Growing in one area but not another?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

So I’m in my third year of electrolysis and am at the end of my rope. Due to moving and dissatisfaction, I am currently with my 5th electrologist. My previous 4 used blend and this one uses thermolysis. I get three areas done- chin, upper lip and breasts. Since I’ve been with the newest electrologist, my chin and upper lip are doing fantastic. My chest, on the other hand, is going nowhere, and she said she’s actually noticing new growth. I recognize that everyone’s body is different, but generally I’ve heard that the chest is one of the fastest to clear. I asked her about hormones, and she said if it was hormonal, the new growth would most likely how up on my face which is not happening. She’s not sure what’s going on. Thoughts?

Also, when do I just give up? 3 years seems like a really long time. I know that everyone’s body is different but hearing stories of people who finish in a year or 2 are bringing me down. I go in cycles where I swear this off forever and then come crawling back because of all the time, energy and money I have already invested. But I’m getting really disheartened and defeated…

P.S. Menstrual cycle is normal

#2

What part of breasts are you treating? Nipple area or more? I found that for the nipple hairs, I needed blend because they were so deep and curled. For everything else, thermolysis was fine.

Have you been to an endocrinologist? How old are you? Do you get a clearance each time you leave the appt? How often do you go? How many minutes each time? How many years/months have you actually been getting GOOD electrolysis?

#3

Mostly nipple area but there is starting to be more growth in the breastbone area.

No, I haven’t been to an endocrinologist.

I’m 32.

Yes,I get clearance each time.

I go ~ every three weeks for 15 minutes (that’s how long it takes to clear my upper lip, chin and breasts). When I was doing blend it was between 30-45 minutes.

I don’t know about good electrolysis. Everyone I’ve been to has been certified and recommended.

I think I’ve answered all your questions. Would love some insight into all of this…

#4

If you have not found this on the site previously, read The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. It has lots of helpful information.

Although it is possible that for some reason your most sensitive body part for hair stimulation may be the breasts, I am wondering if you have ever done full clearances at least once every 6 weeks for at least 9 months without a break. Your description seems to leave open the possibility that you have had some gaps in treatment.

If you are getting good work, you should keep at it, as ending treatment will only serve to have even more hairs visible if you are actually recruiting hairs on any ongoing basis.

As for the breasts, at least around the nipple and areola, blend seems to be a good fit, as the follicles are not as straight, and it is not always possible to stretch the skin to the point of making the follicle easily insertable.

#5

Wow! 5 electrologists!! That’s a lot of professionals to have gone through! I’d be disheartened, too! I use all 3 methods of electrolysis b/c, IMHO, they all have appropriate (and successful) application depending upon the area being treated, the type of hair, the stage of growth and the density. Having had many electrolysis treatments myself for years and finally realizing that my licensed professional was not performing electrolysis properly (which I found out as I was getting my own license), I still have tons of hair in the “treated” areas. :frowning:

Every situation is different and NO ONE can tell you, with certainty, how long it will take to clear a specific area. For most situations, a rule of thumb I like to use is “if you do not see significant results after 10 treatments”, then there’s a problem and a reevaluation is needed. This is based on the treatment time and frequency as recommended by the electrologist (eg, every week for 15 minutes.)

One question I have is as to if you are taking any drugs on a regular basis. Surprisingly, there are MANY drugs (including antidepressants and birth control pills) which list “excess hair” as a possible side effect. Also, I have found that most patients who are treated with corticosteroids (through shots, inhalers, etc.) generate a proliferation of hair, almost immediately. Once the steroids are out of their system, the hair usually returns to it prior state.

#6

I would definitely recommend blend for the nipple area. It’s harder to get good treatments on those hairs with thermolysis since they can be deep and curled.

Have you been going consistently at any point for 9-12 months that it takes to remove all the hairs in an area? Or have you been going on and off?

The way to tell a good treatment is that the hair should slide out without resistance after it’s zapped.

15 mins seems like a very short treatment on all those areas together. How many hairs do you have?

#7

Make sure that you are very well hydrated before your treatments. It is very important and the hairs will slide out more easily.

#8

Follicle development in the mammary areola is as follows:

areolamamaria0.jpg1024×768

One year after the increase of hair could be:

areolamamaria.jpg1024×768

NOTE: The pictures of this area are not allowed at Photobucket. Sorry

#9

Thanks everyone for your insight. I have not had any gaps in my treatment and I am not taking any medications. Again, the hair on my upper lip and chin is doing wonderfully but on my breasts and chest it’s not getting better and may even be getting worse. That’s the strangeness of it.

I’m into my third year and am starting to agree with others that this is a process that might work for some but not for all. I’m really, really discouraged.

#10

That’s not really the case. What you’re seeing is that the method you’re using and the person who’s using it isn’t able to reach the hairs on those specific areas, probably because they’re too deep for whatever method and settings they’re using. that doesn’t mean that all electrolysis won’t work on those areas. It means that you have to try another method or even another provider if this one doesn’t offer it. Like I said, on the nipple area for example, I find that only BLEND method of electrolysis worked for me because the hairs are often deep and curled.

You shouldn’t need 3 years of treatments on any area. You should be done within about 12 months after getting your first clearance if treatments are good and you’re going regularly getting clearances at least once every 3 weeks.

