Hi everyone
I’m 20 yrs old and of south asian decent and have a hair problem that I’d like to take care of. I’ve made an appointment with my doctor to do some blood work and see an endocrinologist to see if I have a hormonal problem, however I don’t think this is the case because I know that many many women of asia, the Mediterranean areas, the middle east, etc. deal with this problem, so it’s very common in my area. I basically want to get rid of hair on my whole body. I wax my legs and arms and thread facial areas. I am looking into electrolysis, however I see it as a big risk to my skin. I have healthy skin and do not want to risk damaging it. My problem areas are the sides of my face, some hairs on my cheek area, upper lip, neck, chin, stomach, lower back, buttocks, bikini area, thighs…Before I try electrolysis, I have a bunch of questions that I would like anyone to answer:
Have you ever experienced or is it possible for a thin but dark hair to grow back thicker after electrolysis?
Has there ever been a case where there has been an increase in amount of terminal hair after electrolysis?
Is it possible or have you ever experienced with your clients, your friends, yourself the pore size increased after treatment or insertion of the needle?
Approximately how long would it take to get a good reduction or complete clearance for the areas of my body that I mentioned assuming that I keep up with regular appointments?
Would electrolysis be efficient for all the areas of my body that I mentioned above or would my lower back, for example, be too large of an area and take too long?
What is the worst case you have had with or heard of with a patient who underwent electrolysis?
Is needle electrolysis the only permanent type?
9)Does everyone end up with skin irritation after electrolysis; is it possible for some to not have any bad reaction?
I would like true and honest advice and answers PLEASE. I know that there are professional electrologists and laser technicians on this board and I’m not sure whether there are completely honest answers given out or not.
I mean I go to a waxing salon and she says hair decreases and thins over time, I come here and it says waxing causes hair to grow back thicker. I don’t know what the truth is and I’m not sure who to trust. I guess I’m also very full of emotions right now as this problem is really affecting me internally; I wish there was a guarantee that I’ll find a solution.
The solution for me doesnt necessarily have to be permanent. I’d rather go for a temporary solution and not risk skin damage than permanent. I was thinking about doing waxing and threading regularly, would this also work? Does anyone do this and is happy with it? The only thing I don’t like is waiting for the hair to grow a certain length for it to be waxed…anyway please give me advice and try to answer my questions to the best of your ability. Thank you!
Temporary measures can cause skin damage as well. I would study and read the information on this board a little closer. You may not be ready for electrolysis, since a lot of your questions assume that electrolysis has or may have too many negatives. The professionals that post here are not recruited or paid to answer questions. We do so out of the goodness of hearts to help people like you. Maybe I’ll answer more questions later or maybe someone else will take your questions step by step.
One of the problems with this type of inquiry is that it starts with the assumption that we, the professionals may want to lie about the answers, the second problem with this type of inquiry is that in order to answer the questions, one must educate the questioner well enough to understand that some of the questions are cases of the wrong question to ask, as the answer is either undefined, or of no actual value in the evaluation process. It is sort of like asking “How many worms does it take to turn a door knob and pull a door open?” The actual answer is no amount of worms would ever actually open a door by turning a door knob.
If you take the time to read around the electrolysis section, you will find that if you take care to do your homework, find a good practitioner who has some speed, and skill, you can do all you want, and be a happy person in a matter of months. Like anything else, you can spend lots of money, and time, and have little to show for it that you hoped for, if you bank your hopes and drams on the wrong person.
I have no time to discuss this further now. I have people who know what my abilities are here in the office now, and they want their hairs permanently removed, so off I go to slay some more hairs.
Unfortunately for you, it sounds like you offended the electrologists here. The main issue with your post was that you assumed that whoever you’re PAYING to wax you will provide you with unbiased information about what that method does. Everyone on these forums participates for free and helps people like you out of the goodness of their heart as Dee said. Realizing that and thanking them for that would have been a better approach. Noone has anything to gain from educating you on the subject that you can learn about by just reading this board and lots of other online information yourself. Your first 4 questions basically show that you really haven’t done any research yet.
I’ll cover these fast since you can find all the detailed information on this forum if you take your time and read through other posts.
