The wife is looking into getting the ol pubic hair region laser removed. Have any of you ladies tried this? She really hates shaving cuz of the maintenance / itch factor. just curious if anyone has comments about results etc...
Yes, it's wonderful. Works best on fair skin w/dark hair. My experience convinced my little sister to do it, too. She went for her first session yesterday. Took me only two sessions to become hair-free.
I am curious about the cost as well. I'm a brown male with dark hair and I shave regularly. It would definitely be cool to get rid of it permanently. I also wonder if it hurts when they try it to remove hair on the scrotum.
Kimi a few questions if I may: 1) What area did you have done? 2) How long ago? 3) Did they advise you as to the permanency or otherwise, i seem to hear conflicting reports as to whether the hairs are nailed for good..... or not!
Area of hair removed - bikini line (not the mons, not the labia, imagine wearing a thong, and anything that escaped the thong - ZAP!) Cost per session - $250 Number of sessions - 2 (average is somewhere between 3 and 5, my clinician reduces the cost of the session when there is very little hair left to remove, she said if I wanted to come back in for the last few hairs that didn't get hit, it would be 50$ - there are only about a dozen hairs left, I decided to let them live for now, because I wanted to lay in the sun) When - I had my first session in April of this year, you MUST have 8 weeks exactly between sessions, because you wait for the hair growth cycle, second session in June, no hair that was removed has returned How much it hurts depends on what area you have done, how sensitive you are, and what you might personally consider painful. It hurt MUCH less than electrolysis, which I had 7 sessions of about 5 yrs ago, which was only slightly successful. It feels very much like being snapped with a rubber band over and over again. Afterwards you just feel like you have a little sunburn, the following day it doesn't hurt at all, but you look sorta icky for about 5 days, especially if you had a lot of ingrown hairs. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it's about a 3. It is permanent. Any hair follicle that is killed is killed, they don't regenerate and you don't grow new hair follicles. If a follicle is only somewhat damaged, the hair will return, because it wasn't really removed in the first place. The idea behind laser hair removal is that the hair shaft is heated and carries the heat down the follicle to the root and burns the follicle to death at the root. The same idea is behind electrolysis, except that it is much more difficult to manually insert a tiny needle, find the bottom of the follicle, and electrocute it.
I had been considering laser removal from the moment I first heard about it, and I did go and talk to someone at one of those random hair clinics that seem to be everywhere, but they gave me a very smarmy feel and I didn't trust them, and they were charging an arm and a leg. I finally took the plunge when one of the nurses at my regular physicians office became a certified laser tech. and my doctor's office started offering laser procedures right there at the office! If my doctor thinks it's cool, it must be cool, because he's a cool doctor. I guess I would suggest that if you want to get it done or talk to someone, don't go to a random hair clinic, go to a respectable physician or medical clinic offering laser treatments.
The thing with laser is that it's incredibly expensive, and there's no guarantee that dormant hair follicles won't activate in the future.
Also, any blonde or gray hairs will still be there.
I had two areas treated, one is 99% hair free, almost three years later--which is cool, nothing that a little plucking every few days won't take care of. The other is only about 90% done, so I still have to shave it (too sensitive to pluck).
I think I will plunk down for one more session, then after that, I'll do electrolysis on whatever's left.
The thing that ticks me off is that I've already spent over $2000 because I felt I should use the very most high-tech, top-of-the-line laser technique. Grrr!!
Any guys with any experience or medical know-how here? Once I relocate this year, I've been thinking of getting some laser hair-removal done, but I'm concerned about firing laser beams into my scrotum. I understand any competant doctor will stretch the skin away from the actual scrotum and then laser just into the skin...any men with experience in this area? Physician recommendations?
kimi, so you just did the bikini line. you know anyone who has done the whole vulva area? so she wouldn't have to shave at all. looking for the bald pussy effect.
No, I don't. My sister also did the bikini line, and she thought she wanted to do her labia, but she changed her mind at the last minute. I imagine it would hurt like the dickens, but would be just as effective.
I've gone through a whole series of things in an effort to shave my genital area. (As a side effect, I've come to realize I don't like hair anywhere and have since also started to try to get rid of it on my legs, stomach, and chest.)
The one device that worked best was the Feather Touch (this is a great all around Web site by the way), but I found I had to use it too often, just about every day, for it to be effective and it took too long.
Every other method (regular shaving and an Emjoi Ultima (the last of which worked great at the time, and which I was getting used to pain-wise) ended up giving me ingrown hairs no matter what I did, even using things like the Kalo Ingrown Hair Treatment seemed to have no effect.
After about a year of experimentation, I've ended up using, of all things, Nair. I apply it every Saturday (leave it on for 10 minute, then have a shower and rinse it off) with no complaints at all. I suppose, however, that it wouldn't work for a woman, given the difference in anatomy and the fact that you don't want to get it on any internal skin surface. (For women, Brazilian waxing seems to work all right - I have a friend who gets that done. But, for men, that's even more painful and I know from somebody who's worked in the industry that men are pretty much encouraged to get erections during the procedure - something I'd find too embarrassing and difficult to control, no doubt leading to extreme embarrassment...)
