I haven't posted my results so far in a while, so thought I would update. I have light skin (type II) and black hair (coarse on bikini and underarms, fine but dark on stomach). So far, I've had 3 treatments on my bikini and 2 on my underarms and stomach area with GentleLASE. It is now 3 weeks post my last treatment. I get treated with GentleLASE by a dermatologist. Settings were 14 joules at 18mm the first 2 times and 16 joules at 18mm the last time.

So far, I've had about 99% removal on bikini and underarms. Those areas are getting the best results. Basically, almost everything shed during the first treatment on these areas except for very few sparse hairs. About 15% came back after 8 weeks, when I got another treatment. Third treatment was also 8 weeks after. Right now, it's been 3 weeks since the last treatment and I have about 6 hairs on each armit that were missed and maybe 10 sparse hairs here and there on the entire bikini area (I did everything around a thong). This is GREAT for me as I always had a shadow before after shaving and resorted to waxing because of that, which caused irritation at times and lots of ingrowns. I also think I have more hair than average, so this is amazing.

The stomach area had finer but still black hairs. Darkest at the happy trail area and lighter outside of that. I think about 70% of hairs there are all gone for now, especially all the dark ones. There are a few missed spots of lighter short hairs here and there that will need to get treated next time. It was hard to get them since when I shaved that area for the first time (I bleached before), the doctor couldn't really see where to treat, since unlike bikini and underarms, there was no sign of hair once shaved. I guess they are fine enough not to cause the shadow and the skin is thick enough there for no "seethrough" effect.

I'm glad to answer any questions if you have some. I am thrilled with my results so far and am planning on finishing all the treatments of course. I think this time, I will also wait a bit over 8 weeks for my next treatment to see if I get more regrowth and just because that's the best way to do it. As you get more treatments, they should become less rare.

Time to follow up on my treatments. I had another treatment today and decided to try LightSheer with another doctor in the area. I went to Dr. Brandeis in Beverly Hills. He used to be a gynocologist/general medicine doctor and now does skin procedures including hair removal. His prices are very reasonable from what I found and since I didn't have great results on my stomach since my hair is finer there, I decided to try LightSheer and another doctor this time. I paid $99 for bikini, $50 underarms, $59 stomach.

This was my 4th bikini treatment, and 3rd on underarms and stomach area. I waited 10 weeks since my last treatment this time since I didnt have anything grow back (on bikini and underarms) 8 weeks into it. Now at 10 weeks, I had a bit of very fine regrowth on bikini and underarms (maybe 10% at most and VERY fine compared to old dark coarse hair), but most of the fine stomach hair did grow back.

LightSheer was used very differently from GentleLASE. The feeling when the hair is killed is pretty much the same, but the technique was different. LightSheer is more of a rolling treatment on the skin, while GentleLASE was separate "hits". I can see how it is much easier to miss spots with LightSheer if the tech is not experienced. Also, with LightSheer, there was a stream of cold air the whole time, while with GentleLASE small amounts of cold "hits" are released right before the laser beam "hit". My skin looks absolutely fine. The redness was gone within half hour on stomach and underarms, and just a bit longer for bikini. The doctor used a longer pulse on my stomach since the area was just a bit tanned. The settings were 26 joules on bikini and underarms (shorter pulse) and 33 joules on the stomach (longer pulse).

I'll give another update and comparison after the shedding process in 2 weeks or so.

Good choice. You will like the Lightsheer! Make sure they use compression too as that will enhance the effectiveness.

RJC2001

Ok, so time for my update. It's been 3 weeks now after my only LightSheer treatment (overall this was treatment #4 on bikini, #3 on underarms, and #2 on stomach). My opinion at this point is that I am not completely satisfied with LightSheer, at least as compared to GentleLASE. Now, that might be due to this doctor in particular that treated me, but I'm not sure. Basically, it looks now like a lot of areas were either missed or just didn't shed.

The settings weren't too low or anything with LightSheer. In fact, GentleLASE settings that were used on me with great results were definitely on the lower end and still worked. I have to account my dissappointment to the difficulty of operating the LightSheer vs GentleLASE to provide accurate treatments. The GentleLASE handle just seems to make it much easier to target specific areas. I wouldn't say the GentleLASE doctor is any more experienced than the LightSheer one. Probably the other way around if anything. The results I received from GentleLASE treatments are very even and clean. Also, the LightSheer doctor did the perenial area this time which I haven't touched before and although the hair is coarse and dark, it didn't seem to have been affected at all whether with GentleLASE that type of hair around that area shed after the very first treatment. I think it might have something to do with the fact that the hair there is closer to the surface and LightSheer might have reached too deep and passed them by since the wavelength on LightSheer is higher...

