Is it true that vellus hairs may only need one or two treatments? I have some dark coarse hairs on the upper lip as well as dark vellus hairs and light vellus hairs…i have extremely limited cash but if the majority only took one or two treatments maybe i could afford at least a reduction?
How did you get the idea that vellus hairs need one or two treatments?
When a hair follicle is treated properly, in the ideal stage of growth, it only needs to be treated once. Vellus hairs will need to be treated for several months to a year or more as not all of them are going to be present at one time.
Also, note that a coarse hair is not more difficult to treat than a fine hair and vice-versa.
Also, the number of treatments that a particular hair follicle gets is not going to be known. We can not identify if a hair follicle gets one or two treatments as hair grows in a general area and we do not plot its longitude and latitude.
We can treat the general area and treat those hair follicles that show a hair at any given time. Clients need much more than one or two treatments in a general area as all of the hairs that can grow, are NOT showing at one time.
We talk about hair cycles. You will have fine hairs grow in a given area for a year, more or less, during treatment however little by little you will see less and less hair grow as we render follicles incapable of producing hair.
If you simply want to decrease the amount of hair that you have, I suggest shaving the upper-lip and having electrolysis treatments every week or every other week, where the thickest and darkest hairs are removed each time.
Great post, Arlene. I nominate you for writing a FAQ’s sticky about electrolysis!
Hip! Hip! Hurray!
oh okay thanks for the answers. I got the idea about the vellus hairs only needing one or two treatments from searching through some posts here on vellus hairs…one post wrote something about having had vellus hairs treated twice and that they never came back.
I think I understand what you mean. Yes, two times is enough if the majority of hairs are present in the area before the first clearance, if you wait long enough for the second clearance, and if in both clearances your electrologist has removed all visible hairs. Arlene is right, once is enough to kill the hair being treated, but she talks about another type of strategy. This applies when the client can not wait because the hairs are too thick and therefore too obvious.
The electrologist who did my upper lip was working with Blend, about 5-8 hairs/min. She never said she could remove a hair (an individual particular hair) in one treatment. She preferred to treat anagen hairs, stating that a treated telogen hair would return as the follicle would not be destroyed, so it was preferable to use treatment time on anagen.
I would only bleach my upper lip so all the hair was present.
Despite the unknowns and restrictions, I had treatments for less than 18months on the upper lip. The treatments started off as 20min sessions every few weeks and wound down in duration and time between. The strategy was to clear the most obvious hairs at each session. I think by 6 months in I was happy and from then on it was maintenance how it looked.
I can’t imagine that I spent more than 10 hours total on my upper lip, most probably less.
The majority of my upper lip cases get cleared immediately. The middle part is the exception, it gets thinned because there are so many hairs and it is not always pleasant territory for prolonged work.
For a female upper lip, with average hair count and smaller hair structures, we are looking at 8-12 treatments spread out over about 9 -12 moths. The client knows something great is taking place about months 4-6. We have no idea if we treat the same hair twice or thrice. I suppose if they were color-coded hairs, we would know that. Even if a hair grew out of a freckle, we MAY have a clue that it is the same hair, but then again, it could be another hair 3 microns away from the first hair that was treated three months ago.
There are many hurdles and mysteries to deal with when when are attacking hair. The best thing to advise is to be patient - sort if like, hurry up and wait.
I think that what Wildebeest was told is that vellus hairs have a greater chance of being killed the first time around than deep, thick, strong hairs. That is true, as the mechanism that grows a thin, shallow hair is weaker, and more susceptible to damage.
Any hair can be killed the first time around, but since we don’t have a way of tracking every active hair follicle, we can’t determine with absolute certainty which hair was done away with forever, which is a new hair that was never treated, and which is a reincarnation. The only way to kill every treated hair the first time is to severely over-treat the skin, and even then, follicles that aren’t actively growing hair may survive. You can guesstimate if a hair was killed if it comes out without a tug, and with the full, juicy bulb attached at the bottom. If a treated hair does grow back, it will appear as a thinner, lighter, weaker hair that is more easily killed the next time it is treated.
