Does Low-carbing and exercising help with excess hair?

KimberlyFL30 · 09-14-2003, 11:44 PM

Hi everyone,

I am at the end of my rope with all of this excess hair...chin, neck, arms, legs, bikini area, etc! I am going for my first laser treatment tomorrow for my chin and neck and am praying that this works for me, I am expecting to have to go for several treatments before starting to see any type of improvement, which is fine.

But I was curious, have any of you noticed an improvement by low carbing and/or exercising? If so, did the hairs that you currently have fall out, or did it just help in preventing new hairs from growing?

Any information you have or experiences you could share would be very much appreciated.

Thank you!
Kim

beads · 09-15-2003, 05:36 AM

Great question....
i would love to know to!

christyz · 09-15-2003, 07:35 PM

For me, personally, No. I have low carbed and exercised and that is the only area of my life that has not changed. I have lowered my weight by 25% gotten my periods back regularly, lowered my androgen/testosterone (male hormones) down to normal values but i still could grow a goatee.

I had my laser consult and first treatment this morning, and I'm really excited about having this last area under control.

Low carbing and exercise have made my life quality SO MUCH better, but I think you're wise to go ahead with the laser. For me, that was the one symptom I couldn't get adequate control of.

christyz · 09-15-2003, 07:46 PM

For me, personally, No. I have low carbed and exercised and that is the only area of my life that has not changed. I have lowered my weight by 25% gotten my periods back regularly, lowered my androgen/testosterone (male hormones) down to normal values but i still could grow a goatee.

I had my laser consult and first treatment this morning, and I'm really excited about having this last area under control.

Low carbing and exercise have made my life quality SO MUCH better, but I think you're wise to go ahead with the laser. For me, that was the one symptom I couldn't get adequate control of.

KimberlyFL30 · 09-15-2003, 08:11 PM

Christy,

Thank you for your reply. I just got home from my 1st laser treatment and I must be some kind of masochist because I actually enjoyed it some sort of strange way. It definitely hurt, no doubt about it, but for the first time I actually felt like something I'm doing may finally lead me to a freer life, not feeling like I constantly have to try to hide my face, cover up my chin, etc. For me, feeling the pain of the laser was a freeing experience for me. I only hope I see an improvement at the end of this process. I wish you the best of luck with your treatments as well. They warned me that it will take some time to see real dramatic results, probably needing 8 treatments and it could take as long as a year....but that's ok with me! Luckily there's a fee for each area treated, regardless of how many treatments one needs.

Best of luck to you, keep us posted on how you're doing. And great job with your weight loss!
Kim

christyz · 09-15-2003, 08:29 PM

Thanks Kim.

yeah, I was a little surprised. i expected it to hurt like plucking, but I found it far worse than that. Like you, though I KNOW it's worth it and I kept telling myself "This is for ME"!! Dr Wills told me that i would see fairly significant results and would need 6-8 treatments because my hair very dark, course and dense. I too really hope to see some good results, but thankfully, my Mom is paying for it as a gift, so I don't have to worry about the cost. She AWESOME!

I can totally relate. I was so tired of spending time to put on my makeup (which I love to do with my new MAC makeup and some improved cheekbones

), and then getting concious of whether or not people could see my chin/neck.

They threw in my upper lip and a mole by my ear for free, so in was pretty thrilled with that! I can't wait for the day when I don't have to shave at least once!

Kim, is all of your hair gone, or are there some patches that still show though? Most of mine is gone, but not all of it is completely disappeared. And are you using anything on your skin? My skin is still sore 5.5 hours after (especially the inflamed follicles), and I don't want to make it burn. I use a mild MAC moisturizer morning and night, and I am worried about what will happen if I use it at bedtime.

Good luck to you too, laser twin.

nobimbo · 09-15-2003, 10:47 PM

Christy, congrats on having your first treatment over with! Did the clinician apply some antibacterial ointment to the area treated before you left? Mine does, and tells me to then apply some the next morning myself, so I had bought some and had it ready beforehand.

