Electrolysis, finally taking the plunge! (London)

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

After being a long time lurker on these forums constantly reading up on other people’s progress I have finally decided to take the plunge and book in a electrolysis consultation. I’ve been procrastinating over doing this for years and years, for numerous reasons but mainly because it scares me to actually do something about this problem. My way of dealing with the hair (which is everywhere: I have pale skin and dark black hair…face, arms, legs, stomach, chest, back etc) is to try and block it out of my mind, but then I catch my reflection in the mirror on a sunny day and on my god, I just feel like hiding.

Everything I do so far is dictated by the hair problem, my hairstyle is a long thick fringe to cover most of my face, and I never wear my hair up. I get uncomfortable if anyone stands too close to me incase they can see the hair. I can’t be spontanious and just go to the beach, no way! I need at least 2 hours to pluck, bleach and shave before things are presentable, etc.

So moving on from being a prisoner to my hair, I am finally going to be doing something about this. Based on other Londoner’s recommendations on this forum I have booked a consultation with at Parkside…I’m going to be working on the upper lip, sideburns, hair line and the odd straglers on the neck/chin area. To start with though I’m just going to work on the upper lip & sideburns as these are the areas that cause me the most grief at the moment. I will also be getting laser on armpit & bikini line.

I don’t think I ever would have done it if it wasn’t for this forum, everyone’s story’s have been so inspirational and motivating for me, and have given me the kick start I needed to do this! Thank you!

#2

Wow I feel your pain, I am a female with hair just about everywhere, and now I am doing something about. Yes, it’s costly, but I don’t care, I hope to one day be done with this issue, and live my life carefree and not scared to wear a t-shirt!

Right now I am doing laser on my lower jawline, upper lip, and full arms. It is helping soooo much! Hopefully this works out in the long run. I also started electrolysis on my full face and got a full clearance not too long ago. It looks so much better and I can actually look at myself up close without being scared lol

So it is possible, you just have to be committed to the time and be patient.

Hope your hair removal journey is successful!

#3

You said you got laser done on parts of your face. On this forum I have read the negatives of it. Is it because your hair is coarse you went for that?

#4

No I went for it before coming to this forum, and now just sticking to it cause I don’t want the hair to grow out to see and electrologist. So I’ll see where it takes me then when I’m done laser I’ll move on to electroloysis for that area.

I’ve seen results so far, so hopefully I’m on a good track =) Also it says you’re considering electrolysis on most of your body, ie. face arms legs stomach. Is your hair very dense and thick?

Because I would suggest laser for arms and legs if it is, but if you have finer hair on your arms then elect is the way to go. Legs I would definitely suggest laser though.

#5

Congratulations on your decision and I look foreward to hearing of your progress. I often think of electrolysis as like restoration of a fine painting to its’ former glory. The clinic you are going to has an excellent reputation on this forum.

#6

Which practitioner have you booked in with?

#7

Hi all, thanks for your kind words, it’s nice to know that other people are going through the same things as I am :slight_smile:

I had my consultation with Sharon, and she was great. Really friendly, honest and knowledgable.

I asked her about what I should expect for my skin, and she said that I should expect it to go pink and slightly raised bumps but no scabs. I said that I saw some pictures and heard a few stories on this forum of people with quite a lot of little red scabs on their skin after treatment and she said that this is not ideal nor neccesary and that scabs should only expect to appear on the odd occasion (such as on a particularily tough hair folicle). This put me at ease that I would be dealing with someone who would be kind to my skin.

Anyhow, she did test patches on the sides of my face and my upper lip. It didn’t hurt in the way I thought it would - I was expecting a sharp zap, like an electric shock but it was more of a hot tingle/pin prick sensation. Totally bearable, and I kind of enjoyed the sensation because I was just visualising those little hairs being killed off!

I don’t think I felt insertions, I felt the tingle/zap, and then I couldn’t really feel any resistance from the hair being pulled out, all good signs I think. The sensation was more intense on the upper lip than the sides of my face. She chose the blend method for my hair type.

Afterwards the skin was a little pink, she told me about the aftercare (witch hazel, tea tree, aloe, no make up or extreme excersize). This morning my skin is completely fine. Having said that my skin is really good like that, I never scar and my skin heals really fast so maybe not eveyone would have the same reaction as me.

