In this heartfelt and eye-opening episode of PCOS Unfiltered, I sit down with longtime friend and very first guest, licensed electrologist Hannah Al-Raee, owner of Tampa Bay Laser, to explore the inside-out approach to managing PCOS-related hair growth and healing. What starts as a discussion about laser hair removal quickly evolves into a rich, empowering conversation on the deeper work needed for lasting change—from mindset and nutrition to breathing, stress reduction, and self-worth. Hannah shares not only her expert insights from nearly 20 years in the hair removal industry, but also her personal journey through stubbornness, healing, and finally embracing the changes her body needed. Together, we shine a light on how small steps, daily mindfulness, and a belief in your body’s ability to heal can ripple through your entire life.
Highlights:
🌿 Notes for Listeners:
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(0:01 - 1:13) Hey there and welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, where we ditch the fads and get real about healing with PCOS. I'm your host, Lindsay, and today's episode is extra special because I'm joined by Hannah, a licensed electrologist who specializes in PCOS. We're diving into combining laser hair removal with other wellness practices, and you're going to walk away with real-world insights, a few laughs, and lots of empowerment. So let's jump in. I'm here with Hannah, and she is the owner of Tampa Bay Laser, and that's where is it? St. Pete? I mean, they're basically on the same water. But yeah, so Hannah works with a lot of women with PCOS, and with myself being a health coach and working with them with PCOS. I feel like we have a lot to talk about, and Hannah actually and I go way back. It's kind of crazy. Kickboxing days. (1:16 - 2:47) Yeah. So yeah, so Hannah, I'm going to let you start just by like telling everybody a little bit more about what you do. Awesome. So I'm Hannah Al-Raee. I own Tampa Bay Laser. I am a local laser hair removal clinic. I specialize in obviously permanent hair removal and then skin resurfacing and rejuvenation, hair restoration, help with all those thinning hairs, and spray tan, intimate lightening. There's kind of a mix of all the things. Electrolysis, that's laser hair removal and electrolysis. We have to have both for permanent hair removal. So I do both. I've been in laser and electrolysis for 19 years. It's been a really long time. I've owned my business for four now. So I'm really honored that I get to do this for everyone on my own. I struggled for a long time working for other people because it just didn't feel right. It just didn't feel like me and me being able to be my authentic self. And so now I get to come to the table with my heart open and be me and be authentic and genuine and not have someone telling me what to do and say. So I'm really honored that I get to help people every day and make people feel really, really good about themselves and feel more confident in their skin. It's like my favorite thing. I don't think I realized that you had been in it for that long. (2:47 - 5:36) Yeah, a really long time. I know people are like, you don't look like you're that old, Hannah. Thank you. I'm doing all the self-care things I need to to keep my skin looking fabulous. But yeah, I've been to Hannah's space and it's amazing. And I love just the holistic aspects of everything that you're doing as well. You tie in even some events like with yoga and all that stuff. I mean, it really all comes together ultimately. We can only do so much to the outside. We really have to go just like Lindsay. She's doing mindfulness and eating healthy. That's something that we have to work on inside. So there's a lot of inner work that needs to be done too. And that's something that I've had to learn over the last decade, what I need to do to work on my inner Hannah. For sure. Yeah. I've learned the hard way myself and definitely got to do that inner work as well. So yeah. And then really quick. So yeah, I'm Lindsay. I am the founder of Healthy Ever After. So I am a health coach specializing in women with PCOS and specifically helping them weight. I do this with a 90 day program and just helping them, like Hannah mentioned already, just eat mindfully, create new habits, and just learn how to feel good so that you can release the weight. So let's get into it, I guess. So yeah. So one of my first questions to Hannah is, can laser hair removal be a long term solution for women with PCOS? And is there anything that clients like that should know before, you know, going in? We know that a lot of women with PCOS deal with that excess body hair. So yeah, do you think this is a longer term solution? I definitely believe and know that it is long term. There will be some maintenance involved. It's not something that the hair will magically disappear forever and ever. You will have to have some maintenance. You know, our body goes through hormone changes every five years or so. You decide to take a new supplement and it has biotin in it, it makes your hair grow. So that's going to shift your hair growth too. If you, you know, change the