Electrolysis FAIL

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I undertook electrolysis for a period of about 5 months with basically no results, the details are below. Perhaps you can help me with advice…

The area was both of my shoulders and I went in every week for 2 hours, it took an hour for each shoulder. It probably took about two weeks for the first clearance and then each week was pretty much zapping the regrowth. The electrolysis machine was old but the practisioner seemed to know what she was doing. By all accounts things were going well. The hair came out quite easily, she was fast, and I didn’t get any scarring. My skin was smooth and hair free for about a week between the sessions. It didn’t overly hurt, mainly on the bony areas. And the hairs looked like what I could tell to be root and all when removed.
Anyway, I stopped the treatment after the 4 months because I was moving interstate. She said I could pick it up again anytime in future when I found a new electrolysis practitioner.
Basically by about 3 weeks after I stopped, the hair was back to pretty much exactly the same as when I began! It is now about 4 months after I stopped – no difference.
I spent a lot of money, and time with no result whatsoever. I’m actually puzzled. Like I said, I felt confident with her work and the machine etc. I had in all about 15 solid sessions. What could be wrong???

The details:
My hair was (and still is) dark, but quite fine, too fine for laser, which is what I’ve had in the past. I’m male, 28 years old.
The machine used was an older machine, I can’t remember the name but I posted a link to a similar one on ebay to get feedback and people on here said it would do the trick if the practitioner was skilled.

I want to continue with Electrolysis, but I want results!!! What happened? If you need any more info please ask.

#2

This is far too soon, to make this assumption. Also, did you wax or have laser hair removal prior to commensing electrolysis?

#3

What happened is you did not finish the job. Furthermore, you did not take a before picture, and some pictures during the work, so that you could actually tell the amount of year round reduction you have already achieved. You also won’t be able to see what has actually been done already until the anniversary date of the beginning of your work, as that is when the hairs that WERE treated would have been back in phase again.

You need to understand that hair grows in cycles, and that even if I magically remove every single hair visible on a treatment area on any given day, there is a whole set of different hair that is set to come out in that treatment area no later than 3 to 6 weeks later. It would take 9 to 12 months for every hair to show itself at least once.

I once had a client like you, who did his unibrow. He found a new job and moved away from the area after a small number of months of work to shape his brows. As we had gotten the work down to just maintenance, it seemed silly to travel back to see me for what would be more travel time than the work time, and he did not like the few sample treatments he had with others in his new area, so he just stopped treatment.

I got a call from him sounding like you are now, where he complained that the hair had all grown back and that he had a unibrow again. I RE-EXPLAINED that since we never worked the phases of hair that were visible now, they will always come in when that untreated phase is in effect. Although I had explained this many times in the course of our treatment time, especially on our first appointment, all had been forgotton.

Fast forward a year later, and I got a call from this person apologizing for doubting me during the past year, as he now saw proof of what I had said. He said that as it got closer to the time we started treatment, the unibrow started to open up like a curtain and that by the time the anniversary of the re-clearances came up, he had two solid eyebrows and it stayed that way until after the anniversary of the day he left town, after which, the space between his brows would close like a curtain of hair, leaving him with a unibrow again until the same time the next year. This happened every year after that like clockwork.
Please read the link below for more info:

#4

That is very interesting, James.

So shanu might actually see great results in about 8 months(assuming he doesn’t have any treatments) when it’s the anniversary of the start of the electrolysis treatments.

#5

My 25-year client

Oh yes! I have a client that has been coming to me for more than 25 years for her (few) chin hairs. Indeed, she remarked a few weeks ago: “I have been doing electrolysis for over 25 years; when is this going to work?”

She would make, perhaps, one or two appointments per year. When I saw her, most the hairs had been tweezed (of course I could tell). She would say: “Oh, I just couldn’t stand it, I had to ‘tweeze a couple’.” (Actually, she tweezed most of them).

Fast forward to 2011 and she is no longer able to see well enough to tweeze! So, for the last couple months she has made weekly appointments. At the last couple appointments, I couldn’t find any hair. She said (I kid you not!): “Wow, I’m glad this FINALLY seems to be working!”

Of course, I jumped out the window. But since I’m on the ground floor I was unable to do much damage to myself. (For me, eyebrows and scant facial hair are my most difficult cases because of the lack of dedication on the client’s part.)

In our profession, it’s almost an axiom: “the more serious the problem, the FASTER it’s resolved.”

Additional note to Tinklebells: Yes, James is correct. Hair growth after one full clearing will appear “dense,” however after several months (as the hairs return to “staging”) the area will appear thinned out.

William Montagna postulated, in his letters to me, that electrolysis might induce adjacent hairs to go into anagen (hence the temporary appearance of more hairs). As these hairs return to normal cycle, the density diminishes. For this reason, I have thought about doing a fast electrolysis clearing BEFORE laser; not after. Bringing hairs into early anagen could produce a better laser outcome: more shallow, darker and “all in anagen.”

#6

Okay, It’s been over a year now (15 months) and there is absolutely no difference at all. So what the hell happened???

I struggle to believe that hair growth is in line with a calendar year, does hair celebrate christmas also?

I am extremely annoyed that I wasted all that money and time for nothing and now do not know what to do to achieve permanent hair removal. Please some help would be appreciated.

#7

Do you have before pictures? How many hours did you invest? Did you get full clearances and then did you keep punching the new hair that came to the surface after that? Did you feel the hair coming out, like a tweeze, after she treated it? How much hair do you have? Did you do LASER before you started electrolysis? How long were your appointments each time? Are you doing your whole back? How old are you? Were you truly getting electrolysis with a probe being inserted in individual follicles? How many hairs were treated at each session approximately? No one can possiblly attempt to answer your questions and know what may have went down in those 15 months. There are lots of variables that can make or break the deal for obtaining successful permanent hair removal. Please give more description. No detail is too small.

