Question
Hi,
I live in Dublin, Ireland and am going for a Consult tomorrow morning. Clinic has an Alexandraite and Yag Laser. I find it very confusing, so many places advertise Laser Hair Removal, and when you ring them its actually an IPL Machine. So far, I've only found the above, and a Clinic with a Light Sheer Diode Laser. I'm probably Skin Type 2 or 3 with Dark Brown hair and Blue eyes. I spent thousands a few years ago, when I had LHR and Technician (a medical Doctor actually), told me it made no difference at all if I continued to tweeze the hairs, which I duly did before, after and inbetween sessions, money down the drain basically.
Its taken me a long time to take the plunge again. What I want to know is if you have finer, paler hairs on chin or jaw which are mixed in with darker coarse hairs, can the laser affect them? I've read here it can make those type of hairs worse, but I dont see how they can be avoided.
I cant be the only one with this type of pattern on the face? I want them removed too, so will probably have to have electrolysis too at some stage. Also, any idea which of the above 3 Lasers would be best for me?
Thanks, R[/b]

Answer
Hi,
I live in Dublin, Ireland and am going for a Consult tomorrow morning. Clinic has an Alexandraite and Yag Laser. I find it very confusing, so many places advertise Laser Hair Removal, and when you ring them its actually an IPL Machine. So far, I've only found the above, and a Clinic with a Light Sheer Diode Laser. I'm probably Skin Type 2 or 3 with Dark Brown hair and Blue eyes. I spent thousands a few years ago, when I had LHR and Technician (a medical Doctor actually), told me it made no difference at all if I continued to tweeze the hairs, which I duly did before, after and inbetween sessions, money down the drain basically.
Its taken me a long time to take the plunge again. What I want to know is if you have finer, paler hairs on chin or jaw which are mixed in with darker coarse hairs, can the laser affect them? I've read here it can make those type of hairs worse, but I dont see how they can be avoided.
I cant be the only one with this type of pattern on the face? I want them removed too, so will probably have to have electrolysis too at some stage. Also, any idea which of the above 3 Lasers would be best for me?
Thanks, R[/b]

Answer
How many hairs are we talking about, both coarse and dark and the light fine ones? Electrolysis may be a viable option for you, but not without this information. If you do choose laser, alexandrite or diode is what you should go with.

Answer
Hi Blink,
Its quite difficult to know exactly how much hair there is as I've been tweezing for so many years, and I never let it grow out. However I notice a lot of hair after not removing it for the last 5 days. I'm not sure how long it would take for all the hair to appear when you switch from tweezing to shaving to give a true representation of the problem? It would be chin area including the under area and sides of face mainly - there are a lot of dark hairs that are coarse and bristly but also a lot of blonde too that are finer. I think there would be too many for electrolysis.
I saw someone - a Nurse - yesterday re Alexanderite laser. She said she couldnt give me any actual guarantees re success, at least not until she sees how I respond to first or second treatment. Re costs, you get 20% off if you pay for a package of 8 treatments up front - for chin, upper lip and sides of face the cost of this is about 1,665 in dollars - does that sound similiar to what you would pay over there? Is 8 treatments usual for the face? The laser is 3 years old btw - are there all different types of Alexandrite lasers, I didnt ask the specific name of laser. I will consult with clinic that has Sheer Light Diode - I have skin type 2 bordering on 3 I was told btw, are either of these lasers as good as the other?
Thanks so much for help, R

Answer
if your skin type is III or lighter, alexandrite will work best. yes, let us know what the name of the model is. I'm not sure what you think is too many for electrolysis, but an avg electrologist can remove 5-6 hairs per minute with the flash method. that could be at least 300 hairs an hour or even more. since you have light blond hair mixed in, i would look into that because there have been cases of stimulate that light hair to grow in darker. if that's not a deterrant, go with alex laser and make sure they use high enough settings. also, have you looked into the causes of this growth? possible underlying medical conditions? that's important to determine before you start this as you won't see results otherwise as laser can only kill hair that's there, not new hair that your body may produce due to underlying condition.

Answer
Thanks Blink, I've now started reading up on the Electrolysis forum.