I think I posted about this the first time it happened (but I can't find my original post).
The day after I had my last laser session last week, a whole load of dark hairs appeared on my top lip that hadn't been there for months (my remaining facial hair is almost entirely white now, after several laser sessions). And this is the second time that's happened straight after a laser session.
Anyone else ever had this happen?
They weren't the dead ones beginning to fall out? That was what my dark hairs were after laser.
I thought I was getting dark hairs again and then I worked out it was hyperpigmentation caused by electrolysis or laser.... yuck.
Maybe - it's just that on the day I had my laser, there were hardly any dark hairs left at all, and then the day after, suddenly there were loads. This is more like sudden 5 o'clock shadow!
You will have some dormant hairs under the skin. Normally these are not visible but they are killed by the laser and will appear shortly after treatment. Despite my las session being several months ago, I will probably have to go back soon for a touch up session as dormant hairs are beginning to show.
I've had 3 sessions so far, and the last 2 this exact thing happened to me. It sucks because for a few days after having it, I really don't wanna go anywhere because I have to go extra thick on the concealer.
Yep its the same for me.. And its the upper lip too.. I hade very tiny hairs there before laser. After 4 sessions I was almost hairless in the face except for the overlip and chin area.
However during the latest 2 months I have noticed that I have gotten very dark hair on my overlip, and they are not the finer hairs either but thick ones :embarrassed:. My shadow was gone in March.. But now its worse than ever on my overlip.. Oh well lets hope that they will die for good when I continue the laser treatment in about a month.
Thanks all, I'm glad it's not just me (not that I mean I'm glad it's you as well... oh, you know what I mean :)).
I had the EXACT same thing happen. Cant explain it. Very bizzare.
Hair comes in cycles. It may just be the dead ones being pushed out, or it could be the dormant ones becoming visible. My upper lip goes thru cycles of not being very dark to not being there. I really need to go back in.
I'm on to season #6 and well heres what happens for me. Redness, Zits (because I put makeup on right after), and for about a week after I get much darker hair. The hair is normaly in the redness and it seems to be falling out over about a week to ten days. If I let it grow out for a day or two, the dark hairs are easly removed with tweezers. but there is no pain when I pull them out. and they tend to be limp.
So to sum up. The hairs are darker because they are charred (I smell the smoke often enough lolol). And they are pushing out of the skin much faster then a hair normaly grows. (so they look bigger)
I get the same thing as Jennifer. After about ten days the dark hairs have all fallen out. I'm really OCD about facial hair though, and still run a razor over even if I don't need to. I guess its just an insecurity I have!
Hi Padma and everybody else on this very interesting thread,
I have researched the whole laser hair removal thing for quite some time now, and I am myself on Session two on my face.
I have had the same exact problem that you and others are describing, in fact, I am going through a period of visible upper lip dark hairs right now, which is very annoying and embarrassing.
Here is what happens with hairs after laser sessions:
1. Hair that has just been "zapped" will come to the surface of your skin, because, after the follicle has been "killed" it, and the hair attached to it, will have no other place to go, but up. This process will happen between the time right after you get "lasered" and day 20-25 after the laser session. You will notice, right as you are getting treated with laser, that some hairs will seem to be "jumping" right out, and you will smell the singeing, and later on , during the day, these hairs will come out by just washing your face with soap and water. Most hairs will come to the surface and fall out between day 10 and day 20 after your last laser session. It is important to resist the temptation to pull the hairs out oneself, and let the hairs fall out on their own. It is important to let the follicle die on its own and not pluck out any hairs, aside from the ones that come out very easily, offering no resistance. If a hair offers any type of resistance, just leave it there, otherwise you will pluck it out, it won't be dead, and it will reappear stronger than ever weeks, if not months later. I was advised to just do washing and light scrubbing, but no plucking.
2. Hair that is dormant, i.e. not in the active growing phase (the anagen phase), will sometimes be stimulated by laser treatment causing the area to seem to grow hairs that were not there before, or to look thicker and/or coarser/darker. This is what is happening to me right now. It is good to let these hairs stay there, and not pluck them out, no matter how uncomfortable that might feel, and wait until the next laser hair session: it is important to ask the tech to up the settings a bit and go over these hairs twice, so that th hairs will die within 1 to 20-25 days.
The one question that I still pose myself is how long I should wait until the next session. I am scheduled to go for Session 3 about 5 weeks after session 2. It looks like there are going to be plenty of hairs to zap, but I wonder if waiting longer will provide even more hairs to zap.
How long do y'all wait from one session to the next?
My recap: Session one: a few hairs seemed to jump right out,. Then about 2 weeks later, lots of hairs were gone but some were still visible on my upper lip. The tech did a touch up on week 3 1/2 (I was there for another area). I then went in for Session two after 5 weeks from Session one. Some hairs jumped out right away. After two weeks I had no hair anywhere, including the upper lip: it had all fallen out. Then, now, after 3 1/2 weeks after the last laser session, I see hairs on my upper lip and it is a nasty feeling, because I had gotten used, even if for only a brief period of time, to being totally hairless.
I hope this helps,
Andrea
every 6 weeks. I do face and chest. It's mostly to work around my job. 3 weeks of work, then three weeks home.
Quote from: Padma on July 20, 2012, 12:56:24 AM
I think I posted about this the first time it happened (but I can't find my original post).
The day after I had my last laser session last week, a whole load of dark hairs appeared on my top lip that hadn't been there for months (my remaining facial hair is almost entirely white now, after several laser sessions). And this is the second time that's happened straight after a laser session.
Anyone else ever had this happen?
This is known to be a rare side effect which seems to have a slight "mtf-preponderance". Btw, it is not the first such report I've read. Medical research describes the condition as paradoxial hair growth or
paradoxial hypertrichosis. It seems to occur in patients treated with either laser or IPL.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20100274 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20100274)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12460295 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12460295)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18629677 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18629677)
I had this condition myself about two years ago, predominantly in the neck and mandibular area. It was in August or September 2010. Before it happened, I had relatively long sun exposure which I usually did not have had. Moreover, I had stopped hormonal treatment for about ten days because I had the option to undergo SRS already. So in my case, there were two aspects: namely the temporal imbalance of my hormones and the prolonged sun exposure.
According to one of the papers I mentioned above, hormonal treatment can be an issue for paradoxial hair growth.
I got rid of the new hair by another laser treatment. The regrowth was pretty dense, compared to the fact that I was almost hairfree before.