My Laser Hair Removal Story

So I’ve been looking around and doing some research on laser hair removal centers around CT, Boston and New York City and I think I just found a new center that I really want to try in NYC! I was pretty set on going back to Florida and actually tried to call my center a few times, but I think I called just a little to late each day, so I haven’t booked any more treatments with them. I was planning on getting same day round-trip plane tickets and figuring that into my budget and everything so I could make the Florida thing work, but if this place in NYC is as good as everyone says it is, then I think its definitely worth a shot! They’ve won best laser hair removal center in NYC on CitySearch a few times, and the guy who owns it is pretty big in the laser hair removal industry, so I decided to give them a call and talk to someone. Turns out I was put through to the owner! I explained my situation and heard what he had to offer and things went really well. They definitely don’t try and pressure you to go with them. Also, I was quoted a very similar price to what I’ve been paying, and what I was expecting to pay for going back to FL, minus the flight expenses, so this NYC center is sounding very attractive! Also, I made sure they have the Cynosure Elite model I’ve been using, which they do!

It’s SO much easier for me to just drive to NYC and then drive home than it is for me to drive to the airport (2 hours away) then fly down to FL, get a rental car and drive to the center, then reverse the whole process!

Oh, and the owner explained how the sessions price includes touch ups which are done between sessions to make sure everything is looking good! I’m not sure I would do these sessions, because NYC is still a little bit of a journey for me to make every couple weeks, but its an attractive offer.

So if you can’t already figure out the name of the NYC laser hair removal center that I’m talking about then you’ll have to wait. Sorry! I haven’t actually committed to anything with them yet, but I’m pretty close. Especially because I need to go for my next session in about 1-2 weeks. I’m just trying to decide if I want to commit to a package of 3 or 4 sessions or just go with one session for now and see how things go in NYC. If things go well, I’ll definitely let everyone know which NYC laser hair removal center I’m going to!

I’ll update once I figure out what I’m going to do in the next couple days.

So it’s already been two weeks! Time flys! That means I only have 4 more weeks to figure out WTF I’m going to do for my next session. Right now I have two options: fly back down to Florida for another session or try to find some place good near New York/Boston/Connecticut. So far I’m leaning more towards flying down to Florida, even if it would be more expensive and more of a hassle. Why? Because I like the place I’ve been going and I feel very comfortable there now. I’m wondering how much I could get them down to for my next session. I paid $1000 for each session so far, but I’m wonder if I book 3 or 4 more sessions with them if I could get them down to around $750-800 a session. That would make up for the price of my flights down to Florida anyways.

Something I’ve noticed in the past few weeks, but haven’t blogged about yet, is the fact that my right leg has some areas that are whiter than others now. Also, I noticed a few small areas on my left leg now that has the same thing happening. It’s causing a little bit of concern. The problem is that I don’t remember if the white areas were there before I started my first session or not. I remember it there after the first session, but I had so much hair on my legs for so many years that theres no way I would have noticed this and I only had my legs shaved for about 16 hours before my first laser hair removal session. I read something yesterday about pigments of skin becoming DARKER around some areas as a result of laser hair removal, but I didn’t see anything about the skin becoming LIGHTER.

If anyone has any idea about what I’m talking about here please leave me a comment and help me out!

Wow, my skin reacted crazy to the laser today! This was most likely due to the fact that the strength of the laser was increased, so I was ready for a different reaction…or so I thought! All is well right now, about 9 hours after the session, but immediately after the laser tech would finish up an area, it would get VERY swollen and red! My arms and legs both blew up with these large bumps! I sort of started to panic to myself, but the laser tech said that she has a worse reaction typically, but things calm down quickly. She was right, because by the time I got home to take pics for the site the majority of the swelling and redness was gone. Next time, I’ll be ready for this reaction and won’t be so freaked out! Hopefully this information will help some readers be prepared for a reaction like this and ease any worries!

So aside from the reaction, how did everything go?! It went very well. I have to say though, I was a little shocked when I showed up and was introduced to my laser tech for the day. I was expecting to just get the same person as last time, who I was very comfortable with at this point, but instead I was introduced to a very attractive young (but still older than me) lady who would be my laser tech for the day! I probably started to blush because I was a little embarrassed, but whatever, I wasn’t going to back out or anything! She did a good job, but I didn’t feel as laid back as I did last time after just a couple minutes. I think next time I might request my old tech if possible. I think he was a little more thorough in his work, as he seemed to go slower and didn’t end up going back to any areas that he thought he may have missed. But either way, both experiences so far have been very positive! I really like this clinic.

Also, I was able to confirm that they are using the Cynosure Elite laser hair removal system today. The tech simply called it the Cynosure “755″ and the “top of the line Cynosure model” but a quick Google search shows you that this is what Cynosure calls the Elite model. So for anyone wondering, there you have it, I’m using the Cynosure Elite system.

The laser tech praised the Cynosure system more than once! She said that she has worked with a lot of different equipment but this model really gives the best results that shes ever seen. She said that it typically hurts a little more than other lasers but it ends up giving much better results. I’m hoping to prove her right!

Here are some random notes that I made that I thought a lot of readers might find useful. I’m just going to throw them out there.

-Today I noticed that the increased settings definitely did cause me a little more discomfort. I even took some aspirin before the appointment. But no pain, no gain as they say!

-I would definitely recommend wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt to your laser hair removal appointments. You never know how your going to react and what your skin is going to look like when you leave!

-Drink lots of water before and after. The heat from the lasers can give you mild heat flashes or whatever they’re called. So stay hydrated.

-If your using the Cynosure laser, like I am, you’ll definitely want to always use sun screen afterwards and try to stay out of the sun as much as possible! The lady kept reinforcing this to me just like my last laser tech did. She said to really try to stay out of it for the next two weeks to avoid any “crusting” of the skin.

If your interested in reading about my first laser hair removal session, the post can be found here.

Below are the pictures from about 20 minutes after I left the skin care clinic today. Click the picture for a larger image.

Tomorrow afternoon I have my second laser hair removal session at the skin care clinic here in south Florida! I’m really looking forward to having this done again and I’m hoping that the laser tech will agree with me that because I had a good reaction to the results last time that he should be able to crank the laser up and use some stronger settings to maximize my results! Fewer sessions, with the same results as more sessions, would definitely be good for my wallet. (But I’m not going to cheap out on this at all!)

The only thing I’m not looking forward to is any prickliness on my upper legs again! Yes, that means around my butt. Last time I think I shaved up to high, where I didn’t even get treated, and it was a pain (literally) for a couple days after, as I mentioned in previous posts. So I guess I need to be more careful about where I shave this time.

Other than that, I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I haven’t even been thinking about this session as much. Definitely not as big of a deal as the first one where everything was unknown to me and I was nervous. Being on the road to less unwanted body hair is definitely great though! Check back tomorrow for some pictures of my skin after the second LHR session!