24 year old male Brazilian-Calgary, AB

I am a 24 year old Chinese male recently started on my hair removal journey and here to share my experience (and pain) with all other males out there who want an insight of it.
I first bought a Groupon of an IPL without doing any research on laser hair removal (LHR) or any hair removal methods at all. I later learned that LHR is NOT a permanent hair removal treatment, it is a permanent hair reduction. Electrolysis is the only approved permanent hair removal procedure. Luckily, I was able to a certified technician in my neighbourhood, and since Groupon is one time purchase only, so I either pick my top priority area to start or I’ll have to buy multiple groupon from different clinic for other areas I want treated and I have a lot (armpit, Brazilian, stomach).
The cheap ass inside of me decided to use Groupon for larger area (Brazilian) and also seek out Electrolysis for smaller area (arm pit) to save money. At my first consultation at IPL, I was assessed as Type 3 skin type. The technician won’t do a test spot as she does not do male Brazilian so I’ll have to book another appointment with another technician who works at a different location for that. Once home, I started researching about LHR, and found out IPL is actually not a type of laser. Also, it only treats skin type 1 and 2 most efficiently. Type 3 and 4 can also be treated by IPL, but only with experienced technician. One off setting can leave burns and scars which my genital does not sign up for! Therefore, looking for a more suitable option became my mission. I learned that there are gazillion types of laser out there; Diode, Alexandrite, ND:YAG, just to name a few. On top of that, I have to find out if there is any technician out there who is willing to do male Brazilian. There isn’t one laser that’s better than the other, it all comes down to: technician’s experience, your hair, your skin type and genetics. Although, I’ve read two studies performed on women with Diode, NDYag, Alexandrite and IPL. It seems like both studies agreed that Diode is the most effective and IPL is least effective. Again, this doesn’t mean it’s true for everyone. I’ve also seen some people got great result with IPL, and some got burned with Alexandrite. It’s very important you do your homework on reading the reviews regarding the clinic and technician, and ask the right questions. I found a place in Calgary called Man Calgary who does male Brazilian using Alexandrite, Cynosure, and ND Yag. Here are a few questions that I prepared which helped figuring out if the technician is experienced:
1. Have they treated Chinese skin type or type 3/4 before?
2. My private area’s skin is darker than the rest of body, is IPL still safe? (Other lasers are safe with darker skin types)
3. Can they start at a conservative setting and slowly increase the intensity over time? Do they keep track of the setting for their clients?
4. Is there cooling system in place after each pulse? (Cooling minimizes side effect and provide comfort, some uses cool air and some has crystal cooling tip on their device)
5. What wave length you will be using? (Alexandrite: 755nm, Diode: 800-1000nm, ND Yag: 1064; the longer the wavelength, the safer it is for darker skin as it penetrates deeper into the skin and avoid melanin)
I have also read somewhere saying Alexandrite and Diode works better with finer hair and ND Yag works great for coarse hair, maybe because ND Yag penetrates deeper? I’m not sure, some says this is misleading.
When I went in to Man Calgary for consultation, the place was quiet, private and decorated stylishly. I met with Annette who was very professional and gave me an intro on her machine, answered all my questions prior to the spot test. She then leave me with the waiver to sign, and a towel to cover my private area once I was undressed. I lied on the bed until she came back in. She assessed my skin and hair down under and said she would treat it as type 4 skin since it’s a bit darker than the rest of my body and will start low on the setting and see how I feel. I put on my safety glasses and she zapped. It felt like someone used a needle and poked violently at my pubes, then it started to feel hot. She quickly blowed -4 cold air on the area and it felt a lot better. The pain only lasted a second. She tested another spot and we waited for a bit. Everything felt ok, nothing too painful, so she turned up a notch and worked away. She worked from my pubes to penis, balls, and perineum. Guys, I’m not even gonna sugar coat this, balls and taint hurt like a [RS bleep]! Thanks to my genetics, I don’t have much hair around there so it went by quickly. Then she moved on to my anus. The whole treatment took about 30 minutes. Every single time she zapped, she asked me if I was ok which was comforting. Also she used a different machine for my anus, it looked like a pen for smaller, hard-to-reach area instead the laser gun for large areas.
The treated area was sensitive and appeared red for a couple of days, but it went away. Then some parts got a bit itchy, but nothing to concern about. There was no burn, scars, or any dark spots.
The pictures are before and after my first treatment. I will continue to update as much as I can as the treatment goes. I’m sure there are a lot I didn’t cover above so feel free to leave me a comment. If there’s any incorrect info, also feel free to leave a comment, so we can all learn. These are just some info I gathered online. I only hope this helps as many men as possible to feel comfortable about these procedures and pulling down their pants!
P.S: I also had electrolysis done on my arm pit, let me know if you’re interested and I can post a separate review.

Went in for my second Brazilian treatment today. The area that was treated last time hurt less this time but you can still see some redness. The tingly feeling also wasn’t too bad after the treatment. The hair around anus, scrotum and base of penis is almost gone now, just need more treatment for pubic hair. Once again Man Calgary was awesome and professional. Annette asked me every time she zapped and made sure I was ok and she’s happy to pause if I ever needed a break. She wrote as much note as possible to keep track of my progress especially today I added abdomen and buttock to my treatment so there are two progresses going on right now, but like a pro Annette made sure she noted everything.

These are the pictures before and after my third treatment for my public, perineum, and butt area. And it is my second for abdominal area. That’s why there’s more redness around my belly button. I did notice this time took much less time than before and less ‘zapping’ around my public and butt area meaning the treatment is quite effective. It was more like a lottery treatment because some area did sting and some area felt nothing. As for before, every time she zapped, it stung. Although we still schedule the next appointment to be 3 weeks but I may end up rescheduling it to allow new hair growth cycle if any. I also noticed when I showered the night of, I didn’t feel any burning sensation when the warm water run through the pubic area as it did before.
I do want to share this time was the first time I did a thorough application of numbing cream and used plastic wrap. And the result is amazing! The parts where it stung, I only felt a slight buzz which made the whole process much more bearable. I used Emla numbing cream and put a huge piece of plastic wrap on my pubic area; then wear my underwear over on top as usual. The instruction said there’s no need for plastic wrap on perineum nor the butt crack as the cream is less likely being absorbed by the clothing.