In need of some feedback

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

First of all, let me thank you all for posting, because if it wasn’t for this site, I wouldn’t have known anything about electrolysis and I’d still be struggling. In my country barely anyone talks about it, and I didn’t know anyone to recommend me a good electrologist. Basically I went with my gut feeling and chose a person who was upfront with me from the beginning, answering my question about the price via email without forcing me to visit their place. Later on I found out that she’s leading the Union of cosmetologists in my city and I had a dermatologist tell me that I must be going to someone who knows their job because I would have got visible scars if they weren’t good at it.I registered and opened this thread not because I don’t trust my electrologist, but mostly out of curiosity and the need of feedback from experienced people, to gain more courage that the nightmare will end one day.

That said, let me share some of my background. I’m 36 years old and I’m a serious plucking case. It all started with a couple of hairs when I was 13, which turned into a few hairs every few months, to a couple of months, and so on, until I reached the point when I had to pluck a few hairs every single day and they’d appear again by night. The hairs are on the chin and a few of them on the neck (fortunately really few on the neck, the chin is mainly the problematic area). I had no idea what kind of damage I was doing with the plucking. I’ve tried wax and threading and even laser a couple of times, which never helped. Then I found out about electrolysis and honestly I was so relieved that a method like this exists! I’ve tried to educate myself as best as I can and understand what is really happening on my chin. I’m expecting a period of 12 to 18 months, and my electrologist says it might take even more. I did hormone tests and nothing came out. I have no hormone issue, I caused it all to myself with plucking, from what I understand.

I started around Christmas time. First time it took 25 minutes to clear the area and I’ve never had more than 35 minutes on one session. At first I had to go every ten days and at some times I went even every week because the hairs were annoying me. Lately I have managed a comfortable every 2 weeks session with around 25 minutes to clear, but I can’t always manage the 2 weeks period. The first week is always all right, it’s after that that hairs are starting to annoy me (mostly they’re annoying to touch) and around the 10-day mark, they are visible if you really look at the area. Most of my hairs are white, but there are plenty of dark ones in there. Not all of them are coarse. For example, the previous to last time I went, the hairs were a lot but not so coarse, but the last time I went, they were coarse. From that alone it’s pretty obvious to me that these aren’t the same hairs that are growing.

At first I felt a bit of a plucking sensation sometimes, but I wasn’t sure about it, and when I asked the lady, she said that she makes sure to kill the hair first and then take it out. I can sometimes feel her going back to the same hair twice or thrice because she meets resistance when trying to get it out. From what I’ve read around here, plucking sensation doesn’t always mean plucking. And even that, I don’t feel it a lot, just sometimes. Most of the time the hairs seem to be coming out effortlessly.

She uses the blend method and the pain is bearable. I’m very pain tolerant by nature so I can’t tell if someone else would be screaming at my place. The lady says I’m the best client regarding that matter and she can work at ease, not being afraid I’m gonna jump from the chair any time soon.

In conclusion, I’m quite happy and even though I still need to go every ten or fifteen days, I am noticing a difference after five months and I’m hopeful. Do you think I’m doing all right? Should I expect more at this point? In your experience, a person who has been plucking for basically twenty years with no hormonal issue, how long will I need?

I’m sorry this was so long, thank you reading, and I’d appreciate any replies. :slight_smile:

#2

Assuming you CEASE ALL PLUCKING 9-18 months the same as any other area /person. It sounds like you have a good electrologist who is very fastidious. Keep it up! Your session length will slowly decrease over the period of removal. PLEASE throw away your tweezers. They should be banned!

#3

I was a chin-tweezer for years before I started electrysis, it took about 9 months, twice a week to notice any results.

Good to see you still giving advice, Seana. :slight_smile:

#4

I’m going to use this line, but I want to give credit to the person who said it. (Damn perfect line):

“Only pluck out the hairs you want to keep!”

Now, ain’t that perfect?

#5

Angelfeather, welcome to Hairtell.

How long ago did you tweeze?

If you feel a pulling, then she feels resistance. It sounds like she goes back into the empty follicle and gives another zap or two, which is a good idea. If she has to do this for eery hair, then the energy level needs to be increased. Feel free to let her know you feel some pulling every time you feel some pulling.

Stay with this and you will be swaying and singing, “Oh, Happy Day”, with your electrologist, in about 12- 18 months. This can’t be rushed.

#6

The first thing my elecrologist told me was that I should use my tweezers on my eyebrows ONLY and nowhere else. Then she proceeded to let me know she’d cut off my hands if I touched my chin after treatment and transfer bacteria. She’s a funny lady all right.

But yes, I followed her advice on the tweezers. It took me a while to not touch though… old habits die hard. Even now I have to remind myself to not touch the area all that much because I only end up being annoyed and magnify the problem when the hairs aren’t very visible.

This is really encouraging! I’ve already seen a difference, actually. It’s not a big one, but I notice.

It is indeed perfect and I’m going to use it on sisters and friends. I’m already spreading the knowledge I’ve accumulated here, lol. I’ve also watched almost all of your videos and I’ve learnt so much from you! Sincerely, thank you.

I haven’t tweezed once since I started electrolysis. My elecrologist doesn’t allow me to do it, as well as any other hair removal method. The only thing she allows me to do, is cut with scissors when I get too frustrated. But she even discourages me from doing that too and claims I should keep it for extreme measure, because along with the dark/coarse hair I might cut some vellus hairs accidentally as well, which will only hinder our progress.

