If I had to describe it in three words "It sucked arse". I don't think it hurt any more than say getting a tattoo - particularly a tattoo on the inside of your arm near your armpit, but it was definitely more unpleasant. Not that I want to put any one off because you need to do what you need to do and everyone seems to react differently to it (and there are probably a range of techniques too). Also I have particularly dense black hair and the denser it is the more it hurts.

I think the worst bit for me was that I felt really vulnerable and I could not see what as going on. When I turned up she pretty much slapped a pair of goggles on me so I could not see a thing as I lay there. Next thing I know this machine starts up next to me and start blowing cold air on my face. She starts applying what I can only assume is gel all over my face. It was freezing. Despite the room being warm It made me shiver. Next thing I know another machine starts up so all I can hear is whoosh, wiirrrrrr, beep beep... kind of thing.

Next thing she starts zapping away. Must be some sort of gun-like thing with a trigger as I could hear the click of the trigger as she zapped each small area of my face. I was glad for the chilly gel and cold air at that point, it hurt like anything. I would describe it like getting a hunk of face hair pulled out combined with a little electric shock and a hot snap accompanied by the smell of burnt hair. On the cheeks was ok, base of the neck was fine, but on the jaw line and upper lip and just under my chin it was nasty. Afterwards I was really shaky and worn out, so when they say you can go back to work the same day I say they are lying!

Took about 30 minutes to finish zapping away and I was sure glad when it was done. Face was really red, a bit swollen and it felt like sunburn. 4 days latter I look like I have shaving rash. The hairs are really bristly and stiff and some of them have just sort of fallen out.

I hope this has worked, and I hope it is true that it gets easier. I guess as the hair becomes less dense it becomes less painful.

I did two treatments with a laser and three with LHE ( Light Heat Energy ) with 5 treatments of Electrolysis.

The result is I still have a beard but only have to shave every two days.   

Daisy

They thought I would need about 10 sessions to get rid of all the dark hair. Will see how it goes over the next year.

I have a consultation for mine this upcoming week.  I'm hoping the fact that I'm a little bit younger and don't have much hair I won't require as many sessions.  That or it won't work altogether hehe knowing my luck.

My problem is the laser did get rid of a lot of the dark ---  however now the beard when it show looks white making me look older .... arghhh!!!

Awl.... poor thing! Yes, that was exactly my experience.

It gets less painful with each session. Honest. And the recovery gets easier as you go too. My first few sessions were just as you described. By session six or so, the zaps just stung a little, and the sunburn feeling only lasted an hour or so.

~Kate~

Ask if there is numbing cream available. My second session, the technition (sp?) put some kind of cream 30 minutes prior to treatment due to my pain the first time around. It lessened the pain a good deal, but not 100%. I was also more mentally prepared and didn't make to many  faces that time. It's been really good, except if I don't shave everyday, it's been really patchy, and I wouldn't know how to explain it.

I go for my third session on Monday and I am going to ask her more hair comes out after the 3rd, she's got about 1500 so far. Is this normal? She has me scheduled for 5 sessions.Also how many of the pesky critters does a normal male have on the face? Jolene

I found that there was a difference in the LHE and Laser.   The laser ($250 a treatment) gun shoots a beam frying everything in a nickel to quarter size area.   It works well for the area covered....  and they wanted 1 month between sessions. 

However the LHE gun(?) covers an 1.5 inch by 1 inch rectangle.  These sessions worked but not as well as the laser.  This might be due to the fact I was doing these every two weeks.

That being said though the coverage is easier with the LHE as the rectangle are easier to overlap slightly leaving no area missed.   The laser's coverage if great in the beam but getting full coverage on circular area seems prime to making sure we come back for more.

Just a thought

Daisy

I wondered the same thing. There are definitly areas that she 'missed'. Oh well, if it works in the end it works...

I had a search online Jolene and found that "Facial hair has a density of about 500 hairs/cm2" - but you don't see many of these.

With just an unscientific measuring on my part, I came up with a figure of around 6,500 hairs. But Iam sure there has to be more than that. Does the hair break down or weakens with more sessions thus allowing more hair to be removed as the sessions continue? what Iam trying to say is instead of the 7-800 per treatment will that increase to 1-2000 per session?

The laser as well as electrolysis only kills the hair in the active growing state.    It may fry hair in inactive.... but these can grow again.   The cycle is basically 1/4 of your hair is in an active state at any one time ( which is 1 to two weeks I believe ).

So the benefit of lasers is you get all active hairs in one shot if they perform adequate coverage.

