How to know if electrolysis is working?

[eternalsunshine]

Hi,

I have been getting electrolysis done on my face weekly for 4 months. A couple of years ago I had laser done once a month for 12 months. I did see a reduction but then it came back worse about a year later. Since then I was plucking for about 20 minutes a day, still not being able to remove everything. I have not plucked or waxed a single hair since starting electrolysis.

I have been too self conscious to take pictures and have just had a full clearance so there is no point in me taking pictures at the moment.

My sessions vary from 45 minutes to 1 hour to clear my full face.

Is there any way to tell if it is working? I am noticing some patches but I am not where I would like to be.

I do not understand, if the hair cycle is less than 8 weeks and I am getting every dark hair removed, how is there still hair growing back? How many times must a single hair be treated? I was under the impression that it need only be treated once.

Also, shouldn’t I be needing less time since I have had so many sessions?

Part of me is afraid that she is sometimes plucking the hair because I can feel the hair being removed sometimes but at first she said it was because the roots were so big (and they were, some had big clear sacs attached). Now she is saying that it is because the roots are dry and getting stuck under the skin. She has over 20 years of experience and has been working at the same salon for almost that long.
I have been to one other electrologist but I did not feel like she knew what she was doing and was not very professional e.g. didn’t wear gloves.

I appreciate your expertise.

eternalsunshine

[SeanaTG]

Gloves arent all that necessary as long as the hands are clean. I hate using them they interfere with the tactile part of doing electrolysis.
If I’m right you ahave hd somewhere in the area of 16 hours of electrolysis. Which puts you smack dab in the middle of the worst regrowth stage. I wouldnt be expecting the time to drop considerably yet but it will taper off.
The hair growth cycle can be anywhere from 8-16 weeks. If your electrologist has been working that long, she hs some idea what she is doing ( certainly more than me!) If you are concerned that the follicles are dry, try drinking more beforehand.If you are getting continual plucking feeling though that may mean not enough treatment energy is being used but from what you describe, I think that’s unlikely.
An hour to clear your whole face? You dear are a very lucky girl! Be patient, you will see the results.

Seana

[eternalsunshine]

Hi Seana,

Thanks for the quick response. I just feel more comfortable with this practitioner. Although she does have her faults, it’s evident that she really loves what she does and I feel more comfortable with her. When I say full clearance I mean dark, coarse hairs and sometimes longer blond ones. I don’t ever expect to be fully hair free on my face, it isn’t the thin blonde hairs that bother me.

I will continue to keep at it because I do hope that it will all be worth it, especially since this is my last resort and I have already spent so much time/ money on my treatments.

eternalsunshine

[SeanaTG]

By all means if you are comfortable with a practitioner stick with em!

Some of those blond hairs are the devil to see even when you do want to remove them. ?I get some that the tone almost exactly matches the skin or are translucent. Seeing the follicle is the devil.

I’ve got a lot more to remove than you, but the issue is the same. About 4 months in you can get rather…discouraged by what you see as regrowth. Dont let it happen. Know that even if you visually arent seeing it it’s because you dont remember what you started with. It is lessening and as long as you stick with it it will thin out and you’ll see the diffference. Right now you are hyper aware of every hair and focussed. Let the treatment work and you’ll see the difference.

Seana

[Gretchen0b]

Etenalsushine you are just in the beginning stages of electrolysis, you have a long way to go. On average 12-18 months is the typical treatment time, you have thousands of dormant hairs under skin that need time to come out. After 6-8 months you will start to notice more of a difference and see progress, you just have to stick with it and be Patient. No gloves is a red flag in my world, I would not use anyone who was not wearing gloves. Who knows what else they’re not doing when it come to cleanliness. As far as the plucking goes it happens sometimes, if it happens often then there may be an issue.

[system]

After 4 months of weekly sessions of true Electrolysis, you should have no doubt of effectiveness. I’m not saying you should be ready, but the hair density (hairs per cm2) should have dropped enough for you to not have to go every week. The frequency of the visits should be biweekly and duration of sessions (if not advancing to other areas) should be 50% of the time spent at the first 2 months.

