Laser Hair Removal: Stories

I recently had five laser hair removal treatments for my underarms. I am very fair-skinned and had a lot of fast-growing hair in that region; I would have to shave 2x per day if I was going to be wearing something sleeveless thanks to the 5 o'clock shadow that would develop. I had been considering laser hair removal for a while and when a local physician offered a Living Social/Groupon deal, I jumped for it. The physician's office was great; it was a reputable doctor who offered a great deal of dermatological services. The treatments were provided by two assistants who were also very professional.

I had minimal pain when I remembered to take Tylenol in advance of the treatment. The only adverse effect I had were some slight burns from the second treatment; these resolved within three days, but the region was sore for that time. The only difference was that a different assistant performed the second treatment and while she used the same laser settings as all of the other treatments (I made sure to check the machine myself), she didn't apply a soothing gel to the area afterwards. The burns were gone within 3 days and there is no residual scarring or irritation; it was like having a sunburn in your armpit.

After five treatments, I have a significant reduction in the amount and rate of growth in my underarm hair. I still shave every other day, but that is just because I want to catch every little bit of hair. I did not expect to be completely hairless in the treated area and so I am perfectly satisfied with my treatment thus far; I have no ingrown hairs and no irritation when I shave now. This convenience cannot be beat especially when you consider the price.

I recently signed up for another Groupon deal for laser treatments on my bikini line and will update when I see how this goes.

**UPDATE**

Am currently going through the hair reduction process on my bikini line. By bikini line, I basically mean only the hair that would show if I was wearing a bikini; I am not having the entire pubic area treated.

It is a similar story...I got a LivingSocial deal that offered 3 bikini treatments for $99 which really is an excellent price in my area. I know that this will not eliminate all of the hair in the region, but again I'm going for a reduction in ingrown hairs and hope that 3 treatments will make a difference.

Last time, we used a Lightsheer machine for my underarms and all treatments were performed at the 30 Joules setting. The bikini treatment was also performed at the 30 Joules setting. I've only had one treatment in the bikini zone and while it was more painful than the underarm area (I found that it helped to apply pressure to the area that had just been treated while the tech treated another area), there were no problems with this setting and with my skin. It is, however, taking longer for the treated hairs to shed.

One really important thing to remember: go to a reputable practitioner! I was thrilled with the office that I first visited and this second office just could not compare. The techs were unprofessional (they spoke for 25 minutes about their friends who were in prison), the office was ill-equipped (no soothing gel for post-treatment), and while the one tech who treated me was more professional than the others, she didn't bother to tell me ANYTHING about how the treatment would work or what to expect. I didn't tell her that I had had a similar procedure done before, so she really should've taken the time to explain things to me. I was the only patient at that time (there were 4 employees at that time and no one in the waiting room), so there really was no hurry or excuse. I will finish my treatments there, but I will definitely return to the first office if I ever want anything else done.