Correct me concerning these numbers if I wrong..   all from memory

Daisy

I ran out of money and had to put my laser on hold. But I have gone for both laser and electrolysis and I find electrolysis so much more painful. I was crying for some session, the electrologist kept saying "do you want me to stop" and I said that it was more pain to not get rid of the hair. laser seems to be faster but I still think for most people a combination of both is best.

Quote from: Ember L on October 27, 2007, 12:38:08 PM
I ran out of money and had to put my laser on hold. But I have gone for both laser and electrolysis and I find electrolysis so much more painful. I was crying for some session, the electrologist kept saying "do you want me to stop" and I said that it was more pain to not get rid of the hair. laser seems to be faster but I still think for most people a combination of both is best.

Going to an electrologist within a month of the last laser session is a waste of money.  The electro spends a lot of time picking out hairs that would fall out anyway.  Plus, the skin after laser is ultra pain-sensitive for about 3 weeks.

I don't know about the dangers of getting laser right after electro -- the strong energy may do something to the treated follicles (they're mini wounds, after all...)

Hair follicles work in cycles.

There is a dormant phase -- the follicle is resting, and the previous hair has fallen out.

The growth phase is when the follicle is actively growing a hair.

At the end of the growth phase, the hair stops growing and soon falls out.

For every visible growing hair on an untreated male beard, there are about 5 or so dormant follicles.

It takes between 18 months to two years for each follicle on your face to go through a growth phase and back to dormant.

Imagine someone who has had no treatment, and has all their follicles.

First, electrolysis.

If you clear the face in each treatment, you will have some of the dormant follicles enter the growth phase after the clearing, and you will have some more whiskers soon after the treatment.  But if you completely clear the face each time, you will kill almost all of the currently-growing follicles.  And gradually, you will have fewer and fewer hairs to treat each session.

In about 18 months to two years, assuming the electro has a 90% or better kill ratio when treating the follicles, you will end up with a female face, with no more than a few annoying hairs -- just like any other natal female may have.

Second, Laser.

The same growth rules apply.  The laser will treat those hairs that have the ideal conditions, i.e., dark or black hairs in light skin which can absorb enough light energy to heat up sufficiently to kill the hair-producing cells in the follicle.  Hairs and skin that match the conditions will be successfully eradicated.  Blonde or white hairs will not be sufficiently treated, if they are treated at all, and will remain.

The laser treatments have to be conducted over the 18 month to 2 year period that constitutes a full growth cycle.  Follicles which are dormant do not contain a hair that can be nuked by the laser, and remain untreated.

At the end of the growth cycle, the laser has gotten as many follicles as it's going to get.  Now the patient has to switch to electro for cleanup.

But it's going to take a whole growth cycle for the hairs that laser could not treat to cycle in.  18 months to two years.  The good news is that, depending on how ideal a laser candidate you were, you may only need one 2-hour appointment a month to complete the clean-up.  But it's still going to take 18 months to 2 years to complete.

So, laser + electro will take a total of 3 to 4 years to complete, if you go as fast as you can.

It's your money;

Karen

Hi all,

I am having Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) I think it is the actual hair and follicle that attracts the pulsed light and kills the root. I don't know if that's different but I found that it stings but is bearable. Again the upper lip is the most painful. I am on my third session and they said it would take about six sessions once a month. I have about a 60% reduction on regrowth but a few light hairs that I think will need electrolysis to clean things up.

hugs

Nigella

I think mine is IPL too. Basically the light gets absorbed by the melanine in your hair and skin. The darker it is the more heat is generated.

Well, it has been about 5 weeks since my first treatment. My second one is in just over a weeks time. I'm glad financial reasons have meant I had to wait six weeks for my second session as my skin has recovered slowly. I think I got a bit too burnt in my first session. I'm still getting the odd piece of hair that I can pick out. Not sure if this is normal. It's like having a bunch of tiny splinters that just have not grown out yet. I've tried exfoliating to speed things up..

Things are really good. My razor now just glides over my face without the same resistance, I'm much smoother. Thoug the patchyness actually means I kind of need to shave more often than I did at the moment as it looks a bit scragly.

Glad things are progressing, I just had my fourth. Only the upper and lower lip showing any regrowth that was the most dense area and stings the most, lol.

hugs

Nigella

After some months of struggling with a home laser outfit I managed to prove to myself that it works on me, but with that sort of equipment one can only cover small areas at a time and I decided that would be fine if only I could spend all day every day using it. So I have finally found a professional clinic run by a qualified post-op TS lady within an hour's travel from me and I have my first appointment in ten days time. She has reassured me that despite my having about 50% greys in my otherwise dark beard on fair skin that she has several systems at her disposal and seems confident that she will be able to help.
Having read the foregoing posts I am now really looking forward to my appointment with a mixture of excitement and trepidation!
Louise H