My Laser Hair Removal Story

My next laser hair removal session is in a week! I’m really excited to go in and have another session and get rid of more hair!! I hope that I haven’t gotten much darker since I went in for my first session, but it’s awfully hard to resist going to the beach when you live a block away. I don’t think I have but I just want to try to maximize the results by not having darker skin than I did when I went in for the first session. So, I think I’m going to try to get in all my sun now and then hibernate early next week and let the tan fade away. I was hoping to go to the Bahamas for the day on Monday but maybe I should wait until after the session so I don’t get any more sun. This is the only downside to laser hair removal right now. I’m definitely not used to having to stay out of the sun, always use sun screen and change my plans so my skin isn’t tanned for my session.

I guess I don’t really have much to write about this week since I’ve been shaving my arms and legs to keep everything comfortable. It looks like I’m done shedding because I haven’t been able to pull out any hairs for a week or so now. There’s only two weeks until my next laser hair removal session now! I’m really looking forward to having another session and upping the strength of the laser, which should help make the process as effective as possible.

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is what I’m going to do after this next session. I only paid for two sessions at this clinic because I’ll be moving back north in April. I’m wondering if I should start looking for some clinics up north that have the Cynsosure Elite laser or if I should just negotiate with this clinic for a slightly lower price and fly down every 6 weeks for sessions. I’d like to do 3 or 4 more sessions, but that would probably be about $1100-$12000 in airfare alone. Money is starting to get a little tighter with the way the economy is going….but I don’t want to get off topic here.

If any readers have any insight about any clinics in the northeastern US that have the Cynosure lasers please let me know! Thanks!

Hey everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates the past couple weeks. I was going to update last weekend, with my 2 week progress, but I had to go out of town for the weekend/week and it’s been crazy ever since. So last weekend I ended up shaving my arms and legs again, because some areas looked really patchy and sort of odd. Also I was starting to get very itchy from the prickly hair. I actually shaved my arms and legs twice this week to keep the hair short and avoid irritation. It looks like I’m going to be doing this regularly between sessions now. I didn’t take any pics because there isn’t really anything to look at.

So some people on the Cosmetic Enhancements Forum have asked for the name of the clinic that I’ve been going to. I don’t know why, but I’m hesitant to give out the name at this time. I was worried that I might have something bad to say about them and then they would get mad if they ever came across this. But so far they’ve been great. So maybe I will name them soon. I also didn’t want them to know that I would be writing about them! So I get a true experience, as any normal person would.

Also, some people were asking about the equipment that was used. In one of my first posts, I wrote that the clinic uses a Cynosure machine. I’m pretty sure it’s the Cynosure Elite but I’ll give them a call and confirm or ask at my next session. The Cynosure Elite “combines two optimal wavelengths in one system: the 755-nm Alexandrite laser and the 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser.” So it’s a combination Alexandrite and Nd:YAG laser in one!

Does anyone have any experience with the Cynosure lasers? If so, I’d love to hear your opinion. And if anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask away in the comments section!

So it’s been just over two weeks since my first laser hair removal session. How are things going? Pretty well…I think! I’ve been shedding, but I’ve also noticed that some hairs aren’t shedding, and they’re starting to get somewhat long. So I had to decided what to do. I decided that it was time to shave again and see what happens from there. Hopefully shaving will stop some of the itching from the prickly areas! My legs are getting pretty itchy and I look weird walking around always itching and scratching my legs, especially my upper thighs! So anyways, I’m going to shave now. I’ll post next week about how things went after shaving!

Here’s some pictures of my arms about 16 days after my first laser hair removal session.

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!