Hey guys, great forum.
Anyways, I was wondering if electrolysis is effective on vellus type hair. Most of the hair that I have on my back and shoulders is quite fine but still noticeable due to it’s length. Will electrolysis be effective on these areas? Can I expect statisfactory results?
I’m a 23 yo male btw.
thanks!
for vellus hairs you need an electrologist who is both skilled and has good magnification and lighting, as inserting on vellus hairs is not easy without them. Missing the follicle completely is a great way to do bad treatments.
Yes and yes to both questions.
If your hair is increasing in length, but is still fine, is that reason enough for you to get electrolysis? Those hairs may be accelerating toward a thicker structure, but we can’t know that for sure until the years pass.
If you are dead certain that you want to pursue electrolysis then try to find someone that wears quality magnification and has quality lighting. Microflash or picoflash thermolysis would be fabulous to add to the mix to get you done sooner and with more comfort. Sample practitioners to see how their treatments feel and to see how you heal.
A modern electrologist that has upgraded to better tools is what you want, but if that can’t be, due to where you live, then other variations in equipment will still bring you results.
Be it known that electrolysis works on every size hair, every color hair, on any color of skin. That’s why we call it the “gold standard” for permanent hair removal. There isn’t anything on earth that can do all this, but some smart people are working on it.
For vellus hairs, it is a must to find an electrologist that can see well. Magnification is the key here along with accurate insertions. Keep reading hairtell so you become the expert consumer when you go on the hunt for an electrologist.
Dee
Thanks for the great responses guys.
I’ve been doing my research by looking through a lot of the old threads on this site. Another question I have for experienced practioners: Although I understand that costs and treatment lengths vary, but from your experience could you give a ballpark range of roughly how much and how long it would take to achieve 100% clearance of the back and shoulders of a male such as myself (few terminal hairs on the shoulders, but the vast majority are of the vellus type).
Thanks again guys!
You need to be looked at by a few if not several electrologists and get their estimates. We charge different prices,we have different equipment and skills.
All I can tell you is I have personally cleared and maintained a man’s full back, shoulders and upper arms in about 75 hours over a period of 9 months. Cost is under $4000. He comes to me for nit picky hairs here and there every two weeks and will certainly be finished by month twelve. He put in his time up front and stayed consistent and if he never saw me again, he would be in great shape forver.
Now that is a description for someone who had very dense and coarse hair from the neck to the belt line and upper arms and shoulders. You, of course, Are nowhere near this scene. If you find a modern electrologist that can move in a rhythmly fashion and uses the proper intensity, with the proper probe size, your problem should not be too hard to solve, since it is not the whole back.
A quality picture would help, but you still need to interview electrologists because we are all different in our approach to remove hair and that makes most estimates useless. I do understand that people NEED to have some kind of idea of whether we are talking $10,000 over 3 years or $1,000 or 1 year,so I stick my neck out on purpose to answer such questions, but can only speak in generalities, to be fair.
Dee
you would need to provide a picture that at least somewhat shows how much hair you have. the other thing you have to calculate is your willingness to go in as frequently as possible to get to your first clearance first and then stay on schedule for 9-12 months - i.e. come in as soon as new hairs pop up so you can kill them while they’re still weak.
Thanks for the replies guys, definitely helps with my research. I plan on checking out a few places and asking similar questions to see what they have to offer.
I’ll keep you posted on what route I choose.
Thanks again.
I have a question for lagirl…you mentioned to kill the hairs as soon as they pop up so that they are still weak. What does this mean? If you leave them alone for longer do they become deeper and courser? Are courser hairs harder to kill with electrolysis or is that not necessarily true? When I pluck a hair and feel a deep pull is that particular hair always thicker or deeper or does it have to do with what stage it is in?
Sometimes I pluck a blonde hair that slides out so easily that it was almost as if it was ready to fall out on its own. Does this mean it was about to shed anyway and so I am not pulling blood to the area, which would make the hair come in thicker later? Is there any logic to this? Do all of our hairs shed, long or short?
Thanks’
alli
All hairs shed, and the ones you describe were probably shedding and waiting to fall out anyway.
There is a process of hair growth and the best time for an electrologist to kill a hair is just when it is coming out from the surface. This is a time when we can see it, but you can’t yet. That is why getting to First Clearance, and maintaining it from there is so important. One can look finished even before one actually is.
you’re missing an important part of how electrolysis works and how hair grows. hair grows in three stages. anagen is the first stage of growth and it’s easiest to kill hair in that stage with electrolysis because the hair is attached to the follicle and it’s new and weak still. it lasts for a few weeks only after the hair first comes out (varies per area treated too). then it goes into telogen phase (a lot harder to kill as it’s starting to desattach from the follicle), and then it sheds. Once the hair falls out, the follicle has a dormant stage, so it can be a few months before that hair starts growing again.
In order to be finished with your treatments as fast as possible, you need to concentrate on going in for treatments as often as possible in the beginning to get to a first clearance (first time when you don’t have any visible hair on the area you want cleared). After that, you need to come in as soon as new hair pops up so you have a better chance of killing it. If you do this, you should be done with your treatments in about a year from the date of your first clearance.
Also, you CANNOT pluck in between treatments, EVER. That will hinder your progress as you will send those hairs into dormancy and they might not show up again for months. You can only shave once you start treatments. You cannot remove the hair with the root. Also, plucking in general can make the hair stronger and more resistant to permanent removal. I would advise you to start shaving instead.