I had my first electrolysis 15 minute session on my chin and jaw yesterday. I wanted to share my experience and get some feedback on whether what I felt was normal. It was thermolysis using Fischer machine.
I have fairly good tolerance for pain. I distinctly felt the needle insertions. She cranked up the m/c when I said I was OK with the initial settings. It was painful at times and she said that it was because there were some stubborn hairs. There was swelling afterwards and it seems to have gone down somewhat today (less than 24 hours). Is this reasonable for a 15 min session? I have to mention that I have some really coarse hairs on my chin and they are all concentrated on relatively small areas. She only removed a few hairs in the 15 minutes. From reading other posts, it seems that the expectation is to remove 10 hairs a minute?
Also, I understand that waxing and tweezing between sessions is a no-no. But, I have peach fuzz around the coarse hairs and am worried that I will make the fuzz thicker (more visible) by shaving. Please advise.
The Fischer is a good little work-horse of an epilator. I loved mine - as it is less painful than many others and very sturdy!
Shaving hides the hair best - as it simply cuts it off at the surface. The repeated tweezing and waxing in these areas that are hormonally influenced is what coarsens them, making them more visible. Once you stop tweezing, most discover there are more coarse hairs there than they imagined.
I would like to hear that the insertions were not felt, but were they painful insertions? Or just that you could feel the slide?
Coarser hairs can often need additional insertions and applications of current - so less hairs and more swelling can result from that. So - did you feel the hair being extracted? Did it feel like it was yanked out, or just some traction (due to root sheath size or dryness)? Was she able to clear all the hairs that were visible yesterday?
Are you sure you felt the needle going in and not the current itself?
If you have any doubt, ask her to insert but not pass any current and compare.
You should not feel insertions in good treatment.
The rest sounds reasonable.
Shaving might make it look more obvious but the risk with waxing or tweezing is that it will actually change the peach fuzz into coarser hairs.
I’d say go back more regularly to clear the current visible hairs, then go back weekly to get new hairs as they come up, so you never really feel you need to shave etc.
BarbaraCPE and stoppit - Thank you for taking the time to reply.
The insertion felt more like a needle prick (which it is I guess). But I felt every single one of them. The current felt different. I will try what stoppit suggested - insert and not pass current to see how that feels.
I had requested that she work on one side of the face since I had another 15-min trial session later yesterday (which unfortunately didn’t work out BTW; I didn’t get to see the electrologist). Anyway, she didn’t get all of the visible hairs on the side that she worked on. Actually, I can see some hairs on that side today. Can they be new hairs or just those that were hairs left behind yesterday (it seemed relatively smooth yesterday than today)?
So, one side of my chin is relatively free of hair and the other looks awful since I was told to have enough length on it so that the electrologist could extract using tweezer. How long should I wait before I shave the side that I had work on yesterday? And how long should I give before I go back for another session?
Do I understand correctly that you had consultations with 15 minute treatments scheduled with two different electrologists yesterday? But that one didn’t work out? (It is a good idea to compare treatments.)
The first goal is to have all hair cleared in one session. If you were tweezing frequently, then this could mean weekly treatments in the beginning. If you were tweezing just a few days before your first treatment, then you will have hairs showing up a few days after your treatment. So, as soon as you see hair, you should be getting a treatment.
After a treatment, you should wait at least 48 hours before shaving new growth in the area. Daily tweezing cases will often see hairs showing up by this time…
That is correct. I had scheduled appointments with 2 different electrologists and thought could have them work of different sides of the face to compare. But one of them didn’t work out (hopefully I will get to meet her this week).
I may need more than 15 mins to get all hairs removed. I will remember your advise for the upcoming sessions and schedule accordingly. I will keep you posted. Thanks.
I had a half hour session with a second electrologist a week after my first 15 minute trial session. She worked fast and targeted on thinning rather than complete clearance since I have coarse hairs concentrated in small areas. As advised, I asked her to insert needle and not pass current to see if I was actually feeling the insertions. It turns out that I was wrong. I was the current that I felt.
The first electrologist used thermolysis and the second used blend. Although the two work very differently in terms of speed (hence the first electrologist may not have gotten a lot of hairs), the first time, I did not have any scabs. I wonder if one method is better for my type of skin over the other (I am from India; olive skin; dark hair; very prone to hyperpigmentation).
It has been more than 72 hours since the second treatment and the swelling and redness have gone down. White stuff showed up in the area ~24 hours post treatment and then I had tiny scabs. For the most part, I thought I was healing well except for these areas being sensitive to touch when washing my face and applying lotion. For post treatment care, I have been using ice (initially), witch hazel, aloe vera gel. My electrologist also recommended that I use warm water with epsom salt (like a hot pack on the area) which I have been doing.
Yesterday, I was wiping the area with witch hazel and am afraid I might have unintentionally removed some of the scabs and I can see the tiny red pits underneath and the area around these pits are more dark than others. Please advise on what I should do at this point. I am worried that this will be permanent. I read James post advising to take vitamin C and zinc. I will try to do so. I have also read about tea tree oil in other posts. How does that help?
Also, shaving the area between treatments when there are scabs seems to be a problem. It is not easy to not touch the scabs while doing so. Any advise?
A lot of factors can change the outcome of treatment. With one electrologist, one modality might be better for your skin, with another it may be the other way around.
I much prefer blend for my face as I have never, ever had a single scab and with my skin tone, they would be obvious.
My sister is darker than me and has both blend and thermolysis. She does scab with thermolysis but they are less noticeable against her darker skin tone.
It’s just a matter of trialling and adjusting settings to see what suits your skin the best but also allows for effective treatment of hairs.
Now, for the healing. Tea tree oil should be used on the areas right after treatment and perhaps once more the same day before sleeping. This should really help fight infection and stop the ‘white stuff’.
In addition to that, witch hazel or aloe vera to cool the skin and help healing.
My aftercare is as such - my electrologist wipes the areas over with tea tree oil immediately after treatment. Before I leave, I apply a witch hazel gel to cool the areas (bring down redness and swelling) and help protect them.
When I return home, I apply ttoil again, followed by witch hazel. I don’t usually need to use anything the next day My sister does the same but she applies witch hazel at least twice a day, everyday until the scabs have dropped off.
i also thought i felt the insertions with one girl, so she let me know when the needle was going in, and the current, so i could tell. if she didn’t lie (!) i was wrong and the current was what was causing that deep, digging sensation. anyway i don’t use that girl anymore so haaa haaa.