#11

Yes, that is precisely my point. I’ve tried different electrologists (all who are certified and all who came recommended- mostly through this site in fact). I’ve tried both blend and thermolysis. I’ve been consistent with treatments and don’t pluck in between. I do not have any hormonal or otherwise medical conditions. I’m not taking and meds. It’s 3 years later, and I’m still going. Even though my upper lip and chin are better, there is still work to be done. My breasts are not improving at all. It’s just not working. I’m not sure what else to do. I’ve tried different methods. I’ve tried different certified and recommended practitioners and I’ve gone to treatments consistently. It’s just not working.

#12

All you have said sounds good on your part, but alas, something is missing for you not to be on your way by now. Electrolysis does work and you have said that your chin and lip area are better. On the practitioner side of things, what we don’t know is:

What size probe? Were the energy and timing levels correct no matter if blend or thermolysis was being performed? Were the insertions accurate? Were you getting full clearance for everything each and every time you went? What kind of vision aid was she/he using? Was the epilator powerful enough to get the vicious hairs out?

All parts have to be working well consistently for you to get permanent hair removal in 9-18 months. If you have a lot of peach fuzz, it will be longer if you insist that more and more hair be removed even though your electrologist thinks you are finished.

So what is going on here? There are many questions to be answered and I don’t expect you to know some of the answers. I will reiterate that electrolysis does work and I’m sorry that something is missing in your case.

#13

I appreciate your engaging in this dialogue with me. It is both helpful and knowledgeable. Clearly, I’m beginning to agree with so many others who have lost faith in this system. There are so many factors at work here, and it seems like if everything is not carried out just so, the process doesn’t work. Seems like a really big gamble and with so many people on this site saying it’s not working, perhaps not a worthwhile one.

All the time, hope, pain and MONEY, just to come up with a reason every single time why it’s not working- it just happens too often to be a coincidence. Maybe we just need to concede that it works for some but not for others…

#14

Another thing to consider here is recruitment. Obviously, something caused the unwanted hair to start growing in the first place. We don’t know what that trigger is in your case. The body has an average of 1,000 follicles per square inch and if one’s body were, say, sensitive to aspartame, and each diet coke you drank caused one hair to be stimulated, you would not run out of follicles to start growing hairs, and get treated until the randomness of life made all 1,000 in that one square inch of skin to come to life, and get treated. When you consider the square footage of the entire body, and the recruitment factor here, you see how the electrolysis person is playing a video game that in some cases never ends.

I wish we knew what might be causing your recruitment of hairs. It is simply not possible to do good work in the same area to full clearances for 5 years and not run out of hairs, unless the body is making new ones from follicles that previously did not grow hair. It is just not biologically possible.

I cleared the face of a woman who had black villus hairs all over her face, in addition to the thicker longer ones, in addition to her PCOS induced hairs. She is now clear faced, and does no further follow up work. She has even had additional surgeries for PCOS since we finished the electrolysis, but has not felt the need for more electrolysis. I have seen her face, and it still needs no work. I wish privacy allowed me to link you to her FaceBook page, you would see what I am talking about. Nothing but happy smiley hair free pictures.

She had hair recruitment from heredity, biological disorder, drug interactions, hormonal problems, and interactions with food ingredients and she still got finished and happy. (of course, she also spent years of frustration before she found me, and then later finally started listening to my advise on how to schedule appointments in order to get finished finally.

#15

James addressed the possible recruitment scenario quite well and I would read his statement three times a day X three days.

Beyond that:

No, we don’t need to concede that it works for some and not for others. What we need is more education on how to do electrolysis correctly. Electrologists that can’t remove any hair anywhere should ask other electrologists for help. If continuing ed courses do not address the actual hands on part of removing hair, then we are failing the consumer. It is a hard process to master. Times change, equipment changes and techniques change.

As I said before, I don’t know what was happening to you in Raleigh, no matter how many electrologists you saw, but I do know that electrolysis would relieve you of any hair you so desire whether galvanic, blend or thermolysis was being performed. Do your practitioners know how disenchanted you are? Tell them if you haven’t. See what they say?

By the way, many people on this board are very pleased with the results they got, so I must disagree with you. It is a worthwhile process. Why do you think electrolysis has been around for a century and a half?

I remove a lot of very coarse hair around the areola’s. I have never had a client say to me it didn’t work - just the opposite, they are thrilled! It wasn’t hard to do. If your electrologist was not clearing and maintaining the areas for at least 9 months, if she was not using a probe to match the diameter of the hair, if she was not doing blend or a higher more technological type of thermolysis available on the best Apilus models, then you will NOT see results. It is PEOPLE that make something work. It is not prudent to condemn a process that has made millions of people very happy. Properly performed electrolysis, has done more for the human mind/self esteem than any psychologist or fancy drug could ever come close to. When comments, such as you said, are read by others who are searching for hair removal, I feel compelled to speak up on such statements. It would be too bad if the one seeking help disregarded electrolysis based on your story, when in actuality, electrolysis may be the only option on earth to relieve them of the burden of hair.

I understand you are discouraged. I would be discouraged, too.
I hope I am not coming across as too harsh about this. Please perceive it as passion, mixed with a little frustration, regarding your experience.

#16

How old are you? Have you seen an endocrinologist? One thing about hair growth is that it all looks the same, new and regrowth. I would really try to figure out what is causing the growth in the first place. Having a regular menstrual cycle is not the only indicator of underlying issues. Many women with PCOS don’t have any other noticeable side effects besides hair.

How often do you go in for treatments? What type of machine and type of electrolysis is being used currently and for how long? Do you get clearances each time?