I posted a reply that got flushed by the system somehow.
Basically, the gyst of the thing is, that you have at least had reduction in both hairs and appointment time. This means you have had progress.
With the equipment and techniques I use, I would have done longer initial appointments with you, and if you had come in on schedule, we would have kept you bare faced from early on, and you would certainly have moved on to your arms, underarms, and maybe legs by now. This doesn’t mean, however that your person is not working up to snuff. Take away my stereo microscope, and my computerized epilator, and ergonomic work station and I am like Batman without the batmobile, batcave, uniform & utility belt. Which is to say, what ever brute force and brains can’t take care of, is a lost cause.
i have a question, i use essential oil based products as part of my normal skincare routine i.e. Decleor and Yon-ka range.
Im just wondering are they a problem to be used when getting electrolysis? I mean can i use them within a couple of hours after treatment for example treatment in morning and using product at night to cleanse then moisturize?
ALso im wondering if i need to stop using them too, would it be a problem to use the moisturizer and go in for treatment on the day. Or it is not recommeded to be used on the day before and after treatment?
Just its winter here and my skin gets dry i dont want to just use tea tree oil for 2-3 days and end up with flaky skin.
Thanks for your help
I prefer witch hazel because it doesn’t dry out the skin as much as tea tree oil. Have you tried that? I don’t think using the above products is an issue unless you’re seeing side effects.
just here to update that i am currently still going in for electrolysis sessions every 4 weeks now. Im not fully yet completed.
I have a few hairs spread out still coming along the jaw line and on under the chin…I would say the chin area hairs is still course…but the jaw one is fine…
I am thinking of telling my electrologist to try the galvanic method for these hairs as its really frustrating to see these hairs coming out on the 2nd week or so maybe even third…
im really hoping this year 2008 my electrolysis will be all done for good and id have to go for no more treatments i mean its been 2 and half years now getting abit impatient now…i dont even make any long travel plans so i dont miss out on my treatments and keep em consistent…and i do want to travel in june or july this year i am really really wishing and hoping id be all done by them…fingers crossed
Also i have this concern at the back of my mind everytime i go in for a session about wrinkles or skin sagging from all this electrolysis
my one main concern is i mentioned some time back that i had a line (where smile lines form) on the left side of outer lip to nose after an electrolysis session…and i was concerned about this wrinkle/line to see…and i was told here not to worry and my skin could be dry and when the skin will fully heal the line will be gone or soo…
Well that was more than a year ago or so…to give better perspective i am 23…medium brown, use sunblock religiously and even have good genes…my face is wrinkle free except for this line…which is concerning me big time…
i am glad though i have not had much electrolysis session on the area maybe about 4-5 hairs sometimes 3-4 removed from the side there since then at each session…sometimes one, sometimes none…
but this line please tell me how to fix it…i can only attribute electrolysis for this particular line as it occured after a session some time back (this particular session i would say she did doo more removal from the area).
the good thing is line is not tooo deep and light…if i dont smile and not make movement of the face then its not even visible…
but come on not smiling is not possible…when i smile i see the line (skin fold) on this side of the face is much much deeper than on my right side which has no lines at this moment.
And if i look in the mirror after smiling i see the light wrinkle line on the left side of face than nothing on the right…
ok so i went in for another session last week…it lasted about 15 minutes. This session was at 4 weeks. However most work was spent on the eyebrows. Then chin, a few below the ear under jaw area and about 3 hairs on each side corner of lip. Also i told her to change the setting for the couple of course hairs which just refuse to die on the chin, so she used blend method on the chin
Anyway when i posted the above post…i happend to take some pictures of my face…and it showed me the progress until now which has beeen good…i found a few finer hairs in the picture below the ear (under jaw bone area)…because the curve of the jaw and neck i assume this area is hardest to treat for you electrologists??
anyway i was expecting for my session that these finer hairs would be cleared out…Initially when i started with electrolysis i happend to get full clearances if not most in this area…now she did treat this area when i went in but i would say she zapped about 6-7 hairs…i even mentioned during the treatment the hair in that area is “fine” isnt it, hoping that she would know that i can seee hairs there! She said yes and i want to get these standing out black hairs…I dunno if its a strategy to work on just the black hairs each time so that she is not wasting time clearing out hairs that are dead anyway or whether she cannot be bothered to work on this area (because it is bit uncomfortable and most difficult position to work on for this particular area, i know this from the previous times she worked on it she had to move quite abit and her change her light etc. IF she really got down to business i would say the number of hairs there can be cleared in 15 minutes max maybe even less so im not expecting too much in terms of being cleared within the session
so when i got home as i expected i saw the area had finer hairs left…this time she even missed a couple (3-4) of fine ones on the chin area…and this totally annoyed me.
Do you think it would be offensive if next time i go and say can you please make sure to clean all the hairs in that area (curve of jaw and neck, below the ear)? I dont want to offend her but i want fully cleared…Yes the hairs are finer…but if its noticeable to me in the mirror then im sure other may be able to notice too…Yes im quite close to the mirror like an inch maybe less away when i view this. OR do you think she purpose fully doesnt work on these cause its fine? Or do you think shes gone lazy abit to keeeep me coming in for as long as possible there!