way you eat and change your habits, there's always going to be something going on that's going to shift what's going on inside. And that can bring some hair growth. Ultimately, you're going to lose 90% of the hair that we're working with. (5:36 - 5:55) And you're going to have about 10% of growth left that kind of wants to linger. And I mean, I think that 10% is way better than the 90% that we started with, especially if we have a beard that we're dealing with or working with. We definitely want to get you down to at least 90% loss in it. (5:55 - 6:02) You can maintain that 10% or maybe even less. But yes, it is permanent. Yes, it can be long term. (6:03 - 9:43) I have been hair free on my body for 19 years. I started getting laser about 20 years ago. And then I shifted into actually doing the service for others. So in that timeframe, because I was getting laser, I got rid of all my hair because I didn't want it. And I've gone through hormone changes. I've been on pellets, I've had a baby. And I did see, you know, like 5% of weird thin hairs pop up, but it wasn't a full 100% like it was before. So patience really is key with the process. And then really making sure you're working on what you're doing inside. You know, if you if I asked you to see your doctor and get your hormones and you're, you know, you have PCOS, but you're not doing anything about it. And you're not addressing it nutritionally, you're not taking any supplements, and you're just out there doing doing your your self your life, whatever, without the inner stuff, the hair will continue to grow and the hair will continue to come back. So that is really the key is to making sure that you're eating properly. And you're really feeding your body the fuel that it needs properly. Yeah, yeah, for sure. One thing I asked a lot of my clients and some know and some don't, but what's the largest organ of the body? The skin? Wow. So a lot of people don't know that and the skin tells so much. Yeah, like a rash or redness, you know, to excess hair growth, like whatever it is. If something like that's going on, like your body's trying to tell you something. Absolutely. Yeah, like I've talked about supplements before I actually made a post recently about that. And while no, like I don't incorporate them into my program or anything, I'm not against them. But it's, it's that you can't just put the bandaid on something. Or it's Yeah, it's not going to last. Like if you're pairing that with, you know, actually, like you mentioned, doing that internal work, then yeah, like, that's great. Go for it. But if you're not actually willing to do that internal work along with it, then you're not going to get very far. Or, yeah, be temporary. For sure. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I think one of the big, big impacts with women with PCOS, especially, you know, with the excess hair growth is body image issue. You know, I mean, yeah, they start, you kind of mentioned even, I think a little bit, but, but yeah, you start just losing your drive to, you know, to do many things. Yeah. So yeah, live. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So how do you like, how does that? Is that what I say? How does that like, kind of, you know, appear with your clients? And so when people come in to me, and I can clearly tell they have PCOS, generally, I would say probably 80% of the population already has been diagnosed, or the doctor has been taught, told, the doctor has told them they possibly have it not necessarily, but they fully diagnosed them yet, but they will definitely mention it to them. And so I would say probably 30% of those people are actually doing something for their body, knowing that it will ultimately help them long term. But this is the first conversation that I have from the beginning with someone that comes in with a beard, and they want to get rid of it. (9:43 - 13:31) In order for me to be able to do what I can do for them and give them a real good effective treatment, they have to be able to do the work with me. And they have to go and get their their blood work done. And I have everyone talk to a functional medicine doctor specifically, if they can, to go over hormone health with them and make sure they understand that there's other things that need to be done in order for me to be able to do my best work too. So it's definitely a partnership between both of us, that they're going in there, they're doing what they need to do, and they do start, you know, looking at their nutrition and addressing their nutrition. And you can tell, you know, six months in that they haven't done the work, they look exactly the same as they did when they first met me. And they're not getting the results that they feel that they want or need. And so I have to have the conversation again, you know, have you been working on the nutritional aspect, and not everybody is doing that. So it hurts me, because I want to be able to give them a good treatment. And I don't want people to come to me with a full beard and, and want it gone magically. But then they're not going to do their part and and do the work they need to do to help me fix the outer outer stuff and their outer appearance. