Laser Hair Removal for Dark Skin - Witness A Visit

Some of you may be wondering what a laser hair removal experience is like.  Well, I will share with you what my experience at BodyLase is like.  Come with me.  Above is the standard treatment room.  To the right of the bed you see the lasers.

Above you will see the laser.  When receiving a laser hair removal treatment, most times your practitioner will have you cool your skin with ice packs or a cooled glass plate.  With this particular model, there is an attachment that blows cold air on the skin to keep it cool during treatment.

The practitioner demonstrating how the laser is used.  The pointed end is more of a guide.  The orange glow on her hand shows us the area being treated by the laser.

Here, I have taken my place on the table.  She is marking planes on my face that are the treatment areas.  This will prevent her from treating the same area twice. I have also been fitted with my eye protection at this point.

In this picture, I am receiving the laser treatment.  She has placed a tongue depressor under my nose to prevent some of the air from going in my nose.  This actually was the worst part of the treatment. The air used to cool my skin is soo forceful it literally took my breath away.  Again, you see the orange light showing the practitioner the area that she is treating.

Another treatment area up by my cheekbone.  Many might ask what does the laser feel like.  I guess it would be best described like a rubber band snap, where the pain goes away immediately.  I also get my eyebrows threaded.  To me, the pain from the eyebrow threading is worse than the laser treatment.  So while there is some discomfort, I would characterize it as mild.  The worse area for me has been along the jaw line where there is little fat. There is a little more discomfort in this area.  You might also smell a little singed hair after the laser makes contact with a hair. 

This picture was taken after a previous treatment but after each treatment a combination of a post treatment cream and a spf 30 sunblock is applied to my skin to soothe my skin after treatment.  I usually wear this for 15 or 20 mins before cleansing my face.  The only side effects I have felt after treatment is a little tenderness on the jaw line after treatment and maybe a tiny pimple.  These usually subside in a day or so.

Special thanks to Karen Albright at Bodylase for allowing me to take pictures in her facility.  Thanks also go out to Meredith for being patient while pictures were taken during our last session & to Matt for stepping in to be the photographer.

The next post in this series will show my progress after 3 treatments.

What questions or concerns do you have about laser hair removal as a melanin rich woman?  If I can't answer them, I'll reach out to the staff at BodyLase to respond!

Laser Hair Removal for Dark Skin - Part II

 

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In part I of this series, I discussed my reasons for pursuing laser hair removal and the types of lasers that are available for laser hair removal.  In this post, we'll discuss briefly the skin typing system called the Fitzgerald system, the challenges of treating dark pigmented skin, and choosing a practitioner.

The Fitzgerald Skin Typing System

The Fitzgerald system was created in 1975 by Thomas B Fitzpatrick, MD of Harvard Business School.  The skin type was based on a person's response to sun exposure in terms of burning and tanning.  This system is often used to determine the best type of laser to use for hair removal to minimize damage to the skin.  Please click this link to see an excellent  Fitzgerald chart.  I am a Type VI as are most darker complected African Americans.  The most common device recommended for Type VI skin is the Nd: Yag laser.

Challenges of Treating Dark Skin

Burning from using the incorrect laser for hair removal

Hair removal lasers are designed to be absorbed by the melanin pigment in the hair shaft.  Candidates such as African Americans, Africans, or people of Middle Eastern heritage have a lot of melanin in their skin.   Melanin is in the epidermis layer of the skin.  One of the functions of melanin is that it absorbs light.  The laser is trying to address the hair follicle which is below the the epidermis layer.  The laser doesn't know that the surface of the skin containing melanin pigment is not a target that we are trying to destroy.  So if a proper laser is not used two things can occur:  the melanin will steal the light away from what you're really trying to treat (i.e. the hair follicle) or it can actually damage the the epidermis.

There are several reasons why the Nd: Yag laser is the most recommended laser for Type VI skin.

• It uses the longest wavelength of light.  Melanin is designed to absorb the shortest wavelength of light such as UV rays.  The ability of melanin to absorb light decreases as your wavelengths increase therefore reducing the risk to darker skin.
• It still sees the melanin in the hair shaft.  Yet, least absorbed by the melanin pigment in the epidermis. (Win/Win)

• The practitioner has the ability to manipulate the pulse duration.  This creates an opportunity for effective treatment of thicker hairs (with longer pulses) and thinner hairs (with shorter pulses).

Choosing a Treatment Center

These factors make it very important that when choosing a practitioner you are very selective and one with documented experience with darker pigmented skin.   Before choosing a location, get a consultation and ask questions!  During my search I had 3 consultations.  The other places that I eliminated were not chosen primarily because they either did not have the Nd:Yag laser or they could not show me proof of success with dark skin.  Be aware that other skin spas will try to convince you that other lasers are effective, however because of my concern of damage to my skin I still eliminated their spa from my options.  No promotion is worth my level of comfort.  It is ok to walk away!  After much research, I chose Bodylase Medical Skin Spa. I'll share with you what I looked for.


