Well not upper lip but upper lip hair, ran out of room I know this has been asked a million times and I did searches but thought I’d post again for myself as I still get confused on how exactly electrolysis works. All I know is I’ve done 3 sessions so far on my full front, so 1.5 hours in total and I am completely hair free (after that 1 session I mean I don’t mean hair free for life just comparing it to a laser treatment). I’ve done so many sessions on my full face with laser, alexandrite and yag, and my neck cheeks etc are literally completely clear but my upper lip and chin are not, barely any change at all. In fact there may be a bit of induced growth but not 100%. I always seem to be doing treatments and clearing it all so I don’t usually have it fully grown in for long but just seems like more than I remember.
Anyway now that I see how fast electrolysis is I’d like to just do my upper lip with it and finish this once and for all. I’m still just not clear though on how long it takes or how it compares to laser as I know there’s many different ways to do it.
I last did laser probably 8 weeks or so on the area if that helps at all, so the hair should be in the same growth stage. Lets say I go next week and do a session and have her completely 100% clear my upper lip. Now I know that there’s different ways to do this. Some people seem to go every 2 weeks or so, to get the hairs while they’re still very fine so they’re pretty much always hair free, while others wait for it to fully grow back. I think I’d prefer doing the later.
I guess I’m just still confused on how many treatments etc are required to fully treat the area. Like if I 100% remove it all right now, then wait 6-8 weeks for it to be back and go for another treatment removing 100% of it again, wait 6-8 weeks repeat etc, is it similar to laser in that I’d still need 6-8 treatments to have it 100% gone? From what I’ve read on here it sounds like electrolysis is faster than laser and shouldn’t take as long but just wanted some feedback.
I don’t really care how long it takes but I’m just trying to figure out timing as well as cost. Obviously going every 2 weeks is going to cost way more but I’d assume would be finished sooner, I don’t know just confused!
I think there are too many variables dependent on the electrologist you are seeing to make comments.
Overall, both methods should take the same amount of time, with the same person. Going every 2 weeks will just be shorter treatments, whereas every 6-8 will be longer appointments.
Oh okay that makes sense then and helps. Assuming the treatments are effective etc, if I went every 6 weeks, is it still the general 6-8 treatments required to be hair free like with laser? Meaning lets say every 6 weeks x 8 treatments = 48 weeks or roughly one year before I’m clear? I guess it could be shorter too depending on what my desired outcome is. If after 4 treatments 50% of the hair is gone, that might even be a big enough reduction that I can shave and still look clean shaven for a few days etc. Even on my cheeks and neck it’s not 100% gone but probably 90-95% and I can go a week or two without shaving before it starts to look funny. I’m lucky because I started talking to my electrologist about the work I do with marketing, and advertising etc so I’ve been helping her with ads and really easy computer questions and getting free sessions in exchange for it so been great.
It sounds about right. Some electrologists may get you done quicker than a year, others perhaps a bit longer.
I guess you need to see if your electrologist can give you total clearance in single sittings before you decide how to go about it. It’s a small area with a high density of hair so she may not want to work more than 30 mins (or so) at a time, so as not to have you go away with too much of a reaction. All depends on her set-up really.
Yeah that’s true for sure will definitely have to see. In general are full clearances with electrolysis similar to laser? Like upper lip is a good example because the hair is pretty much all dark and coarse. Now I’ve had bad results with laser on this area because it’s hard to treat, but if successul is it similar in that each full clearance I have, it should reduce around 15-20% of the hair? So 6-8 weeks later there’s maybe 85% of the hair left, then another 6-8 weeks later after my third treatment there’s 70% remaining etc? Assuming that all treatments are done properly etc.
As far as I understand, it depends on the electrologists ‘kill rate’, so how many of the treated follicles are killed first time. What happens over the course of the next year really depends on how much true regrowth you will get.
Technically, if everything is perfect all the treated hair can be eliminated the first time it’s treated. What % that is, I don’t know, since you are going 8 weeks after a laser session and that really does change things.
For what it’s worth, you can review my thread (link in my signature). After a bit more than 13 months, there is very little regrowth on my upper lip and what there is, is very fine and slow to regrow.
I just did my lower back, was a large area but done in about 30 minutes. I asked her how many sessions I’d typically need as I’ve never done anything on this area and she said it depends on how I react to the treatment and the settings but it could be 10-15. That seems like a lot… After though she asked if I wanted to book my next appointment 2 weeks from now, so I guess 10-15 isn’t that many if going every 2 weeks, and I assume it wouldn’t take the full 30 minutes every 2 weeks. I’d rather go every month or so, but hoping it’s not 30 minutes every month for 10-15 months :S
Hey edokid, even if you are going for 10-15 months the amount of time per month winds down drastically after about 6 months usually. Towards the end you should only be going once a month for a few minutes.
Awesome that makes sense. That’s what I was thinking as well as I was driving home. I figure even if it took 15 sessions, after 7 I’d assume that around 50% of the hair would be gone so by that point those 30 minute sessions should be down to 15 mins etc I’m hoping She’s def fast though, I timed it since I could see the clock. When it changed, I counted the hairs she removed on my back and in 1 minute she had removed about 17 hairs which sounds like it’s pretty fast from what I’ve heard on here.
Now you got it.
It is this kind of thing that is the reason behind some practitioner’s setting a fee schedule that has shorter work costing more than longer work. Say, $50 for 15 minutes or less, but $75 for an hour long treatment.
the best practitioners lose all their best clients, because they actually finish the job.
I know this has been asked a million times and I did searches but thought I’d post again for myself as I still get confused on how exactly electrolysis works. All I know is I’ve done 3 sessions so far on my full front, so 1.5 hours in total and I am completely hair free (after that 1 session I mean I don’t mean hair free for life just comparing it to a laser treatment). I’ve done so many sessions on my full face with laser, alexandrite and yag, and my neck cheeks etc are literally completely clear but my upper lip and chin are not, barely any change at all. In fact there may be a bit of induced growth but not 100%. I always seem to be doing treatments and clearing it all so I don’t usually have it fully grown in for long but just seems like more than I remember.