Hair today, gone...

After a few sessions.

What am I speaking of, no it's not a haircut, more of hair removal... PERMANENT hair removal.... through LASER. I know I know your all thinking tons of things like is its going to hurt, is it expensive, does it really work, what are the side effects. Honestly I would be asking the same thing too if it were my first time... but it's not. In fact my treatments are all over and done with, and girlfriends... I am hair free!!!!!!

As most of you know I (pre-baby) worked as a nurse in a cosmetic/derm wing where we did mostly reconstruction, and carcinoma removal surgeries. However we also did a full line of cosmetic proceedures like botox, pearlene, microdermabrasion, and Laser Hair Removal, which just happens to be my favorite of all of the procedures.

When I had time in between treating patients I would jump on the table and get rid of as much hair as I could that day. If I wasn't a nurse getting it done for free in the office would I still do it... heck yes. So lets talk basics.

Laser is just light, basically its light it one frequency, then penetrated into the skin, to the level of hair growth, it searches for what is dark (the hair root) and burns it up. Since your hair grows in cycles (resting stage, sheding stage, growth stage) you need multiple treatments, at each treatment you are damage the current cycle. You then return 3-6 weeks later for another treatment over the same area damaging the new cycle of hair and further damaging the last cycle. You will do this 4-6 times until the hair cannot take the damage any longer and dies completely.

A good candidate for laser is someone with light skin and dark hair, (with most lasers) blonde, grey, and white hairs will not be removed. You should stay out of the sun while your having your treatments done. This is because the laser doesnt know the difference between your tan skin and your hair root if its dark its getting burned.

Before & After

Side effects: as with any cosmetic procedure there are always possible side effects, the most common being over treatment. This is what I spoke of before, if your skin is too dark it will get burned as well. Next would be possible hypo or hyper pigmentation, meaning that the treated area could become darker or lighter then the normal skin tone but will return to normal within 6 months after completion.

What does it feel like: The older lasers.. those suckers are painful. The newer  ones usually come with a cooling device that is cooled through cryogen. You will feel a cold burst of cryogen, the pulse of laser followed by a cold burst of cryogen. I do not think it is painful, I would say it is a bit uncomfortable, but after your first of second treatment you wont think anything of it. Most patients think it feel like a rubber band snapping.

I had my underarms, lower legs, bikini, and upper lip treated. While my upper lip was not much of an issue, I didnt want to hit my 40's and have to be grooming my fame everyday for the hair is not gone. It is permanent at 80%, meaning 80% of your hair will be gone forever.. you will always have a hair here or there, but those few that are left will be thinner, finner, and grow much slower. I love not having to worry about razor burn or if I need to shave before wearing certain outfits.

You do not have to let anything grow out before a treatment like you would for waxing (which hurts worse then laser by the way). You will actually shave everything down a few days before you have the treaments, and very little hair will grow back in between your sessions, so you wont have much to shave at all.

During treatment

Treatments: Each area takes a certain amount of time, the underarms take less then 12 minutes from beginning to end, a few days after the treatment the hair will begin to look like it is growing again, however it sheds out in the same way that it grows out... so after a few more days it will just fall out.