I was wondering how much all of these laser treatments have cost some of you. I know that it varies significantly from person to person depending on the hair type, how large the surface area is and other factors.
I have dark coarse hair in plenty of places that I can’t wait to get rid of, but just thinking about the cost deters me from even going to a consultation. I’m a graduate student on a fixed budget and rather anxious to find a job just so I can pay for these treatments. I’ve spent over a decade in deep depression because of it. I’m scared that I’ll start the treatment only to have to stop because of my limited funds.
I want to laser my stomach, arms, thighs, and lower back. I don’t know what type of skin I have. I don’t know how to determine that, but it’s very light and my hair is dark. Based on some of the posts I’ve read, I can’t imagine how much treatments would cost for those areas.
Amygdala, see, you’re thinking along what I would call ‘burst expectations’. Been there, done that. Several of us have been there and done that. You want to have the money, go carry it in a big bag to the clinic. I did that with $2,400 dollars wanting fast hair removal and basically threw it away.
Having your hair removed permanently is a gradual thing, not a sudden thing. Anything that is worth while takes time. You know this if you’re a grad student. And, this works in your favor. Because gradual things can be paid for slowly, in small amounts. You don’t have to be rich to get hair removed professionally, but you do have to be persistent in keeping appointments, and finding a small, tiny odd job to come up with $70 dollars a week. or every other week. That’s about how much it costs to see an electrologist for an hour. I know it’s tempting to want to walk into a laser clinic with a bag of money and say ‘Do me!’, but it doesn’t always work, and that may not be the most surefire option for you personally with your finances. Even those with the cash also pursue the slowly but surely method. And the very best thing you can do is: Get started now! don’t waste time. Becuase the process takes a lot of time. By going to weekly appointments, and making them part of your life, you will see changes and progress.
Consider all your routes, don’t get tunnel vision about how you want to approach this, and if you have any questions ask any of us.
Before we jump to conclusions about which method is best for her, we need to find out her skin type and her hair color and coarseness. For the large areas she’s talking about, good laser treatments might very well be the best way to go, at least on some, in terms of both time and price. Electrolysis would take a LONG time for all those areas and $70 a week would only be an hour of treatment, which would remove a very small portion from those areas. Depending on her specific case, laser could be a much cheaper and better option to at least produce a good reduction before finishing with electrolysis on fine hair. However, without the above information that she will provide after reading the FAQs, we can’t make unbiased recommendations.
Given the title of the thread, her concerns, and the fiscal setting she’s bringing to our attention, she seems to most definitely want her money’s worth, wants to spend wisely, and can only spend what she can right now. She is an ideal candidate for electrology sessions. Sure, the first sessions will only get her started, but then the real progress is seen as time goes by. The tried and true progress people using electrology have experienced for more than a Century . Even people with coarse hair have had ineffective laser sessions, throwing their money away. When money has to be watched, one needs to take the safest, most insured route, which is electrology.
No conclusions are being jumped here, she wants a safe, sure, affordable way to start dealing with her hair, and electrology would most surely deliver these results.
Mantaray
BTW, let those forums recruit their own traffic. It’s unfair to Andrea to subtract from her web traffic. Traffic is money, and money is upkeep. As a person who has set up and ran several websites with forums, I know how valued traffic is. Let her reap the fruits of her hard work. Anybody who has ran a website knows exactly what I mean.
Why don’t we let her decide whether she wants to spend $70 a week for for 5 years or $500-700 every 2-3 months. And how is that even cheaper? As my posts are unbiased and yours obviously have an agenda, I hope she does enough research to decide for herself. I’ll repeat once again that I’ve had both done and don’t lean to one versus the other. All things need to be considered before jumping to biased conclusions. I didn’t have a lot of money to start my treatments either as I was recently out of school as well, and made the most of my investment by having a combination of laser and electrolysis. With the areas she’s talking about, there haven’t been any more “less than successful” stories reported here compared to the electrolysis part of this forum.
and btw, why doesn’t Andrea decide what she wants to do? She asked me to participate here and appreciates my feedback as she told you numerous times. the reason there is traffic on this forum in the first place is because I respond to questions that would otherwise go unanswered. if there would be a short link I can retype 10 times a day that would link to this forum where these same FAQs are posted, I would.
I’m really sticking my neck out here, but have to ask the two of you if you have ever seen the movie, “The War of the Roses”? I’ve had this nagging feeling for months now that you two might make a cute couple. How far away is Los Angeles from San Diego?
This is a tough situation. I’m similar, in that I have lots of hair removal needs and a very fixed income. Laser is certainly faster than electrolysis, there’s no questioning that. And some people get very good results. Some people, though, don’t get ANY results and basically end up throwing their money away. Of course, you can have bad electrolysis too. However, it seems wiser to waste a few hundred dollars than a few thousand.
I’ve had both laser and electrolysis. I was very enthuiastic after my first couple of laser treatments, but ran into complications that made me far more wary. If I were you, I’d get a LOT of consultations with both laser AND electrolysis practioners, and see who you feel most comfortable with.
Going the full course for laser treatment in the areas that you listed will be over a thousand dollars, maybe in the range of 2-3 thousand dollars before it is all over. That was one of your concerns. You must keep your expectations in check as you MAY have good results, you MAY have little results or you may have no results. As an electrologist who does not do laser, I see people that fall into all these catagories. Electrolysis is the net consumers fall in when they have run the laser course and still need help. Electrolysis can also be a very good FIRST choice, a fact that goes unnoticed almost 90% of the time in this world of permanent hair removal.
I would hope that more consumers could come forward and answer your cost > results questions, but if they don’t, please read hairtell as long as you can. The answers are all here.
I would advise to start with one area that bothers you most in any case and work aggressively on that. however, if you would be ok with just a reduction at first on all areas, then doing a bit on all areas would be helpful. laser might actually be a good idea to get a general reduction at first. and then you can do electrolysis to continue thinning the areas. I hope you provide us with more information and possibly pictures so we can help you better. Also, a location would be good.
If you are doing laser, go for the consultations now and sign up for the companies e-mails. I have received several e-mails from Ideal Image for special deals. The last one I received was a Valentines Day Special for a percentage off. (I don’t remember how much) I have had friends receive buy one area, get the second area done for free. I have received small $$$ amounts off (last one was only $100 off any area).
I have to say that I totally agree with lagirl. Getting a reduction with laser is a good way to go. Then, when the hairs get less and thinner, then get 'em cleared away with electrolysis.
I went the “pay as you go” route so I began budgeting or putting aside a little bit of money each week. Spacing laser treatments apart for 8 to 10 weeks will help in that regard, too.