My first laser visit

[Cindy]

OK I had checked out the websites, talked to people. I also had a days leave. Walked in this morning and saw the receptionist. Hi, I want to know about laser hair removal, price and times.  She checked the diary. We have a cancellation this afternoon if you wish to have an initial consult with a therapist. She will do a test patch and advise on how many treatments blah blah.

Fronted up in the afternoon, in drab and unshaven (yuk). Nice woman, a nurse, checked out my skin, we did a survey and I came out as a type II borderline type III. Seemingly suitable for a good outcome. Why do wish to do this, you are just bored of shaving? "No I'm transgendered and on hormones.  Oh good thanks for telling me, we will need to do a total reduction in that case. We talked about pros and cons, costs and effectiveness, how many cycles etc. And what my desired outcome was. She explained that many guys just don't want to look as if they never shave, they shave an 10 mins later  . I explained I didn't want facial hair. She replied that all woman have facial hair and getting to that point of female facial hair expression should be the goal. OK says I.

So we do a ptach on my neck. First zap and I twinge.  I'm ok just didn't know what to expect. We did all the area below my chin, in 10 min sessions. some topical  hydrocortisone and ice to  bring the swelling down. But it was perfectly OK pain wise (brave girl wimp wimp).

I'm going in during my lunch hour tomorrow and we will do the Mo and chin , I'm sure no one will notice. Just like I didn't notice my bald neck when I got home

Yippeeee

Cindy

[kelly_aus]

Sounds good Cindy.. We must have a chat about this..

[Cindy]

Hi Kelly,
Definitely. But save up the pennies . It ain't cheap.

Cindy

[rejennyrated]

You big brave girl you.

Back in the day when laser was but a distant dream I had conventional electro. I didn't have a lot of hair thankfully - but even so to get it all cleared in what I considered a reasonable time scale I still ended up having between 6 and 9 hours a week at first. - Oh and forget poncy EMLA cream too - that didn't become available until I was over halfway through anyway. In the end it took me over 18 months, although thankfully after about 6 months the duration of the sessions did slowly begin to decline.

You don't know the meaning true pain until you have endured a full two hours of needle electrolysis without any numbing. No wonder I went through my SRS without taking any painkillers. Compared to upper lip electrolysis it was a mere scratch! 

[lilacwoman]

the salons claim their high charge is to cover the cost fo the laser machines but they rent them and the per hour cost won't be that high so basically they charge and we pay a vanity rate.
and we will pay for quite a while as they have to wait 5 weeks between sessions to get all the dormant hairs.

What sort of machine did she use?
My salon had Sonata machine for both male and female but have just changed to a medium size Polaris for females and MtFs on E and have a huge Polaris machine for males and people wanting rid of tattoos.   Those leave a massive blister over the tattoos and goodness knows what the pain must be like.

[Cindy]

A Duet IV on setting 24 and decreased to 22.

I have seen the clinical  consequences of laser tattoo removal.  Another really good reason never to get a tattoo IMO.

I've also seen the consequences of a badged Hells Angel "deciding" to quit HA and go to another club. Very effective removal. Acid, paint scrapers and an angle iron. Sadly he had several tattoos. He sort of survived.

Cindy

[spacial]

That's really great Cindy. Hope it continues to go really well for you.

Kinda feel for that Hell's Angel. It's easy to forget they often have feelings.

[barbie]

I also once called a skin clinic, asking about the cost. Ca US$300 for chin. US$500 for face. Ca US$700 for legs, and etc. It typically requires more than 5 times visits. Moreover they said I should grow my hairs before getting treatment, which I can not endure.

For this reason, I am considering purchasing Tria laser hair remover (US$495). I think this might be more cost effective. Has anybody tried it?

Barbie~~

[V M]

Right on Cindy!!! Congrats... That's great!!! 

[Rock_chick]

Woot. Go Cindy!

[JennX]

OK I had checked out the websites, talked to people. I also had a days leave. Walked in this morning and saw the receptionist. Hi, I want to know about laser hair removal, price and times.  She checked the diary. We have a cancellation this afternoon if you wish to have an initial consult with a therapist. She will do a test patch and advise on how many treatments blah blah.

Fronted up in the afternoon, in drab and unshaven (yuk). Nice woman, a nurse, checked out my skin, we did a survey and I came out as a type II borderline type III. Seemingly suitable for a good outcome. Why do wish to do this, you are just bored of shaving? "No I'm transgendered and on hormones.  Oh good thanks for telling me, we will need to do a total reduction in that case. We talked about pros and cons, costs and effectiveness, how many cycles etc. And what my desired outcome was. She explained that many guys just don't want to look as if they never shave, they shave an 10 mins later  . I explained I didn't want facial hair. She replied that all woman have facial hair and getting to that point of female facial hair expression should be the goal. OK says I.

So we do a ptach on my neck. First zap and I twinge.  I'm ok just didn't know what to expect. We did all the area below my chin, in 10 min sessions. some topical  hydrocortisone and ice to  bring the swelling down. But it was perfectly OK pain wise (brave girl wimp wimp).

