Electrolysis diary

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi all. I have been lurking on this forum for many years. I am a South Asian woman in my mid 30s. I have always had a huge hair problem, literally worse than any other woman I’ve ever met or any woman’s photos that I have seen on here. My face and body are more hirsute than most mens’. My hormone levels are all normal.

I have no good way of concealing the hair. Throughout college, I used to spend every Saturday afternoon tweezing and waxing my entire face. Not only did it waste a tremendous amount of time, make a terrible mess, and was painful, but by the next Friday it would all be showing again. Chemical depilatories gave me painful burns and the hair was back within two days, as if I’d shaved. Eventually I gave up and started shaving. Shaving every day was horrible and made me feel like a freak of nature. Not only that but I have light skin and dark, coarse, black hair that is really long under the skin–so I have terrible five o’clock shadow. I need to cover up constantly at work with makeup and by the end of the day it is noticeable anyway and I cringe every time I thought I’ve hidden it, but someone comments on it.

The hair has caused me tremendous problems in my self-esteem, relationships, etc. I don’t even like to get close to my husband.

I have looked into laser and electrolysis for years but I was busy with kids, work, and family medical emergencies and until now I have never had the courage or opportunity to go. I wasn’t sure about laser since I have read so many stories of it not working well. I have light brown skin and coarse, dark hair.

I began electrolysis three weeks ago and had a consult. She told me to come in weekly, and I have had two sessions of 45 minutes each. My electrologist uses thermolysis. She said that my hairs are coming out easily, whatever that means. She was also amazed by how long they are under the skin. She began working on my chin and cleared maybe a penny-sized area of my chin on each visit. After the first visit I was red and puffy for several days. The second session was more painful but I had much less of a reaction. The pain and swelling are already gone a day later…it could be she changed the settings (she said she tried turning down the time) or that I used a lot more witch hazel and I added some Neosporin. Both times I had a number of what looked like needle marks and small scabs afterwards.

It looks like it will be a long, slow, and painful process.

I wonder if I am doing the right thing going to electrolysis before even attempting laser. My practitioner has been in business 20+ years and is a CPE, but I am still a little nervous because I cannot locate any reviews and I have nothing to compare the experience to.

I just hope this works. Any thoughts from the experts are welcome. I know it might be impossible based on just the information I’ve provided to say how long this might take, but any estimates, no matter how ballpark, would be helpful. Encouragement and support too, would be greatly appreciated.

#2

You are definitely doing the right thing by going with electrolysis. Your skin type would probably mean laser is less effective; laser does not kill every hair (only gives a reduction) and relies on the heat going from any hair that is showing on the surface of the skin to the root of the hair below the skin (so if your hairs are long under the skin or ingrown it would be less effective).

You can’t usually rely on the reviews of others. If at all possible, try another electrologist. Read a little about the hair growth process and it will help you assess how knowledgeable your electrologist is. Pain is normal, as are some marks and scabbing/swelling. Once the thicker hairs are gone you will find your skin reacts less.

You might find aloe more effective than witch hazel if your goal is to lessen swelling - make sure it is pure and cold.

#3

Thanks Emilily! That is good information about laser. I do have thick, dark, coarse black hair and I am sure I will have to consider laser for the rest of my body, but somehow my feeling was to start with electrolysis for my face. It’s good to hear that my reaction at least is normal and doesn’t raise any red flags.

Thank you for the information about aloe.

#4

It’s a few days after session 2. So I have now had about two hours total. My face is still sore. The area cleared was minuscule. I have no idea how many years this is going to take. I am feeling disheartened.

#5

:frowning: it is hard when you first start out.
I was able to get clearance or what I thought was clearance at the time as I only focused on the black hairs.
In UK they don’t do more than an hour at a time in general so you’re lucky to get the 2 hours but if you can bare it and she will offer more try a 3 hour session if she will.

My electrolyisis recommened Elma to a TG client but my electrolyisis also does no more than an hour at a time, she is elderly now and say’s she can’t do longer session, although she did used to when she was younger.

Also when you start out the more often you go the better, I started every 2 weeks but she did tell me that I think to put my mine at ease regarding my own hair concerns that she has some clients that start out coming in twice a week one.

It can be expensive if your going for lots of sessions and longer times but I would only weigh that up with better clearance sooner and hopefully feeling better in yourself. x

#6

Hi Helen! Thanks for the encouragement. My sessions are 45-50 minutes…the 2 hours is my total treatment time so far (two sessions plus a consult.) Right now I’m going once a week; I really wish I could manage more but only Saturdays work for me right now…

#7

Third session tomorrow. I used aloe vera last week (thanks Helen). I am still a bit sore from the previous session although there is no visible effect. I think it is because I was getting my period last week. I am beginning to see regrowth in the small areas my electrologist cleared on the first two sessions.

Everybody says the beginning is hardest, but with my amount of hair and how coarse it is, I am not sure this is going to work for me. At 1 hr a week it seems like it will take years. I don’t need my face to be hair free for now. I just want the 5 o’clock shadow to be gone so I at least look like a human being when I have makeup on. I wonder if I should try laser.

#8

Ditto what emilily has said.

When you are dealing with dense growth the best option is to put a lot of time up front to get the area cleared asap. Can you not have a two hour session every week? If your electrologist is concerned about the skin, she can treat over a larger area and not completely clear it, then go over it again in the next session.

The only reservation I have about putting lots of time up front is that you need to be sure that the electrologist is killing the follicles he/she is treating. If not, later on down the line, these same treated follicles will produce hair again (regrowth) and that is what is really disheartening.

