I finally settled on a place to have laser hair removal done. They use an Alexandrite Gentlease laser and cost the same ridiculous amount they all seem to here in Aust, (I checked out 5 places). My chest is a good candidate for laser, but I’m tossing up whether to get my back done too. Basically I’m just really scared that it will stimulate more growth in the areas that are a bit more sparse, as seems to have happened to some people on this site, (I just spent way to long reading hairybastard’s thread and now I’m worried).
I awkwardly took some pictures of the back and shoulders so maybe someone could tell me, (from an objective point of view, unlike the practitioners I’ve seen), if it looks as though I have the right kind of hair, skin colour etc for successful laser treatment, (just an estimate; I know no-one can say for sure). I’m booked in for first session in 2 days.
I haven’t waxed for 3 months in preparation for this, so its kind of embarrassing for me to put pictures up on the web.
Thanks Lagirl for your reply to my last post by the way.
shouder
lower back, (its sideways, sorry)
shoulderblade kind of area
most of back
I’ll track my results via this thread if thats useful to anyone.
Your situation is basically “iffy” as you are suspecting. If I were you, I would probably do electrolysis on your shoulders where hairs are long, but sparse. Electrolysis would probably be best for the sides of your lower back where the hairs are dense, but short and somewhat fine. The only places I would do laser on your back area is on areas that have that long coarse type of hair, but also dense. That means that the tech would have to be very selective in what spots to treat. Sorry, for your situation, it’s hard to provide a black and white answer. You should basically need to try it at high settings. One thing to keep in mind is that induced growth is usually only an issue on upper arms and shoulders, not much on the rest of the back.
p.s. are you in Austin? have you seen sslhr at his clinic there too when doing your search?
I have almost the exact hair patern on my shoulders and back as you do. I had a similar dilemma but I opted to do electrolysis on my back and laser on my chest and abdomen as I just wanted a reduction in those areas. For me the only areas that are taking longer are the kidney areas due to the density of hair.
Thanks for the responses
I might just cancel the back while I consider and just go with the chest tomorrow. Its so expensive, I just couldn’t try it out if I wasn’t sure it was the best way to go. I havent read anything on the electrolysis forums at all, so I’ll look into that. I will definatley try electrolyisis on shoulders, maybe laser on middle of upper back…
Caliagent, based on your experience, about how long did the electrolysis part of your treatment take? And once you zap those hairs, theyre gone for good right? How happy would you say you are with how things are going?
lol, sorry Lagirl, when I wrote ‘aust’ I meant Australia. If I was in Austin I would definatley go to sslhr. Wish I was in America so could get some good references for places to go from you guys.
not sure where you are in Australia, but there has been some discussion about places there as well. try running a search and see what comes up. what kind of prices are you being quoted? it would probably also be helpful to others in Australia to know where the clinic you found with GentleLASE is located since many of the posts we’ve seen have been for IPLs.
Well I have just completed roughly 10.5 months of electrolysis, and each time I go in I get just about full clearance. My lower back and kidney areas are taking the longest due to the density. I am assuming I have another year to go since I did not get a full clearance right away as it is recommended to do. As of right now the thick patches in the lower half are now reduced to sparce growth here and there. I would have to say I am very happy I started this process, I wish I started a little sooner. You have to realize that getting a full clearance relatively early well determine the length of the process.
Yep, I checked out the posts, but nothing for Adelaide. If there is anyone here that lives in Adelaide, I’m going to this place:
www.laser-hairremoval.com.au
Only becuase they’re the only ones that didnt come across as the most dodgy people imaginable. Also, this other place seemed ok over the phone, but I didnt check them out because they charged $33 just for a consult, (whereas all the others were free):
www.medical-lasers.com.au
For the back and chest together, each place is fairly similar, ranging from $800 to $1000 per session. No-one offers any bonuses such as free touch-ups etc, although LaserTech had a buy 6 get 7th free deal. Every place used LightSheer except the one I’m going to which has the gentlase.
I didn’t bother with any of the IPL places because only the super-sleazy chain stores use them here, such as Essential Beauty, (I used to work next door to an Essential Beauty, its possibly the most unethical place in the world).
Thanks for the info Caliagent. Its 50 minutes till my appointment, and I still can’t decide whether to laser parts of the back, (coz sounds like my lower back would take a while for electrolysis too), or none…man, this is stressful.
I’ll post the after-shot…