Anyways, I'm going to wait a few weeks and then go in for another GentleLASE treatment. Hopefully it will be my last one on bikini and underarms as I only have a few small sparse areas that need to be cleaned up left and will cost less than original treatments (takes 2 seconds to get rid of with a razor right now without any shadows etc!) and I'm planning to seriously up the settings and focus on the stomach area. That area has sparse clean areas with about 30% or so gone I think overall. I easily clean it up with a razor as well and have no shadows either since it's sparse and finer. Once that's done, I'll be very happy and hopefully hairfree

If anyone has any questions, as usual don't hesitate to ask.

How may treatments have you had with the Genlelase? What skin type do you have? How many joules did they use? Thanks, this will be very helpful to me!

read the very first post with all this information in this string

It does sound like you have had super results. I have only been using lightsheer now for 9 treatments, but still have a few hairs in the bikini area (did the whole brazillian). My question is, how bad does the armpit area hurt? Do you have before and after pictures? I am seriously considering armpits if the legs end up working.

Also my skin type if very pale, with thick black course hair everywhere..eeek. Do you think the LightSheer or GentleEase(sorry already posting and forgot how to spell it) is better for this skin type?


thanks

Underarms were the least painful for me I think. Laser works very well on both bikini and underarms since it works best on coarse hair. You should get similar results on underarms that you got on the bikini area. I personally prefer GentleLASE, but if you have a good tech who is very careful at not missing any areas with LightSheer, that laser is fine as well. Either one will work well on light skin and dark coarse hair, I just think if the experience of the techs is similar, the results are cleaner/more thourough with GentleLASE.

Thank you very much, lagirl, for all your informative postings as they have helped me a lot in the last few months to decide whether or not lhr was for me. I do have one question. Since you are in the Los Angeles area, would you mind recommending a good specialist? Any help would be appreciated...

-Sll
Los Angeles, CA

what is your skin and hair type?

Just giving a quick update. I just had another treatment today. This is #5 on bikini, #4 on underarms and #3 on stomach. I went back to my original doctor, Dr. Babapour who uses GentleLASE. We used considerably higher settings this time, 30 Joules at 12mm spot size on all areas.

Everything seems fine so far. The areas got red and had red bumps around the follicles, which is a good sign. The hairs that were left on bikini and underarms were sparse and fine, so hopefully this will be the last treatment on those areas. I expect to be going in for a few more treatments on the stomach area. I'm curious to see how well these settings worked on this area which is a bit more difficult to treat because the hair is much finer there.

I'll give another update in 2-3 weeks, when shedding is complete.

Hi LaGirl,

Quick question you said "LightSheer was used very differently from GentleLASE. The feeling when the hair is killed is pretty much the same, but the technique was different. LightSheer is more of a rolling treatment on the skin, while GentleLASE was separate "hits". I can see how it is much easier to miss spots with LightSheer if the tech is not experienced. Also, with LightSheer, there was a stream of cold air the whole time, while with GentleLASE small amounts of cold "hits" are released right before the laser beam "hit". My skin looks absolutely fine. The redness was gone within half hour on stomach and underarms, and just a bit longer for bikini. The doctor used a longer pulse on my stomach since the area was just a bit tanned. The settings were 26 joules on bikini and underarms (shorter pulse) and 33 joules on the stomach (longer pulse).


I have had lightsheer before and there is no stream of cold air the whole entire time. It has a chilled tip but definetly no air and With the Lighsheer it is pulsed meaning they do a spot and then move down and do another pulse and spot. Are you sure this is a lightsheer machine beacause from I know it is very different then what is stated on your description. Just a question?

There are various models of LightSheer lasers and different technicians use different techniques. I believe this was an older model. The up and down technique is a better approach in general, but the sliding one is faster, so a lot of techs do that instead for speed.

Hi all,

Time for my update. So, my last treatment was with GentleLASE 3 weeks ago. This was treatment # 5 on bikini, #4 on underarms, and #3 on stomach. At this point, the shedding has finished and I think I am done with bikini and underarms. I would say I have 95% removal on those areas, being conservative and judging from what I see now, which is 3 weeks after treatment and right after shedding. Technically, right now it's more like 99%. I did have coarse black hair on those areas and very pale skin. The results are amazing.