Electrolysis is safe, effective, and permanent in GOOD hands without causing any skin irritation or damage (just like with anything else, including waxing, brain surgery etc). Your concern should be finding someone who is good at what they do and you will be on your way.
Electrolysis removes hair one hair at a time, and some hairs need to be treated more than once, and you hair grows in 3 phases – so it takes time to kill all hair in all phases of growth. If you stick to schedule and start with aggressive treatments to get your first clearance fast, you should expect about 12 months of treatments spaced less and less frequently as months progress.
If you have coarse hair on the large areas, it would be more beneficial for you to start with laser and finish with electrolysis. Even if your electrologist is very fast and removes 10 hairs per minute, it will take a while to just clear your legs once.
You might want to start with the areas that bother you most and add others later. Face for example on your skin type should only be done with electrolysis. Laser works best on coarse hair, and with your skin type you should only be treated with Yag laser.
Yes, only proper needle electrolysis and laser treatments are permanent.
Electrolysis can’t make the hair thicker, only thinner.
Remember that you’re only 20 and you will be most likely developing some more NEW hair in the next 5-6 years. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start now, just that you should expect to still develop more hair on these area in the near future.
After spending some time on the forum, I have found that it’s possible to get severe laser burns and bad reactions from electrolysis.
1)I am wondering how often this occurs to clients of electrolysis.
2) A major reason I am hesitant to do electrolysis is because of what I’m reading all over the forum about the ‘acne’, scabs, etc. it causes, even if it is temporary. I know my skin will never be the same even after the temporary red bumps and scabs are healed.
3)I guess the best thing to do is to get a test patch, wait a couple of weeks to see the reaction, and then go on from there.
I don’t know anyone who has had electrolysis so I can’t get any recommendations; I know there’s a search feature on this website listing recommended electrologists. How do I know which electrologist is good or effective? Are all of those on the list considered good?
Oh and thanks lagirl for answering my questions; I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful. It’s hard to believe something when you keep hearing and reading different things.
So I’ve thought about it and I think the best thing to do is to get a test patch on an area, probably the side of my face so it’s less noticeable in case a bad reaction should occur…
It may seem like I havent done my homework on this topic because of the questions I asked; I’m just really paranoid about this stuff and want to make sure that I make the best decisions. Oh and I have heard of members of this forum complaining about enlarged pores, increased hair growth
I have olive/light tan skin with very dark hair.
The hair on the sides of my face are very coarse along with the hair on my chin and upper neck. I’ve been threading, tweezing, and using a rotary epilator for this hair.
OK now I have to find a good electrologist in my area, Connecticut. I’m just going to go to one from the recommendations list on this site, but if anyone has one that they would really like to recommend to me in Connecticut, that would be great.
Lagirl, for all the areas I mentioned above, it would take 12 months to receive good results?
When I go to my appointments, should I just have all the parts I want done each time?
Should I go to the next appointment as soon as I start seeing any growth or should I wait for enough hair to be covered in 30 minutes or 1 hour, for example?
You should locate 3-4 electrologists and go for 15 minute samle treatments. Since you have a lot of hair, thermolysis method would probably be best since it’s fastest, at least to get you to a clearance. The way to judge your electrologists is by several things including:
you shouldn’t feel them plucking hairs. they should slide out without resistance after they zap them
normal experience is that redness goes down within an hour or two after the treatment. everything should return back to normal. then you apply witch hazel several times a day for a few days afterwards just to make sure your skin heals fast. on some areas, you might get some tiny scabs a few days later, which will fall off within a week. just keep applying witch hazel and you will be on your way.
once again, you will NOT get any negative side effects with electrolysis (or any burns with laser - severe is VERY rare and if someone causes that, they must be completely blind and incompetent). you have to remember that people are here only asking questions. do you read the answers? they should help you educate yourself. just because someone asked if it’s possible for electrolysis to increase their pores, doesn’t mean it actually happened. that just means that person “thinks” their pores are larger and electrolysis is just one of the things he/she considered that might have “caused” it - and who is to say they didn’t have that issue before electrolysis? people start looking at their skin a lot more closely after they start doing thing to it.
