If you missed my consultation post, you can view that here.
When I left off, I was saying that the lady who did my consultation asked if I wanted my first treatment right then! Of course I said yes!
I was sent back to the waiting room while I waited for the technician to come and get me. I didn’t even wait 5 minutes and she came and collected me and brought me to a treatment room. There was a big chair similar to a dentist chair but wider. It wasn’t super scary. She then showed me to an adjacent room where I took off everything except my bra. I also used the provided wipes to cleanse the areas where I would be having the hair removal. I was glad for this because even though I had showered before the consultation, I was sweating from my nerves. I know it’s kind of silly, but I didn’t want the technician to be able to smell me while she was doing the procedure, so I was glad for the provided cleaning supplies. I was given the option to either wear a paper gown, or to just use a paper coverup sheet. I decided on the gown and went back into the treatment room.
I approached my nervousness and impeding embarrassment by joking with the lady who did my treatment. It worked like a charm. I made her laugh, and we just chatted like we were friends. I immediately started to feel more at ease. I also took solace in knowing that she has performed this procedure before many times and seen just about everything. In case you can’t tell, I was very embarrassed about having the full bikini done. This was the thing that I was most nervous about.
The first thing she did after asking me a lot of questions about sun exposure and health history was to shave the areas to be treated. Yep, every single area. She started with my side burns, and used a special razor that collected the hair. After shaving an area she looked at the hair under the light to note the color of the hair. She informed me my underarm hair was light brown and my bikini area was a mix of light and medium browns and blonde. I was a bit disappointed in the blonde hair since blonde hairs don’t respond to the laser. I am hoping there was enough melanin in the hair to work!
After every area was shaved she did the lasering. This part was incredibly quick. She first marked the areas to be treated with a white eyeliner pencil. She told me the laser would feel like hot rubber bands popping my skin and that if I needed a break to tell her. She did my sideburns first and I hardly felt anything at all. It just felt like pulses of air and sounded like a “pop, pop, pop” every time the laser went off. Each side burn took maybe 6 pulses. Not uncomfortable in the least. Next, she did my underarms. Since the area was larger, it took longer, but still not painful. I felt it a bit more than I did on my side burns, but I wouldn’t consider it uncomfortable. Lastly was the most dreaded area, the full bikini area. I was sure this area would hurt, and I was partially correct. Most areas didn’t hurt at all and a few areas were mildly uncomfortable. There was just one area that made me jump out of my seat, but after 3 pulses it was done. After she did the entire front part, I had to flip over on my stomach to get the back part. That part was mildly embarrassing, but didn’t hurt at all. Then it was done.
After the lasering was done, she turned on the light to look at my skin. A red reaction is normal, as is some follicular swelling. She told me swelling at the hair follicle was a good thing. I did have a bit of redness and some swelling. The redness was gone by the time I reached the front door, and my skin felt as if nothing had been done to it at all. She put some clear aloe on the treated areas and then I got dressed. I made my appointment for my next treatment in 8 weeks and left with my goodie bag. I was so relieved it was done, and excited about a future with no hair. I was told to treat the treated areas like a mild sunburn and that the hair would fall out in 7-21 days.
My thoughts and tips: If I had known I was going to have my first treatment the same day as my consultation, I would have shaved all the areas to be treated myself. I will do that before my 2nd treatment. I also would have brought my own deodorant and maybe some body spray to use after the procedure.Because of my nerves I did sweat quite a bit. I also would have brought my own tissues to use after the procedure. The aloe was cold and wet and they didn’t have any tissues in the changing room to dry it off a bit. The technician did tell me I have a high pain tolerance. More than once she asked if I needed a break and I did not. She seemed surprised and almost bewildered at times that I wasn’t experiencing pain. If you feel you don’t do well with pain, I’d recommend some ibuprofen before the procedure. To me, the lasering did not hurt as bad as getting a tattoo. The most uncomfortable part of the procedure for me, was getting naked and being on display in front of a stranger, but I did get over that pretty quickly. It helped that my technician was a nurse, and that she’s done the procedure multiple times.
I will post an update 2 weeks after my initial treatment.
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