Help: Do the hours add up? Lucy Peters Question

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello. I am 18 years old and have dark curly course hair. I started going to Lucy Peters a couple years ago originally to treat hair on the chest and stomach… because it would be outrageous to get rid of all the hair I did about 15 hours just to get rid of the dark course hair. About a year and a half later I went back to them on April 21 2005 right before the summer to have my bikini line done = this is what I have had done so far:

April 21 1 hr
April 26 2.5 hr
May 05 2 hr
May 10 2 hr
May 17 2 hr
May 19 2 hr
May 25 2 hr
June 02 2 hr
June 09 2 hr

this record i got from my creditcard statements but I also had one if not two additional appointments for 2 hrs where i paid cash.during the later appointments it seemed that the area was practically complete but about 2 weeks later i saw a good amount of hair had come back. and by a month i had what seemed to be all of it back. When i first went in on april 21, it wasnt the standard consultation because i had already been to LP’s before. she just gave me a verbal quote of about 18hrs and jumped in to the first hour of treatment. and she clearly said it would be about 9 treatments. i am concerned because it looks like just about everything has grown in. Does it seem like this is going along fine and that i was just misquoted or does the quote time seem right but that i shouldnt have all the regrowth? Whats going on here?
(i have read past posts about LP’s misinforming marketing technique - I pay for this myself and its driving me nuts)

(oh and i almost forgot… i called LP about it and they told me the quote was 36 hrs, 18 hrs for stripping and 18 for maintenance ??)

#2

The short answer to your question is regardless of the quality of the work you are getting, you will eventually have no hair left to treat, of you continue going. You would have better, quicker results, however, if you went on the best schedule. Many electrologists never tell their clients about this, because they are afraid to be thought of as pressuring the client for lots of appointments, and therefore look like they are trying to milk the client for money. I know it is hard to make the client understand what is needed, and why, but a client who doesn’t understand this fact, will, in fact end up paying for more treatment than they would have needed had they gone in on a regular optimal schedule.

What your post doesn’t tell us is did you follow the best schedule for getting full permanent removal in the fastest time possible.

What people have a hard time understanding is that when you have your first appointment, you have some hairs growing, some shedding, and some resting. Because of this, there can be as little as 20%, or as many as 80% of visable hair available for permanent removal at any given time. Then your electrologist’s kill rate may further reduce the number of hairs that are gone and gone for good, such that you are only able to get a portion of those available treated once and for all.

If you don’t get full clearance in the area, and then keep appointments where the electrologist removes hair as it comes in, before it can go into shedding or resting phase, you are never “catching the phase” and instead of being able to have 100% of visible hairs available for permanent hair removal, you are always having less than 100% available, and that’s before your electrologists kill rate comes into play, further reducing your overall number of hairs permanently removed per session. This is not such a big deal if your electrologist is in the 80% to 100% bracket, but a real problem if your practitoner can only manage 50% kill rate. (50% of 20% is 10% and 50% of 80% is still 40%, which means more than half the hair removed would grow back.)

It would also take 9 months for you to get to the point where you would start to see the actual results of the hair removal you have had, because the new hairs you are seeing have never been treated by your electrologist. Please go to the DIY section and read the posts at the top of the index on growth patters for a better understanding. We put those on top, so everyone can read them first.

#3

“What your post doesn’t tell us is did you follow the best schedule for getting full permanent removal in the fastest time possible.”
Does the schedule that i was on sound right though? does it sound like appointments were too close together for too long or too short a time? i wanted it done by august,which she acted like it could be done with the exception of a few touch ups. obviously, after reading information on the site i realize that that wasnt gonna happen, as you say it would take about 9 months to begin to see changes. should i have been going that many times then in that short a period of time? does it sound like i was on the right plan? should the appointments have been more spaced out? what is normal time it would take to do a bikini line?

Is there anyone else with personal experience getting their bikini line done and how you and your electrolysist “tackled” it?

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#4

The most aggressive treatment schedule would have been at least once a week in the beginning, and would tapper off from there.

