First treatment today

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

First I want to thank everyone for the info I have gathered here! Not sure if my story will be helpful to anyone but thought I’d post in case it was since this board has helped me a lot.

I was first thinking about doing laser, but decided to go with electrolysis since I wanted to go with the option most likely to be permanent. I don’t know anyone who has done either so didn’t have a clue what I was looking for as far as practitioners, etc. I went to the consultations based on what I found on the internet as I wanted at least a little more than a name out of the phone book to go on. The first place I went to basically told me I was crazy for wanting to do electrolysis on my underarms and went to get the laser person instead. After that I thought well, maybe I should do laser instead. The second place also did both procedures but was mainly electrolysis…I just didn’t have a good feeling about that place (not a very inviting atmosphere, equipment looked like it might be rather old, but I never even went into the procedure room so I’m not sure–was not offered a sample of either treatment). The third place I went to is where I ended up going for treatment. I was going to look at one more but I couldn’t imagine what I might like better somewhere else so I decided to just go with #3. She was much more informative during the consult and gave me a sample of both the laser and the blend and thermolysis. She said the blend seemed to work a little better for me so we went with that. She also followed all procedures possible as far as cleanliness and such.

I had my right underarm done today. Did about an hour and then she had to stop for another client’s appointment. I went back in about an hour and a half and she did the rest. It wasn’t too bad as far as pain but the second session was definitely worse…I found out later she did up the intensity a bit though. :smile: And drink a few gallons of water tonight!

I am not at all uncomfortable right now. The laser treatment I had at the consults seemed like the pain would last longer, but if I do my bikini line and/or legs I may opt to try that instead since electrolysis is so time-consuming.

Question…I think I read somewhere that you shouldn’t exercise for a certain amount of time after having electrolysis done? Is this right? (just for a comfort factor due to sweating?)

Also, she said possibly later she would do the flash method rather than the blend. Is there info on that somewhere on this site?

Thanks again for the help!

#2

We are all glad that you have had a good experience so far, and wish you luck in everything.

As you see, the people who told you that underarms are too much to do in electrolysis threw you a curve. Most people can have them finished in one day. Lastly, the underarms are far from the most sensitive area when electrolysis is done.

The only reason working out would be a bad thing is the salts in the sweat, and the bacteria in the same would case the area to experience pain from the salts, and possible infection and discoloration from the bacteria making its way into the open wound.

#3

From my experience is it best to wait a day or two after electrolysis (or laser) treatments before working out, which for me is lifting weights.

Doing anything that causes sweating too soon will irritate your skin and maybe cause pimples to form. In warmer weather I would wait 2-3 days before any strenuous exercise.

RJC2001

#4

Mildred, your report is exactly what we encourage here! Thanks so much for telling us about your experience. If the discomfort got to be too much, you should definitely consider a topical anesthetic like EMLA or ELA-Max. I actually fell asleep a couple of times during treatment when that stuff was applied right!

Keep us posted on your results!

#5

Update…

So far, so good, I think! I have had my entire underarms cleared three times now. The first time it was all in blend. I was kinda ticked at myself for being a baby as far as pain because when she got down to the end of the first clearing I finally told her to go ahead and bump it up a bit (she had asked a couple times and I said no, leave it where it is) and while it was more intense it was a LOT shorter, which was nice. The second clearing she did mainly by thermolysis, and also the third. I think I am going to have her go back to blend though, because my skin was much more beat up with the thermolysis (it was fine after probably 36 hours) and I read somewhere here that the blend is more likely to kill the follicle on the first try. I did get a little anxious about the amount of regrowth I had, but after reading some earlier posts it seems all is normal and now after three clearings there is very little growth showing up. After this next treatment I can probably increase the time between treatments, I’m guessing.

I went into this thinking that I might have my bikini or legs done if everything went well. However I cannot IMAGINE all the time and torture it would take to do the bikini area, and I’m not that much of a swimmer so it’s not that important to me in the first place. I did decide to try out laser on the bikini area, and if that goes well I may have my legs done down the road…won’t do that til I have enough time to figure out whether it’s truly working for the bikini area. I’m going to stick with electrolysis for any underarm hair that pops up, though, because that I definitely want gone for good! :smiley: If the laser doesn’t work, I’ll be upset about the wasted money, but it won’t break the bank so I figured I might as well try it.

I haven’t used any of the topicals, at least not the correct way (she did put some on a couple of times, but I don’t think it was on there long enough to really do anything).

I’ve been very pleased as far as cost…she doesn’t charge me for total time I’m there, just the time she is actually working. So if I get up to stretch or use the restroom or get a drink or whatever, she stops the time til we’re ready to start again, which I certainly didn’t expect her to do! Overall I’m happy right now.

#6

Glad you’re pleased so far, and keep us posted! If the pain does get unbearable, the topicals can be highly effective if applied generously and left on according to instructions.