Real-Life Blogger Experience: Laser-ing the hair off your legs & underarms

WHAT IT IS

Laser-ing off the hair off your legs and armpits. You can do any part of your body. Bikini line, whatever.

I chose my armpits and the bottom half of my legs because I don’t really have visibly dark hairs anywhere else, even on my arms…

WHY I DID IT

I’m sick of traveling with my razor, buying replacement heads for my razor, and in general, wondering if I shaved close enough today to have hair-free pits. #TrueStory

I don’t shower daily if I don’t need to (I shower once every other day, and my eczema-prone skin thanks me profusely that I do not), and as a result, sometimes I have 24-hour stubble growing back on my armpits and it kills me!

Also, it would be nice not to think about it any more.

VISIT #1 – ~$275 (plus taxes & tip)

You go for about 3-6 visits before all the hair is gone and you MUST keep the appointments like clockwork.

Every 4 weeks for underarms, and every 6 weeks for the legs.

If you skip an appointment, the efficacy of the treatment is less and in the end, you pay more in the end for nothing.

Once you start hair removal treatments, go all the way to the end or else you might as well just wait and save up for the entire procedure rather than doing it piece meal.

PAIN LEVEL

The laser pain ranges from a light pinprick feel that is more painful near the bony area and less or no pain at all in the fleshier areas.

Near my calf bone, I felt the pinch more than usual and said “ow!”, and for my underarms it was not that long of about 6 passes whereas my legs had about 15 pinpricks each leg.

Think of the pain like a little toddler pinching you. That’s about how much it hurts. It surprises you, and is unexpected but it won’t bring tears to your eyes. It’s over in 2 seconds.

The knee in a two sections was painful and on the front of my leg in about 4 sections but the rest was zero to very little pain.

Underarm pain was very low to non-existent, and I have a low pain tolerance.

The worst is the ANTICIPATION of the little sharp prick from the laser, rather than the actual pinprick itself, 90% of the time.

SPEED

I only really have hair in the bottom half of my legs and in my knees but the back of my legs are hairless and I had maybe 4 hairs on my toes which I didn’t bother with ….So the session went fairly quick but she would have done my toes (there are like.. 4 hairs on each big toe, and barely noticeable).

RETURN VISITS

I had to come back every 4 weeks for the underarms and every 6 weeks for the legs.

You decide whether you come back or not, you can see if the hair grows back or not and then you keep that appointment or cancel it.

Apparently the regrowth and following the treatments respecting this timeline is the most efficient use of your money and time to make sure the hair is really gone.

If you just do it ad hoc here and there, it will not be as effective and may take more treatments to complete.

RECOVERY TIME

Immediately after the laser part of my legs had red spots like from a heat rash which I was told would die down in a few hours. It was not painful, just surprising because I usually never react to any kind of skin treatment.

UPKEEP

What I do have to be careful of is to not tan my legs or wear pants or a lot of sunscreen for about 4-6 weeks because it ruins the laser which is why people do it during winter instead of summer when you’re covered up anyway.

It is far more important for the face to have sunscreen on than the legs but even so, I slathered my legs in their SPF 30..

Note to self: bring pants to wear next time so I don’t have to wear sunscreen but even so I should wear it.

VISIT #2 – Underarms only ~ $150 tax and tip included

SPEED

10 minutes, not even. That is truly an expensive 10 minutes I spent.

PAIN

Zero. Not even a blip of pain. I have no idea what happened but it did not hurt at all.

REGROWTH CHECK

I haven’t shaved in about a week and I have to REALLY stare at my armpits to see if I can see any hair regrowth. I’m hard-pressed to say I can see anything, and frankly may not need the third visit.

I am giving it another 2 weeks or so without shaving to be sure, and if there is even a hint of a hair, I am going back for the third session, but it will be my final one.

As for the legs — yep, definite regrowth. But it is a lot less than before, and far slower… and I haven’t even done visit#2 on my legs!!

RECOVERY TIME

Zero. No pink spots.

VISIT #3 – Legs only ~ $255 tax and tip included

SPEED

15 minutes, not even. That is truly an expensive 10 minutes I spent.

PAIN

Zero. Not even a blip of pain. I have no idea what happened but it did not hurt at all this time… it was painful the first time, I remember that, but maybe she distracted me well, and I didn’t feel nary a heavy pinch.

REGROWTH CHECK

I haven’t shaved in about a week and so far, I can feel some little hairs still coming in, not entirely baby skin smooth so I am going back for another round.

As for my armpits, I am leaving it to “grow” in to see if I need more done, but I will book another visit because I am sure I see a few hairs coming in.

RECOVERY TIME

Zero. No pink spots. Nothing. Not a single red anything.

VISIT #4 – Underarms only ~ $150 tax and tip included

SPEED

10 minutes, not even. It is really quick now.

PAIN

I felt it this time. I don’t know what happened but on my left side, I felt the pinch. It wasn’t a hard pinch but just a little needle pinprick of sorts.

REGROWTH CHECK

So far, I barely see any hairs coming in. I honestly see them coming in much slower and I am sure I could go (now) without shaving and it’d look fine. I am holding off on booking another session.

Update: Nope, have to go in for a last visit on the right side, I can see three hairs, but the left is completely bare.

RECOVERY TIME

Zero. No pink spots. Nothing. Not a single red anything.

VISIT #5 – Legs & Underarms ~ $400 tax and tip included — LAST VISIT I HAD!

SPEED

10 minutes for the underarms, not even. It is really quick now. The legs are quick too, but a little longer.

PAIN

ZERO pain this time for the underarms.

For the legs, I felt zero pain until the end, where she did my right knee and MAN the zaps there…

I guess I still had hair there to pluck out.

I really think that the more hair you need to kill, the more pain you feel. Maybe the thicker the root, the more pain there is.. but literally I felt zero pinch and zap this time on most of my legs and my underarms, but my KNEE.. whoa.

I may have to come back for the legs for the knee, to make sure I really get rid of all the hair.

Or, just leave it and see.

REGROWTH CHECK

So far, I don’t see much. Maybe a few light hairs here and there, but nothing really noticeable without shaving.

RECOVERY TIME

Zero. No pink spots. Nothing. Not a single red anything.

TOTAL PRICE OF LASER HAIR REMOVAL: $1230

Tax and tip in for everything.

I think I am lucky in the sense that I did not have to go for more than about 4 visits or so for each section.

I paid for Underarms and Half Leg…

A lot of women I talked to said that they went for A FULL YEAR and it was painful (far more than my little bee sting whinging..) and other people apparently have to go up to even 6 or 8 visits for each part.

I feel rather lucky in this regard but I barely had any hair on my legs (light and fine), to begin with.

READER CAVEATS

A few readers wrote in to tell me that they did not have the same experience and a year later, ALL THE HAIR CAME BACK.

They had to go through it all over again.

It hasn’t been a year for me, but I haven’t shaved since I finished my treatments.

Let’s hope my luck lasts.

Update: So far, amazing. I only have a FEW hairs left on my knees and my armpits in odd areas, that I just need a little touch-up and it’ll be fine.

Have you tried it?