i have been having electrolysis on my chin for about 5 mos now, i go weekly for a hour treatment every week, that’s almost 20 hrs of treatment, i still have to shave everyday, the hairs are thinner but i’m wondering how much longer till i wont have to shave everyday? i dont have a full beard, just the sides of my chin and some on my neck. i was a compulsive plucker for over 8 yrs. any ideas from anyone that was in the same boat?
That sounds a little too long of time for what you describe. I have the disadvantage of not seeing you, but if I’m understanding your area correctly, I can get to the first clearing somewhere in that 3.5 - 5 hour window and thereafter, it’s maintenance. Do you have any specifics to offer such as method used, equipment used, magnification equipment, etc.??? Anything you can offer would help. What is the condition of your skin afterwards and how fast do you heal?
Lastly, how many practioners have you sampled in your area?
Your situation sounds a bit prolonged.
Dee
this is the only electrogists i have seen, she is an instructor at a nearby school so i feel that she should be qualified. she goes back and forth with blend and flash, mostly bend, she uses a halo maginification. i’m not sure of her machine. should i be looking for other places? i heal within a day, my skin is pretty much back to normal. you said “Your situation sounds a bit prolonged.”
what is “normal”? i leave with hairs that i can see and feel almost everytime, is this not right??? please help
If you started out with previously plucked hair on the sides of your chin and some hairs on your neck, I’m saying conservatively speaking, that you should have had first clearance way before 20 hours or 5 months of treatment and shaving everyday should not be your problem now. An undetected medical condition can keep the flow of hair growing faster than she can remove them, so keep that in the equation. If you haven’t had hormonal levels checked,that might be something to put on your “to do” list.
Hopefully, you are being cleared each week that you go in and you are not plucking anymore. Even with hair cycling back in, one hour a week for 20 weeks should have you looking finished even though in reality you are not finished yet. Remember the 9-12 month window we talk about all the time? I see clients all day long with a larger surface area than what you describe that are cleared much faster than 20 hours and all they need to do is keep regular appointments so I keep the area cleared until they have completed the time requirement for permanency. They don’t need to shave,except in the very beginning until I can catch up with what hair is already available to treat at the surface of the skin.
Either thermolysis or blend will work fine if the settings are correct. It’s good that your skin heals well. A halo light? Does that mean halogen or a circle magnifier lamp? I guess the fact that your hairs are thinner is progress.
I always encourage people like yourself to have an open conversation with their electrologist to let them know what your concerns are. I don’t wait for my clients to ask me,as I ask them from time to time if they have any concerns or questions. One other question I love asking after several weeks have passed is do you feel like you are better off than when you started. Invariably, the answer is OH YES!
Be involved and unabashed with your practioner. She will appreciate it if you are up front with her, I’m sure.
Dee
i have had my hormones checked and everything is normal, i think its hereditary. she uses a circular magnifier lamp. should i look for someone else? i’ve already spent over $1000, she charges $55 hr. what should i do?
i am working on the same area (chin) so here is my progress thus far so you can compare. i didn’t have a full beard there but there were many coarse black hairs on both sides of my chin. i had been plucking the area every other day for about 7 years, maybe more. i started electrolysis two months ago. by that time there were a lot of ingrown hairs that looked like black dots. i started going twice a week for an hour. at first my electrologist would spend the whole hour on my chin and there would still be a few hairs there. after about two weeks maybe, it would get cleared every time and now during my twice a week hourly treatment, she works on my chin, my eyebrows (between and above them, hairline), and upper lip. the chin is always cleared at every treatment. the eyebrows and upper lip will still have some fine hairs as she tries to get only the most noticeable ones bcs of time constraints. when i first started, two days after electrolysis my chin would look as bad as it did the day i went in. now, after about four days there are a few hairs that are black and coarse and visible (maybe about 7 total on the chin). so if i keep it up twice a week it’s no problem. i don’t shave, or anything. sometimes i clip. the ingrown hair problem is completely gone. i don’t know if my problems are only hereditary. i was anorexic for many years but i’m also arabic. i am having my hormones checked next week. anyways, that is my experience. it has been two months and there are definite NOTICEABLE results. i would ask my electrologist if i were you. maybe ask her how many hairs you are having removed each treatment in that area. good luck to you!
If you were anorexic, that alone would have lead to hair problems. If you have hereditary issues, that would make it worse. It you have hormonal imblances on top of that, it would make it still worse.
Having beat the anorexia, you are in a better position already. Both being seriously underweight, and seriously overweight lead to unwanted, male pattern hair growth. This alone should be incentive enough for most women to eat healthy whole foods, drink water, eliminate chemicals from the diet as best as possible and stay fit.
Catchon,
Why don’t you give someone else the nod. I’m not a fan of circular lamps. That’s what was available to me in electrology school and one doesn’t know how bad this vision equipment is until one see’s into the world of the hair through quality telescopic lenses or stereo magnification. A professional electrologist should really have the best equipment not only for their own selfish reasons of vision protection and ergonomics, but also for the client who expects permanent hair removal in a reasonable period of time. One thousand dollars and you are still shaving! I have a problem with that.
Have you previewed other posts to see what a good treatment
session consists of? There is more to attaining permanency than having a good magnification system. There could be other deficiencies in the practioners technique,needle selection, intensity, timing, lighting, not to mention whether the hair slides out without tugging most of the time.
Don’t waste your energy being worried about all this,but rather, use your energy instead to investigate a better plan for yourself, so all this is done correctly. Okay?