The only thing I’m kinda wondering about is how she tells me to not use water on the treated area until the next day. I haven’t seen this elsewhere, I’m assuming she’s just uber careful about this.

Thank you all so much for the replies, you’ve made me very happy and more determined to stay patient!

#7

I’m okay with my clients using water as long as it’s not contaminated water, like from a river or mud puddle. Ask her why she gave you no water instructions.

#8

I’ve asked her and she says it’s because electrolysis involves electricity. I can’t remember her reply all that well. Just that the skin needs to be left alone for a few hours.

She’s probably being super careful. At first I used to get some whiteheads, but I know that was because I touched the area. Now, I get some slight scabbing that goes away by the next day.

#9

A happy update: I went last night after 2 weeks and it only took us 20 minutes to clear. There were 2 girls there observing the work (ofc I had given permission) and the lady would explain some things. It was quite encouraging how she told them that the most important thing about electrolysis is to make sure the hair comes out effortlessly with no resistance, and how one also needs to touch the area, not just rely on sight, to catch all the hairs every time.

Btw, I checked the website and the machine used is an XILIA EPIL 5S. I have no idea if this is old technology or new.

#10

AFAIK this is a fairly modern machine with actually some interesting features (a “combinded microflash program”, i.e. something similar to Multiplex

#11

It’s me again. I grew bold today and asked my electrologist more things about the settings. She told me that she prefers to have lower settings and in case needed to zap a hair twice or thrice if it doesn’t come off the first time, rather than causing me scars.

Would you say I’m being undertreated because of that? I don’t feel hairs being plucked, they go effortlessly, and repetition doesn’t happen often. I can feel her going back for a hair just a couple of times during one session. Is it possible to be undertreated when a hair comes off without me feeling it? I’m not sure I understand undertreatment and if it goes hand in hand with plucking hairs instead of treating them.

Also, I’ve read that with blend method you need to keep the needle in for a few seconds, but in some videos I’ve seen, it only lasts a second or two, which is what my electologist does. It doesn’t take more than two seconds.

#12

It is possible to do blend in as short as 2 seconds. This requires the galvanic current to be set very high (and surprisingly it is not too painful over that short time…). Do You have to hold an electrode during the treatment? That’s usually a clear indication of blend.

Are You sure that she does always the same hair when she goes back or if she does a different hair nearby?

#13

I sometimes hold an elctrode/automatic sensor for thermolysis if the electrologist doesn’t want to use a pedal.

Hairs sliding out effortlessly doesn’t mean much. I have had hairs sliding out perfectly in areas being treated over 2 years now, and I’m still dealing with regrowth. The only way for you to measure progress is to photo document and keep a log of treatment times.

#14

The experience is unpleasant but not overly painful. It’s tolerable. Some areas hurt more than others, e.g. I have some stiches on my chin since I was a kid and it always hurts more when she works on them.

As for the electrocode, I’m not holding anything, just sitting there patiently.

I can’t be sure because I can’t see, but sometimes I feel like she wants to pull a hair out and stops because she finds resistence so she goes back to it. It feels like she goes to the same hair to me. She says there’s some hairs that are more difficult to take out, and that I can understand because some hairs are coarser and they stick out weirdly. I think it’s because of the plucking I’ve been doing for so many years before I started treatment.

Oh no, that’s so sad, I’m sorry it’s taking so long for you. I really didn’t know that undertreatment can happen even with no tweezing sensation, you got me thinking now…

The truth is, depending on the time of the month, sometimes it takes a whole week for hairs to start appearing and other times they come out sooner. But I know it’s not the same hairs, e.g. last time i had many dark hairs and this time they were mostly white. I’m entering my 6th month and I’d say I’ve had around 7 hours of treatment on my chin so far.

#15

Today my chin was cleared in 15 minutes, after 14 days since last treatment/clearance. My electrologist said my situation is clearly improving since clearance time is less and the hairs we have to treat are much less aggressive. By end of June it’ll be 6 months since I started.

I’m happy, bless electrolysis!

#16

The timeline sounds right for what you are seeing and feeling. Congratulations! Stay with it. You are not finished yet.

#17

Today my electrologist asked me if I still thread my upper lip because she noticed the hairs getting coarser and darker, which is true. I told her we could try to see if I can handle the pain. It wasn’t pretty, but my pain tolerance is really high and I realised I can take it.

So now, we’ve added the upper lip along with the chin. Since I’m no where near patient waiting 15 days for the upper lip, we thought we’d start with once a week, and work on whatever is there on the chin (i don’t get much anymore within a week) and what’s new on the upper lip.

Is this a good plan? Any difference between those two areas I should be aware of?

#18

Once a week for upper lip is how I start most of my upper lip clients. I keep treatments shortMAX) . That usually a discomfort thing. I dont know any client who LIKES their upper lip worked on, so 40 or 50 hairs over 20 minutes or so is about most can tolerate.Picoflash is a perfect for upper lips.

#19

Thank you Seana!

It makes sense that upper lip shouldn’t last more than 20 minutes. I had ten minutes yesterday because there weren’t many hairs there, but I can’t imagine tolerating that for more than fifteen minutes or so.

Skin reaction has been very good. I was very red for a few hours, but today I woke up with no redness at all, and there’s no scabbing either.

#20

I do 30 - 45 minutes on the upper lip. Most people do just fine, but there are a few that give me specific instructions to only do a few minutes on each side.