Hello again! Looking for advice and opinions.

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I had posted before about my concerns of indentations and scarring. The responses reassured me and I had spoken to my electrolygist whom also reassured me the skin just takes time to heal etc. I just wanted to post a photo of how my skin looks after a session. This is today, my last session was a 30 min session on Tuesday morning. This is pretty much how is reacts and looks every time. What do you think? Looking good and normal? Im hoping i scab every time because I am sovfair and sensitive skinned. I also will note we tried a lower setting and the hairs wouldnt budge. She recommended bio oil after 3 days tea tree. I also ordered rosehip oil-any experience and knowledge with that? Thank you again! I appreciate everyones help and reassurance on my journey to being hairless.

#2

bump

#3

This all looks good for me. If the power levels she is using are working, then go with it. Sometimes bettering insertion accuracy works as well at lower power levels. I’ll go shallower sometimes and find I’m getting closer to the sweet spot so less power is needed but your electrologist is the best judge of this. She knows how much is “just enough” to ensure that hair’s destruction.

Seana

#4

As someone who trained in skin care and does a lot of work with herbs, I can tell you that applying essential oils to burned, irritated skin is a terrible idea. More than one person on here has had horrible “skin reactions” that were actually allergies to tea tree oil that healed as soon as they stopped using the product. My advice, from a skin care perspective and from my own experience and aftercare routine (I am not an electrologist) is to use as little product, and as bland a product, as you can get. Washing with gentle soap and water, followed by Witch Hazel and a bland ointment like Aquaphor, is my advice and what I use on myself. On body work I often don’t do anything more than shower and keep it clean, and it ends to heal much faster and better than it did when I was using all kinds of stuff.

#5

Well said WeRNotAfraid …

I have this discussion with Dr. C a lot. People who, after face-lift surgery, do absolutely nothing do better than those that want to “help the healing.”

He said that a person who comes in with dirty, bloody bandages, that were just left alone … do well because: THE SKIN LOVES BLOOD … and scabs! The “healing helpers” that fiddle, put herbs and products on the skin are at much greater risk of infection.

The “gunk” from your blood is loaded with your own cells and products from your immune system. Does it make any sense to get rid of it all and apply some random goop to the skin?

Back “in the day” patients insisted on using Vitamin-E oil, and that created big problems for surgeons and electrologists too.

Still, there is no way in heaven or hell that the “fiddlers” can be convinced or stopped from “I have to do something!!!” Best is to recommend a very safe product and hope for the best.

Nobody can ever answer the simple question: WHY are you putting Rose-hip oil, etc., on the wound? What do you think it’s doing? Do you think it’s going to speed up the healing process?

#6

I just have the rosehip oil, but havent been using it. It was just an oil on a list of best for healing scars or moisturizing the skin. I was only asking to see if anyone has used it or reccommended it- for now that baby will be used on my stretch marks. As for the tea tree oil I use it as per instructed and use it sparingly since I do have sensitive skin.

I posted mostly to see if it looked normal and healing correctly! I appreciate all the feedback. I actually feel happy the oils were questioned more than the wounds! :slight_smile:

I will take your advice and leave it alone and keep doing what is instructed to me by my electrolygist. Thank you for your feedback. Its very comforting to recieve opinions from experienced people who have seen this journey, while I am just seeing it for the first time.

#7

Rosehip Oil is a great moisturiser, so there would be nothing negative about using it just as you would use any cream.

Personally I wouldn’t use the tea tree oil. Even if you don’t have a reaction, it’s drying and dry skin and electrolysis are not a good mix (in my experience anyway).

I had a lot of work performed on my neck and because of my ethnicity, the area being treated and the type of hair (very fine but dense), a lot of scabbing and PIH was inevitable. I did not do anything special. Until the swelling had gone down, I did not use any products apart from soap when washing. Then I went back to my normal skincare routine (which has always included rosehip oil). The PIH faded over the weeks and months.

#8

So, I hear things like, “I have sensitive skin” quite frequently. It is impossible to conclude that from an electrolysis treatment given by any random electrologist. Each session can be different because variables change all the time, so we don’t know if the skin reacted like this because of the aftercare or because a number 2 stainless steel probe was used on thick hair and repeated insertions were made to get the hair to budge. (A colleague recently told me that she uses size 2 probes on EVERY hair structure. I just stared at her in disbelief.) Not good.

I like my aftercare regime because of the feedback I get from clients, but in the back of my mind, I’m pondering whether it was the aftercare or if I found a good recipe, with a good probe that was sized correctly for the hair.

Many times we don’t know whether the chicken comes before the egg or the egg comes before the chicken? Same with the horse or the cart.

I do agree that leaving the skin alone so it can do its magic is very helpful, but that depends on the skin type.

I always ask for feedback, via a text message, from my new clients especially. Depending on the amount of work we did and the skin type, I will be dabbing on tea tree oil and then massaging in COLD ALOE VERA GEL over top of that. The cold feels good and it does calm the skin.

