Hello Everyone,
I’ve been struggling with hair on my upper cheeks for many years now and I’ve finally decided to try a permanent method. I’m looking for advice on whether electrolysis would be right for me and some help finding a location.
I apologize in advance for the long post, but I’d like to give all details. I’m pretty self-conscious about my skin. I’ve become depressed because of how bad it looks with the hair and it has prevented me from enjoying my life to the fullest – I no longer go to parties and don’t go out much because I get anxious in public.
BACKGROUND:
21 year old male of Indian descent. (Type III, IV skin?)
I have hair going from my beard line to right below my eye and it is quite dense. The hairs around the cheekbone are particularly long and thick (some grow to over 1cm!). In highschool, the hairs were thin, short, and there weren’t that many. But over the past 3 years, they’ve been growing longer, getting thicker, and the density of hair is much higher (easily 100+).
My upper cheek skin is VERY, VERY thin and sensitive. This is where the bulk of my acne was – and my acne was quite bad. For about 5 years now, I’ve been using Stievamycin topical acne gel (pretty much retin-A, I believe). My doctor has also given me many other topical creams, but I’ve always come back to Stievamycin and I’ve been using it for the past 3 years. My acne has cleared up substantially, but I do get the occasional breakout – and I always breakout badly when I try to remove the hair (more on this later).
I’ve been bleaching the hair using Jolen facial hair bleach for 5 years. I found this to help a lot in highschool since all of the hairs would get bleached and made it much less noticeable. Lately, this hasn’t helped. The hairs are too long so they’re noticeable even when bleached. And the thicker hairs will just stay black. I’m very self-conscious about this hair so I’ve been bleaching once a week (it gets unbleached? / grows out and becomes noticeable very quickly), and plucking a lot of the thicker ones (even though this always give me some pimples).
I’ve tried a variety of temporary hair removal methods. I tried waxing once and it ripped off a layer of my skin leaving a scab which was 4-5cm long on my cheek. Many times I got fed up and decided to pluck majority of the hairs. Unfortunately, this always caused breakouts even though I tried a variety of different before and after cares (icing, aloe vera, etc.). In February, I decided to try threading and went to someone who was very experienced. She made sure everything was clean and sterile and cleared the whole area. I performed after-care similar to that which is recommended after electrolysis session. My cheeks were red and bumpy for the first few days and then turned into a massive breakout. One of the worst breakouts I’ve ever had. Both cheeks were covered in pimples and pustules. I’m talking about 50+ of these. I couldn’t bear to go to class and it took me a month to get rid of all of them. I still have some of the hyperpigmentation marks today.
My doctor told me to get laser hair removal. However, majority of the hair is still thin so I fear that laser may not be right for me.
So, given all of the above, should I still attempt electrolysis? What type should I look for? I’m scared that I am more prone to skin damage/scarring then most people.
Also, does anyone have any recommendations for Dundas/Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario area? Most of the electrologists here seem to be working through spas or through their home (atleast that’s what google maps shows).
TLDR; Given that my skin is very thin, sensitive, and breaks out to almost anything, should I still attempt electrolysis to remove lots of hair on upper cheeks? Any recommendations for anyone located in Dundas/Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario?