I wish I had plucked up (no pun intended 😝) the courage to go for IPL earlier. IPL stands for Intense Pulse Light treatment. I won't go into the science behind it because you can look it up yourself. The interesting piece of fact that I came across when I was reading up on IPL is that it will only work if your hair is dark and your skin is pale. I never knew that!
I only did my research online and didn't didn't really look up that many places. The reviews for Musee seemed acceptable and they had a promotion on their website for Unlimited Under arm hair removal for just $30! Sounds too good to be true right? We all know how these beauty centres work, you go in coz of the promo then they'll try to sell you a more expensive package. But with Musee apparently they pride themselves on no hard selling. More on this later.
According to their website, Musee uses the SSC system. "S.S.C. Hair Removal stands for Smooth Skin Control Hair Removal, which is a new state-of-the-art pain free technology*. With S.S.C. Hair Removal, our specially formulated gel is activated when exposed to beams of filtered light. As compared with self treatment such as shaving, plucking and waxing, this technology is more gentle to your skin with minimal or no discomfort. The plant peptide in the gel also helps your skin become even smoother & polished."
Sounds promising doesn't it? Plus the fact that it was from Japan was enough to convince me to try them out. So off I went to their Plaza Singapura branch at Dhoby Ghaut. At first glance they look like any beauty centre. What I do like about the place is it seemed pretty open, the beauticians are all visible out front and there seemed to be quite a number of them. Honestly I was pretty nervous going in knowing that it was highly likely that they would try to sell me some kind of package.
I was taken into a very nondescript private consultation room where I had to first fill out some forms and surveys. Things like any medical problems to what kindd of self hair removal methods do you use to how many times a week do you remove your hair. After a whole a consultant came in and started explaining to me anout hair removal and hair growth cycle, etc. Oh my gosh she spoke so fast that it was hard to keep up! From what I remember she hardly talked about the basic $30 package ($38 including bikini line). She asked me what areas I wanted to remove. I said under arms and bikini line and she tried to persudade me to consider getting my whole netherregion done including the...let's just say booty region. I've never been a full Brazillian girl but she did get me thinking. And before I knew it she was calculating some numbers and decided that 36 seasion would be enough to do everything and that would cost i think just under $2000 with discount Oh and did I tell you there's a credit card interest free installment plan with certain banks and she punched out some numbers on her trusty calculator to show me how much it would cost each month. By this rate my head was swimming. I've never been good with numbers and making decisions at the same time. I did ask her again but what if I just want tondo my underams and bikini line, oh then thats just $38 she says really hurriedly. But really should consider this package one you can also use it for your legs, she continues on. And anyway the bikini line area only remove not much, she says. And she says it's also good for hygiene to get it all off.
She really wasnt that pushy I guess. I was never uncomfortable talking to her. So it was more like strongly advising and encouraging.
Despite the fact that one of the requirements before treatment is for you to hve shaved 2-3 days beforehand she was ok tongove me an appointment for the next day to get whatever procedure done and sign on the dotted line. You know at first I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't just start the treatment that day. But on hindsight I'm so glad that I had the extra time to work out what I really wanted. If I had signed a package I would basically have about 2.5-3 years to use up all the sessions. That's a long time!!! What was I thinking to even consider it?? Basically if you're removing all your pubes off you will need that many sessions because it's supposed to be a highly resistant area. Back to the point, I can't even commit to a gym for more than a year and that's with me dragging myself!
So after this initial consultation I left feeling slightly confused and dazed. Oh and I also got this triangle thing which I guess was for us to go home and use as a template to shave for our bikini area. The lady should've explained it to me better since it's all in Japanese.
First Appointment:
So today I came back for my official first appointment. Point to note, appointments before 12 are easier to get. When I got there they asked me which package I wanted to sign up for and I told them just the basic underarm and bikini line. I was expecting a whole lot of of questions but that was it. The lady (different from yesterday's one) wrote on the form and got me to sign and make payment. Before proceeding she made sure that 12 hours prior I hadn't drank any alcohol, take medication or worked out. Phew I almost did work out this morning before I decided to go back to sleep 😄
After that she led me to the procedure room. The room was smaller and shabbier than I had expected.
