To Laser or not to Laser?
Second Session
It's working! I got on the treatment bed and Maria started gently pulling at some hairs and with no effort they were coming out. I had seen a reduction of hair in the 3 weeks leading up to my touch up appointment. I had been dong some gentle exfoliating, but to see someone pull them out with their fingers was a surprise to me. I also know it's working as my hair growth had slowed down significantly so much so that 'Big Daddy' wasn't needed on this appointment. So it was 'Little Sister' on both legs.
Maria shaved me again, this is done so that the laser hits the folicle and not the hair, (which can cause a burning smell). Little sister is not as gentle, but as there wasn't really a great deal to do, it only took 15 minutes for both legs. I think the fact there wasn't much to do, coupled with the fact I knew what to expect, (no real discomfort), it lured me......to have my bikini line done. Now THAT is different altogether!
I've now got a 4 week break before my next full appointment so I will let you know. I told Maria that I don't like having the roughness you get when shaved hair starts to grow back, but she assures me I will be smooth. Shaving my legs in the shower is an automatic reaction and so I've had to be careful not to forget and just do them.
As everyone's hair growth is different it is anticipated a minimum of 4 to 6 full sessions are needed, with the touch ups in between, I'm hoping after my next full appointment she might be able to give me a better idea of how many I might need.
I'm very happy with the results so far, I'm dark(ish) haired, and the majority of regrowth, and there's not that much really, which is coming through is a lot fairer and of course sparser than before.
So I will let you know what happens in April.....
First Session
There's been discussion after discussion after discussion on the EW Forum. We've all seen it done on the Make Over shows on TV about laser hair removal and it's something I have been mulling over for ages, asking all the questions that have been asked on the Forum, should I? Shouldn't I? Will it hurt? Will it work? How much will it cost?
Aged 46, and since I can remember I've shaved, waxed, used creams, sugared and had electrolysis on varying parts of my body, I have no idea what it's cost so far. And of course being here in Dubai, where things grow quicker because of the heat(!) I'd taken to shaving every day (sometimes twice a day) just to maintain that smoothness.
When the subject came up (yet again) in our office about laser hair removal, and that Eternel Medspa have a new machine that treats a bigger area more quickly than it's little sister, I jumped in first and volunteered to give them both a try. Rather than getting technical with the names of the machines I've decided to personalise them: Big Daddy v Little Sister.
I'll be honest I was somewhat scared, even though I have a high pain threshold I hoped I'd be able to cope with it. The general concensus seemed to be no pain no gain, but you'll see further down this was not the case.
At Eternel Medspa the first appointment is with one of the doctors who assess your skin and hair type, any medical contraindicators and they recommend the best course of treatment for you. (Not everyone is suitable for laser hair removal but Eternel Medspa will be able to offer you different options). I'm fair skin with a dark(ish) hair.
I purposely gave myself a few weeks to let my legs grow and I kept them directly out of the sun - Maria my very knowledgeable therapist advised if I had waxed/shaved or been in the sun recently she would not be able to treat me. (Of course when you ring to book an initial consultation you would be advised of the Do's and Dont's).
I was instantly put at ease when I arrived at Eternel Medspa, soothing music and calming candles greeted me. Maria and I had a chat about the three stages of hair growth and why follow up sessions are needed at the specific intervals - to zap them during their growth period. She advised I should see a reduction even after my first session (I am writing this 4 days after my session, the growth I would normally get is not there, but I have got the 'stubble' feeling, that you have after a day of not shaving but no dark shadow).
I got excited when she mentioned the words Ice and Cream in the same sentence, later it became obvious what she meant, I'd got it totally wrong!
We decided to treat my lower legs as they are more exposed than any other part of my body. After shaving my legs, Maria started with the Big Daddy, the feeling was like a vacuum/suction effect which I found quite soothing actually, I did ask if it could double up as a fat sucker but it only goes as far as the hair follicle and fat is beneath that (oh well perhaps I could volunteer for that some other time!)
Side effects of laser hair removal could be redness of your skin or bumpiness - which should subside after a few hours - this is where the ice and the cream came into play, antisceptic cream not full fat unfortunately) - boy, those ice packs were cold(!) and they were tightly packed in around my leg for a good 20 minutes - this procedure turned out to be the worst part of my treatment but it has to be done to prevent any side effects, all I had was a feeling of pins and needles for a couple of minutes, a bit of redness but that was all.
Then it was Little Sister's turn on the other leg - and another bit of a shock in that I've never had ultrasound gel applied to me - it was cold aswell! Not as bad as the icepacks though.
I must admit I felt the effect of Little Sister more, particularly when she hit a follicle which was in it's growing stage, it was like a sharp pin prick - if you've had waxing done it's no worse than that, you'll just have a sharp intake of breath.
But all in all it was no-where near as bad as I thought it might be and so far so good - I'm happy.
Big Daddy took 20 minutes to do a full, half a leg
Little Sister took 45 minutes
So there's a definite time saving with the bigger machine but of course that machine can be too big for some areas/parts of the body when only Little Sister will do.
Again, I'll be honest, it didn't hurt, the worst part was the cold icepacks and I actually fell asleep for a few seconds at one point!!
I'm scheduled for my touch up in a few weeks time - so I will let you know how that goes.