I’ve posted a number of times in the past about having a test patch done to assess ‘kill rate’ before committing to an electrologist and I would still recommend that. It takes an unknown out of the equation…

#9

So I am done my third session. She has nearly cleared the front of my chin. I am very impressed. Things are getting better.

ST&T, thanks for your advice and note. I think she is concerned about my skin and doesn’t want to go more than an hour. Though as you note, I guess she could scatter the work. Painwise I think an hour might also be my limit right now though. I guess we will find out now what the kill rate is since it has been about three weeks since I started. Thanks for posting your sisters story. I really appreciate it. I have even more hair than she did before the beautiful work she had!

#10

About 1.5 days. Reaction is going down. Chin still red and swollen but does not hurt too badly. I exercised today and now will clean off with witch hazel.

I am still really delighted that she managed to clear most of my chin. The first two sessions, she was only able to clear small areas. I guess that means progress–there is less to clear and she also seems to be getting the hang of dealing with my hair; she is faster, there is less hair, and there is less reaction. The small isolated patch on my cheek that she cleared on my first session 2.5 weeks ago remains clear. I’d have thought something would have grown back by now, but not much.

#11

Fourth session. Recently she has used a Laurier probe and I am thrilled with the results.

#12

Glad we could help Lotsohair. :slight_smile:

#13

:slight_smile: You folks are great. She spoke very highly of your probe and I can see the difference on my face. I believe she said it is a tapered, insulated, gold probe size 4 (but I am just a client with no training in electrology, so take that with a grain of salt.)

#14

It’s great to see your story unfolding Lotsohair. Especially reassuring to read that your electrolysist is choosing to use Laurier probes. I hope you continue to make great progress.
June

#15

Thank you, June. She said she doesn’t use it on all her clients, but she thinks I am perfect for the Laurier and it is perfect for me. I assume it’s because I have, well, Lots of Hair. :slight_smile:

I know people said the first few months of this are very discouraging, but I can see a huge difference after only four sessions. Even freshly shaved, my skin always looked bluish because of the shadow. It’s the first time in years I’ve seen my own normal skin color…and the cleared area is growing.

I know I have a long way to go, but I am so happy I want to cry.

#16

Fifth session. Oh my God it hurt today. She asked if I was getting my period, but I’m not. I tried to hydrate well before. It seems to hurt more and more as time goes on. I don’t know if it’s mental or what.

I can say that I’m not recovering fully in a week; there’s no visible reaction left after two days but when I go in for a session the skin still feels tender from the previous week, like I scraped it. And I don’t have a good way of controlling the hair in the week between sessions. Even if the cleared area is OK I need to shave around the area. It hurts.

Maybe it’s that as we progress, she is moving away from the center of my chin and I just feel squeamish about having a needle going into softer parts of my face. Maybe I have more nerve endings there. I don’t know. It hurts. Oddly sometimes the more it hurts, the less of a visible reaction I seem to have afterwards.

I feel discouraged. I can’t bear more than an hour at a time. The areas she has done are beautifully hair-free, but I can see this taking years.

I see a significant amount of PIH and realize that this happens to many S. Asian women (it happens to me whenever I get pimples too). I don’t mind that much as my PIH can be easily hidden with makeup but hair cannot. And I’m not a beauty freak, I just want to look like a normal woman. Sometimes though it does bother me to see my skin getting dark in a way that looks like 5 o’clock shadow.

Day by day, I guess. Day by day.

#17

Weekly sessions are okay, but if your skin needs more time to heal, then every two weeks may give you a better sensation outcome. Is it possible to clip the hair in between treatments instead of shaving?

Can you ask her if she can make some adjustments on her end or try different probes. With the Laurier IBP’s, energy levels can be decreased because of their unique design properties.

For the hyperpig, do you put some refrigerator cold aloe vera gel on the area immediately afterwards? Its worth a try.

#18

Hello, Dee. Thanks for stopping by. I have been putting aloe vera on, but I did not realize that having it cold might help. That is a very helpful suggestion; thank you. If nothing else it will feel good. I can also definitely ask her to tweak settings or probes.

Alas, I have too much hair to clip (it’s very dense and grows scary fast). I work in an environment where one needs to be extremely well-groomed, and more visible shadow than I already have would not be OK.

Biweekly might be a good idea. Maybe she can work on different parts of my face on alternate weeks or something. So far I’ve been sucking it up; it hurts but I’m just so beyond happy to see that the worst area (my chin) is being cleared that I’m kind of willing to go through whatever it takes.

#19

The cold aloe feels so good right after a treatment and may serve to control those prone to hyperpigmentation.

I always tell clients that the first six months is the hardest and to fasten their seatbelt. It’s all downhill coasting from there.

Good luck and keep this thread alive. Come back and let us know about your progress. By the way, we always like to see quality photos as you move along.

#20

I’m enjoying following your diary Lotsohair. If your practitioner has a versatile enough machine, it should be possible to adjust in innumerable ways to find a recipe for you. Keep communicating with her so she knows how your skin is reacting and how you are feeling.
You could take 1st level pain killers before your appointment (check with pharmacist if unsure)
I wonder whether she might be treating too many hairs in very close proximity over a smallish area-this could result in swelling that is affecting a nerve and hence soreness lasting a longish time.
I can understand how you would be gritting your teeth at the thought of more treatment whilst it still hurts from the last. Keep smiling.
June