The first laser hair removal session

I went for a patch test in December. This was purely to check my skin's reaction to the laser intensity.

I hope it will have also knocked a few hairs for six - but I was still plucking them up to this first consultation and you need to have grown them out (the horror) for 4 weeks prior to a proper session.

I'd read up on the technique as well as I could and took someone's advice to take a pain killer before hand - hey it works for waxing so why shouldn't it work here.

The patch test was on the underside of my chin - somewhere that isn't too visible but somewhere that has pale pale skin and dark, thick, shiny hairs.

The process:

The therapist asked me some questions about my skin type and its typical response to the sun to determine the best setting.
She chose a low setting within the recommended range for my skin type.

The therapist shaved the area to be treated. Telling me that I wasn't a particularly severe case. (I don't have a large number of hairs - but the ones I have are so dark and thick that they are really obvious).
She put cotton pads on my eyes followed by a set of goggles to ensure that they didn't get damaged by the lasers.

The machine has an iced tip that chills the surface of the skin - this is not an unpleasant sensation.
When the laser fires the machine beeps to let the therapist know.
This is not for the patient's benefit - believe me the patient knows! It wasn't a particularly painful sensation (maybe the painkillers helped). It was a small concentrated smack, like s very very precisely located thwack from an elastic band. The main thing was that, even with a rhythmic approach and the accompanying beep, it was a surprise every time! The hardest thing is to avoid jumping with shock every time. The second hardest thing is enduring the smell of your own burning hair. This is
of course exactly what the laser is supposed to be doing - focussing a burst of energy along the hair shaft and hopefully fatally damaging the root.

The zapping takes very little time. It is over in an instant.
The therapist then continues to apply the icy cold tip to the skin. I assume that this stops any burn developing by rapidly cooling the area.
Once she was satisfied that the area was cooled sufficiently she smothered the area with soothing aloe vera gel.

My therapist had warned me that there could be some redness and swelling for at least a few hours or potentially a few days.

The most unexpected part (before my therapist warned me) is that you still need to continue shaving. The hair under the skin still needs to work its way out. So you don't see any immediate improvement.

Hopefully within a week to ten days you see a reduction in the number of hairs although it takes a number of sessions to catch all of the hairs in their growing phase.

In other words - you'll be shaving for a while to come!