Hi everyone! I thought it would be nice to introduce myself, instead of jumping straight ahead to posting questions, though I doubt anybody would be interested in my boring story 
I’m a woman from Spain. Since I was a child I’ve been, very, very, hairy. Not due to suffering any underlying medical condition (luckily!), I was just born like this. I’ll avoid delving into the years of bullying, isolation, dysmorphia, depression and suicidal ideation that this condition has caused me.
When I was about 11 years old, my hair removal journey started. Razors, bleaching creams, hair removal creams, tweezers, scissors, epilators, wax, at-home IPL… And, starting at the age of seventeen, professional laser hair removal for three years: arms, underarms, legs… It only worked on my lower legs. So much wasted money and time…
From this extensive experience I learned that I can’t pull my hair (tweezing, waxing, epilating, etc.) since, even though the hair is dark, long and coarse, it’s fine. So I get millions of ingrown hairs and pimples, and my skin is left reddish and just ugly. By the time my skin recovers, the hair has grown back. Therefore, I never look good: either I’m hairy, or my skin is irritated.
Cutting the hair is… Exhausting. My hair grows VERY fast. Like man-beard-fast. I razor at morning, leave my house self-conscious due to the irritated skin and paranoid over whether there’s any hair left I haven’t noticed, and come back home self-conscious due to the hair that is growing back.
I thought that was going to be my live forever. Then, in the summer of 2020, I discovered the existence of electrolysis. I read hundreds of posts from this forum, among information from many other places. I tried to learn as much as I could. I didn’t have money for professional electrolysis, so I decided to try to do it myself. I was a little sceptical after my experience with laser, I didn’t want to lose more money.
I bought the infamous Clean & Easy One Touch. Woah, that was hard at first. Did I mention I used to have a phobia of needles? After reading so much information, I wanted everything to be hygienic and safe, and I worried a lot over whether I was doing something wrong.
But it worked. It worked! I couldn’t believe it. I waited months for the treated hair to grow back. It didn’t. It still hasn’t. For the first time, I could envision myself living a normal life, just going out without worrying and hiding.
After a few months, I built the at-home electrolysis device from the Geocities website I found here on HairTell. Using a switched Sterex needle holder with a Ballet gold needle was a game changer, that’s for sure. Since the beginning, my insertions were pretty good, with both hands, even with the One Touch. I got rid of the hair on my arms that was left after years of laser.
I also got rid of the extremely thick, dark, coarse and long hair that covered my neck (under my jaw), that appeared after I used IPL on the fine hair that used to be there (worst decision ever). It was quite a difficult place for a DIYer, but I managed to do it and the hair was gone in less than eight months. It’s been a year since that hair disappeared, so I can say I did a good job. No scarring or marks left, either.
However, I got to a point in which I was too exhausted. I want to get rid of my facial hair, back hair… I didn’t spend too much time doing electrolysis, since I was studying and working at the time, but I wondered if a professional would do a faster and better job. I was no longer afraid of electrolysis not working, and I had money again. So I decided to give it a try.
Well, I tried searching all over my country. I know there are very good professionals here, some of them famous. Maybe that’s why it’s impossible to book an appointment with them. Don’t try to give me names or advice: I assure you that I’ve contacted many, many people. Those that are well respected and experienced, have full schedules. There are, perhaps, some other places I could try to contact, but there are too far away.
I also tried to book appointments with average beauty salons that offer electrolysis. It was a horrible experience. At one of them, they would only book me for one hour per month. At another salon, I started treatment after a successful test with a lovely lady. The second time I went there, a different lady (the electrologist would change randomly) spent an hour plucking my upper lip. I couldn’t believe it, I thought that it must have been some strange technique that made me feel a pull when she removed the hair. When that same hair was growing back a week later, I felt like an idiot and decided to never come back.
However, I did get something positive out of this experience: after so many tests with so many professionals, some very good, and others not so good, I realized that it would take the same amount of time doing the treatment with them, that it would to do it myself. They took the same time as me to insert the needle, perhaps because I was already very experienced after over a year of doing it myself. There was only a significant difference: the machine. Professional machines are much faster.
So now a new stage on my do-it-yourself-electrolysis-journey starts: I want to buy a professional machine and learn how to use it. I’m motivated, familiarized with the process and now my mother is also interested. She doesn’t suffer from the same problem as me, but she is interested in electrolysis, wants to help me and is even considering it as a new career path (after going to school, of course!).
But I’m not crazy: I want to do it right, safely. I’ll have tons of specific questions that won’t be easily available on the Internet, so that’s why I’m finally joining HairTell. I don’t think I can be of much help to others, though I would try. I ask for your help and kindness in spite of my clumsiness and inexperience.
And that is all, if you’ve managed to read up to this point, have a nice day! 