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, we live in a lot of like, we want the instant fix, we want the quick, quick result, right? Yeah, we'll turn to other things. Besides nutrition, of course, it's good on that radical too. But yeah, I mean, it's just whatever you're doing, it's going to take time for sure. The reality that I see with a lot of a lot of women, even in general is that a lot of people in general, a lot of times we're overfed and undernourished. And so absolutely, you know, even by just not even thinking about removing anything, because that in itself is a beast. Like when you just, you know, start getting in your head, and it's just like this daunting, I gotta take something away, I'm taking this away, or everything is taken away at once. Yeah, just starting to think like, adding in some of those good proteins, some veggies, some fruits, just to build your, you know, your, your vitamin and mineral profile before even starting to think about taking stuff away, because a lot of times, that's going to boost your health right there. We're a lot of times lacking, like, if you think about it, like 70% of what you see in a grocery store doesn't really need to be there. Yeah, it can be good on the aisles, right? I mean, a lot of all processed, all sugar, all artificial dyes. Yeah. And there's food scientists out there that are making it that way. So that we just eat more of it. And yeah, we're addicted and want more. Absolutely. Any, any nutrients, and so our body just starts craving that more and more. So if we simply just start adding in some more nutrients, you know, focusing on proteins, healthy fat, you know, fruits and veggies, like at at every meal, and for some people, maybe just focus on one meal to start, you know, to do that with. Because then eventually, once you get those nutrients, at least somewhat where they need to be, your body will start telling you, you know what, I don't think I need this other stuff. Yeah, just start craving that more and more. (13:32 - 14:03) We did a bunch of great comments already on this one, on this one, you know, a few months ago. I know. Okay. And so when you don't, when you don't eat too much, you don't need to eat too much, because we know that our body is not a healthy body. Our body is not built, it's not designed to workout. The body is designed to work out, And yeah, and that's, that's part of it. (14:03 - 14:33) That's part of the long-term, you know, solution and, and just feeling better about yourself, of course. So, yeah. What are the most common myths that you hear about laser hair removal? Whether that's in general or for women with PCOS and how would you dispel those myths? They're definitely PCOS related, but they're all pretty standard. (14:33 - 14:55) If you Google laser hair removal and you pick the most negative comments of all, you're gonna find all those. So, most people think that laser hair removal is, and it is listed as a permanent reduction. It's not a permanent full-blown hair removal because it cannot eliminate blonde hairs. (14:55 - 15:11) It can't eliminate light hairs. So, generally speaking, even if you are like me, you have really light skin and dark hair, there's gonna be some lighter hairs mixed in with those dark hairs, especially in a hormone area. So, the laser is not gonna be able to get rid of those. (15:12 - 15:28) It's attracted to darkness, pigment. So, the darker something is, the more attracted it's gonna be to it. The difference between electrolysis and laser, which this is another huge thing, the PCOS gals all say, you know, oh, well, electrolysis is the only way to go. (15:29 - 15:48) But from a physics standpoint, electrolysis is getting rid of the root. It's destroying the root with electricity, with heat from electricity. And laser is destroying the root with heat from light energy. (15:49 - 16:06) So, that's why laser can only do dark hair and electrolysis can do all hair types. But they both do the same thing just in two different ways. So, if you understand it from that concept, either of them are just drawing the root with heat. (16:06 - 16:16) It's just one's doing it a different way than the other. Then you'll understand that it is permanent from both ends. It's just one can only do dark hair and the other one can do all hair growth. (16:17 - 16:31) With laser, there are different types of lasers out there. They are not all the same. If the technician doesn't know what they're doing and they keep the setting low on you, then yes, it's not gonna be as effective. (16:32 - 16:49) If you're seen too frequently, it's not gonna be as effective. If they don't calibrate their machine and get their machine maintenance every year, then it's not gonna be as effective. Unfortunately, all of those are out there and we don't know who's who or what's what. (16:49 - 17:03) So, we're just hoping and praying that whatever place we go to is doing things properly. Unfortunately, if they're not, you're gonna have mediocre results. So, I strive to give you the best results. (17:03 - 17:14) I ultimately want you to be hair-free like