has anyone had any success with a combo of laser removal and electrolysis? i have had one laser treatment for full arms (male) about a year ago and found it great for 3 months until all the blond hair on my upper arm/shoulder came back in black. trying to develop a new plan now. maybe someone here has some suggestions?
Unfortunatley it sounds like you have suffered from laser induced hair growth/hypertrichosis. This can occur when blonde velus hairs are treated and unfortauntley the most prevelant place for this is to occur is a mans shoulders and upper arms (although this can occur in women if they have this area treated) as well as a couple of other places.
Is the hair dark, dense and coarse now? What Laser/IPL was the clinic using? What’s your skin type? If the hairs are still relativley fine and only a bit darker, I would say go straight to electrolysis. This works on any hair types, hair structures, skin colour etc. and thus reducing the risk of increased hair growth to practically nothing (I say practically nothing simply because of the women who have improper/poor electrolysis on the finer vellus hairs on their face and in fact only have the hairs plucked thus resulting in their hairs getting thicker, although this is not common at all. I know this is a trivial comment, but thought I’d just mention it).
If you put your location on your profile there may be a referral on the site or someone could point you in the direction of a good electrologist who could clear those upper arms and shoulders for you.
Regards,
Benji
I am currently employing a mix of electrolysis and LHR. I have some white hairs in the treated area. A week before electrolysis, I get them taken care of. Spent 50+ hours of electrolysis before trying LHR (bass ackwards). BB has some good thoughts. So far, I have been pleased by the LHR results.
As a practicing electrologist, it just makes sense to me to recommend laser, followed by electrolysis for some situations. The two modalities work great in combination, if all variables are dealt with and you have skilled practitioner’s with good equipment on both sides.
Several of my clients get laser hair reduction on their underarms, for example, and then they visit me for hairs that are too light of too fine for laser.
I have completely stripped a clients underarms of all hair in a matter of hours, depending on the amount of hair, but the thing is, the client will need more time on the table with me after that first clearance to maintain the area until all is finished with electrolysis only. Laser usually works very well for this particular area and the time spent getting a treatment is five minutes each time with laser. Why would anyone choose not to do such an area with laser first, followed by electrolysis?
This is one example of using laser and electrolysis in combination. There are certain areas where one does not need the combination approach.
im staying in calgary, canada if you have suggestions for a good laser or electrologist. thanks!
A couple things:
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Laser only works on dark coarse hair, and on that area, only that type of hair should be treated by laser to avoid inducing more and dark hair.
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One laser treatment is not enough for anything, even on the right type of hair. Hair grows in cycles, so you need at least 6 treatments in most cases
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If the hair you currently have is not coarse and dense, you need electrolysis. I’m not sure what “combination” you’re talking about here since it sounds like you will need to be using electrolysis on its own, not laser (unless the hair is very dark, coarse and dense now, which I doubt)
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How old are you? What machine was used for laser? Did you have any other areas treated?
i will certainly make sure that no more blond hairs on my arms are treated with laser, although most of the area im getting treated is dark now. its not overly dense, but i would say its comparable to thin but dark hair that you would expect to see on a guy.
im 23 years old right now. cant remember the name of the laser that was used because it was almost 2 years ago now. ive decided that i want to deal with this now with a little more dedication than i have in the past ( one laser treatment on full arms, and one short electroysis session on upper arm to clear the new growth) but i am a little concerned about going strait to electrolysis straight away because i think it will take too long to clear hair from shoulders all the way through my forearms. if i were to do a few laser sessions would it seem probable that electroysis would be less of a time commitement at that point?
thanks!
The problem is that there is no point in doing what you’re outlining. Just because it “takes too long” doesn’t make it a bad idea. A bad idea is doing something that seems quicker, but in reality, doesn’t work. You can put that money towards something that will work from the beginning. Unfortunately, it sounds like your hair is still too thin, and especially on this area, laser will probably not work. Invest your time and money into electrolysis from the start.
Btw, you’re not understanding what we mean by combining laser and electrolysis to get results. We don’t mean doing it at the same time. That’s a waste of money. We mean finishing laser treatments and starting electrolysis to clear the rest AFTER all laser treatments are done.
haha you seem to know what your talking about. when i said combination of laser and electolysis we were meaning the same thing, i just explained it pretty poorly. i didnt do them at the same time.
with regards to skipping laser all together, how long do you think it would take in a sitting to clear two full arms. the only time i did have it done, i only got a thinning of both shoulders and it took an hour and about 85$. im not sure if this is way off or if it is about what i should be expecting. is there a way for me to send you a photo so you could decide if skipping laser is the right idea? it seems the expert opinions are never to be found at the places that do the removal!!
thanks.