The stomach area definitely reacted much better this time around since 30 joules at 12mm spot size were used. There are still some pepperspots left, but overall the area looks much better. The hair trail right in the middle going down to the bikini area is almost completely gone since it was the most coarse and dark there. Probably 50% or so of the finer hair around that area got eliminated this time as well. I will probably have at least 2 more treatments on this area and will stay at 30 joules.

I think I will add the perenial area next time as well so that that entire bikini area is completely smooth.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

LA Girl:

Thank you for posting your results and sharing other useful information. I have a question for you. How do you push your GentleLASE practitioner to use higher settings?

I tried this at one GentleLASE place. The physician promptly produced a table from Candela the manufacturer which stated the maximum power recommended for each skin type. I think I'm type 3 and the maximum power in this case was listed as 18 joules. For reasons of liability, etc. I doubt they would want to go higher than this. I think I read in your posts and RJC's posts that 18 joules will not achieve any permanent results and the closer to 30j or more that you can get the better. The end result was that they used 15J claiming that since it was my first treatment there, they could not even do the full 18J listed in their table. So my laser project is kind of on hold since I have had 4 useless and expensive treatment so far. The only thing that I can think of is to find someone in LA since (I've already called almost every GentleLASE operator in the Bay area and its the same story with them all.)

the card with settings that they give to practitioners is a general guideline. if the practitioner doesn't want to stray away from that and try various options to achieve the best results for you, I would assume that they're not confident in their skills. if they're really afraid of causing damage, you can have them do test spots at various higher settings and sign some kind of waiver that you won't complain.

basically, I started at 14 adn 16 joules and it worked for me at first. I used GentleLASE though and those settings are average for that machine. for LightSheer that you used, settings need to be at least 25 joules or higher. i do have very light skin and black coarse hair on those areas, so that is probably why. so technically, you will get results on the first several treatments, but for the remaining finer hair, you will need to up the settings. in the case of my stomach area, 16 joules was too low since hair there is fine. now at 30 joules, i'm starting to see more results there.

my practitioner didn't want to up the settings at first as well, but i sat down and had a conversation with him talking about all the research i have done on the subject etc. i think he became aware that i actually knew what i was talking about and have read about others who have used higher settings with no problems. so, on my last treatment, he finally agreed. i kept asking every time i was there, but only the last time he actually said sure...just tell me what settings you want to try and i'll do it.

are u sure you've explored all options? have you tried running a search on CAndela website for GentleLASE practitioners in the Bay area? Also, I think someone else posted info about a place in the Bay area earlier this week on this board.

Hello all, time for my update.

I had another treatment about 1.5 weeks ago. This time I did just the abdomen area ($100) and added a perenial region ($75). GentleLASE again, 30 joules on stomach and 18 joules on perenial.

Since last treatment, most of my bikini and underarm areas are still pretty clean. There are about 30 very thin sparse fine hairs that grew in. I had 1 quick electrolysis treatment on underarms while I was in for my upper lip. Probably took care of 10-15 hairs on each underarm. Other than that, I'm really excited that I really haven't had to shave bikini or underarms since February. I never even think about whether those areas are presentable for wearing sleeveless shirts etc, which is great. I'm currenly trying to decide if I should touch up those few fine 30 hairs or so on bikini and underarms with laser when I go in for touch-up on stomach or just treat them with electrolysis. Stomach area has been slowest in terms of results, but the hair there is fine compared to really coarse black hair I used to have on bikini and underarms, so I'm not surprised. I'm currently in the shedding phase, so we'll see. I'm assuming I will need at least 2 more treatments on this area or so. I think the reduction has been about 50% there.

I'll update in a few weeks after the shedding is complete.

how many treatments have you had so far?

all my postings are in order here. so, that would make it 5 on bikini, 4 on underarms, 4 on abdomen, 1 on perenial region. i'm also getting electrolysis on nipple area and upper lip.

Just a quick update. It's been about 12 weeks since my last bikini and underarms laser treatment and about 5 weeks since my last abdomen and perenial (first in this area) treatment. As for bikini and underarms, there is a bit of growth there, but it's very fine and thin, nothing compared to my original dark coarse hair. You would have to look really close to see them, probably about 10% of total area. I did have a second electrolysis treatment on the underarms when I was in for my upper lip and nipple area, and that was a quick 10 minute session to take care of about 30 fine hairs on each side.