Should I ever have any spare money (!) I'll definitely be going for laser removal of hair just about everywhere (starting first with my genital area, then chest and back, then legs and arms).
I tried every product I could find. I'm some kind of horrible sensitive to those chemical hair removers - I can't leave them on more than a few seconds without getting what looks like chemical burns, and of course, the hairs aren't diminished in any way, so I have a hairy rashy burn looking mess. Oh yeah, that was not attractive. I tried waxing, myself, professionals, cold wax, hot wax, sugar wax, green tea oil wax, whatever... yeah, that was a mess. The hairs were pulled out, mostly, but then I had ingrown hairs within the week. Not just one or two, either, a gazillion! Shaving - nightmare!! I get 2pm shadow if I shave at noon! My skin would be raw and peeling from shaving often enough to be "touch me smooth" for work. Electrolysis, you have to let the hair grow out between sessions, so you go in with 1/4 inch long hair, well, when I could take off work often enough to let my hair grow out, I went. 7 sessions later, maybe 20% of the hairs were gone, and I think that might be a generous figure. Looks bad, too, right after you have it done every follicle they pricked is all red and raised like a pimple and kinda oozing lymph fluid. Gets all crusty and really attractive, oh yeah, just gorgeous. <sigh>
I have gone the laser removal route and although I love the effect, I am not so sure about the effectivness/permenancy of it. I had great results on the underarm area, not so great on my bikini area. It definitely got rid of the itch and in-grown hairs from shaving, but once I started I liked it so much that I got it ALL removed and am now finding that it just won't stay gone. Call it hormonally driven hair re-growth or what! It is still worth it though....both me and my b/f love that silky smooth skin that is revealed when all that hair is removed. It sure makes oral sex more fun for both of us!!!! As for pain....take a couple of ibuprofen prior to your session and then as long as you get the cold roller applied right there is virtually no pain to it! It is defintely the way to go!!!! I am kind of like a guy now......hand down my pants and stroking the velvet every chance I get!!!! LOL
As female I too like to be shaved as bald as possible and my husband loves it. Since I do my whole public area I think the laser cost would be outrageous, but I do have a jacuzzi in our bathroom so I like to get into nice and hot and use one of those newer hand shavers with the head that's a protective soap like shaver cream (I buy the sensitive skin one) and then soak for a while when done... get and and DRY completely and then powder myself with hypoallergenic cornstarch/talc powder... I seldom have problems expect if its very hot/humid out or I don't soak in the hot tub afterwards long enough... my Ob/Gyn does not like the idea and always lectures me... so I grow out prior to yearly visits and then 11 months of the year I stay completely shaved and bald and prefer it that way. Key is dry and clean !
That's absurd. I can't think of a single medical reason why shaving would be bad for you. AFAIK, Ob/Gyns should see this sort of thing all the time and it shouldn't be anything unusual. It sounds to me as if yours simply has a personal hangup about it. Which would, if it were me, make me look elsewhere.
I can think of medical reasons why it might not be good - ingrown hairs, lack of the dry-lube effect that hair gives, and the broken skin being possibly more open to infection.
However, hair harbors bacteria.
Anyway, although I can think of possible medical reasons for disapproving of shaving, the ones I can think of are relatively trivial, and I can't think of any reason for an adult to conform to the preferences of their doctor for something like this.
Those were mostly the reasons he cited... he said he thought very close trimming is more sound, shaving can cause nicks and that's a hot spot for infection with the body heat all the time etc... I know they don't like the talc but I add more cornstarch to it so its more of an 80 - 20 ratio vrs. how its come at the store... I've yet to have problems. No he's not an uptight guy... he pretty cool really - he just said he's seen too many that aren't as careful about things as I am and that's just experience on his end. I have medical backgroun, I'll quite aware of the do's and don'ts and stay away from the dont's...
I'd like to apologize if I came across as negating or belittling any medical reason against shaving. I really didn't think that there'd be something to discuss. Yes, now that you mention it, I do see the point about infection / ingrown hairs, etc. However, I don't really see it as being that much of a consideration, especially if it's a life-style choice. For instance, I'd much rather harp on somebody who smokes (however much) than somebody who shaves. Whatever the risks of shaving, I can't honestly believe that they'd be significant enough to raise such a serious objection over.
But, even after stating my personal opinion, I shouldn't be judging any doctor for stating their opinion on the subject, and my own reaction is just my own - I don't want anybody to think that I'm somehow arguing in favour of ignoring their advice...
I had no problem with your post... some people are not aware of medical reasons for one thing or another.. shaving the wrong way can be a problem... but that is not how I do it nor do others...
Introducing Lady LorReign
Posted - Sep 15 2004 : 4:59PM