In a week and a half, I have my first appointment for laser hair removal. Is there anything I should know? If you’ve had the procedure, is there anything you wish you’d been told beforehand?
Thanks a lot, guys!
-Mercury, the soon-to-be-less-hairy
I haven’t had it done but they say that the hair must be darker than the surrounding skin; and that you should stay away from the sun prior to the procedure. If you’re tanned, you have to wait. That’s all I know 
Good luck.
I know Mrs. Seng couldn’t get it done, as she’s a redhead.
Red hair, red laser, no go.
What are you having done?
My advice is not to get your hopes up too high. My laser tech told me the required FDA rating information but then strongly led me to believe that I would experience 90%+ removal. Six treatments and $3000 later I’m estimating my result at about 50%. If I’d have gone into the process with lower/realistic expectations I’d be more satisfied with my results. As it is I’m not particularly happy and wouldn’t recommend spending the money.
I have had $1200 (three treatments) of laser hair removal done with about a 50% kill rate. However, I was attempting to remove dark brown/black hair and I have very fair skin, which is the best combination apparently. Don’t expect 100% clearance; there is a point beyond which electrolysis is more cost-effective than laser.
Bear the pain; don’t let them turn down the power. I let her turn down the power in a few areas and while it hurt less it also dramatically reduced the kill rate. Take two Advil about 30 minutes before the session (Tylenol is NOT a substitute; you need the anti-inflammatory characteristics of ibuprofen). Shave as close as you can immediately beforehand. Buy a bottle of sunburn cream (Walgreens sells a blue burn gel that works well) and CAREFULLY apply it to the area immediately after the treatment. A couple days later, use a good pair of tweezers to extract the deceased hairs to avoid getting infections. Watch for ingrown hairs; partially cooked follicles can produce really contorted hairs.
green_bladder: if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s tan! For the first time, I’m quite glad.
Susanann, kind of a gross description, but here goes. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which caused me to grow a small patch of wiry, black hair on my throat.
Sengkelat: my head hair, eyebrows and eyelashes are medium auburn. My arm hair is blondish. I don’t have black hair anywhere except for that spot. I hope the red colour of my normal hair won’t pose a problem when dealing with this.
Also, it mocks me with ridiculously fast growth. My eyebrows, after about six years of tweezing, do not grow back. I have to tweeze a stray hair or two once or twice a week. I shave my legs every few days and nothing nasty happens. This, the Devil’s Hair, needs to be tweezed twice a day. Where there’s no hair in the morning, there’s hair in the afternoon. I don’t have the time for this nonsense anymore, and I’m afraid I’m going to go blind from squinting in the mirror.
Otto, how much hair did you have? I don’t have a lot of it, but enough that it makes me look nasty. Even with twice-daily tweezings, people still notice it’s there.
Thanks a lot, all!
Well, in Mercury’s case, I’d say “go for it”. Good luck.
But for others, say men removing their chest hair? Right now chest hair isn’t sexy. But it was in the past- and it could very well be again. AFAIK, lazering is forever. I think doing anything permament to your body for a temporary fad is silly. This includes piercings, tattoos, and such. Next decade this fad will be as dead as the dodo, along with many others.
Well, not to get too graphic, but if there’s a spot on the human body from which hair might grow, I probably had some growing out of it. Dark black, too. Thanks Dad! I had my back, shoulders, neck and upper arms done. My last treatment was two months ago so I’m thinking that the hair’s grown back in as much as it’s going to. I can see a difference in density and also in fineness of the hair itself. What didn’t get killed is growing back finer and shorter. Where before seeing me from a distance there was no mistaking that I was hairy, from a distance now it is much less obvious.
Mercury, this may not make you happy, but if you’ve been tweezing that area laser may not be effective. You have to refrain from tweezing/plucking/waxing the area to be treated for, on average, six weeks prior to treatment for the laser to be effective. The laser is only effective against hair follicles which have hair growing in them at the time of the treatment. If you pluck/tweeze/wax the hair beforehand, it won’t be growing at the time of the treatment, and thus no effect.
The actual recycle time of a hair follicle varies depending on the location, varying from as short as two weeks (eyelashes) to as long as five years (scalp hair), but most body hair is approximately on a nine week cycle (six on, three off). Except for scalp hair, pulling the hair does not start the growth of a new hair; the follicle will merely sit empty until its next scheduled start. The laser technique uses a tuned laser to heat the hair root, causing it to cook and thus permanently kill the follicle. If there is no hair root in the follicle, the laser energy will not be absorbed and the follicle will not be killed.
[Susanann, kind of a gross description, but here goes. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which caused me to grow a small patch of wiry, black hair on my throat.
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Good for you for doing something about it!!
( I cant understand people who dont)
If it is small, then you might be better off with electrolyis.
Whos idea was it to go laser instead of electrolysis?
laser is commonly used for “larger areas”, where it might take years to have hair removed by electrolysis.
Regardless, there are fewer nerve endings in the throat, so it wont hurt much either way. All methods hurt regardless of where it is being done. but the pain is momentary.
Anyways, laser should be very quick/cheap for such a very small area, but you will still need at least 3 treatments, since different hairs are in different cylces, and you only kill the ones in their “growth cycle” at the time that you are having it done.
Actually, Susanann, laser is best used on areas of very dense hair, whether they be large or small. This is because with electrolysis, you are (effectively) charged by the hair removed, because each hair has to be “zapped”, one at a time, by the electrolysist. Laser, on the other hand, is charged by the square inch, no matter how few or many hairs are in each “firing zone” of the laser. Small, dense patches of hair, therefore, are far more cost-effectively depiliated by laser than by electrolysis, while large, sparsely-covered regions are probably better done with electrolysis.
I’m thinking about getting my whole “down-there” area done … shaved it bare to surprise my b/f but the regrowth is making me nuts!!!
One question - a couple of you have mentioned ingrown hairs. The main reason I want to try laser hair removal is to prevent ingrown hairs.
Any tips for preventing them in the meantime? I’ve heard of a product called tendskin but I’m not able to purchase it.
I read that I should exfoliate that area daily, but it HURTS, no matter how gently I try.
Has anyone done it for their bikin line (and the rest of that area)? Do you know if it’s possible or what the limits are?
Sorry if I’m asking for TMI … but I’ve been thinking about this all week … and I’m itching like crazy! 
Have your bf rub lotion on the affected area.
It’s a win-win situation.
To add to my previous comments in this thread, I would now recommend that no one bother with laser hair removal. I now see no appreciable result other than the loss of all the things I could have spent my money on instead of having my back zapped. Hell, I could have paid a rent boy to shave me twice a month for two years for the money I spent on laser hair “removal.”
Mercury, good luck to you, Cyster. Let us know how it goes.
mmm…
Best of Luck!
…and with that said, Mr. Spock, set phasers to Dipilitate…