Maybe she is doing tweezing rather than Electrolysis?

[system]

[img:center]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a2-mUW6P9I8/UqNwCxE6K9I/AAAAAAAAE08/DcT-zRLibjQ/w741-h457-no/escanear0014.jpg[/img]  

In this diagram there is a case represented by Michael Bono. Note the bell-shaped line. If your case was represented in one of these diagrams, it would be a straight line.

[slimbrunett]

you see stuff like this really freaks me out I have been going for 5 months on the 14th Jan every 2.5-3 weeks for 10 minute sessions once I went 3 weeks without the hairs coming back on my chin left it 4 weeks between appointments and was so hopefully but then it lasted much less after and ever since back to my 2.5 weeks. I sometimes can go 6 weeks without hairs on one nipple whilst the other becomes more hairy and visa versa but my chin is still popping hairs at the same length in time although they are different hairs as they come up on different parts of the face I have a horrid one on the right side of my chin at the moment thick and black and I have been hopeful so many times that I wouldn’t get this one anymore because it can be 6-8 weeks before it pops up again but it surely does I feel happier when I get them under the chin apose to on the chin. Was hoping to be going less often by now. Although I only get 6 hairs tops on my chin at any time and around each nipple my electrolysis said I might be seeing her for 2 years before they were gone for good.

[Bono]

Helen,

If you notice on my chart that Jossie posted, that the “minutes” in this case got up to a few HOUR-long appointments. (You have 10-minue appointments!) The person in the graph went 10 long months … and then FINALLY got down to 10-minute appointments!

No two cases will be identical and this “two-phase” block … with “control” in the middle is a common bell curve that fits almost all clients. (This graph was made for other electrologists to consider as they plan their strategy.)

So, you are “freaking out?”

Come on now … you have 10-minute appointments here and there, and a few hairs. Imagine that most of my women have virtual beards! I would like to introduce you to my “Lady from Spain” that took me 20+ hours for her first clearance! Now, THAT’S a problem (and she never complained). I adore this woman! We are best friends now.

Truly, the “here and there random hair” cases are always my worst nightmares. NIGHTMARES! I’m not picking on you (too much), but people with almost NO HAIR complain the loudest! That hair that "came back” is, they are CERTAIN, the exact hair that was treated 6-weeks ago.

Every phone call starts with, “ALL the hairs came back AGAIN! Is this ever going to work? That ONE hair you did? It came back … I KNOW that hair!”

I can’t tell you how many times that clients (with no hair) bitch and scream at me to the point that I finish them up for FREE! ALL my eyebrow cases end up being FREE because I can’t stand the “freaking out.” (I’m actually a “push-over” for women.) And, of course they had been tweezing their eyebrows for 20 years. And yes, they come in with TWO hairs that are “freaking them out” … and I can see they tried to tweeze them out because the shafts are broken off.

(Now, I will not take “small cases” any more. Eyebrows? I rather kill myself!)

Helen … chill out! You basically have NO HAIR! Give your electrologist a break! Indeed, this will be resolved permanently but it is going to take several more months of “treatments here and there.”

(I’m not quite there, but I could be becoming the “George Carlin of Hairtell!” Anyway … kiss kiss kiss Helen … I love you too! But you need a tiny “spanking!” I think I just did it?)

And, I apologize again for my aberrant behavior on-line.

[beate_r]

smile everyone of us has such clients … just from the point of view treatment we often do not see all hairs
(one of my 10 minutes clients even does not accept if i want to treat the seemingly small ones or those hairs which are already stronger and will probably develop in future - although this will cost her no cent more because it will be covered by my minimum price.)

Consequence: initially the apparent progress is really slow over a long time, maybe even a few years (only partial clearances) and frustrating for the client.

[Bono]

Ja, daß stimpt Beate,

But now, of course, I feel bad about maybe hurting Helen’s feelings. Of course, were she my client she would now be getting ALL her treatments for free. I do this WAY WAY too much! But the story goes …

My ONE “lone chin ‘no hair’,” lady’s treatment is getting interesting; yet predictable. It took her several phone calls and a few face-to-face talks to convince me to do her “12 tweezed-out chin hairs.” I told her my feelings about such cases.

