Ingrown hairs or not?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello all,

I had electrolysis last Fri. on my forearms.

2 weeks ago, I had a test spot done on a patch of hair that is on my forearms as well, but sort of on the outskirts of where most of the hair is concentrated.

These hairs weren’t ‘fine’ hairs, but they aren’t very coarse either.

The scabbing has come and gone, and there is no PIH.

HOWEVER, almost all of the sites of the treated hairs in the test patch are now bumpy.

I didn’t have issues with ingrowns on my upper arm.

But I’m running into these issues now on my forearm.

If the zap isn’t killing the hair - when the electrologist is removing the hair, they’re actually just plucking it? Thereby causing the hair to grow back in coils and get trapped under the skin?

#2

Sometimes hair areas are more prone to become ingrown. For example, the hairs on the back of my thighs are more prone to ingrowing because I am sitting down.

I also tended to get more ingrowns on my stomach after electrolysis than my face. My treatment in both areas, however, has still been effective.

The bumps may also be caused by something other than ingrowns.

I’m assuming that you do realise for anyone to be able to give you any meaningful advice you will probably need to post pictures?

#3

Here’s a picture.

The lighting makes the complexion in the area look far worse than it is. But in-person, there’s no doubt that these bumps are ingrown hairs. I can see a slight dark shading in the bumps too.

The main issue is that this area - after treatment was quite smooth. A little irritated looking, but smooth.

2 weeks later it went through a scab phase, and now most of them are gone.

But I’m now left with bumps that make me think something went wrong underneath.

Lately, all the treatment sites are leaving me these kinds of bumps.

2014-09-13061044_zps86d79436.jpg1024×576

To see it up close, right-click and ‘open image in new tab’.

Sometimes hair areas are more prone to become ingrown. For example, the hairs on the back of my thighs are more prone to ingrowing because I am sitting down.

What causes a hair to be more ingrown than another hair?

For instance, I didn’t have much (or any) ingrowns on my upper arms. However, my right arm is still riddled with hyperpigmentation, 8-9 months later.

My electrologist prefers to use high energy and stay in the follicle longer. But after my bad reactions, they began going with slightly lower energy. So they’ve been definitely trying to help me and to avoid more pigmentation issues.

But now I have ingrown hairs, so I’m not sure what to do.

Thus far, electrolysis is proving to be a can of worms for my skin tone.

It’s difficult for me to look at pictures of clients that Josefa has treated successfully and then look at my own treatment and feel I’m undergoing the same procedure.

#4

As emilily wrote above, it is possible for these bumps to be caused by other things, but ingrown hairs. There could be remains of the hair root if it didn’t epilate completely, or “tombstones” where a telogen hair was visible and got treated and the anagen hair growing in the same follicle, but not obvious yet, got killed as well, but couldn’t get epilated.
In every case, you will need to make sure you exfoliate the area often and moisturise to help whatever is inside to come out. Glycolic acid lotions with 15% glycolic are very beneficial to bring ingrown hairs or similar to the surface.
If they are ingrown hairs, the bumps would slowly get bigger as the hairs grow inside.
I hope this helps a bit.

#5

Thanks for the information guys.

I do have one central question.

If a hair is removed with electrolysis, and not in the right phase for permanent destruction - will the regrowth simply grow out like a normal hair would?

Or would ANY regrowth become an ingrown hair?

It could certainly be tombstone hair. I know it’s possible for multiple hairs to be bunched up close together.

#6

LDLD, you have probably noticed that many of us don’t differentiate the stages of hair growth as right and wrong for electrolysis. The hair can be killed in any stage, just like a moving target one just needs to aim in the right place.
If for some reason, the follicle isn’t completely destroyed and eventually grows a hair, it may be ingrown, or it may be ok. With fine hairs and when the upper part of the follicle was sufficiently treated to make it scab and consequently heal closing the opening, it is likely that one would get ingrown hairs.
If the follicle was under-treated and the hair broken off, it will grow through very quickly and look similar to shaved hair.

#7

From Michael Bono :

Nothing in these bumps. Pretty sure this is “micro-hemorrhage.” After
the follicle got zapped and normal blood factors moved into the “dead
space” some red cells also managed to leak-in and occupy the space.
Thus, a bump and a bit of darker color (red blood cells). Happens …
normal and very visible with your skin type.

#8

IMG_1356_zps4c1af4ed.jpg1017×1024

Closer view.

Is this a normal reaction?

I have seen so many different reactions…

Sometimes nothing but some residual PIH. Sometimes permanent PIH. Sometimes ingrown hairs. Sometimes these bumps.

#9

All of this aside, I think you need to make a decision about hair removal.

Either do it, or don’t do it. If you can’t take the stress of your body reacting to the treatment, don’t do it. Remove your hair through other, non-permanent methods. Doing this is not worth it if you are constantly stressing out over reactions.

#10

Please don’t think I’m “dumping on you,” but I agree with emilily.

