At Home Laser Hair Removal

Today's post is a little bit embarrassing of a topic for me. Body hair.

Confession: I am a hairy beast monster. This is not new. I've been overly hairy most of my life. I am a dark haired woman of German decent. Thankfully, over the course of my relationship with my husband, I've gradually desensitized him to his hate of body hair. Don't get me wrong, he's not happy about it if I haven't shaved in a week, but he stopped saying anything about it years ago. On top of my genetic predisposition, I also have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Sydrome). My body produces too much testosterone for a woman and as a result, I also grow hair where women shouldn't. For awhile, I used bleach and depilatory creams. I quickly developed skin sensitivities to every cream on the market. Then I switched to tweezing and waxing. SO TIME CONSUMING! Finally, I gave up and started shaving my face. EVERY. DAY. I know about my hair issues, but most other people don't (or at least are too polite to say anything). Well, now you do too. My hairy little secret.

This Christmas my mom asked me what I wanted. I mentioned a few things and then started kvetching about how all I really wanted was laser hair removal. Well on Christmas morning, much to my surprise, my parents got me a Silk'n Flash and Go. I was skeptical. I had tried the No-No in the past and was supremely disappointed when all it did was burn off my hair. My dad said he had watched a video from a man who was transitioning and decided that if it worked for her it would work for me. I decided there was nothing to lose by giving it a try.

I read the manual and watched some videos on how to use. The Silk'n is designed for people with light skin and dark hair. This is similar to "in office" laser hair removal. The manual recommends flashing the areas to be de-haired every two weeks. It also cautions several times to not flash anywhere that you want to have hair "RESULTS ARE PERMANENT!" Lol, we'll see about that.

Using the Silk'n is pretty straight forward:
1) Plug in and turn on the unit.

2) Press the plus button to turn up the intensity of the laser. They recommend starting on the lowest intensity and working your way up to level 5. You should stop when you feel discomfort. For me, level 5 is appropriate for all areas except my bikini line. It's really not painful.

3) Press the head of the unit against your skin and squeeze the trigger. Avoid looking at the flash- it's bright!

4) Repeat ad infinitum until you've flashed all the areas you want to be hairless.

So I did this. My whole upper body takes less than 15 minutes. Both legs take about 2 hours. It is super tedious. Because I am a very skeptical individual (or possibly because I got bored) I decided to leave one leg unflashed as a control. Here are my results after two treatments:

Control leg is on top, treated leg is on the bottom. I took the pictures after two treatments, and not shaving for a week to see the regrowth. The treated leg is far patchier in regrowth than the untreated leg. There are large areas that are completely hair free. I have to say- I was shocked. It really worked. I really can't bear to show my untreated face so you'll just have to trust me when I say, it has been working on all the areas I've treated. I am SO EXCITED to FINALLY have a permanent solution to my gross hair issues. Plus it's a FRACTION of the cost of professional hair removal. I've now done three treatments, in the privacy of my own bedroom for what it cost to do one and a half treatments at the dermatologist a few years ago. The heads have a certain number of flashes before they have to be replaced. After three full body treatments, I still have life left in my original cartridge. 

So this is the reason I felt compelled to lay out all of my dirty laundry on the internet. The Silk'n Flash and Go really works. It provides safe, effective, permanent hair removal at a reasonable cost in the privacy of your own home. If you have light skin, dark hair and a hatred for shaving- you need this in your life!