Has anyone had good experiences with Laser for body hair removal?

[chrissus]

Has anyone had good experiences with laser for body hair removal? The information out on the web seems dated, and I can't find any decent references on what's going on today in this area. I've heard that you should go to a physician for this, and avoid the chains and salons, but I have not heard much discussion on places that have a good reputation.


Thanks

[crystalann]

hello, I started laser on the body and face over a year ago. I ended up stopping it on the face it just was not working but it did seem to help on the body

[gillian1968]

Well, I can't say much as I just started laser on my face.

I did spend some time choosing the place I'm going though. The woman I've chosen has an office and does laser and electrolysis exclusively, she's been certified and practicing since '83. I wasn't impressed with most places and people that I saw, they either seem to do it only part time, or just started doing it, or just didn't seem to have the breadth of experience when I went for the initial consult.

As for results, I'm afraid I won't know for some time. Permanent hair removal is a long journey.

-Gillian

[AKAMichelle]

I have been having laser treatments on the chest and back for 2+ years. Most of it is gone now, but I guess I started too old. I have some grey hairs left.

It works but I don't think completely. I still think it is better than getting electrolysis. At end I may have some electrolysis treatments in certain areas to finish off the laser treatments. I think that might be a more realistic expectation.

[Teri Jean]

I just started and the first was to say intense but as the person that I have doing it stated the hair grows in cycles of four growths. Therefore repeat appointments are necessary to remove each growth cycle. Also the blond or "experianced hair" gray would have to be done by electrolysis and then there would have to be maintenance over the years. So I guess the response is there is definately return visits down the road.

Teri

[Joy Carter]

The girls I know that had it done say, it don't help much on the face area.

[dilane]

I had two or 3 upper body laser treatments about 10 years ago.

My body hair was very dense. I had beard shadow after shaving my arms & chest! It is now 30-40% of it's former density. I stopped because of the expense and that it just wasn't a problem anymore, a quick shave looks perfect. One interesting effect was that I didn't have to shave my underarms for six months, now that area is permanently very lightly populated.

I have a friend who completely cleared his body with laser over about a year.

The word on the street is that body treatments are much more effective than face treatments, although a couple of asian friends (light skin, black hair) were completely clear on the face after a few treatments.

[Michelle_Sullivan]

Has anyone had good experiences with laser for body hair removal? The information out on the web seems dated, and I can't find any decent references on what's going on today in this area. I've heard that you should go to a physician for this, and avoid the chains and salons, but I have not heard much discussion on places that have a good reputation.


I go to CACI clinics here in Australia. The general rule for LASER or IPL permanent hair reduction, is:

Dark Hair + Light skin = Good results
Light hair + Dark skin = Forget it, it won't work.
Grey hair (translucent/white) + any skin type = Forget it, it won't work.

Electrolysis is the tried and tested permanent hair removal method for all hair and skin types.

Epilar is supposed to be good, however I have no experience with it.

I'm having LASER on face, neck, chest, belly, bikini line, bum, legs.. results are good except where I am going grey... I'm about to start electrolysis.

[LaurenS.]

I've also stppoed laser on my face. It just doesn't seem to be working. It takes a while for the hairs to grow back and you think it's working but they always come back, at least with me they do. I'm back to electrolysis.
Lauren

[Carole Cross]

I have had three laser sessions on my beard hair and the results so far have been very good. I used to get a five o'clock shadow at around 1 o,clock and had to shave at least once a day. The shadow is now very light and in some places is not visible at all. I have three more4 sessions to go om a course of six and hopefully this will reduce the shadow further or eliminate it completely. There will be follow up treatments to catch any hairs that grow back every six months until there is no regrowth. I may switch to electrolysis to kill off the stray hairs after two or three follow up sessions.

I would like to have laser on the rest of my body but it is too expensive at this time, maybe at some point in the future I will have it done.

[CharleneT]

A lot of variables on this one unfortunately. Your skin color and hair color are primary factors. The type of laser and the skill of the tech are also very important. How long of a gap between treatments ( at least 6 weeks ) is important. Many find it works for them and the others vary from "pretty decent" to not at all. Sorry, but there just is not a strait answer to the question.

[Steph2003]

I've been seeing an electrolysist for about six weeks every week, and she recommended a dermatologist that does laser. I have my first appointment on Tuesday! Electro on Wednesday!:D

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Steph

[Jenny Chen]

Question! Being Asian, i have really dark hair (black) that and in combination with having only the ability to grown bum fluff on my face, by bum fluff i mean half inch long hair, should i do Laser or electro?

I don't have much hair, so little that i can sit down for an hour and pull out all of them with tweezers. I did this when i was tired of the bread shadow, only lasted a week but at lest i tried :D

[Karen564]

Question! Being Asian, i have really dark hair (black) that and in combination with having only the ability to grown bum fluff on my face, by bum fluff i mean half inch long hair, should i do Laser or electro?

I don't have much hair, so little that i can sit down for an hour and pull out all of them with tweezers. I did this when i was tired of the bread shadow, only lasted a week but at lest i tried :D

Either way, but Laser would be your cheapest & fastest route, since you have black hair.. Laser works best on dark hairs..

If you had blond hair, you would have to go with Electro..

[Steph2003]

Well, the laser on the face definitely (for me anyway) hurt!!!

I was given a prescription for a "numbing" agent for the next time, which will be mid-November.

I was amazed to see that my shadow, after the second "pass" with the laser, was almost gone!

I'm going to have electro tomorrow, if I have enough growth between now and then!

Steph

[Tasha VanEssen]

One thing not mentioned earlier is if you have a tan or not. Waiting until the winter months when you have no tan is the ideal time to get some laser done.

Another thing to take into account is the functionality of the laser. I had some test patches done on my skin and ended up with burns on those patches. They did heal and I at first thought it might be due to my tan. The technician who only does hair removal had problems with the hand unit on her laser which led me to wonder if my burns where due to a faulty laser. I suppose I could also suspect the competence of the hair removal technician but because she has been in business for a long time I think her competence is a non issue.

I have no idea what the make of her unit was and I will get that info when I go for my next visit of electrolosis. I prefer the idea of having a dermatologist do the laser just because of the qualifications of their knowledge of skin.

PS.. I have heard blending is also quite good

xoxoxoxox

Tasha

[Sandra Dunn]

I've been doing my face for a year and it has helped a bunch for me. The grays and the whites do not disapear which is fine since they cover. The courseness is gone for the most part, now I can go 2 days when I could only go a day and if I went out at night I'd need to shave. I am not able to get the other parts done at this time. I feel for me it will be worth it when I do.
As for the face it worked for me, I am satisfied with the results. I go in about every 6 weeks now for a follow up and I used to get bad ingrowns before I started.
I am going to try and find an electrolosist for the tuff gray ones later or maybe by that time I'll have them pulled out by me.

The pain is worth it for me to be me

HUGS Sandra

[Karen__Starr]

In general electrolysis is the best way to remove hair from any part of the body. I did research between laser and electrolysis before simply jumping into laser and it seems that laser (as already mentioned here) is temporary solution.