Getting 1st treatment today, Underarms, Type 2-3

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
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I’ve been lurking here for a little while, trying to absorb all the info I could before taking the plunge into Laser hair removal, and since later today is my first treatment I thought I would share my experience too.

I’m kind of type 2.5 skin, if pressed I’d say Type III (European decent, naturally very light skin that burns easily, but if I’m careful and use sunscreen at first I can avoid burns and build up a tan). I have course, thick, super dark (super annoying) hair in my underarm and bikini area, where you can still see black dots even right after I shave. :cry:

I’m in the Detroit area, and after using the search function at this forum and looking through a ton of threads, I wasn’t able to find any referrals for laser removal around here. So, I chose a place based on laser type (I wanted GentleLASE after reading all the reviews here) and seeming qualifications of the provider (the center is run by a board certified Dermatologist, though he doesn’t do the procedure himself. I’m a student in the medical field and am familiar with his professional associations around here, so he seems highly qualified so I can only hope he hires qualified people. Not sure what else to go by, since all the technicians I’ve spoken with of course say they have “years and years of experience, tons of happy clients” etc.)

http://www.somersetskincentre.com/index.htm

Prices also seem reasonable - $100 underarms, $200 brazilian per Tx which seems low to middle of the road.

I’m going to start with underarms today, though I eventually want to do partial brazilian as well, and eventually my legs (in the winter - I’m too tan right now). I’d like to first see how I respond to the first underarm treatment before I go crazy, especially since I don’t have a referral for this place.

Anyway, I’m going to pop some advil and pray to the hair removal gods. If anyone has any advice let me know! I’ll post after my treatment to let you know how it went.

Oh, one question if anyone reads this – what settings would be ideal for my first treatment? After reading lagirl’s experience with the gentlelase, I saw that she started with 14 & 16 joules (but what size mm?) which worked for her at first, then by the 4th treatment or so she was up to 30 joules, 12 mm. So I’m wonder what would be good settings for me to start with? I’m sure the tech will have her own ideas but I’d like to have mine as well. :wink:

One more question - as for pepperspots, I assume most of you feel the benefits outweight the costs (pepperspots), but just how noticeable and plentiful are they, and can they be popped/removed etc? I just don’t want to go from shaving and seeing black dots, to lasering and seeing black dots. :crazy:

Thanks for any advice, and sorry for the super long post!

P.S. I just took some lovely ‘Before shots’ of my underarms (eww lol), which I will share if/when I have some after shots to compare to, if anyone’s interested!

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Sounds like you did your research. Good job. If you are correct about your skin type, starting at 14-16 joules at 18mm is best. I would stay with 18mm on those areas the whole time and just increase the joules if your skin allows it. I only experimented with other spot sizes on my abdomen because the hair was not coarse there. On the areas you are treating, you won’t need to. 20 joules is max on 18mm.

You shouldn’t get many pepperspots at all on those areas. This usually doesn’t happen much with coarse hair anyway. You will most likely shed all treated hair within 3 weeks and have smooth skin for a while. It will be a great feeling :slight_smile: I wouldn’t shave for the first 2 weeks after the treatment to minimize pepperspots and make sure as much hair as possible falls out without hindrance.

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I’m back, weeeeee. :slight_smile: Firstly - thanks very much for your reply lagirl, I was able to read it just as I was walking out the door and it was really helpful to know about those settings (especially since I asked her to adjust at one point).

So, my experience was really great – much better than I hoped. The woman was REALLY sweet and not even the slightest bit pushy (on the contrary - I was the one gently pushing for a brazilian while she felt like hair was in some innermost areas for a reason lol, but was happy to oblige me). She made me feel really comfortable. The best part was, she wasn’t at all bothered by my questions, and seemed very pleased that I had done my research and knew about the laser and the settings (thanks lagirl :wink: ) This was a nice surprise because I often find with various beauty treatments that technicians are put off when you know something about what they’re doing, like they’re threatened or something. So anyway - she was great.

On to the treatment - I had lidocain cream so that numbed me a little. I had my underarms done, she did 18 joules, 18 mm. It was painful, but tolerable, because each underarm only lasted like 4 minutes or so. Then I had my bikini done. It was hurting like HELL when she first started, to the point that I didn’t think I could tolerate it anymore, so I asked her to turn it down to 14, which she did. Then it still hurt, but was tolerable and I got the full brazilian (:-o). By the time she got to the lower regions of my ehem bikini region, the lidocain cream had good and numbed me so I barely felt it. Well it still hurt a little, but not bad at all. It’s interesting because now a few hours later, you can barely see the redness under my arms (where the setting was higher), but my bikini area is still all deep pink like after waxing so I think the lower setting was still effective)

So - great experience, better than I hoped, but who knows what the all-important results will be. We shall see.

One aftercare question if anyone has time to answer - I forget if this was in the electrolysis forum or the laser forum, but I remember someone saying something about “trying not to sweat” after a treatment… does this apply to me? Also, can I put deodorant on right away? (please say yes lol)

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I would wait and not put deodorant or sweat for at least 24 hours. You pure aloe vera gel (the clear stuff) for a few days to help the skin heal. Other than that, you will be fine. Let us know how shedding goes. You should be able to increase settings on bikini with future treatments as it gets less painfull as your hair gets less dense too.

p.s. you should fill in your geographical location in your profile and name the clinic since others might want to get a recommendation.

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Ok cool, thanks so much for the tips about sweating/deodorant/aloe. My skin is pretty much back to normal this morning (a few pink spots here and there, no discomfort). I’ll definitely update on how the shedding goes.

The name of the clinic, and link to it’s website, is in the first post of this thread - and if all goes well with the shedding/results etc., I’ll also post a referral in that section of the forum so people in Detroit/SE Michigan can find it easily. It turned out that while she has indeed been doing laser for 8 years, she is new to using the Gentlelase. (I had asked about this over the phone, but the receptionist was apparently confused and thought the tech had many years of experience with the gentlelase in particular). Anyway, the tech clarified, but had I known this ahead of time I probably wouldn’t have gone there. She had a certificate - dated the day I was there (!) - on her wall for having taken a course on it with the Gentlelase manufacturer company, so I may have been one of the first (if not the first) people she used this particular laser on. So, I should probably wait to see the results, and go a couple times, before I can in good conscience recommend her to other people (though I can already recommend her as a sweet/nice person for sure).