I have received 12 laser hair removal treatments on my face, the latest being in August. I have seen about a 80% reduction in my beard on my face and neck. I do not believe that any future laser appointments will do any more to my face and am looking at finishing it off with electrolysis. I am wondering how effective electrolysis will be after receiving laser and how many hours I should expect to plan this for. If it helps, I started out with a thick beard and I have minimal stubble on my upper lip, some on my cheeks, and a couple patches on my neck. This would pretty much be cosmetic as you cannot see the hair anymore and the fact that I hate the feeling of a rough face. Sorry for the long post.
Well there are some things you need to know about moving from laser to electrolysis that indirectly relate to your questions.
What I’m getting at is that you wont know approximately how much growth is left, for months to years. Often when laser is performed it places the follicles in a stagnant, partially destroyed state. Sometimes, these follicles grow another hair at some point in the future months or years down the line .So even after you “finish off” with electrolysis you will find a hair growing at a later , unpredictable time. So it’s often necessary to have ocasional sessions with electrolysis for a much longer period.
To give an example of this, I completed my face roughlyy 2 years ago, but today I removed probably about 75 hairs from it that werent growing within the last year. I do this every 4-6 months or so, and it takes me under an hour and I expect to see it happen for a few years to come. I did 12 sessions of laser about 3 years ago.
On average a descent professional should be able to complete a facial electrolysis in about a little over a years time, with approximately 100 hours of work. After 12 sessions of laser it took me, well, over 100 hours :). So asking for an estimate on the basis of what you have already done, is very difficult to predict.
Seana
Electrolysis will absolutely finish it off and is the only thing that will do so. That said, most likely, you’re going to regrow a lot of the hair that you think laser got rid of. Typically, I see it starting about 6 months after someone’s last laser treatment, but sometimes, I see it as quickly as 6 weeks after the last laser treatment and other times, it starts coming in again 2-5 years later.
With that in mind, I find it totally impossible to give even a rough estimate of how much time it’s going to take to finish someone that had laser done, even if they are standing right in front of me… and that if you see all of the “electrolysis” hair regrowing, it’s not the hairs killed with electrolysis that are coming back, it’s the laser stuff that wasn’t really killed. Sometimes, the laser stunted hair returns faster than your electrologist can keep up with it (as happened with a recent client of mine that got his back done with laser. He was coming to me for just the white hair and 6 weeks after his last laser appointment, he had a back full of hair again - I’d clear the area and the next week, the area was just as full as it was the prior week).
That’s pretty much exactly my experience Emancipated.
Not only yours… but usually we’re faster than the regrowth…
Well Adamj, I hope the comments from Emancipated Elect and Beate are enough to convince you that YES electrolysis is the only and best way to finish off this process. They are right. In fact I dont think you will get any different opinion from anyone on this board though you might find a few that wouldnt take on your case because they cannot guarantee the results.I also dont think that anyone here can give you a reasonable estimate as to how much removal you will need to go through.
I took a few moments to review your previous posts and found, I’ve pretty much given you all this information before you started laser.I used to post here under the handle SeanaTG and when you came here in july of last year, I mentioned that ideally laser sessions should be spaced 2-3 months apart for best effectiveness. Here you are, 14 months later, saying you have had 12 sessions, so about once monthly? The math is about right.I dont think I did a very good job back then of explaining all the reasons for this, and it’s sort of pointless now to do so, but your progress with laser pretty much matches my own, if maybe a LITTLE bit better result from your description but we wont really wont know much for several months.
It’s at this point that I will ( non-accusingly) point out that in some circles insanity is defined as doing exactly the same thing in the same way, multiple times , and expecting a different result. That’s kinda what we have here isnt it?
I want to say that "starting with laser then finishing off with electrolysis " is a position that I find the bulk of transpeople are told, and I wanted to make this point rock solid, because no matter how many times I say it, it seems people dont want to listen to the voice of experience. You would have had a faster and more thorough result had you never attempted to do laser.
It’s a bit late for that now, what’s done is done. The best case scenario is to begin your electrolysis and be done with the problem as you desire it to be finished with.
What I CAN do is give you a reasonable set of expectations based on our very similar experiences. So here’s what I noticed about my journey progress wise and I hope it is helpful in your own path. I also kinda hope you take my advice this time.
When I finally stopped laser, in may-june-ish I started electrolysis the next October. We are pretty much matched here. Initially I was learning the craft ( I self treated, which had both advantages and disadvantages) . In the 4 months that followed I removed A LOT of hair . More than I thought I had started with, but still had quite a bit of it. Typically in the 4-9 months after commencing regular sessions others also experience a bit of dysphoria and helplessness, thinking that the process isnt working, and I’m pretty certain you will be facing this as well. So I wanted to let you know that it isnt true. You will be making progress. What Beate says is correct in a lot of cases, but not in mine. The rate of regrowth post laser exceeded wha tI was able to remove, even working sometimes upwards of 30-40 hours a week. I was also self treating, so a bit slower than having someone work on me. However by the tenth month after starting I took this picture, I used to use as a profile picture here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG_1436.JPG
It was at this point, I was able to slow down and let the hairs grow in and started treating less frequently, maybe 3-4 hours every month-2 months and that time committment has dwindled ever since.It’s not done yet! I still am being a “demo Dolly” next week at the same place I got my laser from, but this time teaching a bunch of electrolysis students while they work to clear my neck where I cant work. I will be removing “new regrowth” for a couple more years I bet.But by 10 months what you see is a beard shadow free face, nice and smooth ( just like you described you wanting) that just required frequent and long term maintenance to keep it that way.