Now, the shedding is complete for abdomen and perenial. Both look good right now. Most hair has shed. Perenial reacted very well after just this one treatment. There are a few small missed spots, but everything else has shed, same as the rest of my bikini area. The hair was coarse and dark there as well. That area seems to work very well with laser, even on the first treatment. Abdomen is not perfect as usual, but definitely much better this time around. I would say there are a few missed spots, but for the most part, about 90% is gone. There are also some pepperspots in the area, but you have to look really close to see them. I squeeze them out sometimes (I know, not very good, but they bother me). If my skin was tanned, the area would probably look completely hairless.

That's all for now. Let me know if I can answer any questions. I am thinking of getting a touch-up treatment on a few spots on bikini at high settings since hairs are fine and the missed spots on perenial and stomach as my doctor said he will do all for $50. Then, I will continue electrolysis on underarms for the few sparse hairs since it makes more sense financially now and laser can't target those anyways.

Another quick update. Last week, I had a "touch-up" session on all areas I've treated. (underarms, bikini, perenial, abdomen). Underarms had about 40-50 hairs fine hairs each, same with bikini(especially mostly on the outer areas), abdomen and perenial area only had a few dime-sized spots that were missed before that we got. All areas were treated at 30 joules on GentleLASE. I'm waiting for shedding, will update later.

Lagirl, I live in the San Fernando Valley, and I was wondering if you could give the phone # and addresses of Dr. Babapour and Dr. Bandeis please.

I have type III skin but I don't have a tan. I want to remove the dark course hair on my buttocks, legs, arms, arm pits, stomach, and bikini area. Yeah I know that's alot, but I'm planning on starting off by first lasering my butt and leg hair because those places are definitely the worse for me.

you can google Dr. Babapour and find his website. I wouldn't recommend Dr. Brandeis. I got almost 0 results with one treatment at his office while getting great results with Dr. Babapour.

Time for my update. It's been about 3 weeks since the touch-up treatment I had on all the areas I'm treating. Almost all hairs that were treated shed once again. Bikini area is clear, perenial is almost all clear except for a few missed single hairs here and there, underarms are also clear except for about 3 missed hairs on each side. The abdomen area looks pretty good. There are pepperspots here and there and I have a couple of what seem like ingrowns. I had some pepperspots on the sides and top of the bikini area and I couldn't help myself and squeezed them out. So, now it's clear I noticed very light short fine hairs on some parts of the abdomen, mainly above the navel. But you can only see these in VERY bright light and up close. It'll be interesting to see how much of the hair on that area will come back. At this point, not completely sure if they were burned off or actually killed. Whatever hairs were coarse and black are definitely gone (basically the strip in the very middle of abdomen), the rest was pretty fine...so I wasn't expecting great results, but we'll see. So far they're gone for now.

I also decided I'm done with the laser treatments for now. I've had approximately 5 or 6 total, depending on the area. I actually went in and got a tan, and I have to say that everything looks even better with some color On my pale type II skin, you can usually see every little black hair and imperfection, but right now, everything looks completely hairless. Of course, it's only 3 weeks post touch-up So, we'll see what happens in a few months. I'm interested in monitoring what kind of growth I will see now after the initial set of treatments. As of right now, I'm very happy with what I see (which is basically no hair), but like I said, I'm 3 weeks post touch-up, so I'll have a better idea in a month or 2 or even later. I'll keep everyone posted.

(on a side note, electrolysis I'm getting on the upper lip and nipple area is going very well. It's been more than a month since my last appt and everything still looks good. I think I've reached a point where only a few more treatments will be needed. I have had approximately 10 treatments on nipple area and maybe 5 on the upper lip. I've never touched the upper lip before, only bleached, and the hair is fine. The hairs around nipple area are harder to treat because they were black and thick after plucking for a few years, but I'm getting to the point of there are only about 2-3 on each side now and pretty fine. I'm still probably in for another 3-4 electro treatments on both areas).

I am new to this forum and have struggled with unwanted hair for as long as I can remember. Thanks for all of the detailed info surrounding your treatments. I notice you refer to pepperspots and I was wondering what that is exactly? I get these little dark spots and when I feel no hair, I squeeze them and it's a little black spot, not sure what it is.

they're killed hairs that are stuck in the follicle, so they look like black dots.