me. So, I get my machines maintenance and calibrated every year. I do the work to make sure that they're working efficiently. (17:16 - 17:40) The electrolysis machine, that's easy. But the difference between laser and electrolysis is, laser is we can get a large amount of hair at one time, as opposed to electrolysis doing only one hair at a time. So, if you come to me and you say you want your bikini done with electrolysis, it would take you a thousand years to get that done, as opposed to a five-minute laser session. (17:41 - 18:05) If you get over-treated by someone with laser, then yes, there's a small risk of getting, it's called paradoxical hair growth, and it basically can activate growth if you're being treated in an area that doesn't have hair. So, there is a small percent risk of that, but it's not very high. I mean, I do both. (18:06 - 18:20) If you come to me and you have dark hair on your face, we're gonna zap it with laser, and then whatever's left over, we're gonna do electrolysis on. So, that's the easiest and best solution that I've come up with in the 19 years that I've been doing this. No, that's great. (18:20 - 18:47) That's awesome, hearing the differences. I feel like I kind of knew that, but yeah, it's really good how you spelled all that out, plus just all the thinking about the calibration and just all those other things, and unfortunately, we don't know when we go to these places. We're just hoping and thinking that they know what they're doing and they're doing things correct, and unfortunately, that's not the name of the game in this industry. (18:48 - 19:00) Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, stress. Stress plays a big role in PCOS and in health in general. (19:01 - 19:37) So, how does chronic stress impact hormone levels and hair growth from what you see? Yeah, I mean, I'll chime in after that, I guess, but it's definitely going to obviously increase your cortisol levels, and in that, I mean, if you have one hormone imbalance in your body, you're probably gonna have a hormone imbalance kind of going throughout. It doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna have a ton of hair growth. You might have a spurt of growth, but it definitely plays a huge role, and stress is a big part of that. (19:37 - 19:51) Sleep is one of the main things that we really need when we're stressed out. So, if you are not getting enough sleep, then that's just gonna really mess you up even more, too. This is just a conversation that I have to have with people a lot. (19:53 - 20:29) Do I see a ton of hair growth with a stress change? Not a ton, but yes, I do see a small amount. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense, because again, then, if you're not doing the internal work either, so yeah, I mean, what I tell a lot of my clients is we're exposed to stressors in many different forms, some environmental that we can't control, but then there's also the ones you can, and whether that's home life, professional life, and then even down to the foods. There's foods that can stress our body as well. (20:29 - 21:07) So, I love how you mentioned the sleep. That's a huge, yeah, definitely a huge part of it, and I know one thing I see is, or hear from a lot of people are the energy levels, like just the lack of energy, and it just becomes this vicious cycle, because when you feed it with caffeine, and then you don't sleep well, yeah, and sugar, and then you sleep well, and then the cycle just starts all over again. So, one thing, like my probably number one thing, this is something I talk about with my mindful eating challenge is breathing, and that's step one. (21:08 - 21:49) I do tie it to meals, because when you're tying it to meals, it helps slow digestion, and it helps you just like focus on what you're actually eating, because if you think about how many of us do that just on the go, especially between kids, and work, and all that stuff, yeah, you can just get into that mindless eating, and like not even tasting your food anymore. So, if you just stop for like a minute before you eat, and do some breathing exercises, yeah, like it's such an amazing benefit. You can do any type of breathing exercises. (21:49 - 22:33) I mean, you can just do regular inhale, exhale, there's the four, seven, eight breathing, there's the five, five, five breathing, like whatever you're comfortable with, but it just brings awareness to what you're doing. And, sorry, where was I going with that? But yeah, like that's my, probably my number one thing that I tell people. Really, when you're stressed out? Yeah, and yes, it has to become a habit, like you have to practice it to do it, and so that's also why I do it a lot of times with around meals, because then you can associate it with that certain thing, or if you say, oh, that's good. (22:33 - 22:51) Yeah. You're stressed out in the middle of the day to breathe, then people like don't necessarily think about that right away until you kind of get into that habit, then yes, then you can learn how to take a step back and do those breathing exercises, and all it takes is a minute. And like, I mean, I do it myself, and it's