(the) girlieblog

laser show - part II

So, my first appointment was August 12. I know - much time has lapsed. But that means I get to tell you about how the lasering went AND what the results are after a week and a half have passed! Tee hee.

Ok - I arrived, and Mara and I walked across the street to purchase a package of disposable razors so that I could shave some of my longer facial hairs. This helps the process because the actual hairs don't get in the way. The benefit of this will become more apparent later on. I shaved the hairs from my sideburn areas, chin, upper and lower lip, and jawline. Let me just say that I went through some serious psychological dissonance to shave my face. But I digress.

We then went into a client room (like a medical exam room but nicer) and she cleaned the equipment. Very cool. She then got a huge icepack out of the freezer. I lay down, I placed the ice pack on the first area Mara was going to laser to numb the skin, and then we were in business.

The first area she did was my sideburns. She glided the laser handpiece along my skin in lines, like if you were highlighting a document or mowing a lawn. The sensation of the laser penetrating the hair shafts was that of someone snapping a small rubberband against your skin for a moment and then the snap fades away. Truthfully, because you know I wouldn't lie to you, the whole process didn't hurt all that much. Not any more than waxing would anyway, and I'm very used to that. The zap/snap sensation was the worst of it, and Mara said that it hurts more where the hairs are darker because more energy from the laser is absorbed. So interesting! The areas that hurt the most were my sideburns, the corners of my upper lip and right between my eyebrows. Mara said that was pretty typical.

As each area was completed, we would "freeze" another area and again, the laser would glide along in rows, covering all the surface area. As we continued, I noted a burning smell - like the smell when your hair gets trapped in a hair dryer on high heat. Hairs that were not shaved off got kind of singed, so that was the smell. Hence the benefit of shaving as much of it off as you can stand to shave.

When we were done, there was no lingering pain or discomfort at all. We slathered my face with clear aloe gel to prevent irritation, Mara advised me to stay out of the sun for a few days and keep my skin hydrated and then gave me a lovely hug as I left. That was the completion of the first round! Yippee!

There was some redness to my skin as I left, but that went away after about 2 hours. I had no bumpiness or discoloration at all. I kept my skin hydrated with aloe and moisturizers applied a couple of times a day. (Elizabeth Arden products are SO nice for soothing skin, but that's another entry.) Within a week, a neat thing started to happen. As the hairs began to grow back, they would just fall out as I exfoliated at night. So, if I scratched a particular spot, any hairs that were zapped would just come out, never to return again!

So far so good. Round two is September 9. I will faithfully update you once again after the second session. Until then...

Posted by Delara at August 24, 2003 08:38 PM