hi all! it feels weird being in this corner of the woods lool. i hope i dont offend anyone :S
for those of you who dont know me. i live in the electrolysis section of this forum. Been there for about 3 years now :).
i wanted to ask about laser. I’ve done a fair bit of reading and searching and decided that i want to laser both my whole leg (bikini to ankle lol) and underarms.
but i wont be able to until sometime around end of january (when i actually start working and making money). My wedding will be in july and i want to have some hair reduction before the big day. so that gives me about 5-6 months. i know laser treatments require a year at least (6+ treatments depending) but i know the first 2-3 treatments yield the most dramatic hair reduction. so my question is… do i have enough time? should i do just one treatment right before the wedding? Healing time before wedding?
All i want for now is that it would be very nice to get rid of the hair and have it gone for a couple of weeks during wedding/honeymoon time… then i’ll continue treatments when i come back and the hair returns.
btw. i think i got type 3 skin and dark black hair on my legs and underarms. my legs and underarms are alot whiter than my face. am of mediterranian/arab origin
I think a yag or gentelase laser is best. am still looking for a good place. but when the time is right (i.e. MONEY!) i’ll do spot checks with different places first.
In 5, 6 months u could get 2 effective treatements.
I would recomend u to have a second treatemnt about 5 weeks b4 wedding. That way shedding fase will be over and u will have another 4,5 weeks to enjoy smooth legs during honey moon.
HOwever keep in mind u might still have paperspots and that u should avoid sun exposure.
Good luck!
thanks!!! that was very helpful! am not too worried about pepperspots cause i have them now anyway. when i wax no hair is replaced by pepperspots. oh joy! :S
the sun part i completely forgot about. Thank u for reminding me of that!! hmmm…thats going to be hard. maybe not. i am not a shorts person anyway except indoors. so if i go out i’ll be wearing pants/skirt.
but wow to be hairfree for 4,5 weeks honeymoon would be amazing!
but dont hairs that werent affected or hairs that werent out during laser treatment show up by then?
… i had only one treatment so far…
IT took 4 weeks for hairs to shedd. another 3 weeks for most of the papperspots to be gone( i know what u mean…my legs looked horrible after waxing as well, so paperspots were not a big deal for me)
New hairs started to show some 9 weeks after the treatment but they looked so thinn and my legs were still quite smooth. It takes time b4 hairs become strong again, so u will be ok.
The only thing u should be aware of is… if ur clinic doesnt do touch ups,( something u should discuss with them prior signing anything), those hairs that were missed will become long and visible very soon, so u will have to shave those…
MAKE sure that ur clinc does free touch ups,… That would be VERY GOOD
I have an appointement on the 14 DEC… soon IT will be 20 weeks since my first one. To be honest, i am nervous about it…I hope they will overlap better this time…
They used alexandrite genleLase by Candela
Settings were 15mm, 20J…( whole legs, from bikini to ankle. toes too
Lagirl should be back soon and i am sure she will be able to give u more usefull information
hey lolicr! thanks again! ur responses are helping me alot. wooow so 20 weeks (5 months!) u’ve been hair free that long?!?!?
yeah i heard about the over lap problem. did u do a touch up after ur first treatment?
it looks ur getting done what i want done. whole leg, bikini to ankle.
keep me posted on ur dec 14 treatment. i hope it goes well for u!! btw, i hope this isnt too personal to ask, but how much did u pay for treatment? also did u pay in full?
rachelle, i think this is a good idea, given that you find a good clinic. i believe you’ve mentioned you were type IV before. if that’s the case, then GentleLASE alex may be too powerful for you. with that skin type, you may want to come in for a test spot first to see if you can handle high settings safely. if you can’t, then a yag would be better for you. if the hair is coarse, and it seems like it is on both areas in this case, then a Yag at good settings will work well too, at least until the hair gets too fine.
underarms and legs get good results. if i were you, i would test out the clinic by starting out with just one treatment on your underarms only. see how that goes, and if everything is good, then do both underarms and legs at the following appointment. i wouldn’t prepay for treatments before you have a chance to test out a small area like underarms first. legs are a lot more expensive since it’s a large area, so i wouldn’t start there.
I am a type 4 (i think for my face) but underarms and legs am much whiter…something like a 2 or 3 and dark black hairs.
yeah i was thinking same that a yag would be good. when u mean test spot u mean test spot the underarms and legs? and should i wait until shedding and all that to see if it works then move ahead and do complete treatment? or just see how i react couple days after and then do whole thing?
yeah its a good idea to see how underarms work first then move on to legs. i got about 6 months before the wedding and i am hoping for finer hair by that time just to get me through less hassle with the hair issue during honeymoon for couple of weeks. finer hair is just fine with me! hehehe
yes money is very tight now! i have my fingers crossed that after january i can afford this, if not, i’ll just do my usual waxing/sugaring.
just wanted to say that i finished reading ur whole journal and whatever links u had and boy how useful was that! i’ve had done alot of research already and its nice just to see what i learned happening for real with a real case and person…you
am glad u had great results with laser and thanks for keeping us updated. I do with mine and probably for the same reasons u keep urs updated. Its alot of work and i get alot of pms but its so rewarding to help people. ITs also why am in the healthfield to begin with
hopefully when and if i begin laser i’ll also do a post thread of my experience. i just hope am lucky as u to have this success. I am very loyal to eletrolysis since 2004 when it comes to my face, but laser (in my opinion) is more practical (first) to do large areas like the rest of my body and finish off with electro if i feel i still need to do more.
i’m glad you found it helpful. that’s basically why i stick around the forum. i did my research and i believe that’s why i got great results, and i want to help others do the same and not fall to many scams and bad clinics that are out there dispensing wrong information. for the areas you’re looking to do, you should get good results, once you pick a good place that uses a good machine at good settings. for an area like a woman’s face, results can be unpredictable because there are many factors involved, but for underarms and legs, we rarely see lack of results here if everything is done correctly and the hair is coarse.
to answer your questions, i would do a test spot and wait 2-3 weeks to see how shedding goes and to make sure you don’t get burned. i would test both areas since you’ll already be there. doesn’t hurt. it’s also not expensive to do underarms. i did mine for $100 per treatment, no contracts or upfront payments. and there are prices as low as $50 per treatment in my area. legs are more pricey though.
also, keep in mind that skin type doesn’t only depend on how tanned you area on an area. since you have mediterranean skin, you probably have underlying pigment (and probably tan pretty easily because of that when you DO tan those areas). so, just because there is no tan on that specific area, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a type II there. Most mediterranean skin is probably either III or IV. The fact that there is no tan on that area though might be what you need to use GentleLASE without side effects. I would look for clinics with this machine in your area now and start going to consultations and getting some free test spots. It shouldn’t cost anything.
