Hair still looks the same after 7 sessions - is this normal? (photo attached)

[glitch]

Hello! Female, late twenties. The needle used is gold plated, the process is thermolysis, and I don’t feel any discomfort at all during the sessions. I go in every 2 weeks, and haven’t plucked/waxed/threaded anything at all. From my understanding, it takes 8-12+ sessions to clear an area. However, after having completed 7 sessions on my chin, I haven’t really noticed any significant change in that the area practically looks the same, including in thickness. And I know that my hair is pretty thick, so maybe the ‘one and done’ saying doesn’t apply, but with all these sessions, I thought the changes would be more apparent by now.

Photo attached (apologies for the messy sunscreen).

So, is this normal/as expected so far? Thank you in advance. And feel free to let me know if I’m being delusional about the lack of change, hahah.

[Thermo]

I think that your electrologist, or whoever gave you this understanding of electrolysis, hasn’t set reasonable expectations, and it makes sense that you have concerns because of this.

We measure in hours over a period of time rather than in sessions. The number of sessions depends on how long one treatment is, and how long you leave between each treatment.

It’s typical to complete treatment in this area over a period of 18 months. The standard practice for this area is to start treatments at two week intervals. Over time, you will either reduce the time per treatment or wait longer between each treatment until there’s no more hair left to treat. It’s possible to leave much longer between treatments, but this requires you to leave the hair to grow during that time (no waxing, no plucking, no shaving). Most people find this difficult for facial hair, so we try to treat it as often as possible.

You’re only three months in, and I can see a slight reduction in those images. At six months, it will be more apparent. At twelve months, it will be drastic. For the last three to six months, it’s clean up work. Your job is to make sure you leave the hair for your electrologist to treat. If you do that, it will be clear before you know it.

[glitch]

Oh! Thank you so much for clearing all this up. I really did have different expectations, but I’m relieved to hear that this is all indeed normal. As long as the job eventually gets done, I’ll be happy for permanent results!

I really appreciate you taking out the time to explain this to me. Lots of new info to me even though I thought I had done enough research.

True enough that it’s difficult to avoid traditional hair removal when it comes to the face - I really can’t bear going out when my chin hair gets to this level, so I’ll have to see if trying out bleaching might help… Thanks again!

[Ludovica]

Hi, I’m a patient not a practitioner. I had very similar before pics to yours and visible results began probably 8 months in. It’s discouraging but normal. Don’t give up hope just keep attending the appointments like clockwork. Definitely you shouldn’t expect any real visible change after 7 sessions (although I agree with the other poster, your before and after pics do look like a slight reduction to me). But things are so variable in the beginning. You can see my thread or @JENDV523 has a similar documented journey that should help you. Best of luck!

[glitch]

Thank you! This is really encouraging. Will be reading up on those threads