go for some sample treamtents and you will see for yourself. it’s really something you need to test out to ease your mind. if you want, read my story at the link below (it says laser, but i have also had over 40 hours of electrolysis on various areas too). also, keep in mind that removing hair for an extended period of time with the root like you did makes the hair somewhat stronger than the never-touched hair, so it’s a bit more time-consuming to remove, but it will work, given a skilled electrologist.
start by calling the electrologists in your area and asking about methods they use, machine they use, etc. go for consultations and post your experience here. we wil be able to help you more after you do.
p.s. if electrolysis and laser was that dangerous and couldn’t produce permanent results without any side effects, they wouldn’t be in business by now. Electrolysis has been successfully around for 125 years btw.
you are talking about a lot of areas. 12 months is an estimate given that you get to your first clearance on all areas as soon as possible adter you start which can be hard if you have a lot of hair. it’s really impossible to tell you anything specific without any pictures. once you go in for consultations, they can probably help better. like I said before, think 6 hairs a minute and estimate how many minutes you will need for your areas. It might be wise to start with just your face and concentrate on getting a clearance there. And you should go back in for a treatment as soon as you see hair pop up. In the beginning, there will always be enough to go once a week or once every other week for at least 30-60 mins considering how much hair you’re talking about there. you basically don’t want to wait until the hairs are in the wrong phase of growth. if you go in witin 1-3 weeks after they first show up, you will be fine. 12 months basically means taking one area, clearing it, and then going in consistently as new hair pops up to get every new hair that pops up. at first, you will go once a week or so but by month 5, you will be down to once every 3 weeks or so, etc.
hi
i also had doubts about the permenant hair removal methods. i consulted 2 electrologists, one of them was doing laser treatments as well. but before meeting them i did my homework. checked this site and other related sites and found electrolysis safer than laser. i had the copy of the questionnaire ( u will find in this website) during the consultation and i got all the answers. i also ask for a free patch test. i was able to tolerate the pain. and i started seeing one of them. i started with my upper lip and chin and now she is working on 2 sides of my cheeks. i have undergone 7 treatments in 2 and a half months. not sure about the result but after the treatment i feel that my money is not wasted. there is some pain during the treatment and redness around the treated area for 15 mins. but i do not have any problem. i have no idea when i will get permenant results but i m not unhappy with the slow progress.
i haven’t done anything yet, i need to find time to do this and start quickly; i need to go for a consultation and a sample treatment…cant wait to start on that to see how i react.
people have been recommending The Diet Cure book, which is good to read to find out which foods and drinks to stay away from.
You can be done in under 3 years. It all depends on how consistent you are and how meticulous you are about going in frequently in the beginning to get to your clearance.
My twist: Food doesn’t cause hirsutism, but can exaccerbate it in certain conditions. In my case, I’m very healthy so that wasn’t it. I had no luck with electrolysis until the Spirotone (anti-androgen) kicked in. It wasn’t the fault of the electrologist, as I thought initially. If it’s a hormone problem (excess androgens or androgen sensitivity), you’re not going to get very far with any hair removal method until the underlying cause is under control. Don’t pluck or wax or thread if you suspect an androgen problem; it’ll only get worse. I learned the hard way.
I have read that “fake” sugars make androgens more active. Perhaps that’s because of the effect they have on insulin–I can’t say.
You hit it on the head. The insulin effect is one of the reasons artificial sweeteners make the problem worse. There are other ways it causes chemicals in the brain to do strange things as well.
1)in between electrolysis treatments, can i remove hair by depilatory creams or can i bleach hair?
2)i’ve waxed/threaded/plucked hairs a lot, do i have to wait until all the hairs have grown to start electrolysis on those areas or can i just start now?..would this also affect how fast i get ‘cleared’?
If you are already getting good electrolysis, I don’t know why you are considering LASER. I personally don’t like the changes in skin texture, and pigment that it causes, and there is no guarantee that it will work, or won’t cause negative side effects.
We have plenty of stories on this site that show people who are not happy with their results, and some where people stop posting after saying they are happy. We even have some who say they are genuinely happy… and they are now “Finishing up with electrolysis”
Why not cut out the middle man and just “Finish up with electrolysis” from start to finish?