I’m going to start booking in 1 hour & 15 min consultations every week starting from next month, and we are going to work on thinning out all the areas bit by bit to give it a more natural look. I’ll let you know how I get on!

#8

I will be getting laser done on my legs as they are dense and thick, but my arms are alot finer (though black and long and plentiful!) So I’m not sure what I will be doing with my arms yet, maybe I will just thin that area out later down the line with electrolysis.

#9

Congrats Dionysus! Welcome to the Parkside clan, lol. I’m so glad that a number of people are now benefiting from treatment there.

Sharon is lovely isn’t she? With that much time every week, I’m sure you will see great results soon.

I am taking my younger sister for her consultation with Sharon on Saturday.

Laser for the legs is an excellent step too. Most of my lower leg was complete after only 3 treatments. My arm hair sounds similar to yours. I was concerned about starting Laser but thought I would give 1 treatment and go and see what I could achieve. So far it has been 6.5 weeks since my first treatment and I’m still mostly hair free. Some finer hairs have come up. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next few weeks but I have a good feeling since most of the hair (except the verrrrry fine) did shed. If I can get a good reduction from a few treatments of Laser, that would be fantastic.

Have a look at my Laser thread. I am very happy with my clinic. They also offer armpit and bikini thong as a combined treatment now (costing £107 per treatment off peak or £125 otherwise). I can recommend you an aesthetician too.

#10

Dionysus, I’m so glad to hear you have taken the plunge and got yourself a consult with sharon at Parkside, even better news to hear it went so well. On Weds, I too had a consult and patch test with her. Left rather red in the areas treated, but by the time I got home there were no tell tale signs of treatment being performed. The next day, had one very small yellow head which I treated with tea tree, and today it is now the smallest of scabs which I am covering with foundation.

I have had many treatments over the years with various electrologists and this is the best my skin has reacted. This is the first time I’ve been treated with blend, so it could be that, or it could just be electro skill…who knows, but I’m happy!

I also have an appointment scheduled for next month and am really looking forward to it.

Good luck with it, and I look forward to hearing your progress.

#11

Perfect! Max. Everything sounds great. Just an interjection here:

Redness/pinkness and swelling is to be expected. We are destroying tissue that nourishes hair and we cannot do that without this kind of response. It’s called the inflammation process. Max’s reaction, followed by a quick conversion back to normal skin is expected and desired. If one goes back to normal quickly then all the better. If it takes about a week to heal totally, that is acceptable as well. We are all different and that is why skin response varies from person to person. Beginning treatments are usually the “worse” and then the skin calms down greatly with subsequent treatments.

#12

Hi All,

Now that Sharon from parkside is back, I have booked my first session with her.

I want to start treatment on my sideburns first, as this is the area that causes me the most grief. The sideburns come down to my jawline, and extend down to my neck. The hair is not coarse, but it is dark and long (some up to an inch long). I currently bleach the hair that is on my jawline and cheeks, but I can’t bleach the full sideburn as I would look ridiculous with long, blond sideburns and black hair!

So I was wondering a few things:

  1. What is the most natural looking point that I should get the sideburns removed up to?

  2. Should I go for a complete clearance of this area to start with, or is it better to just thin the hair out gradually?

  3. Because I don’t actually shave, wax or pluck, I’m assuming most of the hairs will be in telogen mode? Would it be better if I shave the hair that I want removing and then have her treat the new growth? I guess that this would also make sure that I get the correct shape of the sideburn removed too?

Thanks for all your reponses so far, this forum is such a great help :slight_smile:

#13

I look at the ear to get an idea of where the stopping point is and then I feather the hair so it looks natural. I can’t see your sideburn areas to comment more than that. I’m sure Sharon will know what to advise when she see’s you. You can look through some magazines and then take pictures to her of sideburn looks you like.

I always go for full clearance of all noticeable hair, leaving behind the fine blond hairs that nobody can see. First “clearance” takes time, depending on how much hair you have. It is money well spent when you go forward with a plan to get the hair off fast. I use PicoFlash, MicroFlash before that. Auto-sensor mode allows the electrologist to move faster. Each side can take up to 1.5 to 3 hours to “clear” when the faster modes of thermolysis is used. Doing it this way makes it so you can go into maintenance mode where you see Sharon every three to four weeks. That’s how I do it, but Sharon may have her own plan of attack.