Many men get the hair successfully removed - permanently with electrolysis. This is not a hoax. It has to be done specifically well and with lots of hard work and passion on both sides.

#8

Hi, if you read my original post you’ll see I’ve already provided the answers to most of your questions. I’ll reiterate however:

Male. 28 years old.
Treatment was 2 hours a week for 4 months (32 hours).
Just the shoulder areas were treated.
I have body hair over most of my body, not overly thick hairs however, fairly fine.
Yes I had laser before hand, but probably over a year beforehand.
After about three weeks the area was clear, every week thereafter was reclearing the regrowth.
Yes it was a probe in each hair follicle.
Approximately 200 hairs each session I would guess.
I sometimes felt a tweeze as she pulled out the hairs, but generally it was the sting of the probe, then the hair came out smoothly.
No I don’t have before pictures - trust me though, there is no difference before and after.
After the four months I did nothing to the hairs, I didn’t wax them, shave them. Nothing. I didn’t do any of this before or after the treatments either.

So what went wrong? And how can I get it right this time?

#9

Given your situation, I’d say there are two possibilities

  1. your electrolysis practitioner had no clue what they were doing

  2. laser induced hypertrichosis

If its really true that you can tell no difference between before and after 32 hours of treatment, then I would say 2 is the most likely scenario. Because even if your practitioner was not very good its likely that they would still kill some hairs, enough to be at least noticeable. However, if you experienced laser induced hair stimulation then any hairs your electrologist killed could have easily been replaced by new follicles stimulated by the laser.

If you do some reading about laser induced hypertrichosis I think you will find you have all the primary risk factors for it.

[ul]
[li]hairs being treated are androgen derived
[/li][li]hairs being treated are dark enough to absorb energy, but too fine or not enough pigment to fully kill the follicle
[/li][li]area being treated has many inactive pores and vellus hairs which are capable of being stimulated to develop new terminal hairs
[/li][/ul]
Those things are why it can be risky to do laser on male body hair, and on facial hair of females who are prone to developing androgen based hairs. In those cases you run the risk of ending up with more hairs than you started with (or of preexisting terminal hairs becoming larger and more noticable), and sometimes they may take many months before these newly stimulated hairs show up.

For male facial hair it is not quite as risky because once the beard is fully developed there are usually not many remaining pores in that area which are capable of being stimulated to grow a terminal hair, so typically you would not see ‘new’ hairs sprouting on the male beard area although smaller hairs may be stimulated to become thicker and more heavily pigmented.

#10

Thanks for your answer.

Okay analysing both scenarios.

The practitioner had been practising for a long time, had many clients, proper training certificates and ultimately I had done my research and it seemed she was doing things right.

The laser thing. I’m not so sure about this, as it was quite a lengthy period of time earlier.

Either way - if it was the laser thing, does that now mean if I continue electrolysis now it would be successful (about 2 years after the laser treatment)
?

#11

Question for you: When the hair shows up - can you feel a “stubble”? If so, this would indicate that the hairs were not properly treated.

Four months after being cleared you should be able to see a difference. Without pictures, I can imagine that any hair seems like too much and “as much” as you had before. I’m sure most of the electrologists here have had clients who had huge amounts of hair come in with 5 hairs and say, “It all grew back!” The description you gave of the treatments sound appropriate. The time to clear becomes shorter over time, as well…

#12

Another thought :

You are 28 years old. Perhaps this is a case of keeping up with any follicles that are pre-programed to grow new hair at this stage in your life.

I saw that you had 70 posts when I first read this. For me, to sift through your beginning post(s) to track down specifics to my questions, well, I don’t have the time nor the desire to do that. May I suggest that you put your specifics in your signature, so we can take a glance at what you have done in the past along with your hair characteristics, gender and age. If I didn’t ask all those questions, someone else would have because it is impossible to give you the best answer(s) possible. It is also a matter of courtesy to help the professionals here save time.

Thanks

#13

Electrolysis is infallible friend shanu. Look, here’s a case that could be the same as yours. Man, about 30 years, treatment on shoulder. Before and after 8 months of the first clearance. Yes sir, there is nothing more effective than Electrolysis.

BEFORE

AFTER THE SESSION

8 MONTHS LATER…

#14

If electrolysis is done propertly, the hairs youve seen the last time do not appear anymore (hair not touched for the last 4-6 months)! Just a few hairs that were under the skin(approx 10-40% - Josefa can correct me:P)

Electrolysis is like a nuclear weapon for hairs, but you need someone who can you it propertly…And there are very few who can do it fast, effective, with tolerable pain levels and with which you feel comfortable :frowning:

I did not believe after the years of laser, but it really works!!! :slight_smile:

#15

I’ve been looking through my files and found a similar case. Male 29 years old. Treatment of shoulder. First complete clearance in June 2011, (about two hours and 30 minutes). Second clearance in October 2011, the area was not touched during those months.

Before first clearance:

Before second clearance:

#16

I recently treated a client after a 6 month absence. We had cleared her bikini line, which took about 5 hours, over a period of 3 months. She was convinced that she had complete regrowth of the treated hairs. However,I could clearly see a reduced density of the growth and convinced her to continue. She was happily surprised to find that a total clearance now took only 45 minutes. My opinion is that perhaps your density of hair is reduced, and like my client,you may not be aware of this. Anyway,this is something else to consider.