Im thinking of trying out a different person to clear me out on these last few finer hairs…of course first having a consultation to see if they are good or not. Yes i do appreciate the job my electrologist has gone to get rid of those courser anoying hairs so far and thats the reason im still going to her after 2 plus years cause shes goood and im comfortable and rest easy i wont be scarred at the end of the session…
but the last couple of sessions she sometimes barely touches that area below ear…i thought there was nothing there to do anymore until i saw the pics i took last week! And also recently shes been missing out a few finer ones under jaw line or chin area…so at the back of my mind im getting this niggling feeling that shes not doing things properly as she was before cause she wants me to keeeep going in there for as long as possible to get more money out of me.
How can i tell her in a way that would without offending her to clean out that area fully?
And if i ask for a mirror to check on anything missed is that again offending?
before when i started the first 6-7 sessions she used to give me a mirror to check…but this stopped…i never really told her before either even if she missed either by saying can you work on these few missed ones …cause im quiet and shy in person and i dont want to come across as fussy and annoying customer…i just think if i can see something with my bare eye she surely can seee anything she missed with those special glasses she uses and the lighting.
sorry for the vent out but i just want to be done as quickly as possible and i think missing out hairs etc is just making my treatment longer than neccessary
i know how you feel about ‘missed hairs’. I always get home and look in the bathroom mirror, then straight away i can spot few missed ones. They might be fine, but i can see them with the naked eye from 1ft away. Surely an electrolysis with a Mag Light can see them?!
I do check with a mirror during the sessions, but its never the same as doing it at home for some reason…
You shouldn’t be scared about telling her about the missed ones. Maybe stop 10 mins before the end of your time, so that you can check in a mirror and point out the missed ones before you leave.
You are paying for this rememeber!
I second that motion.
Look in a mirror, before your time is up, and point out the ones that you notice. Since the electrologist is looking through a circle lamp, her vision is distorted and limited. Our focal point is often 2 square inches, and anything outside of that is not in focus, or simply not seen.
I ask my clients to bring in their magnifying mirror from home so they can help me refine things. What I think is not noticable doesn’t matter. The client is my boss and I will get the hairs that bother them. This a partnership agreement, afterall.
You are paying her to remove the hair that bothers you. Hopefully, she can see what you see. Just be polite and gracious. Consumers only make business better by expressing their wants. I don’t know what all this offending fear is about??
Um, Dee… You and I are a rare beed in this business. Can you imagine what KW in Arizona by way of Boston would say to someone in the chair who dared to say she missed a few?
The other thing is, as you hinted at, some practitioners don’t have a set up that allows them to even see those hairs well enough for a good insertion.
Do I dare go further and point out the obvious… this is a female dominated industry. How often do women take offense at something that the person who supposedly made the offense has no clue about?
I will sooo loook forward to the day where i can completely stop going in for an electrolysis session. A new year has come and i have an appointment booked in for next week. Still I am not completely done. It just feels soo lonnnngg a time to be still going on with this and the only area to be worked on is the face (sideburns, chin, eyebrow cleanup, sometimes she gets any 3-4 black hairs she sees on forehead, upper lips - but she doesnt work on here religiously)
Ok so I am still going in every four weeks. Treatment time is about 15 mins.
My side burns seems to have cleared up. Anything there is very very very fine to be noticeable to my eye so that is good enough for me. However just below jaw area near the ear there are still finer hairs that i can see - she works on the area but not religiously i.e doesnt do a full clearance!
Chin seems to be clearing up. I see in the mirror about 2 black course hairs. The jawlines have a couple of finer hairs.
Upperlip - Hairs still there…She has worked on sides of upper lip…but majority of the middle has been left untouched…Since the hairs are small and fine in upper lip I can live with it. Corner of mouth going down diagonally seems to be cleared up with a few here and there still. Upcoming session going to tell her to work on the upper lip area.
Eyebrows seems to be cleaned up. Maybe about 2 hairs on each brow that she could take out.
Now its funny i initially went in for my sideburns and bit of chin and how i added in all other areas to the list. I can see electrolysis has worked but by 2 and half years i rather be fully completed. I guess it is taking longer because she hasnt worked on couple of areas religiously i.e giving that full clearance.
I hardly do anything post op though now…i apply my sunblock . I even go shopping/school after my treatment…any redness there is subsides after an hour or so. And at night i just use my normal cleanser and apply an aloevera tea tree cream. Sometimes i foregoe that and apply Decleor soothing cream.
Sounds like solid success to me. I don’t know how much hair you had and how much time you devoted up front. Monthly treatments for 15 minutes? Fantastic. Is your body still recruiting new hair follicles to grow? That happens you know and has nothing to do with your diligence or your electrologist’s diligence and skill. Neither one of you can control this.
The middle upper lip is always the last to go. There are an exhausting amount of hairs in this area and is is ouchy for most people. So much so that, the client can rarely last 15 minutes unless they are tough or have used lidocaine 5% one hour before treatment starts.