I don’t know if you got full clearance every time, if you did, you were doing well. If you did not, then you needed to have either more hours, or more appointments.

You should get to the point where you have a visible difference long before August, you just won’t be at the point where you are done, and done for good.

#5

I must admit, the subject of hair growth cycles is still one that baffles me quite a bit.

I understand that hairs have 3 stages (growth, resting and shedding).
So if you shave an area, the strongest ‘stubble’ growth will be the hairs in their growth stage?

Also, I’ve read somewhere that hairs on different parts of your body have different cycle lengths. So hair on your arms might go through a full cycle (growth, resting, shedding and back to growth) in a few months; whereas hair on your head might go through a full cycle over a couple of years.

Is that why some hairs on your body (eg. on your arms) never get as long as the hairs on your head? Because they reach their shedding phase much earlier and fall out on their own accord?

If so, could us non-pros use the length of the hair being treated as a rough guide to how many months it may take to reach permanent clearance?
That is, if the area has naturally long hairs (like the bikini line), then it’s going to take longer for all of the hairs in that area to reach the right stage for permanent removal?

I’ve pondered this question so many times it’s untrue … and I flip-flop between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ each time!

#6

i dont know i still dont feel like i understand this.

This post is from the member Tonic in 2002 about LP’s and her bikini:

“I started with Lucy Peters who do a great job, and did a great job on my chin. The removal was permanent, but in my mid twenties through bouts of stress i found the hair was growing back. Could have been newer hairs. I also have my entire bikini line done as i had sooooo many horrible ingrowns it was a nightmare. Each hair was a dark ingrown that made the area look terrible, so i spent about $2,000 and now it is gone. I still have maybe 4 hours left, and it’s been something like 4 years, no regrowth. I plan to do more when i have more money. I love electrolysis. Oh yeah, i had shortwave.”

How is that completely dif. than me. if she spent $2000 that means she had about 18 hours at their rates, and thats over 4 years. I have spent a little under $2000 and thats in a month and a half !!! and they aare telling me now it was 18 hours to “strip” and another 18 hours for “maintenance.” I am going in on friday to review my file and i am going to question them about their gaurantee. i feel like she completely misled me and had my money flying out of my pocket!! Why is my case soooo much different then this persons case?

#7

First off, yes, you can consider the length of the hair to be a factor in telling you how long the cycle lasts. After all, this is the reason a person like Cher can grow hair down to her feet, and Sherri Bellefonte-Harper can’t get it past the ears without extentions.

Second, everyone’s hair removal job is different. The number of hair is different, the type of hairs is different, and the angles of insertion are different.

As I have said before, I have clients who have the same number of hairs, in the same area, yet one person has thin soft hairs lined up in a row, but the other person had thick barbs going all different directions. This leads to a situation where one person gets more than 600 hairs per hour removed, and the other person is lucky to get more than 300 hairs per hour removed.

Of course, we are big on making sure people check out all the possibilities in their area.

#8

Thanks James, that’s a great help.

I know what you mean about the type of hair growth … I have some nasty hairs on my neck, and my electrolysist can only work on them for a limited amount of time because they are at such an awkward angle she strains her arm trying to get to them.

We did briefly discuss hanging me upside down from the ceiling. At least, I think she was joking … <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

#9

I daydream wistfully about being able to pop my clients heads off like Barbie Dolls, and putting them upside down in my lap and being able to remove all those hard to reach hairs, and then popping their heads back on when I am done.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

#10

I am researching the best place for me to do electrylosis in New York City. I am interested in Lucy Peters, but unsure due to the high cost. Any suggestions? I read that another writer thought Maria Vega was very good.

#11

If I were you, I would try Maria first.

#12

Hi. I have been going to Maria Vega for some time now and I am very happy with the results thus far.

I only tried one other electrologist in the area and was left with scabs on my face that lasted over two weeks.

I never had the time to try different electrologists and go on various consultations so I just stuck with Maria since I read positive things about her on this website.

I think you should book a consultation with her so she can explain everything to you and then see how you feel after that.