Anyone here who has gotten laser hair removal done?

I haven’t had it done, but I worked at an office that did it. From what I saw with the patients that had it done, most of the answers vary just depending on how you react to the treatment and your pain tolerance.

Most patients do say that it stings a bit (like a small rubber band snapping in that area), but that the pain goes away pretty quickly.

I’ve never seen anyone have any scabbing with it, just some redness in the area.

The only discoloration I’ve seen is the redness.

The hair is not just immediately gone with one treatment. Laser hair removal requires multiple visits. How many depend on how your body responds to the treatments. How long the hair stays away also depends on how your body responds to the treatments. I’ve seen some patients that continued to have hair in the area, just that they had less of it and it was much finer than is was before and then other patients that were very successful and their hair was gone after a few treatments and stayed away during the time I was there.

As far as it being a better option than other methods, I think that’s really just a matter of opinion. For the cost, the time required for the treatments and going back in for multiple treatments, and the fact that there’s no guarantee it’ll work for everyone, I personally don’t think it’s worth it. There are many people that do think it’s worth it though, so it’s all a matter of how you feel about it.

Is it painful? Yes, though some more than others. Some machines feel like being stabbed with an ice pick, some feel more like a mild vaccine.

Is there scabbing during sessions? Not on mine.

Is their temporary discolouration? I didn’t have any other than the redness, which went away with in about the same time frame as getting waxed.

Does the hair eventually come back once your dead cells regenerate? Hard for me to tell. I had it done when I was 14/15, and it wasn’t completely removed, so between the decade or so since it’s been done, and accounting for generally less hair than at the height of puberty, I don’t know if it really did anything. My mother sure thinks it was money well spent, but on the other hand, she asks me if I’ve lost weight when I’ve actually gained 3 pounds and has frequently fallen prey to the placebo effect, so I don’t know that she’s in any way a reliable judge of the matter.

Is it a better option than waxing, plucking etc? Hmm. I don’t know. For me? It really helps that I wasn’t paying for it, though I can’t imagine myself ever thinking it was a reasonable price unless I was debilitatingly insecure over the offending hair. Waxing I can’t stand; it hurts like the Dickens on me, much more than this did (at least, with the non-ice pick machines). Plucking doesn’t hurt so much, but I also really only pluck the occasional stray. So, really expensive plus lots of painful sessions, and it didn’t even totally fix the problem (but if we had continued, maybe it would have??)... I wouldn’t get it again.

I just did it again yesterday. It is not painful with the machine my person uses. If it is painful it is an old machine. No scabbing, no discoloration (but I am very pale). About 60% of the hair seems to stay gone each treatment. So, you have to do about 5 or 6 treatments in high growth areas to really be close to all hair gone. You could after doing several treatments get the stray hairs with electrolysis. Also, growth patterns are a little different summer and winter, so as the season changes you might do two touch ups.

If you are young, your body is still creating lots of new hair growth, so eventually you will have some new hairs. I finally went back after 2 years to touch up again. I still had way less hair than originally, but it was getting more obvious again. I do my bikini and underarms.

Oh, about wax vs laser vs electrolysis. Wax and electrolysis are way more painful. Wax is not permanent. Electrolysis is permanent, but you have to make sure the person doing it is not a thief, this has only happened to me once, and my mom once. If it feels like they are pulling hairs rather than heating them, they are plucking every so often without the heat, so the hair will grow back. Laser is a great option to get rid of a lot of hair in a large area with almost no discomfort. Bikini to me is large, as opposed to something like my eyebrows that I have electrolysized once every ten years. Also, once time I had a little redness and scarring that lasted a few months. She had the needle too hot. That happened on my tummy. A few stray hairs, luckily I only had a few there to begin with.

I think the machine they use where I go is either a Candela Gentlelase 755 or Nd YAG, but I am not 100% sure. That is on the literature I received a while back. There is a little burst of like a snap against your skin, but barely, and some coolness. The person who does mine presses her finger against my skin right after the snap, to even reduce any feeling in the area more. It’s really almost nothing.

I received the laser treatments on my face for all of my facial hair years ago.
It did hurt, a lot. The laser burns away surface hair as well as the follicle, so if you don’t shave well, you’ll be smelling and feeling your hair being burned off.

There was no scabbing for me individually, nor discoloration (I’m african america, so don’t know if it’s different for lighter people).

Yes, the hair comes back. The follicles eventually grow back. If you get the full treatment, you can expect 2 or more years of hairlessness from what I was told, but I didn’t even get the full sessions because I was deployed. But I enjoyed half a year of a smooth face and I would recommend this over other methods.

I did laser for my underarms and bikini, it lasted about 2yrs and took me 5 visits to achieve. Yes, it was extremely painful for me but this was almost 5yrs back and my skin heavily freckled, dark freckles everywhere and I was told that would make it more painful. I’d do it in a heartbeat over again, I plan to do it over as soon as I can afford it. The feeling of the skin is like velvet, no shaving, no waxing, no ingrowns, now 5 o’clock pit shadow.

I just want to emphasize again there are machines that are not painful. There are machines that are very painful. If you do it, ask questions about the machine. I will confirm for you the machine that was used on me if you wind up deciding to do it.

Thank you everyone. @JLeslie I’d love if you could confirm the machine for me because it’s very difficult to trust doctors here. Having a first session soon, lets see what happens.

@Jellie Did the doctor say it isn’t painful? It’s the weekend here, so I can’t do anything today.

On the website they call it GentleMax feel free to call yourself to ask the machine also. I don’t know when your appointment is. I won’t be able to call until Monday afternoon. The machine she had before this one was not very painful either, but she had to put cool gel on before.

Oh, I know, this very new machine you have to be clean shaven. The older machine you have to go in with 2–3 days gair growth.

Okay so I got the laser done. It hurt very very very very badly. I’m going to ask him to use a numbing gel next time! The area is sort of scabby oh and I had to be clean shaven. I hope I get results.

@jellie I would not go back there. I called yesterday to the office and left a message for the laser nurse. Where do you live, maybe I can find out what doctor uses the same machine I get it done with.

This looks like the website for the laser, I just thought to google it. Call them and find out who near you has it.