Vlog: Vaniqa

I posted the last video of my vlog series today:


As you know if you've been reading my blog, I'm now only shaving my chin, so overall I'm happy that laser hair removal has done something more tangible for me this time.  I've decided to try Vaniqa next, and most of the video shows me opening the package for the first time and learning how to use it.

Several factors went into the decision.  Though I have been resistant to Vaniqa in the past because it does not remove anything, these latest laser hair removal sessions have taught me that even small improvements in the day-to-day hair removal regimen are worth more than you'd imagine.  An article on The Hirsutism Hub clinched it for me; it talks about how satisfied the author is with her combination of electrolysis, androgen blockers, and Vaniqa.  (Read the article.)  So when I went for my annual check-up, I told my doctor I'd like to try it.  

For those who can't or don't want to view the video:

Vaniqa (eflorinthine 13.9% cream)

What it does:  "Vaniqa interferes with a natural component of the skin needed to promote hair growth."  Basically, it slows it down.

How much it cost:  $72 CAD for a 3g tube.  Ouch.

The laws of Vaniqa:

• Apply a thin layer twice a day at least 8 hours apart.
• Do not wash the area for 4 hours.
• Wait at least 5 minutes after hair removal to apply.
• Wait a few minutes for Vaniqa to absorb before using make-up, moisturizers, or sunscreen.
• Wait 4-8 weeks for results.  If it has not helped in 6 months, stop using.

There's a lot of waiting involved.

Side effects:  Burning, stinging, tingling, redness, acne, folliculitis, serious allergic reactions rare



So far, I've noticed that a little goes a long way (thank goodness).  I need a dab smaller than a pea to cover the chin and neck.  It doesn't have a strong smell, and there's been no redness, but a little stinging after shaving, even if I wait more than 5 minutes.

It'll be a while before I notice anything, and the results may not be photographable, so I've ended the vlog series here and will talk about any changes I see with Vaniqa on the blog.  A warm welcome to all who have come here because of the videos, and I assure you I am not gone!  I will continue to answer questions and comments on the videos.

Onwards!

Vlog: Fourth Treatment

I apologize for the month-long absence.  I have been really sick.  And I mean, three doctor's visits and three different prescriptions kind of sick.  A kind of sick I haven't been since I was a child.  I managed to kick H1N1 in a week without medical help, so this has been a real low point in my year.  But I'm better now, and well enough to be able to lie still for the laser.


After my fourth laser hair removal treatment, I asked the technician if there would be a point where we would call it; that my chin would be as good as the laser could ever make it.  And she basically told me that that point was now, and it was time to come in twice a year for touch-ups.  She has said to me more than once now that the chin is a very "hormonal" area, and if she's seen in her many years of experience that the chin is particularly difficult to laser "pew-pew" into submission, it's time for me to accept that.  The good news is, she expects that touch-ups will only be needed on my chin, so I'll be looking at around $50 a touch-up instead of the full amount.

So what now?  I don't know. 

Being sick, I had ample time to view my face with almost a week's worth of growth.  I show the pictures in the video but will post them here as well:

Really, this is still an enormous improvement over my chin in it's natural state, or even as it has been with medication.  But look at all that coarse blond hair that the laser won't ever be able to kill. 

I ramble on in this video about how my goal of eradicating the dark hair was really just me deceiving myself, and that really in my heart of hearts I want to get rid of it all.  As much as I would tell myself that I could live with noticeable hair if it was blond, to be perfectly honest, I don't want to have to deal with that either.  I want perfection.  Who doesn't?  Most of us are struggling to achieve an ideal set before us by our culture.  I want my pre-pubescent hairless chin back. 

I mention some realistic next steps in the video, but I'm not sure which one I want to take yet. 

Vlog: Third Treatment

Treatment number three was kind of business-as-usual.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed more hair growing in on my chin, so hopefully the laser got all that.

Lately I haven't been feeling too well--I just reached the deadline on a huge project and the lack of sleep left me open to infection I guess, so I've been run-down and sniffly and fatigued.  So I didn't ask the technician too much, I'm not sure if the laser intensity went up again, or anything else I wanted to know about.

I didn't even feel too positive after the treatment was over, because the one thing I asked was whether people who go through the initial 5-6 treatments have to come back for touch-ups forever.  The answer was "yes."  And I think it was "yes" because she was thinking of people with hormonal vulnerability, whose skin is going to be constantly bombarded with hormones.  But if you've got pills to help with that, do you still have to have laser treatments in perpetuity?  Why is it said that laser hair removal can be permanent?  And why does the technician think the effects of my old laser treatments are still helping?  I'm rather confused, and because I'm also sick, it's making me a little sad.

