Hi,
I’m a female who’s had the embarrassing problem of hair growth around my nipples since puberty. At first I was plucking (I know, bad idea) but I struggle with ingrown hairs, and shaving just doesn’t do it for me.
I have an appointment for a consult next week for electrolysis, but I’m a student on a budget and I’m a bit worried about how many sessions I’ll need, and how long each session will take. The only information I can find is about people having large areas of very dense hair removed, and it seems to take forever. I have only about 50-60 hairs that are dark enough to bother me and that I want removed. I’m 22, and I have fair skin.
Does anyone have any experience in how long each session might take, and how many sessions might be necessary? Any advice for me?
All help is appreciated.
An average electrologist removes 5-10 hairs per minute. You’ll have to come in once every 2-3 weeks for about a year to clear the area each time. So you can estimate the cost.
Fifty or sixty hairs can be removed in one session lasting under and hour. If you go back once a month for a couple months to get new hair that pops through, then you are looking at spacing appointments every six to eight weeks thereafter. My clients who adhere to schedule like this are finished in a year and they are oh so very happy!
That many hairs can be cleared pretty fast.
My electrologist used blend for this area. After that, you can go frequently to maintain, so maybe every few weeks but the number of hairs to be treated will be minimal and will take a fraction of the time to treat. Or you can wait it out for a month or 6 weeks and then go and everything cleared at once again. In the meantime, you can trim or shave the hairs coming up.
Overall, as already said, it should take about a year but towards the end you will probably only be treating a handful of hairs every 6-8 weeks.
I’d say, definitely do start it as soon as you can if you have made or mind up. If you run out of funds or can’t afford to fit it in say, after 6 months, you will still have removed a lot of the hair and I’m sure you will feel it has been worth it.
Your problem is more common than you think. According to my information, 9 of every 10 women develop some hairs about the mammary areola in some moment of her life. (Mediterranean origins)
The difficulty of this hair takes root in the implantation of the follicles (crossed in the shape of scissors) since it is possible to see in the image. Your electrologist will be able to change the direction of the insertion of the needle in order not to wander in the direction of both follicles which hairs coincides with the exit of the surface of the skin.
Do not worry, if you see that some hair appears in one of the red dots that were treated before, this can be the SECOND hair!
(My excuses to the real artists of the drawing)
My personal experience has been positive and I’m happy to share it with you. After consulting this forum a lot, I started electrolysis on my nipples in mid-October 2010. I had the same volume of nipple hair as you have. She cleared both nipples in about 40 minutes total on the first session. Since that first session , I go back to her every 3 weeks and it takes her around 10 minutes total to remove the new hair that comes in which is maybe 10 hairs per nipple at the most. She uses the blend method. I now trim the hair down in between sessions if necessary. Pre-electrolysis, when I used to tweeze this area, all the hair would grow back right away and would grow back coarser, like you I would get ingrown hairs or hairs growing at weird angles, etc etc. Now it is 100% more manageable.
On my second session I added my belly button area and then on my third session, I also added a small portion of my bikini line - this way I can fill up an hour with her on ‘maintenance’ of 3 areas rather than commute for just a 10 minute session on one area, but as was mentioned above, you could time it out and just go monthly for maybe a 20 minute session…
Perfect explanation of how this all works and believe me, it works well when a skilled electrologist like toronto’s is chosen.
THANK YOU for coming back to share.
Related question–didn’t think it needed a new thread…say you have about 10 hairs instead of 50 hairs… would it still take a year to finish the treatment?
Well, is it 10 visible hairs right now? That means you actually have 30+ hairs since hair cycles. It takes 12 months regardless because of hair cycles. You may have 5 hairs in each cycle, while others have 100. Timing doesn’t change based on number of hairs.
I am currently doing my upper lip/jaw line but would like to start on my nipples and a tiny area on my tummy.
My question is- how weird does it feel on your nipples? I am feeling okay about doing my tummy…
With thermolysis, and 100 hairs or less, it “should” take under 15 minutes. These hairs, having been tweezed a lot in the past, may be a little more stubborn/difficult to treat in the beginning. Also keep in mind that it can take as long as 3 months to stop seeing ingrown hairs from the tweezing you did prior to treatments.
The sensation is not bad like you might think. This area is designed for a specific job that results in a tolerance to discomfort. It is possible to do this area without feeling “exposed”.