Tag: laser hair removal

Before and after shots can show the dramatic results of hair removal. Now a software program can help in tracking the process:

Developed by CSIRO’s Biotech Imaging team, in conjunction with a leading U.K.-based personal care company, the software magnifies images and analyzes them to work out the number of hairs in any specific area. The system supersedes the time-consuming and repetitive process of having to count hairs manually, most commonly using a magnifying device.

Full article (skininc.com)

Andy Sinishtaj, founder and CEO of Body Essence Laser Center, answers questions in this profile:

My first experience with this industry was when I purchased a laser hair removal package from a local company roughly four years ago. In reality, the treatments were not as effective as I had hoped. About a year later I had visited a buddy in Seattle who also owns a medical spa. His business was doing great and after talking to him about the results I had before, he explained in great detail why results can vary so much. This was when the first thought of opening my own cosmetic center entered my mind. Now more than two years later and countless hours of researching and planning, we opened Body Essence Laser Centers.

Full article (hometownlife.com)

Troy Barrett and Rachel Melnick of KEPRTV try out Smooth Away, the friction hair removal produce being sold heavily on TV via direct response ads:

OK as usual…don’t forget to read the directions on the smooth away because the hair removal pads…which are the star of the show here…these things are like a very fine grit sandpaper…
so using the Smooth Away according to the directions my co-anchor Rachel Melnick and I are each going to test it out so you get a gals opinion and a guys opinion.
Rachel tested the smooth away on her arm and I tested it on my hand…to see if it really works…click the video link and watch the full edition of “Will It Work?”

Full article and video (keprtv.com)

More on friction hair removal

Shahriar Zahedi has an interesting post on the preponderance of hair removal ads targeted at Iranians in California:

Listening to the Iranian radio during my daily commute, I hear a lot of doctor commercials. There seems to be a preponderance of two particular medical specialties advertising their services to the Iranian Community in Southern California: hair transplant doctors and doctors specializing in laser hair removal. The logical conclusion for any unbiased listener hearing these ads would be that we are a community of balding men and hairy women.

Full article (iranian.com)

Allure has posted its list of 2008 beauty breakthroughs:

Tria Personal Laser Hair Removal System

WHAT IT DOES: Star Wars geeks have always loved lasers, but our interest in them was piqued only when we discovered they could make us look less like Chewbacca. For the past ten years, dermatologists have wielded diode lasers to reduce hair growth. Now, the FDA has cleared the first hair-removal laser for at-home use, designed to reduce hair growth significantly. The Tria, which can only be used below the neck and costs $995, comes with a safety sensor—if it’s aimed at dark or tanned skin, the device locks to prevent the risk of burns.

Full article (allure.com)

More on Tria Laser hair removal and home laser

Robin Williams Adams has a good profile of a typical medspa-type expansion of a women’s clinic offering hair removal and other treatments:

And getting your regular medical care from Bond Clinic isn’t a requirement for procedures in the clinic’s Bond Aesthetics division. That division includes a massage therapist, facial specialist and medical spa, and is in a section of the Bond Clinic Women’s Health Center that opened late last year. It has a separate entrance from the more established program that encompasses obstetrics, gynecology and women’s diagnostic services.

Full article (theledger.com)

Great article by the Boston Globe’s Jenn Abelson on Gillette’s research & development on hair removal:

As Gillette tries to extend its grip on the global grooming market, a company that built its reputation tackling hirsute masculinity is trying to conquer the tricky, but rapidly expanding business of understanding what women want. Women’s shaving is Gillette’s fastest-growing blades and razors division, and Venus, the brand it launched for women in 2001, took in more than a half-billion dollars in sales last year. The Boston shaving giant’s owner, Procter & Gamble Co., wants to double that figure in the coming years.

Full article (boston.com)

Results for Best Medical Spa in America 2008 by American Spa Magazine, published December 2008:

• Ritz Carlton Spas
• Canyon Ranch
• Miraval Spa
• Blue Water Spa

Website: medicalspareport.com

After shelling out $8,000 up front for a block of 12 treatments, a Florida college student only got 2 before the salon closed without warning:

However after just two of Chelsea’s twelve sessions, the phone number for Body Solutions of Tampa stopped working. A sign on the office door said due to a theft the business had closed. Chelsea and her mom quickly found out Body Solutions was closed for good. The only problem, the mom is still getting bills through the company that financed the year’s worth of hair removal procedures.

Dr. Jeffrey Hunt says, “I know of two or three centers that have folded in the last three months. They don’t even tell the nurse practitioners they’re closing. They just disappear and the equipment is gone.” Hunt says it is dangerous for patients to pay for months worth of services up front. “They should not give them tons of money in advance. They should limit areas that they do… and make sure it’s a procedure they want to do.”

Full article (tampabays10.com)

NBC Bay Area has a piece on the trend toward at-home hair removal:

This silk’n device uses pulsed light to basically knock out the growth center of each hair follicle. Something most patients used to need a doctor to do. At the california face and laser institute in Palo Alto, plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Mingrone said he has sold a dozen of these new home hair removal systems.

Full article (nbcbayarea.com)