Laser Hair Removal - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

livelaughlovesunshin · 03-13-2013, 11:29 AM

Embarrassing topic for me but here goes.
I have been shaving my upper lip since I was 11 years old, I am 26 now. :/ I now have a five o'clock shadow and I have to shave like twice a day. And my upper lip is turning grey. So ugly. So disgusting.
I am hoping laser hair removal will take care of this. I am pale. Very pale actually, my ex tells me I glow in the dark. LOL. And the hair that is growing in there is black so I should be a good candidate, correct?
Anyone had this done? How long did it take to have results? Any before and after pictures?

Thanks

Psychic · 03-13-2013, 12:35 PM

Don't feel bad about facial hair! A lot more women have it that will admit it. I don't know prices or anything, but I'd be interested in finding out. I have excess facial hair as well, but mine is blonde luckily.

nelie · 03-13-2013, 12:40 PM

Although I've heard anyone can do laser hair removal, pale skin, dark hair is the ideal candidate. I am an ideal candidate. I had thick side burns as well as hair on my chin and upper lip. It took me 12 months to get it to a level I'd like but 6 months is the recommended minimum. I am about 10 years out from my treatments and my hair started coming back around year 5, first a hair here or there then more. They seem to have stabilized and I can pluck my hairs to maintain an acceptable level. I thought about going back for laser hair treatments but I don't really feel like doing it again.

The pain wasn't bad although my upper lip was somewhat painful and my eyebrow was extremely painful and I'd never ever ever do my eyebrows again.

scout83 · 03-16-2013, 09:51 PM

I haven't done laser, but I am about 5 months into electrolysis treatment. I'm having it for pesky chin hairs as well as my upper lip. It was/is the chin hairs that really bother me as they're coarse and grow very quickly while my upper lip hair is very fine and has never bothered me much. But since I'm paying for the time and the chin hairs can be zapped quite quickly, we're working on the upper lip a little at a time. So far, I've had a GREAT experience with electrolysis and am going to keep up my treatments with the expectation that this will be permanent hair removal around the one year mark. It helps that I'm losing weight and expect that to be stabilized right around the same time-- carrying all this extra weight and major changes in weight can send hormones crazy and that can mean pesky facial hair

Anyway, you might want to look into electrolysis as you're into laser. Best to you!

dancerindenver · 03-16-2013, 10:36 PM

I had laser hair removal on my legs, bikini line and underarms around 10 years ago and couldn't be happier with the results. I'm on the pale side with darker body hair so similar to you. Don't know what it feels like on your face but if you can afford a course of, say, 4-5 treatments, I would definitely go for it.

SuzziD · 03-17-2013, 05:05 PM

I often use an epilator although the one I have is not for use on the face but I believe there are ones that you can, have you checked these out?

ckelly10 · 03-28-2013, 12:26 PM

Hi,

My partner used to have Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and it used to get her down for years. She would be constantly looking in the mirror to see if there was any hairs visible and she would also get very paranoid if people started to laugh near her as she thought they was laughing at her.

When she was 22 she decided that she was sick of feeling the way she was and she wanted to do something about it so we both looked online to see what could be done. We visited different forums that had threads about this condition and although there was varying treatments people had undertaken the one that kept cropping up was Laser Hair Removal. She decided that she wanted to give it a try so the next week we booked in at the Premier Laser Clinic and she got a consultation and the clinician answered any questions that we had.

She decided to go ahead with the treatment and she is very happy with the results. It hasn't completely removed all the hairs but it has thinned them out to the point where they are hardly noticeable. I have seen a massive change in her confidence and she seems like a completely different woman to me.

Meghan757 · 03-30-2013, 05:08 PM

I know how you feel! Except, I have a beard too (YIKES!) It was SO embarrassed that I didn't even wanna let it grow to go get it professionally lasered. I did some research and ended up buying my own laser to do at home. It is costly, but such an investment if you use it as recommended. It is called a Silk'n SensEpil. Their website charges around $500 for the unit, but you can find it cheaper on sites like Amazon.com..The bulb lasts for about 750 pulses. I have found cheap bulb replacements on a site like eBay..You have to be consistent with the lasering (that's my problem!)..Good luck!

livelaughlovesunshin · 03-30-2013, 05:09 PM

Thanks for all the responses.
The lady told me I just can't wax it but I can continue shaving it.. Is that not accurate??

