Most woman have some excess hair but as a teen I quickly discovered with the start of menstruation along with it came some facial hair. My cycle was regular up until my mid twenties when I started taking the Pill. I am still taking the Norriday Pill which is one pill every day without a break. 

Being a teen with a few hairs where sideburns are and under my chin to my neck was easily resolved with a pair of tweezers. As I got older and my periods became less frequent the hair increased at a rapid rate. I tried bleaching and shaving but the hair growth was fast and it needed done every day to keep it at bay. I finally realised I needed to pluck the hairs and have done so every day or couple of days for the past 15 years. 

You may think that is quite an easy task but when you have hundreds of hairs daily and a cramping hand from sitting for 20 minutes looking in a magnifying mirror I can tell you it is not fun or easy. I have thought about laser removal for about 5 years and to be honest the price has always made it slightly out of reach. I could have saved up and bit the bullet but there was always a pretty dress or shoes which had more pulling power. 

Just before I got pregnant I had been referred to the hospital to see if I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). One in five woman have PCOS and most are undiagnosed until trying to get pregnant. I was told I did not have cysts but the 3 identifying factors for PCOS are Excess Hair, Irregular or Absent Periods or Cysts. You only need 2 of these to be classed as having PCOS. I have the first 2. Other common factors are oily skin, thinning or loss of hair from head, weight gain. I was prescribed a cream called Vaniqua which if used twice daily reduces the amount of hair but if stopped the hairs return. It inhibits growth of the hair. I had to stop using it when I got pregnant and all the hairs returned. It takes up to 3 months for full effect. 

My lovely Hubby has seem me struggle with the hair removal and growth for a few years and is quite the tech nerd so he looked into all the reviews and options for laser removal for me a while ago. For Christmas he surprised me early with the Tria Hair removal Laser! Yes he is a keeper! This bit of kit is not cheap. I have seen it for £300+ but when you factor in how much a salon treatment costs and how many treatments you may need it works out at quite a bargain.

Like a kid at Christmas I was eager to try out my new toy and was told to shave and no more plucking so I went straight to the razor. I should have read the instructions first as it advises to stop all hair removal other than razor for 5 weeks prior to using the laser to let all the hairs grown in so you zap them all at once. It also advises to laser every 2 weeks. I had been plucking so the first photo shows the hairs remaining after shaving. I decided to laser every week for 5 weeks to get all the hairs I had plucked then every 2 weeks as advised. WARNING! It hurts! There are 5 pain levels and I try to uses level 5 but mostly it is 3 or 4. 

This picture is a week after and as you can see the there a a lot more hairs that had previously been plucked and were starting to grow again. This photo is the day after my second zapping session.

The third week and you can already see bald patches appearing. I was very surprised at this so early on in the treatments.

Fourth week and seems like it is almost the same as the third week.

Fifth week and there seems to be more areas with no hairs.