Dissatisfied with results after 4 years - advice?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

It’s been so long since I last posted…

I’m a 26-year-old female with facial and body hair. I’ve been focusing on clearing my face for the last four years, and it’s just not happening. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong, and how I can get a better handle on this hair. My hair is dark, fairly deep-rooted, with some follicle distortion from a round of laser hair removal and plucking as a teenager. I’m one of the lucky victims of laser-induced paradoxical hair growth (my hair became longer, thicker, and darker as a result).

I’ve been to many practitioners over the years, and have been treated with all three modalities (and all sorts of machines). I haven’t had the opportunity to work with one electrologist for over a year because of frequent moves. My favorite modality so far has been multi-needle galvanic (my skin showed little/no reaction, and it helped tremendously with ingrowns). My least favorite by far has been thermolysis. In fact, the “fancier” the machine, the worse the outcome for me so far (especially with burns/skin reactions and increased ingrowns). But, as far as I can tell, my facial hair hasn’t thinned out very much at all despite probably over a hundred hours of electrolysis.

Right now I’m being treated with the Apilus Platinum, and I believe my electrologist is using the Synchro setting (we’ve tried other settings as well). If the setting is too low, she starts plucking - I let her know that I feel plucking, and she raises the setting. This fixes the plucking issue, but then my skin reacts pretty badly. In the short term, I get bumps, redness, and scabbing for about five days. Over time, I’ve noticed much more frequent and deep ingrowns leading to cystic acne. I don’t know enough about the specifics of picoflash to understand why this happens.

I feel as though I’ve wasted thousands of dollars dealing with a problem that just won’t go away, while damaging my skin in the process. I’m not sure what to do right now. I’ve gotten blood tests, which show a borderline high testosterone level, but I don’t think that by itself could make it impossible to kill these hairs, just harder. And I don’t think that this hair is all new growth, though I can’t be certain of that.

Any ideas? Am I doing something wrong? Have I overlooked something, or do I just have poor luck? Could my hormones really be making it this hard?

Alternatively, if anyone can recommend anybody in Northern California who they have personally worked with (not just heard about or spoken to), I would really appreciate it.

#2

  • You can’t judge things by the machine. The most important thing is skill and settings. Anyone can do a great job with any method and a poor job with any method. I’ve had all my electrolysis done with thermolysis except for one area with deeper curlier hairs (needed blend for that) with no side effects and great results.

  • The electrologist shouldn’t have to be told whether they’re plucking. They should feel if the hair is not sliding out without resistance. I would try a different electrologist who’s more experienced and skilled.

  • Where in Nor Cal are you located? An electrologist from Hayward used to post here. There are also a bunch of places that get good reviews on Yelp in SF: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=electrolysis&ns=1&find_loc=San+Francisco%2C+CA#sortby=rating

  • I would concentrate on finding someone using thermolysis, or even better microflash, and schedule several long appts within a week or two to completely clear the area you want hairfree. Then, come in once every 2-3 weeks to clear any new hairs that pop up. That’s the most efficient way to do electrolysis so that you’re not constantly retreating hairs in the wrong phase of growth.

  • Have you seen an endocrinologist? Do you know what’s causing your growth? Have you been cleared from PCOS? If you have an underlying medical condition causing the growth, it will continue to make your body produce new hair. So you would need to get the condition under control.

#3

Thanks for the response LAgirl. Part of my frustration is that I haven’t been choosing my electrologists based on machines, but based on reviews and the conversations I have with them. Two of my electrologists in the past were highly recommended on this forum, and they sounded great (and they are, in fact, great people) but the treatment I received from them wasn’t effective. I should note - I generally go every week (or every other week if the electrologist recommends it) for one hour. I’ve had some stretches without electrolysis, but I’ve been pretty regular about it.

I have seen a number of endocrinologists. Though my testosterone is on the high side of normal, I have a number of classic PCOS symptoms like sensitivity to sugar, acne, and depression. I also have mild hypothyroidism. I am unsure if there is a connection between hirsutism and hypothyroid. I manage my issues by taking thyroid medication, exercising religiously, and avoiding sugar and simple carbs. Other women in my family have excess facial hair, and not all of them have hormonal issues, so this is likely due to a mix of hereditary and hormonal factors.