But it's not a mood that will last, I know.  I'm looking forward to this new growth falling out anyway, and now I've been recommended Vaniqa so I have something new to seriously think about.  I've never paid it much mind before because it doesn't get rid of hair, it just slows it down, and my sights have always been on getting rid of the hair.  The technician has tried it herself and she thinks it might be worth it for me--it might mean laser hair removal treatments spaced farther apart.  But I know it has some side-effects like break-outs and redness and irritation, and my skin is doing so well right now with less hair and gentler shaving.

Here's the video itself, and don't worry about my low energy.  I'm already getting much more sleep so I'll be feeling better soon!

Vlog: Second Treatment

Well, here we are at treatment number two!



And I am happy to sum up the video for those who aren’t comfortable watching me talk.  (Maybe it’s just me who hates watching myself talk.)

The laser technician was pleased with my progress, in fact she said (and this isn’t in the video) that my sideburns look “pretty much fine.”  She increased the laser’s intensity and did some of my stubborn chin hairs a couple of times.

What surprised me, though, was that she said I may only need to come in on an “as-needed” basis now.  I’m still trying to get my head ‘round this.  She thinks that the series of treatments I did eight years ago might have permanently damaged at least some of my follicles, because she doesn’t see much of a new hair cycle starting.  Normally it takes several rounds of laser to start seeing a noticeable reduction, because we’re killing off active cycles each time.  But as it had only been one treatment and no new hair coming in to replace it, perhaps the old treatment really did make an impact.

And, now that I’m on medication, I don’t have testosterone stimulating new dark cycles.  I may not need six treatments after all.

But I’ve scheduled an appointment in six weeks, just so I have one, and if I find I don’t have any hair to laser by then, I’ll cancel it.  I really can’t imagine it.  It’s frightening to think this may actually work.  Will anyone read a blog about hirsutism by an ex-bearded lady?

I also mentioned in the video that after my laser treatment I went right over to visit my cousin, who had just had her wisdom teeth out.  I muscled past my own embarrassment--I know I would need some cheering up if I ever had to have dental surgery.  So I talked to her about my issues a little, and she had never noticed but she was not startled or horrified by the news.  She told me about some of her own cosmetic concerns, and it was a great bonding moment.

That’s the first time I’ve told anyone in my family that I’m hirsute, besides my mother, and it was anti-climactic and an all-around relief.  And now I know someone who can use the products I’ve tried that don’t work for me.

Why does it get easier to tell people your problems once they’ve been taken care of?

Well, let’s see what falls out in a couple of weeks...

Vlog: I'm Shedding!

I had to do a vlog update, because I am ridiculously excited about all the hairs falling out of my chin.  This is something that is supposed to happen, but has only happened to me once, in my final laser treatment eight years ago.  To experience this after the first treatment is a shock, and hopefully a promising precedent.

I also talk a bit about my downtime after the first treatment, which ended up being emotional, not physical.




The video contains new pictures of my chin post-shedding, as well as the washcloth, but as always, for those of you that can't or don't wish to view the video:

This was my washcloth from the day after the treatment.  Just a few hairs, but you can see how damaged they are.  We got 'em good!

The second photo is my washcloth from thirteen days later.  It is covered with little hairs with burned little bulbs at their bases from my chin and neck.  This was when I started to get excited.  A little too excited, as you'll see in the next picture.  I exfoliated my epidermis right off in places, trying to get as many hairs to shed as possible!




On the left you can see my chin sporting a couple of days' growth as per usual with the Spiro and Diane.  On the right is also with a couple of days' growth.  The hair you can still see is all that's left of the really coarse dark stuff right now.  These patches are not likely to shed as they are probably in the intermediate or resting phase of growth, which the laser cannot damage.  The hairs coming out on the washcloth were in the active growth phase, which tell me how many hair follicles we took out in that treatment.

Whether they'll stay out remains to be seen, but this is already beyond my expectations.  It absolutely had to be shared with you guys!  :)

Vlog #2

Here it is already: the second installment of the video blog!  This time I'm talking about my first laser treatment.  No puppies though.