Now I am really confused. Don’t you electrologists know what you are talking about? Why are some electrologists saying that a thin shallow hair is weaker and more susceptible to damage and my electrologist says that thin shallow hairs have nothing to do with being easier to treat. My electrologist says it makes no difference if the hair is thin or thick and that the only thing that matters to her is the age of the hair. Confused. yb says that the only way to kill all hairs the first time is by over-treating. Is my skin going to be damaged because I have been getting full clearances on some areas??? My electrologist says that I should just relax and deal with the redness and swelling and I will be fine. The above post says that when my hairs come back after electrolysis they will be thinner and lighter and more easily killed. My electrologist says that she has no idea if the thin hair on my face used to be a thick hair and a thin hair is just as easy to destroy as a thick hair as long as she works on each hair with the proper tools and energy. What is opinion and what is true?
Yb and your electrologist are both right. I would not over think this. The treated hair, if treated properly with the right amount of intensity and timing and a proper insertion, should slide out. Temporary side effects occur, but they go away. When you have cosmetic proceedures other than electrolysis, aren’t you prepared for some down time?
There is not total agreement about treating hair in any stage. One side believes it has to have the moisture content and the connection to the dermal papilla and the other side believes any hair at any stage can be successfully eliminated. I like anagen hairs, but by observation, I see that any stage of hair can be treated, too. Josefa can add more to this if she so desires.
I know it is confusing, that is why I advise you not to over think this. What happens in the end is, you get permanent hair removal with a SKILLED electrologist that can move, move, move, push, push, push.
I think, I see where your confusion is. Let me try to clarify. There are two things that “easier to kill” can be intended to mean. From the perspective of the vellus hair, the hair is weaker and more susceptible to damage from treatment, so it’s “easier to kill”. But from the perspective of the electrologist, a vellus hair is not necessarily easier to treat, as the follicles are smaller and the insertions can be trickier.
Concerning the “age” of the hair, the hair does go through different phases during its growth cycle, and it’s most susceptible to treatment during it’s early growth phase than during its shedding phase.
When I talked about “over-treating”, I was talking hypothetically. What I meant is that we don’t know with 100% certainty that any particular hair is dead when treated. We can know that most hairs are destroyed, for example, but we don’t have a way to monitor every individual hair follicle. Some hairs will need to be treated again when they resurface.
Regarding skin damage, it is very uncommon to get a lasting skin damage from electrolysis, and I wouldn’t worry about it, unless you are seeing something of concern.
If a treated hair grows back, it will likely be lighter, weaker, shallower… If you see a lighter hair, you don’t know if it’s regrowing or has never been treated, but no matter what, it is weaker, and requires less energy to destroy.
Thick hairs and thin hairs can be successfully destroyed from one treatment. It’s a numbers game. Most hairs are destroyed if treated properly, but some percentage of hairs may grow back to be killed the next time. Thicker hairs are stronger and have a better chance of surviving the first treatment than thin hairs. Hairs in the shedding phase have a better chance of surviving than newly growing hairs. But, at the end of the day, every hair is killed.
There are several things that I do not agree here, for example, this:
“[color:#990000]…a vellus hair is not necessarily easier to treat, as the follicles are smaller and the insertions can be trickier.[/color]”
The insertions in this type of hair are easier since the root is usually always straight. Perhaps you mean that is more difficult to see the entry of follicles of this type of hair.
“[color:#990000]Concerning the “age” of the hair, the hair does go through different phases during its growth cycle, and it’s most susceptible to treatment during it’s early growth phase than during its shedding phase.[/color]”
I understand that the shedding phase is exogenous phase? If so, this is the only phase in which we can not treat the hair, simply because the hair is absent. But I guess you mean in the telogen phase, in which case, I have to disagree, if we are front this type of hair, we will be working mostly in telogen phase. This is curious, most of my colleagues dream of working in an area with virgin hair because the results are simply spectacular, if most of these hairs are being treated in the telogen phase, what is this ridiculous belief that Electrolysis is not effective at this stage?
“…[color:#000099]If you see a lighter hair, you don’t know if it’s regrowing or has never been treated, but no matter what, it is weaker, and requires less energy to destroy[/color].”
Absolutely agree here, so work on these hair means less risk of overtreatment. Therefore easier to treat.
Wildebest,this is a case of Electrolysis in vellus hairs, upper lip. Before and 10 days after a session for the first clearance: 1 hour with Picoflash, and the Laurier probe.
