Moderate Pain, Times of Patchy Hair, but Worth It in the End 3 Yrs Later (male) - Seattle

overall id do it again. initally, my free consultation informed me that doing my beard would be $3,100. i said no thanks, and left. they kept emailing me and calling me, and each time they did, the price was a little lower. six months later they gave me an offer for $1,430 and i took it since i felt that was a more reasonable price. my deal, 6 'paid' treatments, one a month, and on the 6th treatment, a 2 year coverage period of free follow up treatments. this turned out to be a great deal, because i didnt need six treatments, i needed 1 treatment a year, for nearly THREE YEARS! so the fact that i had 2 years of free monthly treatments saved my butt! (or my face i should say!) i had a very thick dark coarse beard, that gave me a 5oclock shadow no matter what. i would shave in the morning, go to work, and people would ask 'did you sleep in? cause i see you didnt shave!" so it was bad. everyone may not need that many treatments, but be prepared, you may be in for the long haul, so make sure any package you buy, has some kind of follow up treament for free, or even for a low cost for each one, because after my first 6 'paid' treatments, if that was it, i would have been screwed. first of all, it hurt. especially around the lips, and the worst spot was right under the nose. i dreaded that part each time. but the more you have treatments, the less hair you have, and the less it hurts, but dont be fooled, even my last treatment was hurting lol. nothing like the first few though. second of all, keep in mind the size of the laser thats treating you, is about the size of half a penny. so not every single hair is going to get lasered at every single treatment. the tech performing it will zap you in areas, and go in a line, but there will be spaces between each of the zaps, so over time, about 5 or 6 treatments in, i started getting a very bad patchy kind of look. people would ask me if i shaved my face like a soccer ball! it looked pretty bad, but the more treatments you have, the bigger the patches get, and eventually, the hairs gone all together. the second the zaps are done, they give you ice packs and lotion up your face, and when you look in the mirror, be prepared to have bright red skin, puffy, swollen, my friend said it looked like my face fell on the burger king grill both ways lol. but that goes away in about an hour, and then its just got a slight sunburn look for a day or two. then a month later, you do it again, and again. the people at the laser clinic made it sound easy, 6 treatments and your done! you wont even need the two years of follow ups she said...... after my 6th treatment is when i realized i was just beginning the process of hair reduction! so here i sit, in august of 2010, when i started in september of 2007. i can still have follow up treatments at $50 per treatment, which is a very good deal, and i may still even go in for a few as i still have some hairs here and there. i find myself shaving about 2 times a week, which is a HUGE improvement. before i was shaving twice a day, and always looked like i had a shadow. i have clear skin, very very smooth, and i would do it again! my stubble was so coarse that my pillow cases would show wear spots from being rubbed by my face, and now i never worry about that. if you do this, shop around, get a good price, KNOW what is covered, and if you have a certain time of follow ups or free follow ups, and get it all in writing. be prepared to go through some pain, some times where your face will just look totally patchy and weird, but know in the end, your results may be just as good as mine.