My Laser Hair Removal Story

I wanted to give a little update about what’s going on about one week after my first laser hair removal session. I noticed that I started to feel a little uncomfortable in certain areas, like my upper, upper thighs in the back near my butt…..where the short hair is rubbing! The prickly hair isn’t the best feeling! But it’s only in that area. It was probably a bad idea to shave up so high near my butt, because I don’t think I even got treated up that high. Anyhow, my arm and leg hair is shedding now and I can pull lots of hairs out very easily. I think it’s starting to look a little weird with all the little stubble hairs popping up. But hopefully I’ll keep shedding them and it’ll look better. A few hairs don’t seem to want to shed yet, as I can’t pull them out. I’m wondering how much longer for these ones to shed or if I should just shave them again. Can I even shave again right now…or is that bad? I guess I need to call the skin care center and find out or hit the forums.

Also, I want to give an update about the redness from the first laser hair removal session. The redness was completely gone by the next afternoon. So within 24 hours after a session you should be OK. I’m going to ask them to crank up the laser next time since I didn’t stay red or get blistered up!

Here are some pictures of my arm and leg about 8 or 9 days after my first laser hair removal session.

*This is the last post I wrote before this site was actually up! Now all my updates will be in real-time. Tomorrow will be two weeks since my first session. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days.

I was really excited to go in for my first laser hair removal session! Even though I’m in Florida, and it was 80 degrees out, I decided to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt to the appointment. I figured that my skin might look sort of red and weird after the session, so I’d spare everyone on the bus from having to look at it. I arrived and the laser tech introduced himself to me and brought me in to the room where the procedures are performed. I was glad that my laser tech turned out to be a guy and not a girl. I don’t know why, but I think I would have been much shyer around a girl laser tech. Anyways, my laser tech turned out to be awesome! He made me feel very comfortable about having this done. He does this all the time, so it wasn’t anything new for him. He’s seen it all. He was very professional and good with the laser, but he was also very relaxed and easy to talk to, which made me less nervous about this whole thing and made it that much more enjoyable. Before we started on my arms, he put this “ultrasonic gel” over the areas. It’s supposed to help keep the skin cool and it actually serves as his guide for the laser by following the paths created as he passes it over the skin.

So what did the laser feel like? It feels like quick zaps of heat to your skin! That’s all. In certain areas it did sting, because more hair equals more pain, and certain areas are obviously more sensitive than others. Some areas on my upper arms/legs hurt more than others and my legs seemed to give me the most pain because I had A LOT of hair. So it was expected and I tolerated it. Next time I think I’ll remember to take a couple aspirin before the session though. I felt like the worst part was actually when the tech put the cooling gel on my legs! It was a little hot in the room and the stuff was cold! I hate stuff like that. Like walking into a cold pool slowly, when I’d rather just jump right in and get the shock over all at once. The coolest part of the whole procedure was watching what happens as the laser goes over the areas. I could see my hair literally jumping out from its “capsule” as it was zapped. The tech said that this was a good reaction. Seeing your unwanted hair coming out of its follicle was pretty cool.

My whole procedure, full legs and arms, took just over two hours! I don’t know why, but I always expected this to take a good four or five hours. The laser tech reminded me multiple times to stay out of the sun, keep moisturized and to use sun block! It’s going to be hard to stay out of the sun living in Florida, but I went and bought SPF 30 sunblock and some aloe vera right after leaving my appointment. He also recommended that I drink a lot of water and Gatorade to stay hydrated. Pumping so much heat into your body may give some people a minor heat stroke according to the tech. Most people don’t even get both their legs and arms done in the same day, because the heat might be too much all at once. But I honestly felt fine and wouldn’t have wanted to break it down into two sessions.

So anyways, the first few hours after leaving my skin was skin noticeably red in areas! It didn’t hurt, it was just red. Within about 6-7 hours everything started to go down a little. By the morning I’m guessing everything will be fine.

