Painless Laser Hair Removal

We want to be really hairy-from the top of our head to our lashes, then that’s it. My mom tells me what a cute little “furry” baby I was. It used to make me cringe because I still am that furry baby. Fast forward to now and I’m writing a blog post about laser hair removal. Now that I’m older, I can totally see how that was probably very cute, but growing up, it definitely made me self conscious.

My Hairy History

I have a vivid memory of looking at my forearms resting on my desk in middle school. I was glancing at the girls around me, noticing they didn’t have a layer of thick, dark arm hair like I did.

When I started shaving, I traded painful razor burn for body hair. Sometimes, it would even keep me up at night, causing me to itch my legs until they bled. Don’t even get me started on the bikini line ingrown hairs.

In warmer months, if I wanted to wear shorts or a dress everyday, it meant I was shaving every day. Other girls would say, “omg feel my legs! I haven’t shaved for a week!” Their hair may have felt like a cactus but you’d only know by feeling it because you couldn’t see it. Because my hair is very dark, it’s very visible.

Thanks to the nightmare that is the patriarchy and outdated, impossible beauty standards, growing up, being hairy never went along with femininity. As a young straight girl, I fully believed boys were grossed out by body hair. I didn’t just believe it; I knew it.

One of my male friends in high school shared with our lunch table that my boyfriend told the entire boys track team I had a “happy trail” on a bus ride to a meet. I can still picture myself in that moment, wanting to melt away and die. That’s when I started shaving my stomach.

Hair Removal Methods I’ve Tried

I’ve done waxing many times. I’ve gone to various reputable places, with gentle “sensitive skin” waxes, have done it at home, and without fail, every single time, I break out in hives.

I tried threading for my facial hair and proceeded to get the worst breakout of my entire life that took months to heal.

I think Nair is a bad smelling joke that’s never been effective for me.

I bleached my arm hair for a long time, but I’m over that.

I love and appreciate my thick eyebrows and lashes and actually enjoy shaving my face with a facial razor. It’s below the belt that things really go off the rails for me and this year, I finally decided I was done.with.it.

When a Chapter Aesthetic Studio opened up in my area, I was invited to their opening event. I was immediately impressed by their friendliness, professionalism, cleanliness and at the time, October of 2022, laser hair removal pricing.

I decided to start my laser hair removal process with my lower legs and bikini line as those are the itchiest and most ferocious for razor burn.

I paid for all treatments mentioned and am not being compensated by Chapter for this post.

Chapter laser hair removal pricing

The hair removal is priced by area size. Frustratingly, I’ve seen Chapter’s laser hair removal pricing structure change frequently since signing up. In order to ensure I’m sharing current information, I’ll link the current pricing HERE.

When I initially started my laser hair removal journey, the pricing was simple, straight forward and affordable. It was almost too good not to do it. I am disappointed to see Chapter continue to tweak, with prices increasing and the structure becoming more difficult to understand.

I went back to my credit card statements and added up what I spent in total on laser hair removal. I will have paid a total of $2,300 for lower legs, under arms and bikini line.

If you were to do all of that now, with the current pricing, you’d expect to pay at least $3,300. That’s quite the jump.

Motus Laser hair removal

The magic is in the Motus. When I’ve shared that my laser hair removal hasn’t been at all painful, I really do think some people thought I was lying, that or just severely downplaying it. While it’s entirely true that some laser hair removal machines deliver a sensation similar to hot, snapping rubber band, the Motus was designed to provide a painless experience.

The Motus AY machine doesn’t cause pain due to proprietary Moveo technology, specifically designed for a painless hair removal experience.

can any skin type do this?

I do have one good thing going for me, which is that I’m the ideal laser hair removal candidate-light skin, dark hair, high contrast.

However, the Deka Motus technology has been able to eliminate the skin type limitations of the past. Their Skinclusive Alexandrite laser allows for laser hair removal on all skin tones.

How to Prepare

You’ll want to shave the morning of your appointment, not right before, but you don’t want any hair or stubble present. One time, I shaved the night before and apparently my hair grew overnight because I felt some zaps during my appointment. You can even see the hair the laser zapped off in the ultrasound gel in the photo below!

What does it feel like?

If they are using the Motus machine, it truly feels like nothing. The ultrasound gel is a bit cold and that’s about it. Really! The only time I felt some prickles was when I didn’t shave closely enough and still had some fuzz, as shown above.

In my later visits, they did use a different machine that is more of the traditional type but I still didn’t find it painful. I actually thought it tickled sometimes?!

How many sessions does it take?

Chapter says most people do 6-8 sessions on average. My lower legs took 10 sessions, my bikini line about the same and I think my under arms will likely take 8. I definitely have thick hair so my results might be different than yours.

When will I see a difference?

After just 2 sessions, I definitely noticed my leg hair growing back unevenly. I was super surprised to see results so quickly!

If any part of my hairy person journey resonates with you, I recommend visiting a Chapter Aesthetic Studio in your area. I’ve personally had a great experience, start to finish.

My greatest criticism is the ever-changing pricing structure. I wish it were more clearly outlined on the website. Most people wouldn’t be prepared to drop $3,300 in one visit to start a lower leg laser process for example. I didn’t have to go that route, and if I had, perhaps wouldn’t even be here writing about it.

I hope to gain additional clarity on the changes at my next visit and will update this post accordingly.