Laser questions

[Katesback]

Ok so I have had six settings of laser a couple years ago. It did have a noticible effect but to this day I still have to shave every morning. I am thinking when I get the drive of going back and having more laser.

My question is has anyone had GREAT success with laser, or did they have to finish it with electro? God I hate that idea!

Katie

[CharleneT]

Considering that you had six sessions of laser and you still have to shave, chances are your money is better spent on electrolysis. You get used to the pain . . .

One thing to consider, do you feel that some of the hair removed by laser came back ? If so, then go to electro for sure.


It is slow going though :( If you have any grey or very light hairs, they will not be affected by laser.

[Sandra Dunn]

I am indergoing laser at this time and have been for about 2 years. All this time is covered under the original price which was paid off 18 months ago. The white hairs will need to be electro off, the dark ones are going away and I can go all day and still look good. My main concern was the dark hairs and they are going away.

Electro or laser takes time and requires repeating visits.

Sandra

[dilane]

I've had to use electro to finish the job. Laser cut my very dense hair down to about 30-40% of what it was, but then it stayed there. I have dark hair and light olive skin (not the best for laser).

I know two people for whom laser worked very well: one is Japanese (dark but not-very-dense beard against light skin), and one European (dark beard, and pretty light skin).

[Melissa A.]

I messed around with laser, on and off, for a while. I never found anyone who I felt totally comfortable with. Did you know that the FDA will not allow those who offer laser to use the word "permanant" in any advertising? I've been going to electrolysis weekly for about 2 months now. It's expensive, time consuming, and ridiculously, excruciatingly painful sometimes. I don't mind saying, I have cried on a few occasions. Especially when she's doing right under the nose. Oh, dear. That really, really hurts. I now take 4-5 OTC pain relievers and spray my face with a numbing spray before I go. It helps a little. I have a very low tolerance for pain, it seems! But I'm trying to be patient. At least I know this will be permanant.

Hugs,

Melissa:)

[Zoiq]

Please note that actual laser is very different to the pulsed light options that get around.

Laser is usually more expensive, and 3-4 applications tends to do all that it will do.

[Katesback]

Thank you everyone for the input. I do feel that the six sessions of laser (being they were a couple years ago) did cause lasting effects. Of course as I said it did not get rid of all the hair and so I still shave every day, thankfully only once.

Perhaps one of these days I will get the electro done. Probably to go the place in Texas electro 3000 and get it done in one fell swoop.

till that day I suppose I will just continue shaving and consider it life.

Katie

[LaurenS.]

Laser is great because it's so much faster than electro. But that's where the positives end, at least for me. I've tried it several times and it works great for about 3 months and then a large percentage of hair comes back. My endo told me that it works much better while on hormones. I haven't tested his statement but guess I should.
Lauren

[Bree-asaurus]

Laser is great because it's so much faster than electro. But that's where the positives end, at least for me. I've tried it several times and it works great for about 3 months and then a large percentage of hair comes back. My endo told me that it works much better while on hormones. I haven't tested his statement but guess I should.
Lauren

How were your sessions spaced apart? Laser is only faster than electrolysis as far as how many hours it takes. But it still takes about the same period of time overall until you see the full results of the treatment.

For my face, I was quoted 200-400 hours of electro over the course of a year (that's an average quote I believe). I was quoted 6 sessions over the course of a year for laser.

Laser has far less sessions which are a lot faster, but they are spaced WAAAY out. If you do your laser sessions too close together (not waiting 8-16 weeks between sessions) then there won't be enough hair in the proper growth cycle to be killed by the laser. Each session you will be killing a percentage of your hairs and it won't be until you've done all 6 or so sessions that the full long-term results of the laser will be seen. And after that, you will still need electrolysis for the lighter hairs that laser can't kill.

[Bree-asaurus]

I messed around with laser, on and off, for a while. I never found anyone who I felt totally comfortable with. Did you know that the FDA will not allow those who offer laser to use the word "permanant" in any advertising? I've been going to electrolysis weekly for about 2 months now. It's expensive, time consuming, and ridiculously, excruciatingly painful sometimes. I don't mind saying, I have cried on a few occasions. Especially when she's doing right under the nose. Oh, dear. That really, really hurts. I now take 4-5 OTC pain relievers and spray my face with a numbing spray before I go. It helps a little. I have a very low tolerance for pain, it seems! But I'm trying to be patient. At least I know this will be permanant.