just like this calm comes over you. (22:53 - 23:23) So, and like I said, like it improves digestion, ultimately, yeah, leading to weight loss. But one big thing, obviously, it's gonna help with stress too, but one big thing is that your body has to feel safe to really release the weights and improve health. So you can be doing all the things, but if your body still always feels like it's in this fight or flight mode, yeah, just fighting against it. (23:23 - 23:37) So yeah, so the breathing is definitely. Yeah, but how do you get yourself out of fight or flight? So like I mentioned that stress with all those stressors. So sometimes, yeah, you might have to make some changes at home. (23:37 - 24:05) You might have to really evaluate like, you know, are there people that are like stressing me out, but then also the nutrition. When you're feeding your body sugar, what happens? You're like constantly, right? Like stressing your body out. So if you start adding in, like I said, those vitamins, you know, those nutrients, that's also gonna help calm the body and make it feel safe. (24:06 - 24:34) So to kind of get you out of that. Did you have any other questions or any other thoughts that you're thinking of that would be helpful to your clients? Um, I mean, there's definitely a couple things. So if you go in with the thought and intention that it's not going to work for you, then you're only going to bring on what's not going to work. (24:34 - 24:46) So you really have to go in and that falls into every category of our life. Oh my God. So you really have to go in with a positive attitude, really knowing and expecting that it's going to work for you. (24:47 - 25:07) Um, and this in particular is laser and electrolysis. But, I mean, I deeply believe that in all realms of life, that if you really have a bad attitude about something, that you're only going to attract that back. And I've learned this, it's happened for me. (25:07 - 25:48) As soon as I really shifted my mind into more positive, joyful thoughts and experiences, life has changed dramatically for me. So if you go online and you're reading all these negative reviews and you're, you know, you're in Reddit and you're PCOS hair removal, and you're seeing all these really bad things that have been happening. If you find a person like me that is very genuine and authentic and really truly wants to help you, and you go in knowing and understanding that it is possible for you to get results and it can be permanent, then you will find that. (25:49 - 25:56) Yeah. So the mindfulness, it falls into all categories of life. It does. (25:56 - 26:17) I was actually just listening to an audio book today, but this is, it tied into something that I actually teach my clients as well. And it's something that I've learned from my mentor where our thoughts are directly tied to our feelings. Habits written as feelings are habits, right? So it's off that habit alarm. (26:17 - 26:24) We do the habits. And what do we get from our habits? We get the results. That ties back into- Whether they're good or bad. (26:25 - 26:34) Yeah, exactly. Ties back into the beliefs, you know, in our belief system of like, can't do this, you know, or I don't have the time to do this and like all this. Yeah. (26:35 - 27:19) So when we start with our thoughts being more positive or, you know, actually believing that we can do it and being the person, then you're gonna get much better results for sure. I mean, yeah, that's, I've been doing this for like almost two years now. I mean, yes, even I was a nurse in my previous life and even at the gym, like one thing that always got me was like, what's missing here? Because there were some people that worked so, so hard and didn't get results or maybe got little results or there were other people that actually put in the work and got a great result, but then didn't keep it. (27:20 - 27:47) So it really becomes more about who you are and who you become in that process to really get the result that you want. And so that's one thing I've like really learned to incorporate as a health coach are, yeah, the mentality, the gratitude, you know, that you have like just simple, like a simple exercise of taking a minute to write down like three things you're thankful for each day. Absolutely. (27:48 - 27:55) Yeah, can have such a positive impact. Really can. You know, on your health even, your mental health, your physical health. (27:57 - 28:05) Yeah, and then tie into what youre actually trying to go for. So yeah, so I love that you brought that up. Yeah. (28:06 - 28:21) Yeah, anything else? No, I think that pretty much covers it. I just want people to really understand that this is temporary. It's not a forever thing. (28:21 - 28:49) PCOS, you really can, I mean, there's books on it that your body can heal itself and back to the mindfulness and thinking about what you really want in your intention. I really believe that you can heal your body and body, mind and soul, they're all connected. And if you help one thing, it ripples and it ripples through all of them and it ripples into other people too. (28:50 - 29:27) So I don't want you to think that