1. A licensed doctor on staff. 
2. Nurses or other licensed personnel providing treatment.
3. The proper laser being used for my skin type.
4. Documentation of success with dark skin.  Bodylase had pictures on their website AND in a different pictures in a book when I went in for my consultation (HUGE plus!)

There was one final determinant that tipped the scale in this location's favor.  Customer service.  No business receives 100% glowing recommendations (if they do, be concerned that they may not be real comments). During my search that was 1 other spa that I considered.  They also had what I was looking for.  When I looked at the reviews for Bodylase, I noticed that the owner had taken the time to respond to the few unhappy customers that had left reviews.  She addressed the concern in the review, invited them to call her directly and/or to come in a talk to her personally.  I felt that showed true concern for the voice of the customer.  (SN: It also quite frankly is the marking of a successful business.  It's easier to retain customers for repeat business than to obtain new customers.  But that's a whole other discussion!)

Next week, I will share with you pictures of my progress and Karen of Bodylase has agreed to allow pictures to be taken of my treatment and equipment used so you will see what happens during a laser treatment!

Any questions about my experience that you would like me to address?

A Hair Journey of a Different Sort: Laser Hair Removal - Types of Lasers

As women, part of our weekly hygene or beauty routine usually involves some level of hair removal.  We tweeze, shave, wax, thread, cream, our legs, underarms, eyebrows, bikini line and "other" regions all the time.  One area that some women find problematic is facial hair.  Most women develop some amount of facial hair in their lifetime whether it's a stray chin hair here or there or excessive unwanted facial hair.

The shadow on my chin is facial hair.



For years I was embarrassed by my facial hair.  Most who know me now don't realize that I had a problem in that area because over the years I'd found ways to address it...most successfully until recently with Gigi Hair Removal Cream.  It's a cream depilatory that is applied to the face for 5 - 8 minutes and then wiped away.  Prior to that, I'd tried waxing and tweezing.  Both were painful and uneffective. Waxing was troublesome because my facial hair was coarse, requiring a more substancial wax. Yet, my skin is sensitive which was seen with the fine bumps left for 2-3 days after treatment. Tweezing was the worst remedy because it required pulling each hair one by one. PAINFUL. If you didn't grasp the hair properly it would leave stubble instead of removing the hair bulb.  None of these techniques were permanent.  The Gigi Hair Removal Cream was low cost and easy.  But I had to be careful, if left on too long it would burn my skin leaving scabs.  If I didn't leave it on long enough, not all of the hair would be removed.  Frustrating.  Then there was the actual facial hair.  I found it unattractive and embarrassing.  It always caused me pause when dating because I didn't want the guy to notice. Those who were close to me, family members and a few friends, really felt for me.  It's been an ongoing struggle.

Finally, I've had enough.  After 20 years of dealing with unwanted facial hair, I decided to take care of it - LONG TERM.  I started researching laser hair removal. One might ask what happens with laser hair removal.  It involves the use of concentrated light beams to target the melanin pigment in the skin to eventually damage & destroy the follicle without harming the surrounding tissues.  The follicle is damage & hair usually does not grow again.  We'll talk more about hair growth cycles in another post of this series.

These is SO  much information about laser hair removal that what I've learned and my current experience with laser hair removal will be broken up into a series until I have reached nearly permanent or permanent removal. This post will focus on the types of lasers available for hair removal.  Knowing the types of lasers that are available for hair removal is very important because you need to know which laser is recommended for your skin type. 

Types of  Lasers

There are 5 types of lasers:

 Ultimate light or pulse light (IPL) - Machine names:  EpiLight, PhotoDerm, Quantum, Acculight, & Vasculight.
 Strictly speaking, IPL does not use laser, but uses intense pulsed light. It uses the same concept for hair removal, but is usually more difficult to handle and require skilled technicians for operation. IPL is relatively cheaper than laser hair removal, but oftentimes require more treatment cycles.

Diode laser - Machine names:  SLP1000, F1Diode, LightSheer, MeDioStar, LaserLite, Epistar, & Apex 800.
The diode laser is effective for darker skin. It can cover larger skin areas at faster speeds.

Nd:Yag - Coolglide, Medlite IV, Varia, Athos, Lyra, Image
This is a general type of laser method that can be used in almost all skin types, including tanned skin. Just like the diode laser, this long pulse laser also has fast repetition rates to allow larger areas of the skin to be treated quickly.

Ruby - RubyStar, Palomar E2000
This is the oldest type of laser and also one of the most widely-used. Ruby laser is quite selective as it only performs best on light skinned individuals with dark hair. They oftentimes can cover only small areas, and prefers fine hair.

Alexandrite - GentleLASE, Apogee, EpiTouch Plus
This is one of the fastest laser types that are best used for larger treatment areas. They are widely-used and produce best results for patients with light to olive complexion and dark hair. 

In the next post of this series, we'll talk about skin types and how that relates to the type laser recommended for your skin and finding a treatment center.

Have you ever experienced unwanted hair?  What has been your preferred method of removal?