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| If you notice, the curtain on top of the pic divides you from the other customer in another room. |
So here's the bed all wrapped up in plastic. There's a towel, a change gown and the little blue thing is disposable g-string paper undies.
A little locker to keep your belongings and clothes.
After changing into the garments the beautician will knock on the door asking if you are ready once ok she then comes in, you lie down on the table and the procedure begins by her putting paper towel over my eyes followed by googles or glasses and another towel on top. Next she asked me to lift up my arms above my head. She used an electric shaver to shave off whatever hair was still there. Then cleansed with a wipe or maybe she did that first, can't remember. Then she spread this really cold gel on my armpits. I quite liked the cold gel feeling actually 😄. Next she tells me she's gonna start with the IPL and I brace myself for some pain. Pain that never came. It really was pain free! For me anyway and I'm assuming it's the same for others. You might feel a slight warmth and that's it. The only other uncomfortable thing was seeing bright flashes out of the corner of your closed eyes. After that she wiped off the gel and put some cold ice pack things on my pits and moved on to my bikini area.
This area really is not for those who are shy coz she will literally be able to see everything as you are asked to bend your legs in a 90 degree angle (think breast stroke style). The procedure was pretty much the same as the armpit on. And then all was done within 30 minutes if not less!
For 12 hours after the procedure you can't exercise, drink alcohol, sauna, etc. And you're not supposed to swim a week after the procedure is done too. There's actually a long list of don'ts.
So for now I have to just wait patiently till my next appointment two months later in September. Why two months later? Well they said it's to allow the skin to rest and for your hair to go through it's natural growth cycle. The hair should fall out by 2 weeks and the new hair that comes out should be finer. Fingers crossed! They kept on reminding us to be patient before you can see results. Don't expect immediate results. And try not to shave, if you must at least wait 2-3 weeks. I'll try....that's all I can say.
UPDATE 9/10/16
So I've gone back for the second treatment and I'm glad it was fuss free and they didn't pester me again to sign up for a package. The hair on my bikini line and my left under arm is still growing, but interestingly the hair on my right under arm has kinda stopped growing. I mean there's a few that pops up here and there but it's not even that noticeable. So it's interesting that one armpit is growing and the other one isn't...weird yeah, but I guess that's how the body works..I dunno. Anyway, next treatment is in January, I hope it doesn't take too much longer to do.
This area really is not for those who are shy coz she will literally be able to see everything as you are asked to bend your legs in a 90 degree angle (think breast stroke style). The procedure was pretty much the same as the armpit on. And then all was done within 30 minutes if not less!
For 12 hours after the procedure you can't exercise, drink alcohol, sauna, etc. And you're not supposed to swim a week after the procedure is done too. There's actually a long list of don'ts.
So for now I have to just wait patiently till my next appointment two months later in September. Why two months later? Well they said it's to allow the skin to rest and for your hair to go through it's natural growth cycle. The hair should fall out by 2 weeks and the new hair that comes out should be finer. Fingers crossed! They kept on reminding us to be patient before you can see results. Don't expect immediate results. And try not to shave, if you must at least wait 2-3 weeks. I'll try....that's all I can say.
UPDATE 9/10/16
So I've gone back for the second treatment and I'm glad it was fuss free and they didn't pester me again to sign up for a package. The hair on my bikini line and my left under arm is still growing, but interestingly the hair on my right under arm has kinda stopped growing. I mean there's a few that pops up here and there but it's not even that noticeable. So it's interesting that one armpit is growing and the other one isn't...weird yeah, but I guess that's how the body works..I dunno. Anyway, next treatment is in January, I hope it doesn't take too much longer to do.
