Ladies, need your advice on facial hair removal techniques, laser etc.

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
1

salamz

**no irrelevant comments or wise cracks in this thread please. thanks. **

this is a long post but id be grateful if some of you ladies who know abt this stuff will read it and gime some advice…
thanks :slight_smile:

i am thinking of getting the facial hair removal laser treatment done coz its sposed to be permanent and i hate having to get my face waxed/threaded/bleached every couple dayz, plus waxing/threading gives me tiny pimples on the face [those small little pimples filled with white fuild that stay for 2/3 days] every time and then progressivley i’ve heard waxing/threading makes ur skin loose and rough. also i used to have very clear and smooth skin but waxing/threading has made it not so clear because of these pimples which sometimes leave tiny marks.

the thickness/growth rate/denseness of hair on my face has increased in the past couple yrs. i dont know if its coz of:

  • hereditary reasons: i take after my paternal side of the family and most women on my paternal side have facial hair growth.

or

  • growing up and hormonal changes? *. i dont think i have any hormonal probs [alhamdulillah] but i will be going to a gynaecologist just in case and getting all the tests done just to see if there are any hormonal abnormalities that are causing the hair growth though but i really do not wana take any gynae related medicine and mess with my body which is functioning jus fine alhamdulillah. so even if there is a hormonal imbalance and she prescribes me medicine i dont wana take that as i jus dont wana mess with my body functions.

or

  • waxing/threading the face? i’ve heard if u use wrong waxing/threading techniques, like pull the hair in the wrong direction etc, then it worsens hair growth.

or

  • bleaching the face? i’ve heard bleach worsens hair growth. i dont bleach that often but there was a time when i used to like every month or so.

ive been collecting info on the net and thru friends abt laser hair removal. but its SUCH a big step i mean its about ur face and its a long commitment and so expensive so i really wana think abt it hard and in detail and do all research possible before i start it if i do.

i went to a dermatologist [whos sposed to be one of the best in pak] earlier this week for a consultation and spoke to her in detail.

also asked her abt creams like vaniqa and she told me that they are basically suppressants and they r not permanent. as soon as u stop using them then thats it it all comes back again. vaniqa is also very expensive.

about laser she told me that:

  • its not guaranteed and permanent but it could be. the only thing is it wil make ur hair sparser and softer in 90% ppl. for certain cases it can even have no effect. so bottom line is: it depends on ur own skin and hair growth, no guarantees about anything.

  • there are many many types of lasers and they have different mechanisms and results. for typical pakistani skin color which is what i have where the difference in color between hair and skin is not drastic, unlike for example arab/pathan/kashmiri fair complexion and jet black hair, the laser needs to be more sensitive to differentiate between hair and skin color. the doctor i went to uses Long Pulse NdYAG lasers in her clinic which she said is the best for pakistani women considering their skin complexions.

  • regrowth could occur. it depends on ur own body/skin.

  • laser treatment is expensive and long

i know i have to take a decision now whether i wana go for it not based on the fact that

  • its not guaranteed permanent hair removal but i will most prolly get good results atleast temporarily inshallah and will atleast give me softer/sparser hair on the face but thats not even guaranteed

  • i should be prepared for the worst case scenario as in i could even get my skin burnt [happens to very few ppl but does happen its not unheard of], hyperpigmented, and not experience any reduction in hair growth.

  • its expensive and long so its a long long commitment and i have to be persistent with it. i might be leaving the country next year in abt 12 months if i go to grad school so i have to decide fast coz if i need to complete my laser treatment i need to get started with it soon as its gona be atleast a yr long.

i still have to go to atleast two more dermatologists who offer laser treatment and check with them about which lasers they use etc before i decide on the laser treatment…or i could just stick to a threading/waxing/bleaching hair removal regimen and take better care of my skin with skin creams etc rather than go for this risky and expensive non-guaranteed laser treatment.

anyways…

your thoughts/opinions/experiences ladies? :slight_smile:

thanks a lot :-)*

2

Irem bleaching the face is bad Idea :o you are right about worsens hair growth .

I dont know much about laser technique but heard a lot about it ke its good and expensive..can't help you much but make sure ke whatever you are going for is safe .

3

thanks for the response mehroo aapi :flower1: :slight_smile:

lekin if i dont bleach then what option do i have? i cant just leave it either it looks bad, and almost everyone does it but it seems like i only experience the problem of increased hair growth… :o

if i had very small unnoticeable hair then i would leave it but nazar atay haen aur buray lagtay haen so i feel like i got no other option…

r u saying this from personal experience that it worsened hair growth or someone else said this? which bleach cream did u/they use and how often they bleached? were they using other creams as well? i use jolen mostly…

4

im not too sure bout laser.. but i dont think its very permanent.. if all it does it soften the hair and space out the growth... then waxing and threading does the same thing

ive been waxing for almost 7-8 years now (cant remember..its been that long!) and i can honestly say, its helped heaps in reducing hair growth and no, it doesnt make the hair any harder... yeah if u wax too soon or pull the wrong way, it can cause ingrowns, thick hair and what else... but if anything is done the wrong way, u have side affects

my sisters friend has had electolysis (sp?) and it doesnt do much...

