Dying vellus hair

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello everyone, I wrote here a few months ago about my situation : vellus hair on my body.

I had my first appointment yesterday with an electrologist to see what she can do for me.
She said that I have so much light and fine vellus hair that it will be difficult to erase it all

She said that if I dyed my hair in black it will be easier to get all of it.

What do you think?
Has someone (electrologist or hairy fellow :)) ever use that technique??

Because I’m a bit afraid that I’ll also dye all the microscopic hairs I can’t even see…

Thank you for any answers :slight_smile:

1 Like
#2

If one has an excellent visual aid and a proper lighting source to see all vellus hairs, then dyeing hair is not necessary.

Some electrologists do not like treating vellus hair. It is a real time commitment on the client’s part and finding an Electrologist that will do more than an hours worth of work is not easy.

With that said, it is possible to remove vellus hair, if the right strategy is used so as to go as quickly as possible to remove a lot of hair each session.

#3

By definition, “vellus hairs” are tiny nearly-invisible colorless (blond) hairs … and the entire body, in most places, is blanketed with these microscopic hairs. Estimates are that we have 4 - 5 million of them. Everybody has these no-see-'em hairs.

If you are focusing on “the long ones,” you are actually looking at the late-stage “vellus hairs” and eventually all of the millions of hairs will enter this “long” stage … so, again, you have an impossible task. I mean, all those hairs “that you can’t even see” will eventually become hairs that you CAN see … i.e., the normal growing cycles of hairs.

“Difficult to erase it all?” No, impossible to “erase it all.” (That is, if these are truly vellus hairs.) Expensive? I can’t even count that high!

By removing all the vellus hairs (that are high in the skin), you also have the risk of ending up with somewhat less-than-perfect skin (unless you find a super-star of vellus hair removal).

At some point, a thoughtful electrologist should tell you that your desired procedure is a bad idea. Again, do not focus on “just the long ones” … because this is nonsense. Please talk to a well-educated electrologist. What you want is not reasonable.

If your electrologist suggested coloring (dying) said hairs … because she can’t SEE them … well, there’s your answer: nobody can SEE the hairs!

#4

A super-star of said procedure: our own Dee!

#5

Can I be so troublesome and ask for a picture example of vellus hairs and long vellus hairs, if such exist?

Is it safe to say that if a hair is:
a. Not blonde
b. Visible to the naked eye, even if very fine and unnoticeable from afar

…it cannot be considered a vellus hair?

Thank you.

#6

Also, let’s say that we have 5,000,000 of these vellus hairs and find an electrologist who can treat 20 hairs per minute:

5,000,000 hairs x (1 minute/20 hairs) x (1 hour/60 minutes) = 4167 hours (approximately)

With a rate of $60/hour, one should expect to pay around $250,000 for the removal of these 5 million hairs.
If one has a quarter of a million at their disposable, and can book an electrologist literally 5 hours every single day for 2.28 years, then there you go.
Although if undergone, you’d never have to worry about future hair growth, even your hormone balance changes significantly in the future.

#7

All good points Gorillagirl. As you say these hairs could be something else (not true vellus)? We often call these hairs by several names: accelerating vellus hairs, intermediate hairs and (my favorite) “shooters.”

What’s happening is that in the field of real vellus hairs, a few are getting progressively larger due to a range of systemic causes. Indeed, it will take many growth cycles to finally see the “terminal hair” that the shooter will eventually become.

The term “terminal hair” means that the hair has reached the end, or the largest it will ever become … you know, like landing at the airports terminal. (I think the term is from Latin: “Terminus” … meaning the end point?)

Right now, we don’t really know what’s happening with this client. I totally enjoyed, however, your mathematics on this issue.

I hope the original poster does not feel insulted. She did ask for opinion and we are, actually, really trying to help.

The surgeon, with whom I work, says “no” to at least 50% of his potential cases. If a patient wants something that he feels is not warranted, or could harm the patient … he won’t do it. (Others will, and we often see “the horrible results of plastic surgery” all over the internet.)

A good practitioner will protect the patient … from herself!

#8

Oh, I’m definitely not scoffing at OP’s goals - I hope she did not feel insulted by my comments!

What I suspect, and please correct me if I’m wrong, is that OP is calling her “intermediate hairs” by another name - vellus hairs.
The cost and time estimate from before is if OP wanted to remove her “genuine” vellus hairs, but the actual cost and treatment time is significantly lower if what OP means by vellus is not really vellus.

I’m seeking full-body electrolysis (with a high percentage of terminal hairs), and my highest estimates do not exceed 100k or 500 hours.

The way I understand it is that vellus hairs are not visible (to the naked eye), but if light - especially sunlight - is reflected upon them, a fuzzy quality appears to skin. Hence the term “peach fuzz”.