Just a short update. Underarms and bikini are clear and stable. I don't have anything to shave even there. I'm starting to see fine short hairs come in on some parts of the abdomen, mostly right above and around the navel for now as I expected (hair was fine in this area). I'm going in for my electrolysis treatment tomorrow, so I will probably ask my electrologist to get as many of these as possible.

Hi,

Just wanted to summarize my experience with electrolysis so far for anyone interested since I'm doing that along with laser(just finished laser treaments). I started with treating coarse hairs around the nipple area (used to pluck, about 10 treatments so far) and then added on the upper lip (fine hair, used to bleach, about 6 treatments so far). I also got laser treatments on very coarse dense hair on bikini and underarms with very good results, currently 99% reduction 8 weeks post last treatment. Got about 15 hairs on each underarm with electrolysis before last laser treatment and about 3-4 hairs just recently 8 weeks post last treatment (these were missed hairs, not new hairs). I also got 5 treatments on fine stomach hair (like arm hair texture) with laser and saw about 50-60% reduction, not as good as other areas because hair is fine. Now getting electrolysis on the remainder.

Now, for the results. So far, the nipple area and the upper lip are pretty much done. I only saw 4-5 hairs after about 1.5 months the last 2 treatments. I'm very happy with the results. I feel that I am almost done with both of these areas. Time will tell.

Now, I agressively started working on the stomach and the chestbone area. I've had 1 treatment of 30 minutes there about 1 week ago and 1 treatment of 55 minutes there today. Everything is looking good. I am planning to agressively treat that area and also get my eyebrows done as well to avoid irritation I get from overplucking.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if anyone has any questions.

well first of all I would like to thank you for your frequent updates, because you really have given hope to a lot of us here.

i was wondering if you could post a list of prices on average for each treatment on each area? that would be really nice!

I paid for all treatments on "per treatment basis, no contracts". Here is what I paid per treatment:

bikini (everything around a thong and a strip on top) - $100

both underarms - $100

stomach/abdomen - $75 to start and then $100 since I expanded how much of that area was treated (it's above and below the belly button and about 3 inches out)

perianal - $75 (only did this once)

The touch-up I did cost me $175, that was for touch-up on all areas.

So, I think I spent around $1500 total at this point on laser with about 5 treatments on bikini and underarms, 4 on stomach, and one perianal, and a touch-up.

I don't want to sound stupid, but I got to ask: what/where is the perianal area? I'm guessing it's around the anus area, right?

Also, do you know how much he charges for both entire legs? I forgot to ask the last time I was there.

yes, you assumed correctly. i'm not sure how much he charges regularly, but he quoted me $125 for each half leg, so about $500 for both entire legs (I only asked about lower legs which is what I'm interested in doing probably later this year). This might be a price taking into account that I already got so many treatments and other areas there, so with a discount. You'll have to ask yourself for your price and I'm sure he'll give you a discount for multiple areas. Btw, I told him that I recommend him sometimes on the forums if people ask, so feel free to tell him that you heard about him here I think he'll be pleasantly surprised. He doesn't advertise, so all his clients are pretty much through referrals, but he didn't know the forums existed.

Thanks for all your postings - they've been informative and helpful. You mentioned treating your upperlip and nipple area with electrolysis - what's the difference between that and laser hair removal?

electrolysis is a method of removing hair by hair. you can read more about it online and at the electrolysis portion of this forum. it's a preferred method for areas with little hair or fine and vellus hair, as well as red, gray, white, and blond hair.

Just wanted to update. I've been having electrolysis on a bunch of areas with fine hair for the last 3 months now, no laser. I haven't had any more laser treatments since beginning of January. And this week, I decided that I wanted a little bit more off the sides of the bikini area and to get another treatment on the perianal area (I've only had one there). I had another laser treatment on Friday just on those small areas. Settings used were 18 joules on 15mm with GentleLASE since some of the skin is a bit darker. On the bikini area in general, I find that 16-20 joules on GentleLASE works just fine for me since my skin is very light and hair is very coarse and black. I'll update later after shedding.

In case anyone is interested, I'm getting electrolysis on eyebrows, upper lip (pretty much done), nipple area (pretty much done), and remaining hair on the abdomen after a few laser treatments. I've also had a few very fine hairs removed from underarms and the outer sides of bikini to clean up a few very fine hairs after laser. FYI, I haven't had laser treatments on those areas for almost 3 month, and all I saw "regrow" was about 25 very fine hairs on each side.