Hugs,

Melissa:)

They can't call laser "permanent hair removal" but they can call it "permanent hair reduction." From the FDA:
Several manufacturers received FDA permission to claim, "permanent reduction," NOT "permanent removal" for their lasers.

This is because laser will not kill ALL treated hair, only darker hairs. Electrolysis will kill all treated hair. So if you get the proper laser treatment, you can permanently reduce the hair, but you will need to follow up with electro to get rid of ALL the hair.

I'm lucky that my facial hair is mostly black, so the laser will kill most of it. Then I'll follow up with electrolysis to get rid of the stragglers.

[luvSophia]

Just my personal experience, but I do not recommend laser to anyone. For some it works, for others it does not. Electrolysis works for everyone. My electrologist calls laser "rich man's waxing". She has flat out told me that I wasted my money on it. I started laser and electrolysis at the same time, she worked her way around the dark hairs while I was going to laser sessions. Now, after having finished five sessions of laser a few months back and she is working on the dark hair, she says she can see no difference. If laser kills two hairs and they do not come back then they have successfully "reduced" the amount of hair. It is a lot of money to try it out and see if it works for you and find out it does not.

[Bree-asaurus]

Just my personal experience, but I do not recommend laser to anyone. For some it works, for others it does not. Electrolysis works for everyone. My electrologist calls laser "rich man's waxing". She has flat out told me that I wasted my money on it. I started laser and electrolysis at the same time, she worked her way around the dark hairs while I was going to laser sessions. Now, after having finished five sessions of laser a few months back and she is working on the dark hair, she says she can see no difference. If laser kills two hairs and they do not come back then they have successfully "reduced" the amount of hair. It is a lot of money to try it out and see if it works for you and find out it does not.

For me personally, I'd rather spend $600 on laser and hope it works and THEN decide if I have to spend $15,000 on electrolysis. Just keep in mind when deciding, that both the laser techs and electrologists are biased in favor of their method and laser doesn't work for everyone.

[Princess Jen]

I have had 3 years of laser hair removal treatments on my face and two years of treatments on my legs. Almost all the hair on my face came back when I stopped getting laser treatments. It may have reduced the amount of total hair by 10%, if that. For my legs, I experienced a hair reduction of at least 80%. I have light skin and dark hair and I was told that after only 2 years of facial treatments, I would be able to tweeze all the remaining hairs in less time than it takes to shave.

My electrologist insists that laser hair removal is temporary. After being zapped, the hairs simply take longer to grow back.

After going through 3 years of laser treatments, I am definitely upset with the results. My face should have been completely hairless by the time I was done and it would have been, if I had started right off with electrolysis. Laser hair removal barely did anything for my face. I also found it to be far more painful than electrolysis. It did a very good job on my legs though and I am happy with the results there but after spending over $2500 on laser hair removal treatments, I feel that it should only be used on areas you can still shave satisfactorily. If you want to make sure it gets done right the first time, start with electrolysis.

[7sisters]

I'm a gg, Asian. I've jet black hair and each strand was really thick. Laser on legs worked really well. It's reduction. Not permanent removal. The doctor said to me- if the hair strand is thicker and more black, the laser works better. On the face, well I'm not happy with the results. I may have to go in for electrolysis

[Myojine]

For me personally, I'd rather spend $600 on laser and hope it works and THEN decide if I have to spend $15,000 on electrolysis. Just keep in mind when deciding, that both the laser techs and electrologists are biased in favor of their method and laser doesn't work for everyone.

wow
/hates life even more


theres no way in hell ill be able to afford this....
does laser realy not work?

i have olive skin and dark hair, i guess thats another negative....

[7sisters]

Look, I have olive skin too and dark hair. Laser works for us also. Please see actual practitioners to get a real picture. Over the internet we cannot really give such advice.

[Angiemead12]

I have been doing laser from the neck down for about 3 years now. I must say the growth on my arms, chest, belly, bikini, underarm, and legs have greatly been reduced from before to about 15% and I love it when the hair grows back softer and not hard like my beard stubble.

I don't think it will remove everything permanently but it was worth it from my original hairy state. I have one last treatment to get rid of the stubborn ones but after that I'll just maintain with waxing.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

Hi Kate..i am 200 hrs into electrolysis, and i've easily had ahallf dozen laser sessions...i still shave my mustache and chin every day..it just won't stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its getting really old...and i havent had hair removal for many months...i start again next week...

i dont think there is a wrong answer...its a slog..and every hair has its own idea of whether it stays dead or not...

in your boat you also need to consider something laser folks don't talk much about...which is that its possible to accidently STIMULATE hair growth with laser too!!