My best advice for you, assuming yoou have the time and money to begin electrolysis, would be summed up as follows:
Get as much electrolysis early on as you possibly can. If you have availability , there is still hair on your face, and the time to do it, book another session as fast as you can and get it done.
Dont let the dysphoria monster get you 4-9 months in. Know that you are making progress with every hair removed and that electrolysis is PERMANENT. If we kill a hair with electrolysis, it stays dead! Forever! .
Dont be concerned with the amount of regrowth post laser, it is what it is and if you keep being persistent with removing it as you are able that eventually the hair will be gone. If there’s hair there and you have the ability to do so,kill it with extreme predjudice.Expectation should be at this point you will see grotesque amounts of regrowth from about 2 months post laser to around 9 or so months and should taper off at that point but keep comiing for 3years? 6 years? 9 years? in ever diminishing amounts. The exact time frame, hasnt ever been determined.
Beate indicates that “usually we are faster than the regrowth” , well I definitly was not faster than the regrowth but I definitely achieved a good result with persistence and I did a lot to catch up when the regrowth slowed, which it eventually will .
I hope that this time you will take into account the voice of experience. I’m not usually a “told you so” kinda girl .
Seana
I just wanted to say in addition what I experienced in regrowth after spacing laser appointments a month apart for a year just like you did, that the amount I experienced in regrowth was approximately 90% of what laser actually removed in the first place. I may still have 10% to come at some point.
Seana
Just an update. I found an electrologist about 2 hours from me but being in school and working part time, I am not sure how often I am going to be able to make it down there for appointments. Will it still be effective if they are spaced weeks apart?
Short answer: Yes
Longer answer: I drove 2 hours for beard electrolysis and went every 1-2 weeks (a few times with 3 week gaps). It’s certainly effective and doable. Also, with laser, provided the settings are good, you won’t have “everything grow back.” Most people that get that were treated on too low settings. If you were treated at high settings, you may have some regrowth but it won’t be like it was.
Okay thank you. I was treated on pretty high settings for laser. I have my first appointment scheduled for February 15th 
A little under a month before I start my journey. Any thing I should do before and after y appointment to ensure I get the most out of electrolysis?
http://www.electrology.com/member.html?uid=1021&which=1
This is a link to the girl I am going to see for electrolysis. Can someone explain to me what “shortwave” means before thermolysis?
Shortwave and RF and Thermolysis all mean pretty much the same thing.
Here’s a quick explanation I found:
Thermolysis
Another method is known as thermolysis, radio frequency (RF), shortwave or diathermy. A thermolytic epilator is essentially a radio transmitter, usually with an output of about 0-8 watts at a frequency of 13.56 MHz. RF energy emanates from the probe tip to tissue within about a millimeter. Thermolysis works by heating the hair matrix cells to about 48 to 50 °C (118 to 122 °F), causing electrocoagulation.
Frick me we seem to be getting a lot of new electrologists on the board with really good knowledge.I’m liking this trend!
Seana
I have a few more questions before I have my first treatment. Is 4 days of not shaving enough? How long after is it okay to put on makeup to cover any redness? How long after is it okay to shave?
4 days is plenty, you could probably get away with 2, 3 max.
You wont like my other answer! It’s okay to use makeup or sunscreen, once the redness subsides therefore nullifying the purpose of the makeup in the first place. Shaving, I have no opinion, I have lots of clients who shave even before they have left after a session. I think my partner however is somewhat more conservative in this matter.
Seana
I think so too: make-up is fine and pretty much soon after.
The healing process SLAMS the follicle closed-up and shut … within an hour or so … nuttin’s going in. However, best is to use a new (jar) “foundation” and apply with clean washed fingers.
But then, if the redness is already gone … as Seana just said.
I have a number of people that want to use makeup immediately after - often to the point of walking down the hall to the bathroom as soon as they leave my office. I recommend against it, but if someone really wants to, I give them a tube of post-electrolysis sealer for free, telling them to apply that first.
As far as shaving goes, I typically tell people I prefer 2-3 days growth… less than that means I spend more time grabbing the hair than I do treating them. I do have a few people that 2-3 days isn’t enough for. After treatment, I recommend waiting until the next day to shave an area we worked on or else risking the razor tearing the skin up, given the post-treatment edema (though it might be less brutal with an electric razor).
Emancipated, can you tell me more about this “post electrolysis sealer”? I havent heard of it. If you have product links that would be wonderful.
Seana
Apres Cream from Sterex. I buy it from TES by the box (10 per box) for about $31 and, at that price, I don’t mind giving it away, so long as the same client isn’t constantly asking me for more (one tube will last someone quite a long time).
My people that insist on makeup right after electrolysis seem to have no post-treatment complications if they use it before putting their regular makeup on over it (and sometimes those same people will forget to put it on after treatment, and DO end up with pimples and pustules after applying their makeup).
Thank you! I was talking to my partner today and she also indicated the sterex product and showed me an avert for it she recieved recently.
We’ve seen some Board of HEalth inspections this year for electrolysis establishments as to adherence to infection control standards for Ottawa. We have never been inspected but many of our competitors have. The city puts the results online. One of the things we noticed, was a cause of failures was failure to communicate adequate aftercare instructions either orally in writing.
So this caused me to review what we were communicating to our clients, and revamp it. The information you have provided on the sealant may well fuel some further changes to that document.
I think as much as we all do electrolysis differently, every electrologist has their own way of going about aftercare too.I think it’s an important part of healing nd for the most part I advocate washing/soaking the area multiple times a day and keeping the skin as contaminant free as possible.
Seana