I think the somewhat frustrating aspect of your question is that after you have been given some reasonable explanations (that took effort on our part), it’s not enough.

Indeed, I could now launch into a lengthy explanation about myofibroblasts and the normal buildup of “wound collagen,” but I don’t think it will make any impression on you LDLD.

You are asking the same questions over and over … whether you get an answer or not. (BTW, my explanation of “wound collagen” is on Hairtell someplace, and that’s probably what you’re seeing.)

When skin is injured it goes through odd changes. Even the plastic surgeon with whom I work, who has 45-years experience, still sees “odd ‘new’ manifestations” in the healing skin. It’s what happens.

He predicted that my skin graft would fill in with a white scar. It didn’t … it’s fine! But I would have been okay with a big white scar on my face too. WAY better than cancer?

The bottom line is that what you are stressing over all goes away. Even the so-called “permanent PIH?” If this was really PIH caused by electrolysis, it would be the first time EVER that I’ve seen this happen.

I’d “go” with emilily … chill out … forget about any permanent hair removal technique and do your clipping to make the area look more the way you want. This procedure is not for you. (I think I made that suggestion in a PM some time ago? You asked me if electrolysis was for you … and I said, “no!”)

I hope you do not take this the wrong way. However, I would guess all of us here, after reading many of your posts, would say the same thing. Eliminate the stress; it’s not worth it for a few measly “blinking” hairs!

HAIRS! They’re just hairs!

#11

I probably shouldn’t do it because it’s been largely unsuccessful for me.

The issue isn’t that I am unable to cope with the transient side-effects.

It’s that the side-effects I’ve been experiencing have all been permanent.

The PIH I complained about back in the spring is still present. It’s basically there forever. And I haven’t even posted the other ingrown hairs I have (post-treatment) on my left elbow area.

The most recent picture I posted is a bit more close-up so I thought it might generate a new opinion.

I have an appointment next week, so hopefully my electrologist will be able to figure out what is going on.

#12

Saw my electrologist today.

They were ingrown hairs but the actual hair was ‘dead’ - trapped underneath the skin. My electrologist tweezed them out.

So, what is happening is perhaps that when my hair is treated, there is another hair inside that is getting zapped too, and over time my body is pushing that hair out.

This wasn’t an issue on my upper arm.

On my forearm, I’m running into these ingrown hair issues at every treated hair though.

#13

Yes, LDLD you are correct on this.

AND, these dead “under-the-skin” remnants have a name: “tombstones!”

#14

damn those tombstones!

#15

I’m intrigued. The real “tombstones” are quite rare. Maybe one in a thousand hairs in telogen could be generating a new anagen hair. I do not know what is happening, but this is certainly something very singular.
Do you know if those dead hairs were forced out?

#16

I really don’t mean to hijack this thread- but do either of you perhaps have a picture of one of these ‘tombstones’? I couldn’t find any decent pictures online.

#17

This is one of those tombstones. I have not been able to find anything better. This could be mistaken for a terminal hair in early anagen, but it is not. These are the remains of a dead hair that would have been expelled from the skin during the days following the photo. You can recognize these “individuals” because they come off easily with just a little scratch.

Tombstones%2B2.jpg769×577

#18

Here is another example of a tombstone.

#19

I’m intrigued. The real “tombstones” are quite rare. Maybe one in a thousand hairs in telogen could be generating a new anagen hair. I do not know what is happening, but this is certainly something very singular.
Do you know if those dead hairs were forced out? [/quote]

Hi Josefa,

What do you mean by forced out?

Did my electrologist apply significant force to remove them?

It didn’t seem like they were tugging. The hairs came out very easily.

BTW

@all

I found this article, a paper, on ingrown hairs and treatment. The paper says that electrolysis is not well-suited for treating ingrowns. However, the blend modality has been shown to be effective.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/715199_2

Epilation Electrolysis is a form of permanent hair removal that can be considered for limited areas. However, it has the potential to be painful and costly. Moreover, electrolysis is often unsuccessful in individuals of African descent due to difficulty in ablating the curved and often distorted hair follicle secondary to previous manipulation. A blend method of electrolysis using galvanic and thermolysis currents has been effective. Nonetheless, electrolysis may actually exacerbate PFB, perhaps promoting transfollicular penetration, and therefore is generally not recommended.

#20

I concur with Jossie & Dee on the rarity of “tombstones.” My client yesterday is a typical example … a TG beard removal. I began the second clearance of the entire right cheek area (not touched for the last few months). The client had ONE tombstone.

Tombstones typically do not cause a bump. They usually stick out of the follicle and look sort of like a very dark (short) wood sliver. They are often a bit deformed and dried out looking … sometimes they break off when removed.

Remember these are fully dead dried-out remnants of an early anagen hair that was dispatched before it emerged from the follicle (usually along with the targeted, and equally dead, telogen hair). It’s a “dead baby” … EEEEK!

At this point I can only say to LDLD, “Me no know, Kemo-sahbee!”

(P.S. … that Medsacpe “article” is shit!)