Just updating. 90% of the extra bikini area I decided to do and the perianal area has shed. Nothing grew back. I went on vacation and didn't need to shave. I actually haven't used a razor on underarms or bikini pretty much in months. I used it once on my vacation to shave off about 30 very fine hairs which you couldn't see anyways unless you looked really close. I'm very happy with my results. So far, I haven't lasered any bikini or underarm areas since January (so about 4 months) and have barely anything there. I got a few very fine hairs with electrolysis, since I already go for other areas, but that couldn't have been more than 30-40 hairs altogether.

Electrolysis is going well too. I only had 4 fine hairs to remove from the nipple area in 1 month. Haven't really touched the upper lip in 1 month at all. Working mostly on the eyebrows and the abdomen area now at my 45min - 1 hr appts.

How are your eyebrows coming along? How long ago did you start work on your eyebrows?

Dee

Just started eyebrows about 1.5 months ago. So still in the very beginning. Only had 3 treatments or so. I need treatments at least once every 2 weeks right now. Looking good though. I don't get any post-treatment scabs or anything here.

Hi Lagirl,

It's wonderful to hear that you have such great results with GentleLase and electolysis! I live in the LA area and i am just now beginning my battle against unwanted hair. Since you are pleased with your laser practioner and your electolysist, would you mind recommending them to me? I would like to visit them and perhaps with combinations laser/electolysis treatments they can help me with my problem areas as well. I have light skin, type II or III at the most. I have dark, coarse facial hair, dark, coarse abdominal hair, and the same for my bikini and legs. Thanks for posting and for your help!

Dr Babapour in Beverly Hills is who I used for laser. You can google him. I've seen Tina Reynolds, Sabrena Smith, and Robin Harris for electrolysis. You can google all of them. I'd go with any of them. Right now I am going to Tina.

Thanks for posting such a detailed journal. It really helps answer questions. Did you have all of the bikini area done?? I'm on my second treatment and I don't think it's working on the hair very close to my lips. This is so disappointing and it itches like crazy as the hair starts to regrow. Have you had better results?

I left a strip, so I'm not getting the area that close to the one you're talking about. I would talk to the tech and let them know what your worries are. chances are they can be more careful in targetting areas more precisely.

I've been having some electrolysis on bikini and underarms since December when I last posted on the very few hairs that sprang up here and there. overall, i would say the reduction remains stable at around 95%. the new hairs are very thin and fine and sparse. I've probably had 4-5 15 min sessions on underarms (I've had 5 laser treatments there) and two 5 mins sessions on bikini (had 6 laser treatments there) to get those few hairs. they're also not noticeable and easily shaveable without shaving cream or even wetting the area. they're that thin and sparse. It's not a big deal since I'm getting electrolysis on other areas anyways, so I have the electrologists grab those few. You find you become a bit obsessed with being completely clear after doing laser, so what I'm doing is not really necessary

I've also had 2 more laser sessions on the bikini/perianal area (different from what I had done before) to take off a bit more than I did before and well as clean up the perianal area. Both responded very well, in the same way as the other parts in that vicinity. There are still some fine hairs on the perianal area, and I'm deciding whether to get 1-2 more treatments there for it to be completely clear. But I'm not that worried about it as there is so little there now, and I'm spending a lot on electrolysis on my other areas (abdomen, eyebrows etc). So we'll see.

It's November 06. Most of your initial laser treatments for abdomen and underarms for the black hair ended in 05. How are your results almost 1 year out?

I've been getting electrolysis on the abdomen and the sparse hairs on the underarms since. The abdomen treatments are going well and I'm close to being done. I haven't really been very proactive in getting to a clearance quickly on that area so it's taking a bit longer. the reason being that I am doing electrolysis on several areas at once (eyebrows, abdomen, nipple, underarm, bikini, upper lip, etc). i'm getting close to being done with most areas now. on the underarms, we get about 8-10 hairs a month or so. i haven't shaved since my laser treatments there at all. bikini is also pretty clear on the areas where i had 6 treatments. i think i'll need a 4th treatment soon on the other part where I got more treatments later since I decided I wanted a bit more removed. Since my last (second or third, i don't remember now) treatment on that one area, the hairs from the last cycle started coming in about a week ago (it's been 3 months now or so I think). I haven't shaved the bikini area either. never need to really.