First Laser Hair Removal Treatment

Back in April (I know the weather today feels and looks just like April here in Wisconsin, but it's actually late June), I purchased a Groupon for six laser hair removal treatments for the underarms.  The original price of the treatment was $600, and I only paid $150.

Laser hair removal was something I'd been thinking about doing for a couple years now.  When I got pregnant, I decided it would be my present to myself after I gave birth since I didn't feel safe doing it while I was with child.  I kind of forgot about it until this groupon came up.  I got the blessing from hubs and snatched it up.  I should've made my appointment that same day so that I could've reaped some of the benefits while I was on vacation, but I didn't make my first appointment until June 1.

I had very lofty expectations going into my first appointment.  Laser hair removal came highly recommended to me from a friend from college, who has had the treatment on multiple areas with great success.  Because of this, I was under the impression that there would be minimal amounts of pain and that I would have no more hair the second I hopped out of the chair.

Um.  Wrong and wrong.

First of all, I ended up having to reschedule my appointment because I had gotten crazy sunburned five days earlier, and the technician didn't feel comfortable pointing a laser near my already crispy skin.  In retrospect, I'm really glad she decided to wait.

I went back in this morning for my actual first treatment.  First, the technician glanced at the hair to check the texture.  I assume this determines the power of the laser or whatevs.  She put gel on my underarm and went to town burning the shiznit out of my flesh.  It hurt soooo bad.  I should've expected it--imagine leaving a metal wand on your stove for awhile and them rubbing the tip against your skin.  Luckily, it only lasted maybe 30 seconds to a minute per underarm, so I didn't have to endure it for very long.  I can't imagine doing my whole legs.  Ow ow ow!

She offered to smear some aloe vera on afterward, and I eagerly accepted.  I happened to have some in my purse, too, so I can reapply later if need be.  I walked out of the office with my elbows sticking out so that my pits wouldn't rub.  The burning did go away about 10 minutes later, though.

Have any of you had any laser hair removal treatments?  I'd love to hear about your experiences.  I'll have to update you when I start seeing results.  The lady the first time said it would take 7-10 days for the hair to fall out, but the lady today said two weeks.  So we'll see.  If it actually works like I hope it will, I'll happily go back and be tortured five more times.

For those of you who have had these treatments or know something about them, how much do you tip??  I know that at some places they don't accept tips, but here, it was encouraged.  Standard tipping at restaurants and salons is 20%, but I didn't do the math ahead of time, so I didn't know if that would be appropriate in this case.  Originally, I planned on giving $20 because that's all I had in my wallet (which after doing the math, would've been 20% of the original price per visit, so that probably would've been perfect).  After I got coffee this morning, I had $15, so I figured that would be fine.  Then, after the painful treatment, I was like...you get $10.  That's it.  So thoughts?  A $20 tip each time seems high, but this is probably their least expensive treatment, so maybe it's not.

I'm a little scared to look at the state of my armpits right now.  Apparently, it should just look like I got sunburned, but I'm going to ignore them for awhile just in case.