I told her that this is going to take A YEAR of sporadic treatment and that she’s going to hate this. I pleaded with her not to have a treatment here and there and then stop for months and go back to tweezing in the meantime. So, here’s the latest …

After THREE treatments (of about 5 - 10 minutes), I have not seen her for more than three months! I ran into her in the grocery store and I said, “Are you tweezing your chin, you naughty girl?” She was a little embarrassed and said, “No Mike, this is fabulous because not ONE hair has come back in all this time.”***

LIAR!

Here’s what happened. Indeed, I wrestled out the gigantic “tree trunks” and now she’s only seeing the “fine” early anagen hairs. These aren’t such a visual nuisance to her and, besides, they tweeze out easily. My bet is that I will see her in another 6-months or so after she’s managed to “build up” the hairs and then can’t stand it any more.

This is going to be a 5-year case … with a TTT of maybe three hours. BRILLIANT!

I warned her … but my admonitions NEVER work on cases like this. However, I really do like this woman. She’s fun and athletic too. We’re going kayaking together in a few weeks. I’ll be watching that CHIN (and the baby grey whales too)!

*** Also predictable is that when she called for an appointment, it had to be that VERY DAY … IMMEDIATELY, like right now! I always complied. But what a nuisance?

[slimbrunett]

I understand you see many cases worse than mine however even a few hairs can cause someone depression stress change in personality and just the fear of things getting worse makes you feel worry that if this is how I feel now how would I cope then. I simply couldn’t cope I stop in the house if I have more than 1 thick black hair visible on my chin so let along a full beard I just want the process to work and hoping I’m doing all the right things. I stopped tweezing around a month before seeking electrolysis as I went for blood tests and wanted to show the doctor I will never go back to tweezing any part of my body or face other than my eye brows which I don’t want treatment on all I have done in 6 months is use a small pair of nail scissors to trim the hairs. When the hairs appear I leave them a day or 2 to see more come threw then I book my electrolysis session for around 5 days after to allow them a little time to grow and see if any other suckers come. without the hairs I am a loud bubbly flirty I think attractive women but with them on my chin and around the nipples I feel I am the ugliest women in the world I no longer want to be intermate with my husband unless the lights are out and even then its pretty bland stuff so when this works It will change my life, even with only a few hairs as you say rather than a full beard electrolysis that works changes lifes and I hope that it does for me.

[slimbrunett]

I do not take offense Michael I do sometimes need to have things put into prospective that its not the end of the world especially since mine is on the smaller scale of the issue, I just wanted to point out that to the person with the hairs it can be just as upsetting and stressful x

[Bono]

Thanks for your comments Helen.

PLEASE consider the insanity of “women being perfect” in this stupid “Madison Avenue” society. ONE hair does not make you a “non-woman!” Trust me, your husband couldn’t care less … and, you should have the same feelings.

We are HUMAN and, YES, both men and women grow hairs. Nearly all women have a few hairs here and there.

We live in a culture that at “screwed up.” Totally FALSE! The women you emulate aren’t even REAL women … they have been “Photoshopped” to look like some “testosterone-poisoned” guy’s “ideal woman.” (And, he’s probably fat and BALD!)

Women have a little fat here and there. Their boobs sag, eventually. Butts get big. Their hair turns white and they get wrinkles … and a few hairs. It’s LIFE. We should be happy with what we have. (And, I love all the “imperfections!”) Men too, of course, have all the “visitations” of nature as well.

There is no perfection. YOUR worth as a person is not based on having ONE HAIR on your chin or boob. Think about this …

Stop looking at “People” magazine, and start reading “National Geographic” … or even the New York Times.

As you can see, yes, I do sound “harsh” … but in reality I have a BIG heart for women! I do not like suffering for no valid reason!

And now, I have to get ready to have “my face removed” in 2 hours … to take off a BIG skin cancer! I might lose an ear (remote possibility). However, I will “cross that bridge when I get there!”

LIFE HAPPENS! NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE! Be happy for all the beauty that I know you have!

[James_W_Walker_VII]

All I got to say is…