Is it still really bad to pluck 3 or 4 chin hairs?

Hair Removal Methods Tweezing/Plucking
#21

Thanks for your encouragement about shaving, Mellie. It’s good to hear that you’ve made a decision and are taking a firm course of action.

I went to eletrolysis tonight (Wednesday). The last time I went before that was Saturday. I really tried not to tweeze and use the nail scissors instead. I think I plucked maybe 6 - 8 hairs in total, so I did pretty good compared to my old ways. I’m scheduled to go again on Saturday. In addition to trying not to pluck and using the nail scissors more, I usually don’t do anything Friday night or Saturday morning so my hair is grown out more by then.

I have a question about when you first started to shave since you mentioned that you tweezed heavily beforehand.

My skin is really damaged from 30 years of tweezing and 17 years of electrolysis. Isn’t it harder to shave damaged bumpy skin with scars, peeling skin and little scabs? How can you get a smooth shave that way?

I guess I’m just so worried that my problem is going to get worse if I shave. (I just can’t bear to let that happen. It would just be so devastating to me.) I know everyone says this isn’t the case, but I also hear of people who have shaved every day and their problem has also become way worse over the years.

Continuing the story about our grandmothers growing beards in the hospital, one of my sisters is a social worker at a hospital. She said at one of their weekly meetings they were discussing what to do about the elderly female patients who were growing beards. Some of the other patients had complained. It seems that family members weren’t going to shave them and the social workers wondered if they should mention it to the nurses and have them do it. I forgot to ask my sister what they decided to do about this.

I asked my electrologist if she had ever treated anyone in the hospital and she said she had in the past. I guess the equipment is portable, although a remote visit in the hospital would probably be very expensive.

Neily

#22

I would say it would be quite difficult to shave on damaged bumpy skin - especially with a razor. While I was tweezing I can recall the underside of my chin pretty much looked like it had a permanent rash. Also there were little bumps everywhere (I’m guessing they were raised hair follicles). I started using an electric shaver because of the thin foil lining which sits between the blades and the skin. I found this to be much more safer and gentler to use.

My skin is starting to recover from the tweezing and it is looking a lot better. A product I would recommend for getting rid of scars is 100% organic rosehip oil. I had a bad case of chickpox at the age of 21 that left me with a few scars. I applied the rosehip oil every day for several weeks and they faded away brilliantly.

I don’t think shaving would make your situation worse than plucking. From my own experience I think it gives the illusion that it is worse since the hairs haven’t been removed by the root. So it does feels like there are more thicker hairs there all of a sudden.

My electrologist told me that after a few months I will find I don’t have to shave as much between sessions anymore, then she went on to say that eventually I won’t need to shave between sessions at all! :slight_smile: All forms of temporary hair removal are probably just going to make the situation worse. I’ve come to the conclusion that I just have to toughen up and do what needs to be done to make the most out of my electrolysis treatments.

#23

I wish you the best of luck with your treatment. It sounds like you’re doing things very sensibly, Mellie. I hope it works out for you. Please keep us updated on your progress.

I would love to hear a testimonial from someone who has completed electrolysis treatment on their chin and has gone for a period of time without any treatment at all.

Thanks! My next electrolysis treament is tomorrow at noon.

Neily

#24

Yes, it’s really bad to use the clip. Interrupts the natural cycle of hair and cause serious damage to the skin. Here is a graphic example of the abuse of the hair clip:
http://picasaweb.google.es/jm0158969/DamageToTheSkinCausedByTheAbuseOfTheHairClip#