How do I feel on my first night on the road to less body hair? I feel amazing! I want to just stand in the mirror and look at myself because I think I look so much better without excessive body hair! I feel so much more confident. So confident that I spent half the day working in my apartment in nothing but a pair of briefs. I feel like a million bucks right now and my self confidence level is so much higher. I’m proud of myself for simply making the call yesterday and following through with everything after years of procrastinating. I’m already debating with myself if I should get other areas worked on next time, like the hair on my upper chest/lower neck that’s creeping upwards, my armpits and maybe my “happy trail”. I think my armpits are definitely excessively hairy and would be a good area to have done, at least a few times, but I think it might be uncomfortable dealing with the prickliness in that area for a while afterwards! I’m also a little worried about my arms and legs being prickly in the next 6 weeks before my next appointment. But hopefully it won’t be that bad.

I took these photos to show the redness an hour after my first session. Click the pictures for a larger image.

Before getting laser hair removal the area being treated needs to be shaved so the lasers can get the follicle of the hair easier. This was about to be the first time I’ve ever shaved my arms and legs in my life. I was excited that I’d get to see my body without all the hair for the first time since I was a kid. But because I have so much body hair I knew that shaving was going to be a time consuming task. But I came prepared and ready to document everything for this site.

Here’s what I had available to use: shaving cream, four new razors, an electric razor with a handy-dandy sideburn trimmer and a Norelco Body Groomer.
The first area I decided to work on was my upper arm. I lathered up with some shaving cream and tried using a regular razor but I think the shaving cream just made it even harder to work through the thick hair. So I washed off the shaving cream and decided that it might be best to try a different approach, since the hair was just building up in the razor so quickly and would need to be cleaned out way to often. I decided to try the Norelco Body Groomer with the shortest attachment, but again, there was just too much hair and it didn’t seem to be making progress very quickly. So I decided to try out my electric razor’s sideburn trimmer! This seemed to work the best because it wasn’t actually shaving the hair off but basically trimming it down so it would be much much shorter and easier to finish off with a razor or the Body Groomer without an attachment.

After using the sideburn trimmer on my arms and legs I was able to go over most areas again with the Body Groomer without an attachment just as I had planned. After that it was on to the razors again to finish everything up, getting as close as possible and making sure that I didn’t miss any areas. This whole process seems easy enough, as I blog about it, but it actually took me over 2 hours to get everything shaved up nicely! It made me appreciate all the work that women have to go through to keep their legs smooth for us! Certain areas, like the back of your thighs and the back of your knee, are a pain.

After I looked in the mirror for the first time, and saw my body without any body hair, I realized why I was doing all of this! For the first time in a long time I actually felt really confident about how my body looked. It was a great feeling.

When I went and put on my pants my legs felt so weird! I don’t know exactly what it was, or how to describe it, but it just felt weird to have the clothing directly on my skin, without the hair padding everything I guess. When I started looking at the little hair follicles on my arms and legs I realized why my body hair always seemed so dense. In some areas there are as many as four hair follicles that seem to be almost right next to each other! Most areas seem to have at least two right next to each other. No wonder why I always felt like I had enough hair to keep three or four Russian men warm in the winter! It was an interesting observation that I’d never noticed until now, because I couldn’t really see everything in such detail, with all the hair in the way before.

At this point I’m shaved and ready for my appointment in the morning! I’m extremely excited about having this done now, so I can work towards keeping my body looking this good and feeling this confident about myself! It feels a little weird to not have any hair at this point, but maybe my clothes won’t feel so weird on my skin after a little adjusting. I’ll have another update tomorrow after I get back from the skin care center! Wish me luck!

Here are the before and after pictures I took of myself, which I’ll be able to compare against in the future!