....sorry to be a party pooper

[AKAMichelle]

I started 3 years ago getting my chest and back done. I am pleased with the results in comparison to where I was, but it didn't get rid of everything. I ended up with about 85% gone, but there are some hairs that just won't die. For those I may have to go get electro.

I am planning on getting laser treatments on my beard here shortly. I know because I now have a lot of grey hair that I will have to finish with electro.

[Stephenie S]

Electrolysis is painful, expensive, and time consuming. The plus side is that it WORKS. Every hair folicle zapped is dead, dead, dead. Never to be thought of, or seen, again.

I think $15,000 is a high estimate. I spent half that. But it DOES take a while, and goodness, it is painful.

Stephie

[7sisters]

Kaitlyn you have a point wich we all forgot - laser can stimulate hair growth (but it zaps them too). And god knows which strands have minds of their own.I think that plucking also stimulates hair growth. What do you think?

[morgan51]

I feel for me electrolisys is the best money spent I've had 4 sessions of laser and didn't see much reduction plus it makes it more difficult for the electrolisys operators to do a good job according to mine.

[JoannaCaroline]

I had my last laser session about 18 months ago and have never had electrolysis except as a trial and only had a couple of hairs removed. I still have some blond hairs that grow and will go to see an electrologist eventually. I shave about once every 10 days and most women have more hair on their face than I do. I just have a stubborn few that will grow longer.

I wish I had done it much earlier in life but I have no regrets about laser 1st. It is painful especially at the beginning. It will take a lot longer than they promise. Simple math told me that 8 sessions will not take care of it. Get them to explain the hair growth cycle and the fact that even though your face looks great right after a treatment (well not for a few hours to a few days) that you only really killed a proportion of the visible hairs (laser only kills hairs that are in a certain phase of growth). If you can find a package that will let you come back until you are satisfied the hair is gone that is the best.

My laser tech was wonderful. After my 1st 8 she charged me 25 per session for my face and went on to do my arms and the little happy trail below my belly button (unbelievable painful).

I'm curious. Has anyone done hair removal of any kind to remove all facial hair and spent less than $1000??

[Carole Cross]

I had ten laser sessions over the course of a year, the last one back in April, I had to stop due to finacial constraints. I am very pleased with the results as I now have very little regrowth but I still need a light shave every day because there is a faint shadow by the end of the day. Before the laser I had very thick, fast growing hair and I hated having to shave every morning because I have very sensitive skin. Now I don't mind so much as it only takes about 30 seconds and there is no shadow.
Since my last session there has been very little increase in the regrowth, despite now having the hair in all stages of growth. The hair is much finer than before and I believe it was worth the money spent on it. I will finish it once I have the available funds but I will need electrolysis because I have white hairs that are not affected by the laser. I have a friend who has to have electrolysis due to their hair colour and they said it does hurt at first but you do get used to it. My first session of laser was very painful because of my sensitive skin and the thick hair, now most of the hair has gone and so has the pain.

[JamieLH]

Is it possible to remove all facial hair with any method?
I've read this thread with interest and conclude that laser therapy is not very long lasting?

I've always had thick, fast growing facial hair. It would be nice to not have to bother with it anymore. Is there a method that permanently removes hair?

[JoannaCaroline]

They just take forever. Laser only works on dark hair. so if you have an blond or any grey you will have to do at least a little electro. I personally still recommend laser. It worked for me. They are both expensive, take months or years to finish.

[JamieLH]

They just take forever. Laser only works on dark hair. so if you have an blond or any grey you will have to do at least a little electro. I personally still recommend laser. It worked for me. They are both expensive, take months or years to finish.

Is this really true that color of hair affects how well the laser treatment works? I would think that laser would be affecting the root of the hair, not the shaft itself. Since blonde and grey hair tents to be more fine, I would think just the opposite....that dark hair would be the most difficult?

I have every color of facial hair (black, brown, red, blonde, grey..)

[Pokergal420]

So I know laser doesnt work on grey and light hair, but what about red? I am a very dark haired person but for some reason my beard has a lot of red hairs. It is only noticeable when it gets really long, but will laser get rid of these?

[Natasha_C]

I've had about 6 sessions of facial electrolysis. Its painful and is going to take a very long time but is definately very effective and I would recommend it.