I'm going in during my lunch hour tomorrow and we will do the Mo and chin , I'm sure no one will notice. Just like I didn't notice my bald neck when I got home

Yippeeee

Cindy

Welcome to the club.  It does work, if you stick with it, but it is faster and ultimately cheaper than going all-electro.

I also once called a skin clinic, asking about the cost. Ca US$300 for chin. US$500 for face. Ca US$700 for legs, and etc. It typically requires more than 5 times visits. Moreover they said I should grow my hairs before getting treatment, which I can not endure.

For this reason, I am considering purchasing Tria laser hair remover (US$495). I think this might be more cost effective. Has anybody tried it?

Barbie~~

Not sure where they got that info, but you actually want to shave the area to be treated the night before to clear the hair above the skin. Not go in for a treatment with a fews days growth. Otherwise, you'll be wasting the laser energy which will be absorbed by the colored hair above the skin, not below, which is how you kill the follicle. Now electrolysis requires the hair to be grown out a bit so it can be grabbed with the tweezer after the heat or electricity (or both) are used to kill the follicle.

[MillieB]

I've also seen the consequences of a badged Hells Angel "deciding" to quit HA and go to another club. Very effective removal. Acid, paint scrapers and an angle iron. Sadly he had several tattoos. He sort of survived.

I've heard that trying to hand back your Matalan card caries similar blood curdling consequences, although I could be wrong/lying


I had my test patch laser session the other day after fairly extensive IPL and all that I can say is that if you have sensitive skin, Arnica gel is a very good idea. Much better at cooling the area than aloe vera

[V M]

I just came up with a new name for a band... The Fried Follicles 

Sorry... bad humor... *runs to hide*

[arbon]

That is awesome Cindy!

[Cindy]

I just came up with a new name for a band... The Fried Follicles 

Sorry... bad humor... *runs to hide*

So you should

[justmeinoz]

Welcome to the club Cindy. 
I have had four sessions so far, and it is definitely a good idea to have a close shave before hand.  I didn't and the extra hair length made it a lot hotter. The pain goes, but the smell of burnt hair lingers!!

Yours in singeing, Sandra 

[Sada]

bye

[mistressstevie]

Sounds Great Cindy.  Are you doing the whole cost out of pocket?  And, are the other costs suggested in the thread within an order of magnitude of what you are seeing?  -mS

[Kay]

Congrats Cindy!    I hope laser works well for you. 

For this reason, I am considering purchasing Tria laser hair remover (US$495). I think this might be more cost effective. Has anybody tried it?
Barbie~~

.
Barbie:  You do grow your hair out when doing electrolysis.  You don't grow your hair out when doing laser.  You'll definitely want to be fresh shaven for laser.
.
I've tried the Tria.  I would say don't waste your money.  First of all, it's not intended for use on the face.  Second, when I did use it on thicker hairs on the upper chest area that are similar to facial hairs, it hurt like holy hell.    (Usually I have a high pain tolerance.  Electro doesn't bother me much..but the Tria on thick hairs was painful.)  You can use some topical emla or something to dull the pain, but it can get rather expensive to do that.  Also, on the highest setting, you only get about 30 minutes of use before needing to recharge for 6 hours or so.  Lastly, unlike professional laser treatment...the Tria laser is not powerful enough to produce any shedding of the hairs...so it's difficult to tell whether it's working or not.  I could stand the extreme tedium of overlapping that tiny little laser if I knew it worked...but I just didn't see any benefit from it.

[Cindy]

Sounds Great Cindy.  Are you doing the whole cost out of pocket?  And, are the other costs suggested in the thread within an order of magnitude of what you are seeing?  -mS

Hi mS
From discussions I had with a couple of clinics is that there are no set charges. It depends on how much time will be needed. In my case I got two quotes, one was $200 a session but they were vague with what a session covered. They also didn't do out of work hours sessions. The one I'm going to is charging $100 a session. Each session is a third of my face, so three sessions at $300 covers one total beard zap. How many totals is understandably unclear. I was told probably three to five for complete hair removal. There are no other costs unless you include moisturiser, which I use daily anyway. I also mentioned that I would want my chest, tum andmy and back, lasered. She said there would be a discounted price for any extra work.

Laser will not work on blonde or grey hair and dark skin is a big No, the skin will burn. You also have to avoid sun exposure, and are not use to sun beds. Risks that were explained to me are irritation, possible scaring, possible rose-wine or albino pigmentation. I had to sign a waiver.  The therapist did expalin that she had not seen any pigmentation problems but it was listed as a possible side effect.

I'm paying for this myself, there is no medical benefit scheme in Australia that covers it. All costs are in Australian dollars, which is pretty close the the USD at the moment.  At a personal level in selecting and going through with this, is that I felt very comfortable in the clinic, the receptionist, my first point of  call was  friendly and professional. The therapist I took to straight away, she came over as a caring person, again professional in her outlook, is a trained nurse, and when I told her I was TG she didn't miss a beat. When I told her, chatting as we did zaps etc, that I had a number of TG friends in Adealide who will be interested in the outcome, she immediatly said that the clinic would be more than happy to have them as clients and that respect and privacy was a key protocol in the clinic.

I felt very much at ease.

Hope that helps

Cindy