Confessions of Laser Hair Removal #1
Sunday, February 10, 2013I've been debating back and forth about weather or not I should share this part of my life with the world but inevitably I decided it might be helpful to someone out there so here it is. (Be warned this will be a series of slightly graphic posts) probably stretching over a year or so. If you'd like to follow my journey to hairless-ness check back with the tag marked LASER HAIR REMOVAL and read on my friends.
If you don't know me or you haven't seen pictures of me then I should tell you I have dark hair and very fair skin. Apparently this makes me a great candidate for laser hair removal.
Whenever the subject of body hair comes up in conversation with my family my Mom likes to tell this VERY endearing story about me. She told it to my Hubby when we were dating. It goes like this... When you were born you had the most beautiful abundance of black hair on your head..... and all over you body, you kinda looked like a monkey it was soooo cute. At this point in the story I have slunk off to die in a hole somewhere. Thankfully I grew outta the monkey hair stage, sorta.
It's true I still have thick dark hair on my noggin' but I've also got it in places where thick and dark just plain stink. For reference I started growing arm pit hair in the 2nd grade. I still remember the shirt I was wearing, blue button up baseball-T with multi-colored stripes, short sleeves. Apparently short enough for my Mom to pull me into the bathroom and inform me that it was time to start shaving the pits. Hopefully all of this information has lead you to the same conclusion. I am an excellent, nay PRIME candidate for laser hair removal.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK:
As you might of guessed I've been pondering on LHR for some time now. About a year or so ago I did one of those $99 dollar LHR Groupons. The kind were you pick one of the predetermined areas and you get 5 treatments. I don't think this is the best course for LHR here's why.
Since I could only pick one area I picked the one I LOATH shaving the most, the bikini line. It took me forever to get an appointment since they sold about a thousand or so Groupons. The office and staff were nice enough, the receptionist asked which area, I told her bikini line and they lead me back to the room. THERE WAS NO CONSULTATION (first mistake). The aesthetician (second mistake) gave me some disposable panties and cool sunglasses and assured me it wouldn't be that painful and that it would take just 10 mins. She handed me a nossel that shot cool air and told me that if I felt any discomfort to point it at the area. I shaved before the appointment as I had been instructed. The technician moved along the area but after a while I began to notice that if we continued on this course a vast amount of hair would not meet it's demise, concerned I piped up, "so where does the bikini line extend to?" I have provided an illustration as to her response. (third mistake)
INFO TO KNOW:
It takes more than one appointment to see results. (if you are thinking that I didn't give them a fair shake you are technically correct I chose not to continue because I felt that the "bikini line" was not comprehensive enough for me and I'm not really into erratic baldness)
Here's what I learned.
- Get a consult so you understand the area that the LHR covers. Don't be surprised.
- There are different types of lasers
The Alexandrite Laser: With
its adjustable spot size and fast repetition rate, the Alexandrite
laser is the fastest laser hair removal system currently on the market
today. This laser provides effective treatments for those with light to
olive skin tones and can treat large areas, like a man's back, in about
30 minutes. (IDEAL IMAGE, ELASE)
The Diode Laser: The
Diode laser hair removal system is very similar to the Alexandrite
laser but is slightly different. With is larger spot size and fast
repetition rate, it can treat large areas quickly and effectively. In
addition, the Diode laser has a longer wavelength; therefore it can more
effectively treat darker skin types.
IPL: Intense Pulsed Light
or IPL devices emit broadband light of many different wavelengths,
often described as ‘pulsed light’. Their large spot size makes rapid
treatment possible, but their shorter light wavelengths make them less
effective for the permanent hair reduction. (Most Goupons and coupons are for this type of laser)
-You get what you pay for.
- Consider the medical degree and experience level of the treatment provider
- It takes about 6-9 treatments 8-10 weeks apart to see the optimum results. Your hair grows in phases and lasers only work on actively growing follicles. No laser hair removal is 100%
WHO I CHOSE:
After my first LHR I did my homework and decided to go with Ideal Image. Why you ask? Well I like the types of lasers that they use. From my understanding they seem to be the most effective in "permanent" hair removal. They gave a really thorough consultation. The laser technicians are all licensed medical professionals. The company does a lot of continued research on LHR, LHR is all they do and their packages come with a lifetime membership. Which means you can transfer your current treatments to any Ideal Image and if you ever see any regrowth in your lifetime you pay a very minimal fee at the time of the appointment and go in for a touch up.
