Diary!

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

hi all,

So now I’ve been to see three different people and it seems third time lucky! First one was thermolysis, but i could feel her plucking the hairs and it was very pricey and i read that thermolysis was not as easy to get right for the electrologist as other types. So second week, i had galvanic - single needle - in a different place. She didnt achieve full clearance in a 45 min session though, as its slower, and so I decided to keep looking around.

Today was quite successful - so third week lucky! the lady used blend, place was clean. She talked me through the process properly and it didnt feel rushed - even though she only charges for the actual time spent removing hair - a huge bonus around here I’ve noticed where in some places they like to add 10 euro here or there just for having spoken to you!

She recommended Rose Musk Oil for skin care, as it helps prevent scarring she says and also hydrates well. I saw Rose Hip oil mentioned on this forum previously (stoppit is an advocate I believe!) and wondered if any body has opinions on this Rose Musk? I shall let you know how it goes for me anyway.

Today she used blend for 30 minutes and cleared chin and upper lip totally. I am a little red now (2 hours after) as normal. Lets see how well my skin takes that intensive a session with Blend in the coming days.

One question - the electrologist suggested that rather than coming in once a week for 30-40 min sessions, rather I come twice a week for shorter sessions and clear whatever is available to clear. She says this will be easier on my skin. Note that so far my skin has been fine actually, so apart from initial redness, usually no problems or even postules or scabs.

What do you people think about twice a week sessions? Price wise, should work the same. I have the time and flexibility. My real concern is that i would have to let the hair grow out all the time - at the moment I tend to use razor as needed for first 5 days and then leave the last 2 days for the growth to be there for the next session. If I have twice a week sessions - then i’d have to leave the hair growing most of the week…not sure if i’d be happy to walk around like that…

but if it meant a better, faster and ‘terminal’ result in the long term - well, I’ll do it of course!
tell me please

lan

#2

Sorry - forgot to give the stats:
Female, Blonde hair, light skin
PCOS, but hormones level being managed with the pill
Problem area - chin and upper lip
Location - spain
Funds available to fix this debilitating problem - Limited!

#3

Hey lan,

Sounds great!

My blend treatment was similar. Initially on the upper lip I was having 20-25 min long treatment. The redness and swelling had gone down without two hours. The next day, the skin looked normal except rarely I’d wake up with a whitehead or two. No further skin issues. Scabbing never occurred.

As for which method, neither will affect long term results. Just do whichever you feel more comfortable with. You may want to try twice a week and you may find the growing hairs are not so much of a problem. But it really does not matter.

As for the Rose Musk… I googled it. If this information is correct then it sounds like rosehip seed oil to me! The same thing I recommend as a great moisturiser and for fading PIH… I doubt you will get any though.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/rosehip-oil-benefits.html

#4

Going twice would be fine your electrologist is probably trying to get you out of the habit of shaving, you mentioned you have blonde hair if it is fine it can take a few days to become noticeable after shaving thereby treatable. Also it will only be for a few weeks that you should need double treatments thereafter maybe every 5-6 days, 7-10 and so on depending on what growth you can tolerate

#5

When one is doing only electrolysis for hair removal, it is easier for the practitioner to establish the difference between a hair that needs to be treated, because it is socially noticeable, and the hairs that don’t need to be treated because they are socially insignificant.

#6

Hi all

Update - week 4

So yes, i should probably change the thread title…but not sure how to do that!

Having tried thermolysis and galvanic, I finally settled on a good place that does blend last week (week 3) on chin and upper lip. This week, i went back to that lady and she carried out ‘flash’. Is that the same as blend by the way? or is it thermolysis?

Eitherway i am happy with the lady as she really goes for every noticeable hair and is very fast. She tells me the hairs are sliding out well, and although in some cases she had to give it a bit more of a zap, my skin reacted quite well so she was happy to treat me again this week.

Between week 3 and 4 very little growth! I was astounded to be honest as I have been plucking for so many years and the gaps between sessions for the first 3 brought on such thick and awful hair that I had been using a razor mid week to remain presentable. But the past week - it was not necessary…a great achievement.

Only 15 mins this time around (first 3 weeks I did 30 or even 45 mins once a week).

