black hair and these new white hairs doesn't react with razor shaves also. What are these hairs? Will they go away?

[Dena]

If the new hair is very fine and remains that way, don't worry about it. It's vellus hair and it's normal for a woman to have it. I have a fair amount of vellus hair and nobody has ever commented on it. If the hair isn't fine, it will need to be treated with electrolysis.

[Violets]

The dark hair should fall out between one and two weeks after laser treatment. Unfortunately, laser doesn't work with lighter hair, so any existing light hair remains untouched. As Dena has already mentioned, the only way to be permanently rid of the light hair is electrolysis.

[Helios]

Do the white hairs fall out?  Mine is not really thin.  But they can't be shaved by a razor! What gives?

[Gertrude]

Not sure who it was, but there was a thread on the forum in the last few months where someone used a carbon based dye with laser and it worked ridding grey hair IIRC. For some reason I think she got the dye from Japan.

[staciM]

I can see the dyed part would get burned and fallout but I can't see how the dye would get all the way down to the bulge of the hair follicle in order for it to get properly damaged.

[LizK]

The white hairs will not fall out unless they have a black or dark pigmentation under the skin. They may have been damaged by the laser but I find that unusual.

Are the hairs thick and white or very light coloured? Maybe villus hair

The thick white ones will need electrolysis to remove. The dye spoken about doesn't have a very good reputation

LIz

[Helios]

They are not villus hair but they are hard to see now. Then why shaving doesn't work for those hairs?

[LizK]

Are they actually hairs? I must say I have never seen anything like what you are describing...maybe your face has had a severe reaction to the laser? I don't know but you may want to ask your laser Tech about it.

Liz

[Veda]

Your looking at a high energy laser removing dark hairs?

Remember, the idea is to heat the root and prevent more growth.

Grey hair does not absorb any high energy light...

As far as I know all gals get whiskers...

May take further examination?

[Colleen_definitely]

I am puzzled by this as well.  Are they actually hairs?  I have some pretty coarse stubble still but none of it stands up to a razor.  The day after my first treatment I had some slight discoloration of the skin that was lighter in color than the rest but that was about it.  I certainly don't have indestructible white hairs popping up.

[flytrap]

Skin tends to look unnatural if the vellus is removed. I trim my pubic hair so it doesn't look gross in a bikini but don't bother shaving my arm pits and legs because the vellum is so fine. A friend of mine had her arms done when she was a teenager because everybody used to make tease her about looking like a gorilla. The lady who did them removed ALL the hair. Now she feels self conscious because it looks like she shaves her arms! A good electrologist knows the right balance for a natural look and will use mascara to make fine hair more visible for removal.

[Tasha.McKenna]

The dye spoken about doesn't have a very good reputation

Can you be more specific about this?

Right now 2/3 of my beard hairs are white and the other 1/3 are black, so I'm going to need a lot of electrolysis on my face, even with laser to remove the black hairs. Being able to increase the number of black hairs by even 20% would be a big win in terms of cost and hardship.

[LizK]

Can you be more specific about this?

Right now 2/3 of my beard hairs are white and the other 1/3 are black, so I'm going to need a lot of electrolysis on my face, even with laser to remove the black hairs. Being able to increase the number of black hairs by even 20% would be a big win in terms of cost and hardship.

My understanding is that the dye does not conduct the laser very well and has a tendency to damage the hair follicle making it even more difficult to remove even with Electrolysis. So you get continual regrowth from the damaged follicle and it is never killed.

I would do some research on this top confirm what I have said...making sure you have the right laser for the job is very important. Many IPL operators claim to be administering Laser which IPL is certainly isn't...

Liz

[Helios]

Good news.... The white hairs fell down! When I looked carefully their roots where all black and only the tip was white. I still don't know why I couldn't shave them off using a brand new razor  Anyways they are gone and I'm feeling very much relieved.

[LizK]

Good news.... The white hairs fell down! When I looked carefully their roots where all black and only the tip was white. I still don't know why I couldn't shave them off using a brand new razor  Anyways they are gone and I'm feeling very much relieved.

Wow that is great news...you can certainly get greys with black roots and that is why it is difficult to shave after laser as the dark part of the hair has been zapped and the texture seems to change...have you noticed that the hairs that have been zapped look different and grow at odd angles before they start to thicken...hairs that have been treated by laser are really difficult to shave and don't seem to cut very cleanly....Something to do with what the laser does as well...the flipside of this is you can get darks with grey roots...I had a stubborn patch of bLacK hair that laser just didn't take care of so I got my Electrologist to take it and as she removed the hairs she told me they had grey roots...which is useless for laser... 

Ahh the fun and games of Hair removal

Liz