I went to a clinic that has a GentleYAG laser. My skin type is III and I have dark, course hair on my face. I do not know what settings she used because I forgot to ask.
The lady was nice and explained everything, and then she gave me three test spots on the side of my face near my jaw and chin. It’s been about 3 weeks now. There’s still hair it seems like, and I’m not sure if there’s anything happening.
What I’d like to know is: what specifically should I be looking for in these areas? I was not burned and there was no negative side effects of the treatment. I notice a subtle hint of the hair not growing as much compared to the other side, but there’s no definitive hairless spot where the laser hit and I’m not sure how to tell if it worked or not.
GentleLASE would be a better option for your skin type. Once the hairs gets finer, GentleYAG won’t be effective anymore.
What are you experiencing now? Is the hair growing or just stuck in the follicles and sort of looks like stubble? If it’s growing as usual and not falling out at this point, it wasn’t affected. If it’s not growing, it was, but possibly not coarse enough to fall out right away, which would also mean that you probably need electrolysis instead. How much hair do you have on your face? How much of it is really coarse like the hair on underarms?
Yeah, there’s one spot that doesn’t look like it’s grown out like the other side, but I still feel some hair a bit, so it may have been affected. I believe it’s coarse like the hair under my arms. I have been waiting for it to shed, and maybe some of it has. Should I go back and ask the practitioner?
I had heard good reviews about this place but I know that GentleYAG wouldn’t be as effective.
yes, doesn’t hurt to show it to them. but sounds like the hair is just stuck in the follicles. it will fall out eventually. but this is one of the reasons that i prefer electrolysis on a visible area like the face.
Wow, this is weird. I have three circles of hairlessness on the left side of my face now. I really think it worked. Is $395 for the full beard too much? Hmm. I’m just wondering, since the GentleYag was effective, should I keep looking around? I’m not really finding a clinic just for laser like this one, there’s a bunch of other stuff offered other places too.
Since you’re a type III, GentleLASE would get even better results than GentleYAG on you since it is better on finer hair and as effective on the coarse hair. Go to Candela Corporation website and use the provider search there to find clinics with both of these lasers near you by typing in your zip code. It’s ok if the clinic does other services as long as whoever is using the laser on you has at least several years of experience. Check out 3-4 clinics. In the end, if you don’t find anything better, I would rather pay more for better treatments. The most important thing is the quality of treatment. If it’s cheap but doesn’t get you results, it’s a lot of money wasted. By the way, you can also check out other clinics and come back to the one you liked showing them quotes from others and see if they will match or lower the prices a bit.
Updates: Today I went in for another clinic, and it was a really nice one. This one has a GentleLASE, so I got a test spot done on the opposite side of the face where I got a GentleYAG test done. The kicker for this new place is: I get 40% off a 6 treatment package! That makes it around $800!! Can you believe it? I’m first going to make sure that there’s shedding. I didn’t ask for the settings, hopefully though it will shed because my practitioner said the LASE is more aggressive.
Has it been explained to you in writing that one of the side effects of laser hair reduction on the face COULD BE laser stimulated hair growth, leaving you with more hair than what you went in for initialy? If that is a risk you are willing to take, you should at least be told IT MAY happen. Men get patichiness. Not all clinics/practitioners put that in writing for your consideration so you can weigh things before hand. It has been reported by numerous consumers that some laser practitioners behave as though they have never heard of this happening before.
While you are carefully looking for a skilled laser practitioner, be sure to also look for a skilled electrologist, if you haven’t already done that. Many people find that they need continued help with an electrologist after they have completed a recommended laser plan, meaning, the hair is still there in levels that are still noticably embarrassing. In your case, find a professional electrologist with equipment that handle a lot of hair as soon as possible using thermolysis. You want a first full clearance asap and slower methods may frustrate you.
Jonica originally said that her hair is dark and coarse, which should be fine for the face if they are very careful to treat JUST that specific area with dense, coarse, dark growth. Jonica, can you explain to us how much hair and on what areas of the face it is? What Dee is correctly pointing out is that treating fine hair on a woman’s face has the potential to stimulate more hair there. So you need to be careful about that. If you don’t have a lot of dark coarse hair (like underarm hair) or it’s finer in most areas, then electrolysis is a better solution. Please explain to us what your situation is.
I took some pics. I’m not a woman so I don’t think I’ll have that regrow problem women may have. I took some pictures so you can get an idea of what is on my face.
Front view
Side (look for those two spots where I got the test spots with the GentleYAG on the jawline)
Thanks, Jonica for the pictures. I shifted around and found your other posts. One kind favor to ask from everyone: it would be very helpful if posters could keep their initial information in one thread so we don’t have to guess about their circumstances. If you ask another question on another thread, just give a brief synopsis of important facts about yourself, gender? skin type? age? previous hair removal attempts, etc… Some of us spend a lot of our free time answering questions and it takes even more time to search previous posts to figure out what you said in the past.
A big thank-you, Jonica for posting the pictures. They are great and certainly make me re-think your situation. I would start with laser if your test spots work and finish with electrolysis as I am assuming you will have some patichiness.
Yes, Dee, that is the number two pet peeve here on HairTell, right behind no location in profile. How are we supposed to help you if we don’t know where you are, and you post your details like bread crumbs throughout the site?
I would have posted pics sooner but I just figured out how to get a really clear picture from a close-up, lol. And sorry about the personal information, I really didn’t think about giving it at the time. I’m 19, male, type III, and no other hair removal attempts besides shaving. My expectations are not outrageously high. If I do not get all the hair removed, I at least would like the shadow to be gone. A couple hairs here and there are not something I will scream and cry about, since I do know of a TG friendly electrologist nearby.
The reason I am not going to her is because… I cannot grow my hair out long enough and keep it that way for my daily life during treatments because I am androgynous but most consider me female anyway. I figured laser would at least offer some relief, and whether I have a lot of success with that or not, I still have the option of electrology. But the results with the test spots of GentleYAG have been good, and now I’m waiting for the GentleLASE treated spots to shed and see what kind of results those will have.
GentleLASE should be best for you. Do keep in mind that they have to be very careful in overlapping and not missing spots in order not to create patchy results. Also, I hope you realize that this will reduce the hair and will make it easier to shave, but you won’t be able to get rid of all the hair there forever completely (i.e you would need touchups as you are male and unless you’re on some type of medication preventing future growth and changing your hormones)