Most of those hairs will be in telogen, but that’s okay. I like shaving or not shaving this area. Doesn’t matter. Last person I worked on, I asked her not to shave so I could see the gray areas of hair to focus on more. Another client I may ask to shave because the hair is so dense and shortening it helps me move faster if I’m not trying to negotiate through a hair jungle. Good questions.

Got to go.

Dee

#14

Hi Dee,

Thank you for your reply. I think I will leave the hair as-is, and get her to work on getting a full clearance, then go into maintainance mode.

This is a picture of the area: http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/electrolysis101/legs002-1.jpg

The bleached hair isn’t very visable in this photo, as it was taken with a rubbish phone camera, however you can see the darker hairs, which I want to remove.

#15

Hi Dionysus,

Great to hear that you are finally starting. I’m not sure if you saw my pics in my thread but my sideburn situation was exactly the same as yours sounds.

As I wasn’t in the financial position to have longer treatments close together for clearance. I went for 15mins every week, winding down to further apart. During this time Sharon also tackled chin hairs. This was 6hours over 8 months and most of that work was done.

Anyway, my chosen approach (not Sharon’s) was the bottom up. I asked her to start removing hairs from the bottom of the sideburn, leaving behind the finer hairs (like the rest on my cheeks) that are blonde when bleached. I stopped where yours are now though :stuck_out_tongue: Mine looked like the thicker part of yours (that you don’t bleach) but carrying on like that down to the jawline.

I really think you can get this cleared in a natural way really soon if you put in a few hour long sessions over a few weeks (if your skin can cope with that!)

Good luck!

#16

Hi stopit,

Yes, I’ve read through your treatment diary, which was a great inspiration to me to get started with electrolysis in the first place, and to choose parkside, so thanks! :slight_smile:

I think your method makes a lot of sense for this area. I will start from the bottom, keep the peach fuzz and work my way up till I get the right shape. I am going to commit to 1 & a half hour treatments (if I can handle it) to begin with, and hopefully get a good amount of hair tackled. I’ll update with photos once I have my treatment.

#17

Hi All,

I thought I’d post an update of my progress. I’ve been getting work done on my sideburns for approx 7 months now. Here has been my progress:

Before starting treatment: http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/electrolysis101/legs002.jpg

After 6 months: http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/electrolysis101/after6months.jpg

After 7 months (raised height of sideburn more): http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/electrolysis101/after7months.jpg

I go in for a 30 minute session each week. I alternate each sideburn, so one week I spend the full 30 mins on the left and the next week I’ll do the full 30 mins on the right sideburn.
My ‘method’ for my sideburns was to initially wax my sideburn into the shape that I wanted and then go to my electrolisist (spelling?) so that she could catch all the new growth. I have been religiously attending my treatments every week, and there has been a big improvement. At this point it feels like all of the really coarse hairs (they were as coarse as head hair) have been eliminated, and we are now ploughing away at the dark/long vellus hair. I feel like this area will all be hairless at the 12 month point.

I am delighted with electrolysis and it has made a massive improvement to my confidence, and I have also learned so much along the way about skin care, hydration, vitamins and healthy living so it has changed my life in more ways than just removing hair.

#18

I am very happy for you, Dionysus. Sideburns are very easy to get under control quickly and then maintain. Even though the pictures are blurry, I get the idea that the third picture looked better than the first that you posted.

I really liked your strategy to initially wax so as to set the look that you wanted for your electrologist. Good communication leads to happiness in the end.

Yes, well performed electrolysis works within a 9-18 month window of time. I have found my sideburn cases to be much like your experience - most get really, really boring after 6-9 months and they are surely 95% finished by 12 months.

Give my regards to your great and wonderful electrologist.

#19

congrats on your progress. yes electrolysis is about reclaiming your skin, glad things are going well for you, keep up with the vitamins, hydration and good skin care important anyway essential when having electrolysis.

#20

Oh my!! I love it. What a difference to the look - you have a lovely profile. Great progress.

I’ve been itching to take mine further up recently. I stopped at a point I felt comfortable with then (kinda like your 6month pic) but I still feel they are bit long.