A lot of the hair you had treated today will take about 2 weeks to fall out. Any hairs you are still seeing right now are in a different stage of growth and so weren't zapped today. Only hairs in the active stage are treated by the laser (there are three stages of hair growth).

Linda

KimberlyFL30 · 09-15-2003, 11:01 PM

I think my chin area has become so used to pain and pulling from tweezing it for so long, it actually doesn't look at all discolored right now, and I my treatment about 5 hours ago.

They did mention putting a wet facecloth in the freezer and then applying that to any tender areas, since the facecloth will sort of mold to your face and will relieve any soreness. They also suggested putting aloe vera gel on, as well. I put some aloe gel on right after I got in my car and like I said, it looks completely fine right now. For the moment, my chin feels smooth, but I know those little suckers grow in phases, so it will take quite a while to start to see real improvement, which is okay by me.

Hope your skin starts to feel better soon.

Mez · 09-15-2003, 11:38 PM

A good lotion to use post laser treatments is either aloe vera or tea tree lotion.

Mez

christyz · 09-15-2003, 11:53 PM

Thanks for the tips, ladies. I used the same stuff I use after I wax, and it seems to be fine. My chin is still really sore..like a bunch of ingrown hairs. Are those common after a treatment, or is it just an irritated pore due to the follicle beig zapped?

dasos · 09-16-2003, 12:48 AM

I'm glad this post got some replies. I asked the same question in another thread with no response. I must say I'm a little disappointed to find out that low carbing and losing weight doesn't help with the excess hair. All this hair has taken its toll on my self esteem much more than the weight and all the other crap that goes with PCOS. Laser isn't really in my budget right now, and I heard some negative things about laser and Afr. American skin. I swear I think I find a new patch of hair every day.

christyz · 09-16-2003, 12:57 PM

I didn't say it CAN'T help...all I said was for me it didn't. My Dr says there is still the possibility I may see improvement because just now my androgen labs are normal and every hair follicle we see is 6-9 months old.

This morning my face is sore...tons of swollen follicles. My whole neck is still bumpy and over my lip and on my chin I have some swollen follicles with white pus in them. I have been putting my acne anti-bacterial cream one them to keep them clean. It's very similar to what I get waxing/shaving, only of course, it's the whole area. Did any other ladies have this?

Shannon _Richardson · 09-16-2003, 02:40 PM

Hiya Christyz,

I had to deal with the same thing. My face looked pretty bad i thought for a few days after. I am almost 6weeks out from my first treatment and need to go back soon. It took about a week for all the bumps to go away as some of dead hairs tried to surface to the top. My Face looks alot better now and alot of the hairs are gone. I had no hair on my upper lip for a couple weeks till the new ones came in. But its about 35% less there than when I started. And my new is so much smoother still and I have alot of patches on my chin. My sidburn area I don't even shave now the hairs are finer and not so many. I am so Happy for you hun!

christyz · 09-16-2003, 02:52 PM

Thanks Shannon. The woman at the centre said the bumps would be gone in an hour, and that's not the case. I suspect that I will need to postphone my next treatment for an additional week or so, to let this all heal before I start again. I'm glad I found out now though...I almost booked a treatment for a few days before a singing performance, and that would have been a total disaster...my face is a mess.

This too shall pass....

KimberlyFL30 · 09-16-2003, 03:17 PM

I'm wondering if maybe the laser wasn't strong enough for me yesterday. It sounds like its common to have the ingrown hair type situation after treatment, in terms of redness, bumps, etc and today my chin has none of that. It looks the same as it did before I went in for treatment

As much as I'm sure it's not fun to have that discoloration, bumps, etc right now, a day after treatment, if that means it's working more so than not having any type of bumps,etc....I'll take the bumps for the time being!

Any thoughts on that?