Laser Hair Removal #2

Two down, six to go! I had my second laser hair removal session last week, this time it was a bit ouch. I met with Dr. Iluvmyselfwaaaaytoomuch and we talked about my experience, he let me know the second treatment is usually not as effective as the first. Well, dookie. My nurse, “Sally”, is awesome. Kind of reminds me of a Jersey girl… Anywho, I noticed that the pain factor was quite a bit more intense this time around. About halfway through, I let her know that it hurt a lot more. Response: “Yea, that’s because I cranked up the intensity this time.” Oh, well thanks for letting me know beforehand….
Day 1: OUCH! My upper lip was bright red and sooo tender (thank you crank-up). Redness gone in a few hours again.
Days 2-7: OK, I currently look like someone groud up a bunch of Oreos and sprinkled them on my face.
Day 8: Oreos are growing out a bit so I can shave it off (ouch, very ouch). Not too bad though.
Day 9: I have that hair-falling-out thing going on again: love it!
A friend from school “Z” works at my hair removal place, and she has let me know that she can get me a honkin’ discount on my next area. Groovy grooverson. Hmmm…but what to choose from. I want my whole body done…
Underarms would be nice…then again so would legs….then again so would bikini. No, bikini not so much. I don’t know that I want to lay there spread-eagle while someone targets a laser on my nether-regions. Besides, stabbing my face is one thing, down there…ummm no.
Decisions, decisions

 

Laser Hair Removal

A ton of people have asked me about my laser experience thus far, so I figured I’d blog about it since I’m bored out of my mind and can’t think of anything else to do at work.
So, lasering. I have the curse which many of my female family members share-ye ole ‘stache. I would wax/pluck/wax/pluck/wax/pluck, etc… for what seemed like most of my life following adolescence. I tried electrolysis, but I didn’t really see results. Maternal unit says she saw a bit of a difference, but I’m sorry, $300 later I should have seen a heck of a lot more.
So, I decided to try lasering it all off. Now, the price tag is a bit hefty (I’m paying about $1000) but if this works it is worth every stinking penny. The laser itself is attracted to dark pigment, so it travels down the dark hair under the skin and kills the follicle.
1st trip: I show up without having plucked/bleached/waxed for about a week and a half. They told me to shave-eewwww. I sat down with the nurse practicioner and the doctor and went over medical history, hair history, etc… I put on these oh-so-groovy metal swimming goggles, and the nurse talked me through everything she would be doing. She directed zero degree air at the first area of my face and then I felt what I would imagine someone lightly stabbing my face with a thumbtack would feel like. She would do 5-6 pulses, then give me a little break, then more pulses, another break….you get the idea. A whole 7 minutes later, we were done.
Aftermath: That day I was red for about two hours, and the area was quite tender. By that evening the red was gone, but I was still a bit tender.
1 week later: I was told not to do a durn thing to my face except shave (again-eewww and ouch). First week and a half I was disappointed, thinking that I had just wasted a grand. No change. Well, one day in the shower I was washing my face and realized that I hadn’t had to deal with any face stuff for a while. Hmmmm….that was cool.
2 weeks out: I noticed little blackheads all over the place-yuck. Well, I decided to see if it was indeed a blackhead, and lo and behold, a hair came out. By out I mean all the way out, as in not attached. Cool. Very cool.
4 weeks out: One or two hairs regrown, but nothing compared to before.
5 weeks out: A lot of growth, but they said this is to be expected. I go back next week for my second session, but I am already very much less hairy.
I love laser hair removal thus far.