this is gonna be a forever daunting experience. It's just a drop in your lifetime, a moment that, okay, well, we need to fix this and figure it out and start doing things that we need to do to get back to life as you maybe used to know it when you didn't have it and you felt amazing. I personally have celiac and I didn't have it when I first grew up and I felt it come on in my early 20s, but I didn't know what it was. (29:27 - 29:55) And it took me about 15 years to get diagnosed. And it was a very rough thing, but most of it came down to me and my thoughts and me thinking that I didn't wanna change the way I ate and how I knew life to be, eating a bagel, eating pizza like normal, pasta, all the things that we love, I didn't wanna change that. I was extremely stubborn. (29:55 - 30:08) So I struggled with severe migraines for a really long time because I was too stubborn to face the fact that I needed to change. So change is key, change is important. We need it to grow. (30:08 - 30:23) We just have to be willing to take the steps to do the things that we need to do to change because ultimately it's gonna benefit us. No matter what, it's gonna benefit us. Even if it's a small step, even if it's just breathing once a day, just start with that. (30:23 - 30:35) If you think, oh, I can't stop to breathe 10 times a day. Well, yeah, I know we're breathing all the time, but even if it's just something small, put a reminder on your phone. Exactly. (30:35 - 30:49) Take 60 seconds of deep breaths. You just have to start with that one thing. And then all of a sudden a five minute walk that you need in the middle of the day cause you're sitting at your desk can turn into a 10 minute walk, could turn into a 15 minute walk. (30:49 - 31:11) And then all of a sudden you're gonna wanna go for a walk every night because it feels really good to your body. So slight changes can make such a huge difference overall, long-term. Not being defined by your diagnosis, right? Like, you know, a lot of women, whether that's PCOS or anything else, I mean, yeah, like that doesn't define you. (31:11 - 31:21) It's not a prison sentence. You know, you can heal. Like I kind of similarly, not celiac, but I was on the brink of autoimmune disease. (31:23 - 31:34) And, you know, my labs were crazy. I was like, I had joint pain. I had, I started having some reactions to gluten myself, you know, but I fixed it all. (31:35 - 31:39) Now do I, yeah. Do I have to be mindful? Yeah. Absolutely. (31:40 - 31:59) And has it gotten way easier? Yeah. It's been a process, but that's part of what's like led me to this as well because yes, you can heal. For me, that's where the nutrition role came in because for me, it was always about fitness. (32:00 - 32:13) I always thought like, well, if you worked out, like you could just eat whatever you wanted. But then didn't realize how much of a role. Plus as you get older, you know, things, yeah, things aren't like they were. (32:13 - 32:34) So you start realizing how much the nutrition plays a role in all of that. And I think that was the biggest part of what helped me heal for sure. So yeah, just because you get a diagnosis doesn't mean there's nothing else, you know, that can be done. (32:34 - 32:37) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. (32:37 - 32:55) I love that. Well, I think that's a great place to end this. So yes, I really appreciate you taking the time and yeah, I will put the link for your website and you know, your contact and all that. (32:56 - 32:58) Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, when I post this. (32:58 - 33:15) So if you're in the Tampa Bay area, you can easily get to Hannah's group. Whoop, whoop! And come in for a sound bath. We have sound baths once a month and that'll help relax your nervous system and get you out of fight or flight. (33:15 - 33:27) That's one thing, but it also helps you be mindful and chill. It's good. I did a, Hannah had a Galentine's event right around Valentine's Day. (33:27 - 33:36) But yeah, that was part of it. It was like a mini session. And so I actually, after that, it turned me on to it and I started downloading some like sound baths. (33:36 - 33:41) Yeah. Like, you know, on like Apple Music or whatever. And I fall asleep to those and I definitely. (33:42 - 33:45) Oh, good. Definitely helped for sure. Yeah. (33:45 - 33:50) Yeah. So lots of good stuff happening at her place. Well, awesome. (33:50 - 33:54) Thank you again. See you soon. Yes, ma'am. (33:54 - 33:58) Thank you. Wow. What an amazing conversation. (33:58 - 34:08) I hope you're feeling as inspired and empowered as I am. A big thanks to Hannah today for sharing her time, her wisdom, and her heart with us. She will be back for future episodes. (34:08 - 34:22) And if you're in the Tampa Bay area and would like to connect I will post her information in the show notes. If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with a friend who needs to hear it and leave a quick review. It helps us reach even more amazing women just like you. (34:22 - 34:28) Until next time, keep nourishing your body, healing your heart and thriving unfiltered and unstoppable.