Question
so i'm finally going in for my first treatment on thursday. i have skin type 2 or 3, not sure, and dark (mostly coarse) hair. i'm going to be treated with the lightsheer so to make sure i'm getting the right treatment i just wanted to know what is the common settings for my skin type. also, i've read a lot of comments saying that it should feel like rubber bands against my skin, so what happens if i find it more painful? does it automatically mean that the settings are too high?
thanks in advance for any input... aaaahh i'm so scared!

Answer
so i'm finally going in for my first treatment on thursday. i have skin type 2 or 3, not sure, and dark (mostly coarse) hair. i'm going to be treated with the lightsheer so to make sure i'm getting the right treatment i just wanted to know what is the common settings for my skin type. also, i've read a lot of comments saying that it should feel like rubber bands against my skin, so what happens if i find it more painful? does it automatically mean that the settings are too high?
thanks in advance for any input... aaaahh i'm so scared!

Answer
settings vary from 25-45. Pain is fine as long as your skin doesn't get too hot and stays red for more than 24 hrs.

Answer
I can share my experience a little with you to give you a better idea of what to expect. I had my first treatment with the Lightsheer last Tuesday. I am a low 3 on the skin type chart. The areas I had treated were my upper lip and chin. I found the sensation to be uncomfortable, but not overly painful. It really does feel like rubber bands snapping against your skin, and I found the upper lip portion to be the worst of the two areas. If you are worried that it will be more painful, you can ask for a topical anaestethic and I'm sure that would help a lot. The PA I went to used an ice pack on my chin for about three minutes prior to starting and that kind of numbed up the area a little bit, so it wasn't that bad.
I would say the pain/discomfort varies depending on which portion of your body you are having treated. Try not to think about that aspect so much and just think of the end result. I think it was blink888 who said the first treatment is probably the worst since that is when you have the most hair and when it is most dense.
I'm sure you'll be fine. I was scared, too, but after the first couple of pulses I knew what to expect and it ended up being not that bad. Good luck!

Answer
thanks blink and silver
silver, do you know what settings were used on you? and how did your face look afterwards and for how long? i'm getting it done on my face too so i'm wondering...

Answer
Unfortunately I forgot to ask what setting was being used. I'm guessing it was the correct one though, because I could definitely feel it. From what I have read, as long as you feel it, the treatment is working. I could also smell the hair as it was being heated....have you ever used a vacuum and it started smelling like burnt rubber? That's what it smelled like (I know that sounds gross). But the PA said that also means it is working correctly.
Immediately following the treatment, the PA had me look in the mirror to show that some of the hairs would be coming out immediately. My face was red and blotchy, almost the same as after it had been waxed. If you are a type 2 or 3 I imagine yours will look similar. It really started to subside pretty quickly, though. I had to go back to work after my treatment and I was really worried about my face being red for the rest of the day, but it wasn't. By the time I left the clinic and got back to my office, quite a bit had already settled. Most of the redness (I'd say 90%) was gone in about two hours. I had forgotten to bring my makeup with me so I had to go bare-faced the entire afternoon, but it wasn't bad at all. The PA said I could try putting cool compresses on it if it was bothering me, but I didn't really find a need for it. She said most people with this skin type seem to have very little trouble with the redness subsiding quickly. It was completely gone by that evening.