So my question is…is this just a lull in hair growth? will there be regrowth with a vengence just around the corner?? …or is it really possible to see results in only 4 weeks of treatment?

please let me know as I dont want to build up false hopes and then suddenly regress to hairy monster in a months time!

lan

#7

ps: rosehip or ‘rosa musqueta’ oil is just fantastic, very hydrating and i had no skin issues at all using this. A few small drops go a long way. I started to use it on little crows feet wrinkles too as it has so many healing properties. Electrologist told me to keep using it as it makes her work easier as skin is in better shape.

#8

At the moment, you have cleared many of the hairs that were present but hair grows in stages and not all follicles have emerged hairs in them at the same time (awkward explanation). When you started electrolysis, you only had a portion of your active follicles with hairs in them. You will begin to see new hairs emerge over time (not the same ones you just had treated) but I imagine your electrologist will clear them away as soon as they show up.

It takes a bit longer to see results, I’d say about 6 months in.

#9

Update - Week 6

I am female, PCOS sufferer - using dianette to control androgens. Electrolysis treatment to clear upper lip and chin has been like this:

Week 1 - 45 mins -thermolysis - expensive, felt the lady plucking and didnt return
Week 2 - 50 mins - galvanic single needle - too slow and full clearance not achieved! continued on my search for a blend specialist
Week 3 - 45 mins - nice new place that I have now settled on - the lady told me she does blend and she does have option to do blend on her machine, but it is always set to ‘flash’ when I look at it.
Week 4 - 13 mins!!! amazingly little regrowth between weeks 3-4
Week 5 - 20 mins - hairs back with a vengance but full clearance achieved within 20mins
Week 6 - 20 mins - hair growth same as previous week

I have not had any issues so far - touch wood- with scabbing, scarring or even little spots. Using Aloe vera post treatment and Rosehip (rosa moschata) oil as moisturiser twice daily. I have not tweezed at all since beginning the process.

I have a few questions I hope you can help me with:

  1. Can ‘flash’ be a type of blend or is it a type of thermolysis? Sorry this clarification has surely been asked for before, but i’m still so confused!Is ‘flash’ as quick with kill rates first time around as blend is?

  2. The machine looks modern, has three buttons (flash, thermolysis and blend), the make of the machine is Ros, and the logo says ‘Cleo’. At the end of the session she puts a plastic thing against my skin and a pink light pulses through it -she says it is disinfecting and calming for the skin. Anybody heard of this machine before??

  3. Based on the above trends; is it possible to make an educated guess as to when I could start to space my appointments to two weeks?

I hope you can help me with my queries and help me stay motivated on this long term task!

thanks to all for the support
lan

#10

I wanted to answer this before but I held off in case I was wrong. I had hoped one of the electrologist’s would answer. To my knowledge, flash is thermolysis. Kill rate all depends on the the person and their skill with the modality.

You seem to be on track. In the beginning, you will be having weekly appointments. Just keep going and you will soon find you can wait longer periods between apps.

#11

Thanks stoppit - can anybody answer or make some estimates for the other questions please?

  • have you heard of that machine and the ‘disinfecting light’?
  • should i ask this woman to press the blend button rather than continue with flash? Im concerned about scarring from the heat technology…last couple of weeks i had some little scabs
  • when,oh when, can anybody guess will i be able to space the appointments to two weeks apart?
#12

Is it an attachment like this?
http://www.aarkelectrolysis.com/html/lighttherapy.html

Some electrolysis machines have attachments that are supposed to sooth the skin and stuff like that, post treatment. I don’t know if there is any benefit to them. I doubt they are harmful but I’m otherwise sceptical.

Some scabs are normal with thermolysis, this does not mean you will get scarring. Did you see my photos?! You can perhaps ask her why she is using flash over blend.

No one can give you an estimation since we don’t know the density of your hair or the speed and skill of your electrologist. I’d say give it at least 2-3 months.

My work friend stared with my London electrologist for her eyebrows. But before this, I made her stop plucking and grow them out (she could trim the growth) for about 2 months before starting. This meant she had most of the hair present at starting. Then, over a 2-3 week period she put in a lot of time to get them cleared. Once cleared, she went a good 4 weeks with no electrolysis on the eyebrows. By 4 weeks later, enough new growth had appeared that she went for another session but a single 30 min session got it clear to the previous level again.

So it really depends on how you go about the process. If she had started going with only one week of eyebrow growth (i.e. stopped plucking for only a week), she would have needed to go weekly to catch the hairs that kept appearing every week. Instead, we let all this come through to have a better idea of the amount to hair she actually had, then started.

I hope you get what I mean.