Few days ago I had a patch test, I actually did not feel the pain or any discomfort. The first contact with the laser clinic was actually quite pleasant. I did not feel any pain or discomfort and lady in the clinic made me feel welcomed and comfortable. I bought out 6 sessions. As it was advised with 6 sessions you have a chance to remove 70-90% of unwanted hair. Tomorrow I am going for my first session. I am pretty exited as you may see the results already after the first session. You should shave the area and keep it dry before the laser, that means no moisturisers, fake tan etc. The sessions take place usually once a month and during this time you should try to avoid the sun and forget about sun beds, fake tan, waxing and others. Which means you can only shave the area during the process which might take up to 6 months.
After the first session I must say I noticed some difference, but it wasn't drastic rather gradual . I did not feel any pain maybe a little sting from time to time. My therapist first put a cooling substance and later on proceeded to the laser treatment. Overall full legs treatment took no longer than 30 min. I could not see the effect from day one , but after few days/ weeks I noticed my hair became finer and after few weeks from the initial session I started having patches and I have noticed a slight reduction. The reduction of the hair is not instant ! There will be a slight reduction from the first session but do not expect too much , it is a long process that will take a while. My next session is soon. You usually should not book your second laser session any longer than 4-6 weeks from your first treatment.
I could feel the hair being burned by laser much more during the second laser session than during the first one, that was due the higher setting my therapist decided to put the laser on, in my case it was increased to 27. If you do not know what that means the easiest way to explain it is. The maximum power of laser that you can use without burning your skin is 30. Usually the fairer your skin and hair the more powerful setting is needed. If your skin is darker and you have darker hair the lower setting is applicable, like 10 for example if your skin type is 3. In that way you avoid burns, as darken skin types are more likely to get burnt during laser treatment, the treatment might also be more painful than for fairer people. I could definitely see the difference, I have definitely less hair on my legs and the ones I have are much fairer than they were before. Apart from that bold patches became more consistent, however the difference is not as noticeable as after the first laser treatment. However it has been only about week and a half from my second laser treatment, I still have 3 weeks more before my third session to see the difference. As in case of my first treatment the hair fell out gradually you could really see the difference only after about 3 weeks from the initial laser session. That is why I am hopeful and looking forward to the next session.
After my third laser session, I definitely can observe a slower growth and much less hair, I usually have my treatments every 4 weeks , however due to my travel plans, I will have the next treatment earlier this time, that means 3 weeks gap between the treatments. For your safety the laser treatment should be done at least 2 weeks before the direct contact with the sun and at least 2 weeks after the holidays. So my next break from laser treatments will be quite long, overall about 5/6 weeks. Which is not necessarily the best, but I will see how it will affect / if it will affect my treatment and whether taking a holiday during your laser treatment is a good a idea. I also must mention that the loss of hair after the 1st session will be the most noticeable for you, all the future sessions will have a very gradual, slow impact on your hair growth. So successful laser treatment definitely needs consistency and a lot of patience !!
So I am after my fourth laser hair removal session, it happened quite fast due to the trip I mentioned beforehand. To be completely honest I do see a tiny bit of improvement, however it is not a drastic change, its more gradual. I can see my hair became much lighter though, which is a good sign on one hand and bad on the other. The lighter your hair are, the harder it is to get them removed. And that is my issue. However I must admit, my hair follicles are much less visible now, which is pretty satisfying.
I had a long break between my 5th and 6th session. I travelled to Bali and I was exposed to the sun. Due to that I had to wait at least 2 weeks, before I could have another laser treatment. Having almost 2 months break was pretty bad, because I was on holidays I had to shave more often due to that the hair started growing back faster and I could see the hair follicles coming back. I was pretty upset and discouraged. When I went for my 6th laser session, my therapist informed me that longer breaks are actually more desirable, as you hair has time to grow back and you can treat it with laser again. That brought up my hopes again. I have two more sessions left before I finish my treatment, by the time I finish I will probably move the city so it will be quite difficult to do laser any time I want, but hopefully it will be all over by November. I can see the hair definitely is lighter and grows much slower, but it is not 100% as expected. It was definitely worth it , however I was never expecting 100% reduction more like 70% reduction and I must say I'm happy with the results so far, but after that I will probably never go back to shaving again !
I had my seventh session in October. I was hoping to be finished by October/ November , however due to personal reasons , I couldn't attend one of my sessions. It's quite troublesome right now to finish my treatment. As I mentioned before I've now moved to another city and it's quite difficult for me to schedule an appointment. I can see the difference, however without the regular sessions and me having to shave in between , (because my sessions are not finished yet and as you know you cannot wax in between the treatment) the results are not as good as expected, but I believe it's partially my fault. It's important to try and have the appointments regularly. Also if you have light hair like me, it might also be very difficult to get rid of them all in 6-8 sessions, you will need much more than that.
* laser treatment is a long process, it takes about 6/8 months to finish , I took me about 8/9 months with all the breaks in between and extra sessions.