5

sadzzz thanks for replying.. :-)

everyone's skin surely is different

its good to know u've experienced reduction...u r lucky mashallah...

which areas do u wax and which areas do u thread? and what kinda wax do u use? do u use hot wax? and the proper technique is just to apply in small areas and then pull in opposite direction using a strip right? how could one go wrong in this? btw do u wax urself or do u get others to do it?

and what do u mean by wax too soon?

6

Irem chanda its my own personal experience .
I didnt had hairs on my face before but after I used bleech cream few times shakal ka satya naas hoo gaya:o
Now I prefer threading or waxing on bleach creams , Its painful but still better and alot of women do that .I used jolen too and some others .

7

irem, i dont think bleach is very good for the skin.. plus it kinda looks funny when ur in sunlight and u have all these blonde hair on ur face hehe :slight_smile: experienced it first hand haha

8

Irem, go for it, I also want to do laser, hmm its expensive I know, I will get it from here, I hope that it will work, I cant say much, but Shahreen has done it, she will tell you that it helped her. (her pervious posts)!

Can u PM the prices from Pakistan? And how many sessions would you need?

9

no worries babe

dude i wax everything except for my eyebrows.. i thread those (as in get them done)

for arms and legs, i use regular hot wax.. as in strip wax and for the face i use the other hot wax (the one u put on and wait for it to get a bit hard then pull off) i find that is extremely good for the face.. i used to use strip wax before for the face.. but that always irritated my face… the hot wax is really good.. but u gotta manage the temp. U can get these really cool wax heaters from here (try beauty salons) :k:

i do my face myself.. but legs and arms i leave to the professionals (or the local desi aunty)

well sometimes, the hair hasnt grown properly… as in their too short to wax.. and if u wax those, u’ll find they just break and dont actually come out.. which looks awwwwful (yeap.. experienced it)

10

mehroo aapi hmmmm…waxing and threading then dont give u worse hair growth or pimples waghera? do u use hot wax with small strips for face?

bwt aap ki shakal bohot pyari hay mashallah koi satya naas nai hoya…satya naas toh actually meri shakal ka hua hay :smiley:

oh yah u r right sadzzz…sigh…
but what to do :confused:
actually ideally i try to wax/thread all over my face and then after some time i bleach it so it makes the small ones unnoticeable too…

Saadia baji shahreen is gori chitti [mashallah] being a pathan and u know that the fairer u r the more effective the treatment is as then the diffference b/w ur skin color and hair color is bigger and the whole way the laser works is it differentiates the hair from the skin thru the difference of color from the skin and then focuses on the hair and acts on that. for ppl like me [ive got a medium complexion, not like shahreen’s] it is less effective. thats what the doc also told me.

in pakistan different clinics have different prices.

my friend’s aunt got it done in islamabad and they took i think 6000 or 8000 per sitting. and after the 6th treatment the rest of the sittings were for free.

my doctor in karachi said she’ll take 8-10,000 per sitting and will subsidise the cost after 6-8 sittings. she said i will need 6-8 sittings. some ppl dont need that many. it depends on ur hair growth and thickness waghera waghera.

its negotiable as well, its not fixed price, and depends on the number of sittings and so on, but u can say the avg is 8000 and almost all reduce cost after 6 sittings i think.

and i’m telling u costs for the whole face [chin, cheeks and upper lip]. ofcourse if its a smaller area it will be cheaper :slight_smile:

acha Saadia baji my doc was saying that whatever area in the world u r doing it make sure they use the Long Pulse NdYAG laser as the other lasers are not as effective for asian skin. so do ask ur doctor which laser she is using. everything depends on that. make sure she is not using a laser on ur skin which is not suitable for ur skin complexion.

thanks sadzzz for the info… :slight_smile:

hmmm i have heard a lot about this wax as u said "for the face i use the other hot wax (the one u put on and wait for it to get a bit hard then pull off) i find that is extremely good for the face.. " im not sure which one this is…u dont use cloth at all? u just put wax on face and pull it off? and the wax heaters u mentioned, u use those with this? i will have to look around and see coz ive never actually seen someone use this those ive heard abt it a lot…i dont know where its avlbl? can u tell me more a bit abt this type of wax yaar?

in the parlors here they use strip wax even for the face :o and it sucks!

11

At your age, it would be very surprising if hormonal imbalances are responsible since you’re basically done growing up. The genetic factor is by far and away the most likely cause.

I’ve actually got the exact opposite problem to you - my facial hair grows too slowly (compared to the average amongst my gender) and there’s not enough of it. :bummer:

12

MS maybe you should consult with specialist doctors or maybe its genetic for you. Like I think in the Chinese race they have this issue. I heard there are some creams like I dono rogaine? I think I saw some ads for that. Is it for the face? Or you could try out hair transplants?