Over the years, I have asked many clients to try an experiment for me. One side - do NOTHING. On the other side use dabs of tea tree and massage in COLD (right from the refrigerator) the purest ALOE VERA GEL possible for at least three days. at night time. I frequently get feedback that the treated side healed better than the untreated side.

So, that’s not very scientific, but if the client is happy, then , I’m sticking to what is helpful. I’m not sure there is any great ingredient in the Aloe that is responsible for this better reaction - I like it because it is cold and thus, soothing for the client. The cold appears to help with people who are prone to hyperpigmentation.

I do like Aquafor. I get a lot of good feedback on that product, especially for body work. I have people that swear by the healing properties of coconut oil - the solid white form that melts quickly when you put it in the palm of your hand.

One thing that we cannot control or know everything about when we see great pictures like this posters is, WAS THE SKIN TREATED BEYOND NECESSITY, THUS CAUSING THIS TEMPORARY SIDE EFFECT? WHAT WAS THE ENERGY CHOICE AND PROBE CHOICE? There are so many variables and it is not so easy as to blame it on having sensitive skin or certain aftercare products.

Experimentation and observation is about as close as we can get to finding the best healing outcome. If Stopitandtidyup swears by rosehip oil helping her, then I believe her! I don’t know the cellular reasons for that, but it her observation, so something is working.

Doing nothing is easier and more aligned to our dear Mother Nature, but even Mother Nature can appreciate a little help here and there, now and then.

#9

So, to add to the above, I subscribe to ConsumerLab.com. I learned about it through one of my nursing continuing ed seminars. They are an independent lab that tests health products and they are constantly updating test results. For aloe testing, last updated 10/13/17, they use a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which is specific for testing for the aloe industry. I was dismayed to find that one aloe vera gel product that I have used was not approved because it did not contain any of the expected aloe compound - acemannan. So, no aloe in a product labeled 100% Aloe Vera Gel?

ConsumerLabs has found many products that don’t contain what they claim to contain.

A company that makes aloe gel products for Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens were found to contain no ALOE and class action lawsuits have been filed . Source: Bloomberg News November 22, 2016

There is one product that was approved, but I feel uncomfortable saying which because it might be seen as an endorsement or giving information from a website you need to pay for.

I will say that there have been several studies conducted evaluating topical aloe in wound healing and the results have been mixed. Some studies have shown benefits of using aloe vera gel to relieve symptoms of lichen planus, a skin condition and it can be in the mouth, too.

Like I said before, I think it is the cold gel product that is more helpful than the ingredient. Just an observation, though.

#10

Dee, was that the fruit of the earth brand? That one is a common walmart brand, and aside from the misleading label, it also contains toxins. If you notice, the label says its 100 gel, not 100% aloe. I ended up donating my supplies of it to an electrology school my employee graduated from. Many of my clients refuse it. I use one I researched called “lily of the desert” which contains no such toxins which I order in 1 liter bottles from Healthy Planet. Now unlike alot of other aloes out there, you MUST refridgerate after opening, there are no preservatives in it.

Edit: lol, looks like i have no such reservations about naming and shaming products that are not good for you or misleading, and endorsing others that are more suitable.
I got my information on this issue from here, which seems to present an unbiased view with a few options not just one :

#11

Over the years, the eternal question “what do I put on after electrolysis” is always front-and-center. I tell my clients that my only worry is actual post-treatment infection (from an outside source). In all likelihood the tiny electrolysis wound is closed within 24-hours and I suppose products can be used without much danger.

The risk, however, is real if a person self-doctors with something that is contaminated with bacteria. Slathering contaminated products on an open wound would make matters much worse. “Hands off and no products” for 24-hours makes sense to me. And, that’s what I recommend.

Of course, “soothing the hot skin” is fine; but I don’t put a lot of value in short-term “results” that are based on a client’s opinion. To see if any product actually did something to make the healing better, I would want to examine the skin a year after treatment: one area with, and one area without the product in question. I don’t think there would be any difference at all.

What I know for certain is that clients (and electrologists) are absolutely going to continue using products, experimenting with products and recommending products. In the long run, the skin will heal just fine, even if the product was detrimental to healing. You can’t stop the healing process.

The only product that I have observed making an objective difference is pure emu oil. But that’s another story and, truly, not worthy of discussion. Besides, it STINKS and no woman would ever use it.

#12

First of all. Omg i feel so bad for you that your skin looks like that. I know first hand how you feel. You have to go in public with marks. Try using coconut oil and soothe the skin and it should look better in 6 weeks. I really hope you get perms my hair removal bc I think going through this totally sucks. Sending hugs!

#13

I can’t use tea tree oil at all. It triggers my eczema. My electrologist tells me to ice it the first day for the swelling. And after that just leave it alone, other than cortisone cream if it seems to be bothering me, but for the most part, just leave it alone.