I’m hearing a good report. Two and half years is longer than what I experience with my clients, but I can’t offer any explanation without firing off a huge list of “maybe this or maybe that’s”. The main thing is, she is giving you what you have paid for - permanent hair removal and you described your journey as successful. Hair is tough and it didn’t happen overnight and thus it takes time to get rid of it.
Hi, I am new to this forum, but I have been reading a TON and have been learning so much! Thanks for such a thorough review of your experience.
I am glad to hear of your success, but I am wondering if maybe you or your electrologist have overlooked a point about the hairs on your chin. Reading way back, Dee mentioned that your that your electrologist is using the smallest sized needle. In a later post, James said that smaller needles lengthen treatment time for course hairs. Maybe you should ask your electrologist to increase the needle size to reflect the size of the course hairs on your chin. I know she gets the gold ones especially for you, etc, and she may not think it’s worth changing heads for a few hairs, but you’re in the final stages, and you’ve been faithful enough to her that I don’t think it should be a problem. Maybe the more experienced electrologists could comment, but from what I’ve read, maybe it would get you more permanent results on those final few hairs.
I have been getting my face done for several years
now, and only need a few stray hairs done on my face
at present. If I wasn’t getting another body area done
I probably wouldn’t bother with the few strays.
Sometimes we get vellus hairs which might be visible with
light at a certain angle, but unless they are stubbly or
exceptionally long or dark they aren’t that much of a problem.
The hair would best be described as peach fuzz and most
electrologists don’t bother with it.
If I have a stubbly type hair which seems to keep
coming back then I have her treat it with blend.
It sounds as if you have come along way with your
hair removal and what you have left sounds pretty minimal.
15 minutes isn’t too bad as far as treatment time goes
for touch ups and maintenance. I’m sure that will come
to an end sometime too.
SIMRAN, did she ever switch and use a probe to match the hair diameter? She could probably get away with a smaller probe size now if your hairs are much finer. What size probe was being used? Fairy points out a good reason why this has taken you 2.5 years. Probe size matters and most certainly relates to time to completion concerns.
Aliciadarling has lived through this and knows what she is talking about. We always perk up when she posts! Thanks Alicia.
its been such a long time that i dont even remember what the needle size is…what i do know is that she uses gold needles…and no other needles with different size has been used on me…Except for one treatment cause she was on holiday and the other lady couldnt find my needles…so used a silver on me…Anyway she buys the gold ones for me only cause i requested her after reading about everything on the forum here to really minimize any irritation etc caused. But my appt is tomorrow so i am going to check the size of the needle with her and the current used. One thing she does do with the course hairs that pop up on the chin is turn the current up higher and give them 2 or 3 doses of the current before taking em out so the hairs die. Its funny though when she does those hairs and gets abit hyper in a way like she is on a mission haha.
oh i made a huge error in calculation of how long i been getting this done. I just looked at my first post in this thread and it was august 2005!. That means I been going on with this for nearly 3 and half years NOT 2plus! :o Now that is really long! I am definatly gonna ask her about the needle size tomorrow. And if it is still gold F2 i am going to request abit bigger one for chin hairs.
And do you think I should request her to start galvanic on me perhaps rather then thermolysis…maybe that way i will be finished with these hairs?
Thanks for the compliment. I believe in electrolysis and
I am an optimistic person,so hopefully some of
that experience can help others a bit too.
I know it’s easy to get discouraged when faced with a
long hard haul such as Simran has been through,
but I’ve been there too.
Simran:
I think if you compare the number and type of hairs
you have left to when you started, you should feel pretty
happy with what you’ve accomplished.
Probably the really stubborn and remaining hairs
are in areas that were less worked on before.
I mentioned trying blend on some of the stubborn ones
that keep reoccuring. It is a combination of thermolysis
and galvanic. You should discuss trying that on those few
stubborn hairs or even galvanic as you suggested.
Maybe the hair has a curled root or something where the
lye produced from these other modalities might help
to destroy or weaken the root.
May I say that if you doubt if you are getting good treatment, you need to find someone else to work on you. If you are not getting good treatment in thermolysis, switching to galvanic with the same practitioner would only serve to have you get fewer hairs done per hour. Sure it might give you a better kill rate per hair (but that may not be the problem here at all) and yet, you might not even be able to get full clearances anymore if you switch to galvanic.
Not having seen you, I don’t know if the problem is that you are continuing to grow new hair, or if you are just noticing hairs that used to be unnoticeable, due to the longer thicker hairs that have already been removed, or if you just have been unable to keep up with all the hair’s growth cycles.
Without having enough information, it is hard to say why you would still be doing this 3 years later… although for many people across the country, that is not unusual.
cause i requested her after reading about everything on the forum here to really minimize any irritation etc caused. But my appt is tomorrow so i am going to check the size of the needle with her and the current used. One thing she does do with the course hairs that pop up on the chin is turn the current up higher and give them 2 or 3 doses of the current before taking em out so the hairs die. Its funny though when she does those hairs and gets abit hyper in a way like she is on a mission haha.