NemesisClaws · 03-31-2013, 11:24 AM

I use Nair treatments on my legs, and over time, I have noticed less hair growth so I'm hopeful that eventually it'll peter out.

But my face, neck, and other areas? Oy, don't get me started! I tend to either pluck or shave if I'm in a hurry. And yes, they come back in a darker color than before. I'm hoping that as I lose weight and finally get down to where I want to be that maybe my excess hairs will level off a bit or even go away. We shall see.

But beware...going this route will cost you quite a bit of money and time if you're going to do lasers. I can't afford it so it was never an option. Good luck!

cbmare · 03-31-2013, 11:43 AM

May I ask if any of you are menopausal? My chin hairs are so stiff and coarse. I pluck them. When I feel the need for self abuse, I will go for a face waxing.

Also, may I ask what the laser treatments cost?

I was given a script for some med that is supposed to stop facial hair growth. It is really expensive, even after insurance, so I didn't fill it. Besides, how does it know which hair is facial hair and not the hair on top of my head? LOL.

Thanks for being so candid and thanks for starting this thread.

OH! Speaking of thread. One of those places in the mall was offering a free eyebrow threading. OUCH! I will never do that again.

ChickieChicks · 03-31-2013, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jez

You can shave, you just can't pull it out at it's root, like with waxing, sugaring, or epilating.

I had full arms, full legs, underarms, and extended brazilian done every 2 months for 2 years. Then I had to sue them to get a refund. It thins your hair, and seems to lighten it a bit. But I was nowhere near hairless, and I did not pay that much for "reduction". Now, it's been a few years since my last treatment, and although it's still not quite how it was pre-lasering, I have a LOT more regrowth than it seemed right after finishing my sessions. I still have to shave/epilate/wax just as often as I did pre-lasering.

Oh.
My.
Gosh.

This is me right now!

I am over one year into treatments on my bikini area.........nothing. NOT ONE SINGLE FOLLICLE GONE. At first the hair did fall out, but now it doesn't even RESPOND to the "treatments". I am pissed and discouraged.

livelaughlovesunshin · 04-01-2013, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbmare

May I ask if any of you are menopausal? My chin hairs are so stiff and coarse. I pluck them. When I feel the need for self abuse, I will go for a face waxing.

Also, may I ask what the laser treatments cost?

I was given a script for some med that is supposed to stop facial hair growth. It is really expensive, even after insurance, so I didn't fill it. Besides, how does it know which hair is facial hair and not the hair on top of my head? LOL.

Thanks for being so candid and thanks for starting this thread.

OH! Speaking of thread. One of those places in the mall was offering a free eyebrow threading. OUCH! I will never do that again.

Around here it is about a $100 for each session for the upper lip treatment. I got a groupon though so it's $199 total.

nelie · 04-01-2013, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livelaughlovesunshin

Around here it is about a $100 for each session for the upper lip treatment. I got a groupon though so it's $199 total.

$100/session is pretty good but I had 12 sessions total before my facial hair became acceptable. The normal person needs 6 treatments. I did some other areas as well and I can say I spent around $2000 total 8 years ago. It was worth it.

mandypandy2246 · 04-02-2013, 02:12 AM

I've done both electrolysis and laser. The best candidates for laser have light skin and dark hair - if its turning grey that is not ideal. As far as laser places and the convo above, I have been to many laser places - and some get better results than others. Don't go someplace that uses IPL. And if you aren't getting results - go elsewhere - not all laser machines are equal. I went for a while to simplicity and had no results - I then went elsewhere and had new areas started and the old simplicity areas and after a few sessions both areas were noticeably less hairy.

Back to the question at hand - even though it sounds like you would be a good candidate for laser - for smaller areas, I think its actually cheaper long term to just do electrolysis (though electrolysis hurts a lot more!!!!). I am a big advocate of electrolysis for facial areas - they can do it with more precision and its relatively cheap!!!!