I live in the Bay Area (Berkeley) and work near Sacramento. I hate to “break up” with my current electrologist because she’s a really nice person, but I really should… I’m open to trying more people until I get this right. And I’ll take your advice and try to get initial full clearance rapidly. Thanks again for your advice.

#4

For the sake of illustration (and because I should keep a record of this), I was treated four days ago on Monday, and this is what my skin looks like today:

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I just shaved today, but I think I’ll give it some time for the hairs to grow out and I’ll post another pic. My clogged pores are almost always ingrowns.

Does this look like over-treatment?

#5

Regardless of your hormonal situation, I am concerned about going for 4 years without results.

Most concerning, I think, is the point about the electrologist plucking your hair if the setting is too low. I would hope that he/she would tell you that your hairs are simply too strong for the low settings, and find another way of removing the hairs without causing you unbearable pain (e.g double pulsing at a lower setting).

Unfortunately I cannot recommend anyone in California, as I do not know that area at all.

I have often said to people that for someone with a severe hair problem, finding a good electrologist is 10X more difficult than finding a brain surgeon. And I am not being at all facetious with that statement.

Good luck. I was once so hairy that I could barely appear in public for all the ingrowns and hairs. Thanks to my hardworking electrologist (she is relentless with the hairs!), I am so much better now - it’s a remarkable difference. This is a long journey - hopefully you will find a sweet spot. Hang in there.

#6

Glad you posted in on this Orangecode. Since I am familiar with you situation, I can say that I think you can help by telling us how long it took for you to get from not wanting to go out in public, to being confident that everything was under control.

#7

Cal grad here :slight_smile: Cheers

Thyroid issues are definitely connected to excessive growth. Lots of that info available online.

I would do as you stated and get a full clearance and then come in to clear any new hairs every 2-3 weeks. In 6-7 month, you’ll be able to assess the situation better. I think it’s hard to judge things the way you’ve been tackling the situation as you’re likely lettings hairs slip into the wrong phase of growth etc.

Finding someone who gets insertions just right where you feel the hairs slide out without resistance is important. I would concentrate on finding someone who does this well. Also, consider doing blend (at least after initial clearnace with faster thermolysis method) since this particular area can have deeper curlier hairs.

#8

Thanks - I’m confused about one thing, though. How am I letting the hair slip into the wrong phase if I’ve consistently been getting work every week - every two weeks for the past year and a half? I’m a little confused about that (sorry if I’m missing something!)

Also, do the pictures look at all like I’m reacting badly, or is this normal?

Sorry for all the questions. Lack of progress, spending so much money, and having scabby skin has been bringing me down and I just want to make sure I’m not doing something wrong.

#9

Just to confirm… you have never tweezed hairs since you started electrolysis???

You are not slipping out of hair growth cycles if you staying that close to your electrologist. Something is not right here. The most severe case that I have treated is not even close to what I am seeing in your pictures and it won’t be taking anywhere near four years.

DO you have anymore details to offer?

#10

No tweezing whatsoever. I did take nine months off from electrolysis in 2009, and a month off late last year. Otherwise, regular appointments since around January 2007, no tweezing or waxing or anything. I use my husband’s electric razor in between appointments.

Another thing is that I got off hormonal birth control (Yasmin) about a year after I started electrolysis (about three years ago) and I do believe that transition increased my facial hair somewhat. I don’t think my continued lack of success is because of that. The rest of my body hair hasn’t increased at all.

And lastly - so far, every electrologist I’ve had who uses thermolysis has been very surprised that they’ve had to use fairly high settings on me and that my hairs are really stubborn. One thought I had was that I might not be hydrated enough. I try my best to drink a lot of water, especially before appointments, and sometimes it helps and other times the hair is just as stubborn.

#11

If you’re not clearing the area each time, then you don’t know whether the hairs the electrologist chooses to treat each time are in anagen. That’s what I meant.

You should drink a lot of water regardless, so definitely do that. And less or no caffeine.

I think the reaction in the photos is a bit too harsh. There shouldn’t be much redness within a day or so, in my experience.

#12

That makes sense. The areas are being mostly (but not completely) cleared each session. It’s totally possible that some are being missed.

Thanks again, this is good to know. I’m on day five and my skin is still in pretty bad shape. I’ve canceled my appointment for next week to let my skin rest and to figure out a new course of action.