Hi there

I just purchased a laser package deal that expires one year from now.
I have some questions and I have gone through the posts here but I am still confused..

ideally I want full body laser.. However at the time of my consultation the aesthetician told me that my arms were far too dark to do, my lower back and stomach and thighs did not have enough hair for her to determine if I needed laser or not. My pain threshold is low and I cant bear to wax.

1) my first treatment is scheduled 16 days after I arrive back from a week long vacation in Jamaica. I know I will tan so is this amount of gap enough to be safe to proceed?

the lady told me the first treatment is 45 mins and consists of : lower legs, Brazilian, underarms, upper lip and sideburns and cheeks.

Now 1) she told me that I need to shave everything a day or two prior and wax the cheeks and sideburns two weeks in advance since I won't shave those. Is this accurate I notice your site differs on this..? Can I use a buffing tool instead on my face and also do y face a day prior as well?

2) I am confused on why I need to be hairless for the appointment. If I am hairless how will I know If the laser works?

3) she told me to reschedule again 4-6 weeks later for the same treatment set. I am confused because my deal expires in one year is this enough time to get rid of most if not all the hair there? Then again I don't want to go back too early and not have it work. My hair is coarse down there but otherwise dark and fine in texture. I can go a week or two without worrying about my legs or upper lip, my bikini area and my underarms grow a by faster however.
Ie my first appt is on march 19th, when should my next appt be? I remove hair a day before that appt as well? Can I remove hair in between that as well ie for tank tops and shorts.
I'm paranoid because my friend did laser on her face and she told me she couldn't remove the hair unless it was a day before her appt. so in between her appts she had to stay hairy.

4) lower limbs, upper limbs, stomach, chest, lower back, under arms, Brazilian, cheeks, sideburns and upper lip.. Phew!! Can all of this be done in a 45 minute session? If not can anyone suggest how to divide it up? My contract is two weeks between different parts and 4-6 between the same part.

5) pain!! I have no threshold for pain other than threading. I will get the emla cream for sure but how do I use it? Put it on an hour before and put on clothes over it? Does it stain clothes? Can I also take a painkiller?

6) For places I don't have much hair to begin with or they are covered usually, is it a good or bad idea to start laser? For example I wish I had never shaved my lower back just for the heck of it years ago. I had light peach fuzz and now it is coarse and long and I have to continue to shave it. Is laser similar as in it makes those areas worse or will it ultimately remove the hair there? Note I will never ever wax.. It's too painful and costly considering it becomes a must to maintain results. For me it's either I laser my body hair or i put up.

7) what kind of texture is the hair that is left behind.. After a few treatments and after 8-12?

Thank you ever soo much for your help !! I'm sorry it's a long post but I am nervous!!

All of this is covered in the FAQs and other posts on here. You should wait usually at least a couple months after sun exposure before doing laser otherwise you may burn or they have to use very low settings. I assume the package you bought is for ELOS in your previous thread, this isn't laser so keep that in mind you didn't buy laser hair removal. Also if she's saying your arms are too dark for laser now, so obviously with any sun exposure it will make you darker.

4-6 weeks after a treatment is too soon it should be 6-8 weeks and legs more like 12 however you're doing ELOS which isn't even proven to work so no idea what they recommend with that. One year is not enough time to be hair free it takes longer if you do the required number of treatments spaced properly. Also you won't be 100% hair free from laser, around 80% is the most it can do.

Shaving your lower back did nothing to make more hair grow that's a myth, if you waxed it would be different. If you find waxing painful, well laser's not pain free either... not sure how ELOS feels.

And no you can't use a buffing tool before the treatment, you need to shave. She's saying a day or two before so there's a little regrowth allowing them to see the areas to treat.

Hi there

I just purchased a laser package deal that expires one year from now.
I have some questions and I have gone through the posts here but I am still confused..

ideally I want full body laser.. However at the time of my consultation the aesthetician told me that my arms were far too dark to do, my lower back and stomach and thighs did not have enough hair for her to determine if I needed laser or not. My pain threshold is low and I cant bear to wax.

Laser should be used to treat dark coarse hair only. Most women do not have laser-able hair on their trunk.

1) my first treatment is scheduled 16 days after I arrive back from a week long vacation in Jamaica. I know I will tan so is this amount of gap enough to be safe to proceed?

I doubt. You should wait till the tan fades away completely. This might take more than a month.

the lady told me the first treatment is 45 mins and consists of : lower legs, Brazilian, underarms, upper lip and sideburns and cheeks.

45 mins sounds too less to me for so many areas. Do you know what laser are they going to use on you?

All your other questions have been answered at least a HUNDRED times here. So, I'd suggest you take time to go through the posts here 'again'.

I wrote a reply but my browser crashed (on a MAC grrrr) and I lost it.

Let's try again.

edokid and mumbaigirl have already given you great advice.

As far as I know, you should not be treating tanned skin because they will need to lower settings so as not to burn you. Some clinics go as far as not treating you when you are tanned. So it is best to wait until it has faded.

As mumbaigirl has pointed out, Laser (or in this case IPL) works on dark and coarse hair. It is the hair itself that absorbs the energy from the Laser, so it is a function of hair colour and thickness. Of the areas you listed, I would only treat the brazillian, underarms and lower legs. The technician was right if she said your back, stomach and thighs did not have enough hair. I would not even try to treat these areas with Laser.

The face. The problem with treating the face is not only that it's highly likely that anything other than the sideburn area will be too fine to treat, but induced growth is a very real risk. This is when the Laser stimulates finer hairs to become thicker or dormant follicles to start producing hair - basically you end up with more or coarser hair than when you started. We have lots of reports of this on the forums. I have 5 real life reports to refer to as well. 3 cousins and 2 friends. I only found out when they noticed I was becoming less hairy and inquired how I was doing it.

For an effective Laser or IPL treatment, all the hair should to be present, so no waxing for about 3 months prior.
This should explain a bit more: http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/95232/stoppit_tidyup.html#Post95232

I would proceed only with the areas I suggested. Electrolysis is your best option for facial hair and the back/tummy and you don't need to worry about shaving the hair, or waxing etc. But you do need to let the hair grow out a little bit. The plus side is, it's gone when the electrologist has treated and removed it.

7) Entirely depends on the hair that was there to begin with and then how effective the treatments were. I had 'real' Laser treatments and coarse hair on my lower legs. After 3.5 (the 1/2 was just a shin treatment) treatments, spaced 12-16 weeks apart, I have large patches with no growth, some random fine hairs, and in the areas near the knee where there were very, very fine hairs mixed in with the coarse, those are still there.

thank you all for your help

Only a Yag laser should be used on your if you're darker than a type IV skin and it sounds like you might be. I would try to get a refund and do more research. Read our FAQs below.