Something like this perhaps? (this is lanugo by the way, but I hope it illustrates a point - from http://ideonexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/lanugo.jpg)

and (from http://pgbeautyscience.com/assets/images/twoh/Chapter%201/Vari%206.jpg)

and (from http://i.stack.imgur.com/o5wzK.png)

“Vellus hairs that are not actually vellus, but intermediate instead” (from http://growingupboys.info/images/skin.jpg)

and (from https://edc2.healthtap.com/ht-staging/user_answer/reference_image/8863/large/Abdomen-central-belly_button.jpeg?1386669685)

Straight up terminal hairs (from http://cdn.zanedo.com/image/data/tria/leg_before%20small.jpg)

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#9

WOW!!!

Okay … yours is the most bestest post I ever done “seen” in my whole life (nearly)!

One thing … a “lanugo” hair is actually a hair that is seen on newly born humans (that are quickly shed soon after delivery).

Lots of textbooks make this mistake … they say “lanugo” when they mean “vellus.” However, the error continues on-and-on because some of our greatestest books still have this erroneous term, e.g., Hinkel’s landmark book.

#10

By vellus hair I meant that I haven’t terminal hair but they are long and dark enough for people to see it…
Sorry English isn’t my native language
It looks a bit hairier than the pictures “Vellus hairs that are not actually vellus, but intermediate instead”

And my electrologist did explain me that hair free is impossible (that is not what I’m looking for)
I’m actually covered in dark “vellus” hair and she and I agreed to go for a good reduction on areas that bother me the most

The problem is that most of my hair are long and dark but the root is usually blond so you can’t really see it

so that wasn’t really the answers I was looking for but thanks anyway

I have another question : is this possible that on never shaved or epilated hair only one clearance could get most of the work done?

thanks

#11

Thanks Michael! Now I’m a major contributor - woo!

@ Camille: Well, I think the first step was trying to establish what type of hair you did indeed have. If it was really vellus, then the advice given to you would have been probably along the lines of “if your hairs are invisible to the naked eye, perhaps even reconsider having electrolysis on them.”

But now that you’ve indicated that this isn’t the case, then it’s confirmed they are quite visible.
In fact, without coloring the hair, your electrologist could probably give you treatments if there is proper magnification.

And yes, it seems like sometimes hair is dyed for visibility:
On this page you can see a picture example:

If your electrologist has a high kill rate, you can have upwards of a 50% reduction from a first clearance (as in, all visible hairs are treated). Because hair grows in cycles and there are some hairs under the skin at the time of the first clearance, you will inevitably have to get another clearance to tackle those.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

#12

Yeay this helps thanks :slight_smile:

You worried me yesterday but now I feel better thank you !

#13

Camille, can you see any hair here?

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#14

Call me crazy, but I remember the “Woman’s Movement” and when women went “au naturale.” You know what? A little hair here and there, a little tummy fat … all of those NATURAL ASPECTS didn’t diminish a woman’s appeal one iota. But that’s not the trend any more.

With the advent of Photoshop, the standard of female beauty has reached actual unattainable levels. We live in a world where a woman can become instantly famous by simply pulling out one of her “giblets” and shaking it at the public. Lovely!

(Why is Kim Kardashian famous? What did she write, research, make, or do for others? I’m just curious. Is that self-absorbed idiot the standard women seek to become? Is just having a nice butt all it takes these days?)

And women, especially young ones, are buying into this insanity. The new cover of Sports Illustrated (controversial by design) is a case in point. Not only has the hair been “photoshopped away” but … I’m getting graphic here … I think her (upper) vagina has been a bit erased too! I’ve seen a few vaginas in “my day” (not that many!) and I don’t remember … well never mind.

Maybe Sports Illustrated plans to introduce a new video game: "Where’s the Vagina?

Younger women seem to be increasingly focused on microscopic and unimportant body parts and HAIR! Neurotic is taking on a new definition: NORMAL. Maybe it’s time for another female “rebellion?” I’m ready to march!

Read the following:

#15

No not at all !
I’m impatient to see your point :slight_smile:

#16

I understand what you mean Michael but I really have a hairiness problem!
My electrologist didn’t denied that ! She however said that she’s willing to help me reduce it but insisted that I can’t shoot for perfection and that I have to accept myself because as you said : beauty standards are unrealistic :slight_smile:

http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/download/Number/673/filename/image2png.png this is a part of my belly if you want to know what I consider not normal

#17

Actually, I was not talking about you AT ALL Camille … I was talking about unrealistic standards by which women sometimes condemn themselves.

I almost never address individual people on this site … I will jump in their “thread” to make a bigger point about society in general.

I hope you understand this and were not offended.

#18

Well like you, at first glance, I could not see any hair. To be more precise, only a couple of them. I think you can see them better in these two images. You can enlarge the image by pressing the right button.

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My point is that if you yourself can see the hair, a professional should also be able to see it. With the help of magnification we can see hairs that the naked human eye can not see, as you can see in the picture immediately after.

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#19

The first pictures “before” were taken 5 months after the last clearance.

Would you like to see the “before” earlier this clearance? Here they are:

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#20

These are the real pictures “before”. At the start of treatment by electrolysis:

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