One of the best things about being a beauty writer is getting to try new products and services before they are even available to the public. We learn about new innovations, if not actually try them, months before the actual launch. It’s not about the freebies. If you are passionate about something, you know how important it is to be the first to know.
But I have to admit, painless hair reduction was not something I considered to be a beauty breakthrough, or a service I felt was life-changing. I’m usually so enthusiastic about being a “guinea pig” for anything new, but this wasn’t one of those things.
I changed my mind about that pretty soon. After a few sessions, I was singing praises and proclaiming it something every hairy woman needs in her life.
Now, calling what is essentially a cosmetic beauty procedure life-changing may be too much for some people, but if you’ve struggled for most of your life about underarm hair removal, you will know what I mean.
Before LaserLight Soprano at Facial Care Centre, I would alternate between shaving, using depilatory creams and going to a salon for waxing to remove underarm hair. All three methods irritated my underarm skin, and eventually (apologies for the TMI) result in it being darker. Another side effect of these three methods was itching. My armpits were forever irritated and itchy.
Ingrown hair is very common when you are shaving or waxing. When the hair begins to grow, it does so within the surrounding tissue rather than out of the follicle. The hair starts growing into the skin, causing the irritation.
Hair-removal creams can be messy and have side effects, some of them very painful.
LaserLight Soprano is a permanent hair-reduction method that combines low-fluence and rapid-pulsing diode technology with the addition of IN-Motion treatment technique to effectively prevent hair regrowth, safely and gently. This means no pain. Those with low pain tolerance (like me) will feel slight discomfort.
You need to put on goggles for the procedure. Before that, a doctor looks at the area and gives her clearance for the treatment. At Facial Care Centre, they are very careful about this. I have been told to come back more than a couple of times because my underarm skin was dry (usually caused by skin-whitening products, including deodorants).
In a way, I’m glad I was late to this hair-reduction party. I heard the older-generation lasers were slow and painful. And they didn’t always work!
I have my LaserLight Soprano treatment at Facial Care Centre on Tomas Morato. The treatment takes about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how much hair you have on your underarms. There’s no downtime. You just cannot apply deodorant or use soap on your underarms for at least 12 hours.
LaserLight Soprano can only address actively growing hair at the time of the treatment. The hairs that were resting during the previous treatment would eventually grow and once there is sufficient hair growth, you may go for your next LaserLight Soprano session. Each cycle is usually six to eight weeks. The more LaserLight Soprano sessions you’ve had, the longer the cycles because hair growth is reduced. After two or three sessions, you will notice that your hair strands will become finer and thinner in texture.
It is important to note that LaserLight Soprano is not a hair-removal procedure. It reduces hair growth in certain areas permanently. In my case, I’ve had about 10 treatments, so I only need a booster every year or every six months.
So why did I call the experience life-changing?
You just need to set aside an hour of your life every two months or so to go to Facial Care Centre, and you don’t have to worry about raising your hands ever again. I used to be so conscious about dark underarms but LaserLight also lightened skin in that area by about 70 percent. Best of all, the itching and irritation are gone.
A beauty queen said she once needed to carry a razor in her bag, meaning she sometimes had to shave more than once a day. LaserLight Soprano changed that. Having hair-free underarms gave her more confidence, particularly when she had to wear sleeveless clothes.
Former teen star Ana Roces is also a LaserLight Soprano fan.
“I completed my LaserLight program in 2003, back when laser hair removal was still pretty new. I saw Facial Care Centre’s ad and got very excited, because it was only offered in the states at that time! You see, I’m naturally very hairy because I have Lebanese blood, so I’d always wax my upper lip, even going as far as bleaching it. I waxed my legs and underarms, too, but I stopped because of the ingrown hair. It’s been 10 years of no shaving or waxing. LaserLight is one of the best things I did for my body,” Roces said.
A female relative used to shave her underarms every day but with LaserLight (she has her treatments done at Facial Care Centre, too), she only has to do it every week.
“That’s still often if you compare it to those who aren’t as hirsute but I really am very, very hairy and I expect the treatment will reduce that. I saw the difference after a couple of treatments,” she said.
Aside from underarms, you can have the LaserLight Soprano treatment for the bikini area, legs and upper lip.
- E-mail the author at luckydinna@gmail.com.