And if you don't wish to watch it, the topical anesthetic I am using is EMLA this time rather than Maxilene.  Maxilene was 5% lidocaine, EMLA is 2.5% lidocaine and 2.5% prilocaine.  I discovered that although EMLA is inconvenient in that you must cover the cream with an air tight bandage (ie, plastic wrap) and leave it on for 1-2 hours, the numbness lasts much longer, even increasing after you wash it off. 

The treatment itself didn't hurt as much, possibly both because of the EMLA and because I have less of that really coarse dark hair on my face now.  Additionally, the new laser machine they use ("Alex") does not require the tip to be pushed into the skin like the LightSheer diode laser they had eight years ago, so it can easily skim over your skin and treat a larger area with smaller pauses in between.  The Alex also blows cold air during the process, which almost instantly calms the pain you feel after the laser hits.

The worst of the pain was around my chin, where the worst of the hair still lives.  There, I really felt the pain surging down into each hair follicle, and smelled the burning hair, both of which are good signs, apparently.  I also heard a weird popping or crackling sound at those points, which I wasn't sure was from the laser or my hair.  When it was over, the technician wiped my chin and said some of the hairs had "popped" right out on the cloth, which was another sign of good results.  It certainly made me feel good.

My laser technician has spent ten years in aesthetic work, including laser, once owning her own clinic, so she is pretty awesome to me.  She had me out of that chair in less than half an hour.  But she seemed to fixate on the irritation of my skin when I came in, like she'd never seen razor burn before, which made me wonder if I have been doing something really wrong all this time.  Still, it didn't interfere with the treatment, and she just told me to apply Polysporin every night for the next little while to keep any infections at bay. 

That was how the topic of redheads came up; she asked if my beard was red because she couldn't tell with all the redness from the EMLA and the razor burn.  And she told me that they had found some redheaded women have less success with laser hair removal because the laser is also in the red spectrum, making it less effective against red pigments.  I don't think I've ever checked to see if there is red in my beard.  It was interesting, though.

The only new thing about the actual treatment process was that I had to sign a waiver acknowledging, among other things, that laser hair removal would not bring 100% results.  I wish I'd had that eight years ago, so I would have had the possibility of disappointment firmly in my mind.  I think they may have had some upset clients in the past?

One thing I forgot to mention in my vlog was that the technician looked me over, and said the treatment would be closer to $100 because there was more hair than the consultant had quoted.  I had wondered about that--the consultant didn't look at my hair at all.  So I wasn't surprised.  It's not a huge price difference.

So now I've got a really red chin with singed stubble sticking out in places, and the smell of burning hair is stuck in my nose.  I've engineered it so that tomorrow is a day off from work so I can give my skin a good holiday.  My next appointment is in five weeks, only because we couldn't make four weeks work for our schedules.  So look for the blog to update in the meantime! 

Introducing: The Vlog!

Ladies, I am very excited about this.  I have decided to turn my laser hair removal adventure into a little video blog.

I'm also very nervous, because this brings a whole new intimacy to the blog.  However, I've been struck time and time again by the strength of the empathy and solidarity you feel when you watch someone share their experience.  I'd like to do be able to do that for someone else.

It also gives me another place to set up my soapbox about finding out why you're hirsute before getting laser hair removal done.  You all know how much I love telling people that.

This first video is about my consultation and it also covers some of the hirsutism basics; the things I wished I knew going into laser the first time.  To make sure I covered everything, I was working off a script so I'm just a tiny bit stiff (yes, I am always to some extent stiff).  And you may want to turn up your volume; I'm a soft talker.



And excuse the shameless cuteness exploitation.  I was dog-sitting and she simply has to sit in my lap when I work.  Usually she'll just sleep there, but when she interrupted me in the middle of my sentence, I realized it would probably be the only impromptu thing to happen in the video, so I kept it.

And for those of you who can't view the video, or don't wish to watch me talk (which I totally understand; I abhor watching me talk), the consultation went fine.  I was somewhat disappointed by their lack of knowledge, which was probably my fault for having such high expectations that the clinic (which is affiliated with the dermatologist who didn't test me for anything before sending me there, as I've mentioned) would have made advancements since I last came to them.  She didn't even try to look at my face to see the hair.  But it's costing me less than $100 per treatment, a big improvement on last time.

I booked my first treatment for next week, so there'll be another video following soon.  This vlog is going to be a big job, however, so expect blog posts to be a little more scarce while this is happening.  Hopefully this new media will make up for that.

If you guys have anything you'd like me to ask the laser technician, leave a comment!  I'll need something to keep my mind off the pain...