:konfused:

I don’t know too much about this particular problem so I do apologise :halo:

13
  • growing up and hormonal changes? *. i dont think i have any hormonal probs [alhamdulillah] but i will be going to a gynaecologist just in case and getting all the tests done just to see if there are any hormonal abnormalities that are causing the hair growth though but i really do not wana take any gynae related medicine and mess with my body which is functioning jus fine alhamdulillah. so even if there is a hormonal imbalance and she prescribes me medicine i dont wana take that as i jus dont wana mess with my body functions.<<<

This was the most striking part of your post: Why go to a gynae if irrespective of the result you are not going to attach any consequences to it? You might as well save the money*

14

Nescio, just for my own satisfaction and because I'd rather know than not know IF I do have any imbalances. However, since I'm not facing any problems [alhamdulillah] I don't wana mess with anything and I'd rather not take any medicine. I feel that Allah swt made our bodies unique and if they are functioning fine then they are fine. I don't think they have to conform to current man-discovered medical standards. Plus I don't have too much faith in modern medicine.

:)

15

irem.. the hot wax that used for the face.. it actually comes in lil blocks.. my cousins use them in gujranwala and they call them "tikkiayan" :) hehe...

u dont need a wax heater.. all u need is a lil pot to heat the wax up in.. and it shouldnt be toooo thick...

this wax is used for sensitive areas... ie face and other sections :)

16

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mehroo: *
Irem bleaching the face is bad Idea :o you are right about worsens hair growth .
[/QUOTE]

I know bleaching is bad, but women in Pakistan seem to do it all the time. At all the parlours, bleaching the face seems to be a natural part of getting a facial. If it were really bad, would the side effects of bleaching not show up? Why do they still do it?

Electrolysis does work. I know of a few people who had extreme facial hair, got electrolysis done and now it's all gone. It does take time though, can take up to a few months to a year .... and it is costly. The results are permanent though.

As far as I know, laser hair removal works best on white or light skin toned people. For brown skin tones, it tends to leave marks and scars. I guess it depends on your complexion. Munni opened up a very informative thread on laser hair removal a few months back. You should look it up.

I would say threading and waxing are your best options.

17

I have been getting Laser treatment done for about 8 months and its working great... but there is alot of different lasers out there, so make sure you go to a place that uses the 'NaturaLase' laser, it is really the best one for desi skin...it actually makes my skin better after each treatment and the hair growth is almost finished...and the best part is that as soon as the hair is treated it automatically turns blonde as the laser removes the pigment from the hair so even the tiny tiny hairs get treated...well in my case almost all the hairs havent grown back but there is just a few stubborn ones that come back for which I get treatments but its great...I did alot of research before I started treatment and this one does not burn your skin or cause any scarring as it is the most advanced and it can tell the difference between hair pigment and skin pigment. I dont know where you live but they have clinics all over North America so check it out, im sure you wont be dissappointed!
hairfreeclinics.com

18

hmmm

thanks for the replies girls :-)

sweetpac thanks for sharing your experience here :-) hmmm the doctor i went to uses the "Long Pulse NdYAG" laser. she said thats the best one for desi skin. i will ask her about yours as well though, the "NaturaLase" one. i am in Pakistan by the way :-) i have some questions for you which i will send you in a private message [PM], will be grateful if you have the time to answer them....thank you :-)

Mehnaz - thanks for the info :-) bleaching is very very common in Pakistan, you're right. as long as you don't do it that often and use a mild bleach like jolen i think its ok. some ladies even use cheaper local bleaches like olivia and mod girl etc [lol i know cheesy names!]. the only problem ive heard of is that bleach worsens facial hair growth on some people. thanks for pointing out abt Munni's thread. I did see that too :-) Do you know by any chance which laser those ppl with tan skin were using who got marks and scars after treatment? Maybe they were getting treated by the wrong type of laser which was not meant for asian skin?

sadzzz thanks for the info yaar...i'm totally ignorant abt this actually as i've only come across the strip wax type * the type i am talking about is the one which is made of lemon and sugar/honey. when u want to use it u just heat it, put it on ur face with a butte knife in the direction of hair growth, you do like a 2cmx4cm area at a time lets say, then take a small strip of cloth and rub it on that so it sticks. wait a couple seconds for it to harden and then pull cloth off in opposite direction.
are you talking about a different wax? and whats the exact method to use that? do u use cloth strips with that or no? once i know a few details from you i can go and ask around in different parlors.
thanks a lot sadzzz yaara...i've asked u a million questions, must be irritating!*

19

Hey Irem, I just recently heard about a herbal medicine or totka that really works. A friend of mine just got it done on her arms and its working. I think its some kind of creme but I haven’t seen it so I’m not sure. But, I will be more than happy to check what it is.
If anyone else is interested I’ll be more than happy to inform you about it. :flower1:

20

mahnoor thanks yaar :flower1:
hmmm…yaar im so wary of these treatments that claim to be wonder treatments but are actually not so effective. herbal treatment for permanent hair removal? sounds like a hoax nai?