Laser/permanent hair removal - anyone had any success???

[Millie3030]

Hi ladies,

I once tried one session with laser removal like a 'trial' it still cost me £150 and took about 45 mins. The lady said it would take at least 10 sessions to remove the hair from my legs at £100 a time and there is no guarantee it will be all gone. This was years ago, and after years of only waxing or epilating and getting blooming annoyed with it and my husband getting annoyed with how long it takes me to do it, I went back to shaving. Mistake, as now I have prickly irritated, uncomfortable legs. So I either go full feminism/hippy and say sod it I'm a mammal and I have hair on my legs and never wear shorts again as I'm not that brave, or I shell out for laser hair removal which looks like it's going to cost £1k with no guarantee of smooth legs

Does anyone have any experience of good hair removal??

[eurochick]

Yes, I had it years ago and it is brilliantly effective. I have very little re growth. I have a big contrast between hair and skin colour, which makes me an ideal candidate.

[meltedmonterayjack]

I had it on my chin, jaw and cheeks about 20 years ago. It was life-changing. It started to come back (though nothing as bad as originally) a few years ago along with the peri-menopause so I'm on the 2nd treatment of a course of 8. But in that 20 years I didn't have any re-growth at all. I also have very dark hair and very pale skin which is an ideal combo for laser.

This current treatment is costing £550 for 8 treatments.

[Millie3030]

Ok that's makes me feel better. My skin is pale and my hair is dark, and she said because it's dark and quite thick it would be difficult. What type of laser treatment did you use? Are there many different types?

[leeloo1]

I think technology has improved a lot, so you might get better results now? I get awful razor bumps & rashes (so attractive!) so decided to go for it, especially as I have friends who have had great results.

I've just had my first session (due for 2nd one this Friday) and can see a big reduction in hair already - I had armpits, legs and bikini line done - but legs are the hairiest still, I'm guessing as the hair there is paler and my skin is a tiny bit tanned.

I found a huge difference in prices tho, I almost went to a 'Skin' clinic & it was going to be about £2300 for 8 sessions (I think, maybe 6?, and that was on a 'special' offer), but then looked at www.wahanda.com and found local beauticians offering the same treatments and went with one where the same areas would be £300 for 6 sessions.

I called and arranged a patch test, so if the place/people/pain was awful I could escape, but it was all fine and I ended up asking to have the full treatment that day. I'm sure its not quite as flashy as Skin would have been, but soooo much cheaper that I don't care. The lady was upfront about saying its not completely effective, but should get rid of 80-95% of hairs, which is fine by me. :)

[wearymum73]

I'm considering buying a home laser kit, they are around £350, thinking this would cost less than going to a salon.

[leeloo1]

cross-posted - pale skin and dark hair is ideal combo. It has to be a couple of mm long as the laser is absorbed by the melatonin in the hair and travels down it to kill the root - too much hair and the laser frazzles the hair and doesn't reach the root.

I had Super Hair Laser removal! It was pretty much pain free. Felt like a hot pen being touched on my skin, but nothing compared to waxing/epilation etc.

[santamarianovella]

I did underarms and almost a Brazilian , best thing ever , no more waxing or itchy re-growth for me, I think things have improved a lot last 10 years, I only did 5 sessions, and I notched big difference after doing the second session, I still need to do touch ups twice a year though,
Ask around for prices first.

[Saurus72]

I had it on my chin for PCOS hair growth and it was really good. I have pale skin and dark hair, and the hairs were really thick and persistent. After my first session, I would say about half the hair went, and I had a further 3 sessions, although tbh I think I could have had only 2 more. I went to Skin, I think it was £80 per session. Not cheap, but having PCOS hair growth is so confidence-zapping that it would have been cheap at twice the price.

[Millie3030]

Great this is really helpful. I would be looking for both my legs (whole legs) and possibly a bikini line too as that would be really handy to not worry about that ever again.

I suppose I need to shop around of it and from the sounds of it 'Skin' sounds like a common one. Or super hair laser removal, I take it that's the name? Do any of you have links to the websites that show the exact laser company/machine you used?

I bought one of those home lasers a few years back, my mum and I split the cost but it was £150 and really small and time consuming, I don't think it did much for either of us. Do they just do a small patch then another patch the next time, or the whole leg and then the whole leg again the second time?

[MrsDavidBowie]

I had legs and bikini line done about 3 years ago.
Course of 6....cost £600
No regrowth.
Fantastic

[meltedmonterayjack]

I'm going to Skin. The entire treatment takes 15 mins. I'm not sure but I think with modern lasers they'd do the whole areas each time. It's a lot quicker than it was when I had it done first time because I think the lasers can treat bigger areas with one zap than they used to.

[AWombWithoutARoof]

Make sure you know if you're doing laser or IPL. For me IPL is hopeless but laser works.

[iwantgin]

I had bikini line and underarms done about 10 or 11 years ago. It was quite pricey - I think I paid £80 per session for the bikini line, and £60 per session for the underarms.

It did work, very well.

I noticed that a few hairs had regrown recently - so decided to get a top up. I used a Groupon voucher- and had IPL hair removal done locally. I paid much, much less - I think it was £59 for a course of 6 bikini line, and £49 for a course of 6 underarm.

Seems to have pretty much got rid of those that had regrown.

The IPL was much less 'twangy' than the laser. I will say that the laser can be a little painful the first couple of sessions. Of course, the fewer hairs there are left, the less pain there is.

I think it was definitely worth it. Not to have to shave pits every couple of days is brilliant. No dark shadow either.

Am not so bothered about getting my legs done. I don't think it will be very successful as my hairs are mostly quite fair on my legs. So am happy to leave those to grow or epilate as necessary.

[AngieM2]

I'm 3 in to a course of 8 at Skin. Very impressed. Probably 50% hair reduction so far. I'm currently on a short break as i've been on holiday. Be careful with what you are getting though as clinics will advertise laser hair removal when its actually IPL. A local clinic near me was doing this and these are probably the cheapies you will see on groupon. Thats why I went with Skin.

[atticusclaw]

I'm five into a course of eight at skin. Whole body including chin and upper lip is costing about £3k on interest free credit. I have no hair left at all under my arms. Or on my chin and upper lip, very little left on legs and about 85 percent gone on bikini line.

It hurts but its worth it!

[Millie3030]

Checked groupon and it's IPL only near me at the moment, I will keep my eye out.

Is 'skin' the company or the laser? As there is a company in my town that on their website says its laser, but I havnt heard great things about them and they do a bit of everything, skin/Botox/tattoo removal etc. for the ladies that have had success, have your places been laser hair removal only or salons?

[Saurus72]

Skin us the company - and I'm not sure, but I believe different Skin locations use different laser machines.

[AngieM2]

Yes, skin is the company, locations around the country. I think at the one i go to they use a 'Cynosure' laser machine. You will know its laser by the price

[MsUumellmahaye]

Us ipl not so good then, i was going to get a groupon deal.

[AWombWithoutARoof]

For me IPL barely did anything, whereas laser was great.

[feelingmellow]

How effective is laser on ginger or white hair?

[Millie3030]

From what I have heard it's better the bigger contrast, so dark hair light skin.

[TaleOfTheContinents]

That sounds very expensive, OP! I started a course 6 months ago and paid £400 for 8 sessions for underarms, bikini and navel area, and I'm in Greater London. The clinic I go to is really lovely as well, not a cheapo one.

I'm loving it so far. I have very thick, coarse body hair and it's dramatically reduced after 4 treatments. What does grow back is so much finer. I have brown skin and black hair, but the machines are advanced enough to adapt to most skin colouring.