Before Shaving:

After Shaving:

When I arrived at the skin care center for my consultation I was a little nervous. I had NO IDEA what to expect of this place and its staff. Luckily the receptionist was very nice, as was the lady who would be giving me the consultation. I explained that I was interested in laser hair removal for my full legs and full arms because I was tired of being excessively hairy. She took a look at my arms and legs and I was told I would be a good candidate because I have a light skin color and lots of dark hair. So the results would be good. I asked some questions like who would be performing the procedure, what laser they use and of course, how much it would cost. To sum it up, this place uses a Cynosure laser and I was quoted $2,300 for two sessions, which I was able to negotiate down to $2,000. So $1,000 per session, based on $700 for my legs and $300 for my arms. I had to pay a $1,000 deposit today and then the other $1,000 when I came in for the first session.

(Why did I only arrange two sessions when you typically need five to seven sessions for complete hair removal? Well, I’m only living in Florida until April so I can only get two sessions in while I’m here, since the sessions have to be about six weeks apart. So I sort of need to figure out what I’m going to do after that….)

I asked when I would be able to get in and have the first session done and I was told I could come tomorrow! I was, once again, blown away! I love how places work fast down here and are able to accommodate like this. I almost couldn’t believe how fast everything was happening, but it felt so good to know that tomorrow I would ACTUALLY be taking the first step towards less body hair after years of thinking about it.

So, I was told I needed to go home and shave both areas to be ready for tomorrow. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, because of how much hair I have and because I’ve never shaved these areas before. I was actually sort of dreading having to shave my legs because it seemed like it was going to be so difficult. I hit the local Walgreens and picked up a 4 pack of good razors and some shaving cream and headed home. I think my first shaving process warrants its own post, so stay tuned for a new post with the details!

Welcome to My Laser Hair Removal Story. This is my first post of many, as I share with you my laser hair removal story and experience. The anonymous nature of the internet has led me to creating this blog where I can detail my experiences with laser hair removal as it happens and hopefully provide some information to others that they’ll find useful and reassuring if they’re interested in laser hair removal for themselves. I feel that a first hand experience that’s detailed on the internet will hopefully benefit others who may be interested in laser hair removal, or even just setting up a consultation about laser hair removal, but may be a little scared or even embarrassed about getting laser hair removal.

For this first post, I’d also like to share some information about myself. I’m a 23 year old male, with a Fitzpatrick skin type III, from the northeastern area of the US, turned snow-bird and now residing in sunny south Florida for the winter/spring. Ever since I was about 19, when I first realized I was excessively hairy in certain areas, I’ve been stressed over my body hair and I (unfortunately) even let it effect my self-esteem. I just didn’t feel comfortable anymore wearing shorts, being shirtless, or being naked around other people, especially girls!

A few years ago I heard about laser hair removal for the first time and did a lot of research on the internet about the procedure. At the time I wasn’t serious about getting laser hair removal because I just simply didn’t have the money. I got a little older and began to make more money, enough to pay for laser hair removal, but I was still extremely embarrassed about following through with laser hair removal. I only brought up the subject to my dermatologist once, and it was an extremely awkward situation, and he didn’t even seem to be interested in helping me. Fast forward a year or so, until two weeks ago, when I was about to hop in the shower and I took a look at myself in the mirror…..and lost it! I was so upset with how dark and thick my body hair was, all the way up and down my entire legs and my arms! So, I figured “Hell, I don’t know anybody in this city! Why be scared or embarrassed about it? I don’t have to ever see the doctor again if things don’t go well!” The next thing I did was probably one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. I picked up the phone and called this well known laser hair removal place just a few blocks from my new apartment, that I knew about from an ad in a local magazine, and said that I wanted a consultation! They said that I could come in anytime that afternoon for a free consultation! I couldn’t believe that I was able to go in that same afternoon….I’m just not used to having things move that quickly! I got a little nervous all of a sudden and almost postponed the consultation, but I decided to go through with it.

So here I am, after 4 years of being stressed out about excessive body hair, in a brand new city, feeling liberated. I finally took the first step towards solving my problem and it feels great. This is when I realized that I should make a blog about my story and share it with the world, in case there were other people out there like me.

So there you have it, my story and my goals for this website. Stay tuned for more, because this is just the beginning!