Dee
is there anyone who could recommend a good electrolysis in the boston area, preferrably north of boston, not too far north. i am right outside of boston.
Hi there. I just wanted to add my opinion. I also think you should be further along than you are, given it doesn’t sound like you have THAT much hair. I am currently @ 22 hours worth of electro and can notice a big change and I have a lot more hair than you describe. I’ve been cleared out and now we are chasing new growth and I am noticing it slowing down. There seems to be a lot less. I am still shaving, but it takes approx half the time that it used to. I do not have a shadow any longer either. I anticipate within the next month I should be to the point where I don’t have to shave any more. Please check out my post on my progress and the pictures I have. That may give you a better idea of where you should be. Do keep in mind, I have A LOT more hair than what you say you do! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Good luck to you. It can be accomplished!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Savannah
thanks for all the replies, i went today and told her that i had noticed alot of regrowth and she said it was because i was getting my period. i shaved after i left, i’m beginning myself to think that this is riduculous, i shaved yesterday morning, she says they are short but when i look in the mirror i see them i can pull them with my mails if i wanted, i really dont know how to look for someone else, i’ve searched the web up and down but i wish i could find someone who was pleased with their treatment. should i just try other elctrologists in my area?
Yes, catchon, please interview other electrologists in your area, as this one seems to have an endless list of excuses. I’m sorry that I’m not closer so I could take a look at your situation. Start a search for someone new and go armed with all your hairtell knowledge.
Dee
okay, now i agree with everyone else here that you should look around for others. like i mentioned before in this thread i’ve been doing my chin twice a week for only about 9 weeks and at this point i can now wait 4-5 days and still there is nothing there. since i keep up with the appointments twice a week it only takes probably about 20 mins. AT THE MOST to clear the area when i go to an appointment and then we can move on to other areas. i had a SERIOUS ingrown hair problem in that area and like i said i used to pluck every other day and god knows how long that had gone on. maybe 7 years ago i started plucking, not sure. i really hope you can find someone good because it is amazing how awesome electrolysis is. no more shaving, no more plucking, your skin looks WAY better. i also used to have severe acne and it has dragged on for years in the areas i plucked. now that i don’t pluck any hair whatsoever, no acne and no ingrown hairs. i definitely think you should be seeing better results than you are. and just to drive the point home, electrolysis has been EXTREMELY successful for me after 9 weeks of dedicated appointments, no plucking, and a great electrologist - just for the people that sometimes come to the board saying that there is no proof of the results or that no one every posts positive results. my electrologist is recommended in the electrologist referrals board. she’s amazing, sorry she is not in your area. good luck to you!
again, thanks for all the replies, today i went to consultation for another electrologist, first off she didn’t wear any gloves, i was shocked and she became extremly defensive when i asked what type of needles she uses. she pushed the pulse light laser on me. now i’m even more frustrated. oh and she applied a little makeup to cover the reddness on the area she treated, about 5 hairs. i’m gonna keep looking-thanks for all support!
Yes, keep a hunting, catchon. Glad you have the sense to run from that one. I don’t have time to check your previous posts but, did you check the referral section yet?
Dee
jessie, what were you doing between treatments? how much growth are you giving her? a day or two?
do you think i should try laser at this point?
okay my personal opinion is to NOT try laser. that is just me, i don’t trust it. i have a LOT of very fine hair on my forehead, face, under my chin, and on my neck. i don’t want that hair to grow back more coarse as i have heard other people say. even at this point most of the hair on my upper lip is not really coarse. when i first started i had quite a bit of very coarse very black hair on my chin and the edges of my upper lip. i can’t really say HOW much though. unfortunately i never take pictures. however, when i plucked i HAD to pluck every other day. it was VERY noticeable. so when i first started electrolysis i would have a treatment, in one hour MOST of it would be cleared, and two days later it would look like it did to start with, horrible. then i started going twice a week for an hour. after about a month, i noticed a definite slowdown in growth. instead of looking horrible within two days, it was more like 4 days. now after two months, after a week it looks pretty bad but i can easily go my twice a week and look fine. every now and again i clip the hairs but that’s it, no shaving, bleaching, buffing, or waxing. definitely no tweezing. my last appointment was tuesday. basically i go tuesdays and saturdays. my chin had been done the thursday before so it was about 5 days between treatments. i couldn’t feel any hair on my chin at all. i couldn’t see it either. if i used a magnifying mirror or MAYBE outside in the bright sunlight, i could see some hair. now what is growing in is MUCH finer and lighter. it’s more like the rest of the hair on my face. at this point i don’t do much about that hair bcs you can’t really see it. IF there is time i ask her to work on it. so my chin is ALMOST at that point. eyebrows also are about at that point (more like hairline). the edges of my upper lip are also close to that point but the rest of it has never gotten as much attention as i would like so i am about to start focusing on that. if i were you, i would keep looking for a good electrologist. if you could afford it, once you found one i would maybe try twice a week until the area was caught up. i know that’s easier said than done and depends on money and availability of an electrologist. i hope this answered you question but if not send me a pm. i can’t say enough about how great electrolysis is though, IF you have a competent electrologist. my facial/body hair made me EXTREMELY self-conscious. i am working on face (upper lip, hairline, between eyebrows, chin, and some of the rest of my face), stomach, underarms, and breasts right now. i know people say not to work on so much at once but i am really devoted to it. also, when working on my body i can wait a month or so between treatments so it’s not such a big deal. good luck and pm me if you have any more questions about the chin area to compare your own results.
What city are you in??
boston area roses???