I'm not going to go into detail about the areas I selected but basically my package includes underarms and a very comprehensive bikini area.
The appointment was similar to my first LHR experience in that I shaved before hand and they gave me some cool sunglasses, but the similarities end there. They offered a numbing cream for $20.00 but I declined feeling pretty confident in my ability to deal with pain. They started with the underarms. Before begining my tech smiled and said she used the press method, meaning after a pulse from the laser she would add pressure to the effected area to help alleviate any pain. I was pretty confident I could handle it seeing as the last LHR had been pretty painless. BOY WAS I WRONG.
It hurt bad, like squeeze yours eyes so tight you have tears slipping out the of corners and sliding down your cheeks bad. It hurt bad like grit your teeth really really hard and sucking in a few breaths of air so as to say, oh ya that hurt. Also it smelt like burning flesh and when she said press method what she really meant was I'm going to torture you with multiple bursts of the laser before I amply any pressure. I'm not sure but I think you have to find some sort of glee in other peoples pain to have that kind of job. She kept apologizing for the pain and even though I said, "it's ok" I really just wanted to punch her right in the face. I thought I had a pretty good threshold for pain,guess I was wrong. I will say that I've heard that if you have really dark coarse hair it's suppose to be much more painful. I believe this to be true because in areas where my hair wasn't as thick it hardly hurt at all. Or maybe by that time I'd just gone numb. LOL
After the underarms the tech moved onto the Bikini area. I did not get any disposable panties instead the tech got an eyeful of my birthday suite. (I said it was comprehensive). I thought it would be embarrassing to have some one so up and personal in the lady bits but you know how when people who've had a baby say they just kinda could careless about people staring are their bijango when they are dealing with labor pains? Well, I think it's kinda like that because I didn't care what she was looking at, I just wanted it to be over. The moments of relief were when she had to stop and draw a new grid over the area with a tiny white pencil. I love that pencil, in fact when this is all over I think I'm to steal that pencil and frame it on the wall with a plaque that reads " Sweet, Sweet Relief." My advise... GET THE NUMBING CREAM!!!
After the procedure was over the tech asked me on a scale of 1-10 how she had done. I think she's suppose to ask this but I really think this is the wrong moment to be asking for a grade on my experiance with her. I gave her a 9 because i'm a lady but I really wanted to giver her a 0 and call her a plethora of bad words, jump on her "relaxing" upholster exam table and shout at the tops of my lungs your press method blows. But as I stated before I'm a lady.
After the procedure was over the tech asked me on a scale of 1-10 how she had done. I think she's suppose to ask this but I really think this is the wrong moment to be asking for a grade on my experiance with her. I gave her a 9 because i'm a lady but I really wanted to giver her a 0 and call her a plethora of bad words, jump on her "relaxing" upholster exam table and shout at the tops of my lungs your press method blows. But as I stated before I'm a lady.
DID IT WORK?
It did. I would say I had about 50% of my hair fall out.
I ordered the numbing cream for next time and I've heard if you take a Tylenol and hour before it isn't as bad. I also would say that the underarms hurt the worst. But of course that my opinion. Yes blog world, this is a picture of my armpit. You don't have to thank me... I know it's what you've always wanted. It's still in the shedding phase and of course some of the hairs will grow back but all in all I'm pretty pleased with the results.This is just the first treatment and I am pleased with he results so far. I will be returning for the rest of the sessions.
Until next time,
1 comments
Tigan! Dark head on our heads is great... dark hair on our bodies in NOT! I did my armpits last year along with a similar bikini area. The results have been great. I actually only did 6 sessions in each to begin with and now in the process of my 2nd round in my armpits. Nobody tells you HOW bad it hurts! But it does! If you put the numbing cream on and then cover it with plastic wrap one hour before your appointment it will not nearly be as painful! :)
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