Hello Hairtell!
So I know pretty much everything has been covered somewhere on this forum, but I haven’t found everything I was looking for so I thought I could ask those questions here – and post pictures to track my progress for new users (like me!).
Background: I’m one of the unfortunate people to have stimulated hair growth from laser treatments on my face. I started with very fine hair on my face, a light fuzz that I would kill to get back. I started laser because I was in college with some extra money and bought into the laser craze. During treatments I told them it was happening but ofcourse, they told me I was making it up. I probably did laser for about 4-5 years on my face in an effort to kill the hair and was left with what can only delicately be described as a coarse beard. More hair than I started with, and dark thick hair. Then a few years of threading the hair in hopes of making it finer…obviously it didnt.
Yes, I am female, even though the pattern is similar to a male beard. This is really hard for me to post so please be kind.
A picture from a 1.5 weeks of shaving instead of threading and with about 3 days of growth.
As you can see, that’s a LOT of hair, and there are still a few cycles to go. So I’ve finally turned to electrolysis because it’s getting unmanageable. After laser failing me, I’m a bit afraid of electrolysis as well… I just don’t have any other options. My biggest fear is that I’ll have some scarring or hyper pigmentation from the treatments.
Now, my first treatment: The electrologist uses a Hinkel machine with a gold plated ballet brand probe. The first session went on for 1.5 hours and she cleared my chin and extended to some of the sides. I was swollen for a pretty much all of day 1 and most of day 2 and I applied witch hazel, iced it down, and applied vitamin E from a capsule before going to bed (all of this was suggested by my electrologist but mostly just presented as “options”. She didn’t really have very many specific instructions). I woke up on Day 2 with a lot of scabs and whiteheads and the swelling remained. It sounds like that’s relatively normal, but from the picture below, I don’t have too many whiteheads/scabs, do i?
Also, my electrologist has about 26 years experience and even taught electrolysis in the past, so I feel like she knows what she’s doing. However, my understanding is that during the treatments, after zapping the follicle it should “slide out” with no tension. During my treatment though, (and keep in mind, the hair is pretty coarse), she would have to zap quite a few of the hairs 2-3 (sometimes even 4) times before it came out. When she pulled it out, it didn’t feel like a “pluck” but sort of like a tug or pluck with less tension. Is that normal? I asked the E and she said she wasn’t plucking it but it felt like a tug because the root is large or stubborn/coarse. Is this true? Or should I feel no tugging at all? She said it would get easier once the hair grew finer.
My E is pretty basic in the sense that she just gets to work, sprays a little witch hazel afterwards (at my request) and that’s it. No roller ball to cool down the area, no special creams or ointments… is there anything important that she should be doing or I should be expecting? Because it’s my first electrolysis treatment, I’m not sure what else to expect.
After the scabs and whiteheads appearing on Day 2 (along with continued swelling) I put on the tea tree oil and aloe vera that night. Day 3 the swelling went down significantly but the scabs got a bit darker… (seems some of the whiteheads turned into scabs?) And here is a picture of where I am today, on Day 4:
I’m heading in today for my second appointment – covering other parts of my face. A little nervous until these scabs “fall off”. Would love some feedback/insight from those better in the know. Praying this works and that I see results soon! Wishing everyone else in the midst of treatments the best of luck as well 
So what do you all think?