how will plucking affect electrolysis results?

Hello all – I’m planning to start living full-time as part of an MTF transition soon, but won’t be able to start permanent hair removal for at least six months. When I do, I hope to clear my facial hair with marathon galvanic sessions, preferably at Electrology 2000 given all the good things I’ve read about them here. Until then, I’ve been hoping to keep as smooth and shadow-free as possible with my current method of combining plucking and shaving.

What I’m wondering is this: Does plucking negatively affect the results of electrolysis? If so, can that effect be reduced if I don’t pluck for a period of time before the first electrolysis session?

If it makes a difference, my facial hair comes in rather coarse, sparser than average, and about 60% of the hairs are unpigmented.

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere already, I did a forum search and couldn’t find anything sufficiently specific.

May I ask what is the reason you are delaying the hair removal start, and why are you planning on using galvanic from the start?

By the way, the short answer is, plucking now will make your hair removal more costly and difficult later.

shaving is really the best method for now.

Electrology 3000 doesn’t do galvanic, only thermolysis. And they book up a long time in advance. I would start planning now if you want to use them.

val-FL asked: Does plucking negatively affect the results of electrolysis? If so, can that effect be reduced if I don’t pluck for a period of time before the first electrolysis session?

Yes, repeated tweezing negatively affects the results of electrology treatments, but only by adding time and sometimes difficulty. It appears that repeated tweezing is one of several things that can stimulate hairs to become larger in diameter. This makes them more difficult to treat. Tweezing can also result in ingrown hairs and the results in the client picking at their skin, which can cause pitting of the skin. Also, when you tweeze, you really don’t know when those hairs will return so they can be treated.

Those effects (increased diameter) cannot be reduced by just stopping for a period of time.