Let's face it, electrolysis is not for everyone

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

With the recent batch of posts about electrolysis being mostly negative, I thought I’d put my two cents about it.

I am not being discouraging or anything, I’m only trying to be honest.

Some people will not like the electrolysis experience, not that it doesn’t work, but for some it is too much. Electrolysis means having to take some chances-- like they say “Pain for Beauty” or somein’. The sensation experienced during electrolysis is enough to discourage some, even though most can handle it, and then the side effects will discourage the rest who are already hesitant. Not only that, but it is a looonnnggg process and takes patience and consistency.

I’ve had some minor pitting and hyperpigmentation, but you know what? It’s chopped liver compared to the satisfaction of knowing that the hair will be gone…FOREVER. If you really want this hair gone then you will be resourceful enough to find ways to help you out; I use a cream to even out the pigmentation problem and I’m more concious of applying aloe vera and witch hazel daily after each session.

So if you really can’t stand it, then find something else. Like laser or pulse-lighting or all the other options you can find on HairFacts. But trust me, if you have the dedication and courage, then electrolysis is worth it.

#2

Hi Sophie:

I agree with what you are saying. If it is something
you really want, then it is worth all of the other things.

It is something you really have to want though, since at times you will be asking yourself, why am I putting myself through all of this. This is especially true, when it seems like you haven’t got anywhere, or are fighting a losing battle.

But with patience and perseverence it gradually gets better, to till you can see that eventually all those hairs will be gone. I started out with a lot of facial hair, such that I had a scrubby beard growing by the end of the day.Even when clean shaven it would feel rough and my face would have a beard shadow visible through the skin.

It is worth it, but be patient and don’t expect miracles straight off.

Alicia

#3

Hi- These posts speak to me because for 4 weeks now, I have been staring at the discoloration and little pink marks on my arms where I got electrolysis. Will these ever go away?
My electrologist thinks they are ingrowns. When does the discoloration fade?
Thanks!

#4

Most marks fade anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months on average. Sometimes it may take as long as 6 months. Not sure if I understand the ingrown hair explanation. I guess I am just understanding that these marks are the after occurence of a treatment,minus a hair.

I’ve had a lot of electrolysis from head to toe. I did have some after effects on my arms and legs for several weeks, but eventually they faded and completely disappeared with time. So did the hair and I have been completely happy for three decades.

Dee

#5

what part of your face have you treated with electrolysis? because i can tell from personal experience that cheeks where skin is a lot softer than chin or upper lip, scars easily and marks do not fade.

#6

I treated my arms

#7

In the situation that one has anything that is not gone in 3 weeks or less, the longest most things could last is 3 months.

#8

I’ve had elctrolysis done for 7 years now. The area that worked the best has been between the brows. Success was good early but none lately. The other area I get worked is the collar upper chest area - the hair grew back much thicker and courser with repeated treatments and furthermore changed the way the hair grew.

The proffesional Im seeing has told me that I have become immune to the electrical current settings. I’m not sure if repeated treatments at higher settings will help. I just might get “immune” to them as well.

#9

Perhaps you are just immune to your electrologist.

I would seek second and third opinions elsewhere. I have had success on men with testosterone problems and every hair in the treated area growing hair due to the chemical abnormality, and yet we still got to full clearance.

#10

Dear God! Immune to electrical current settings! I hadn’t heard that excuse for poor technique and just plain ole’rotten electrolysis treatment on behalf of an electrologist. I’m laughing out loud at that explanation. Your practioner could have chosen an excuse that was much more plausible. Seven years! By now I think you would have moved on to find someone that delivers results.Please don’t be so trusting. I just bet you are such a sweet,patient person and it is sad that you have been so loyal to this incompetent electrologist for so long,at least I’m assuming you only used one practioner.

You didn’t say if you were a man or woman or how old you are. Hair patterns are still developing and spreading from the center of the chest upward and outward until a man is in his late thirties or so,just so you know.

I’m glad you commented on this silly excuse of being immune to the electrical current as the cause of electrolysis not working. It is untrue. Educate yourself and then go find a competent electrologist. Okay?

Dee

#11

Yes, depending on your age, it could be that the hair you see now is simply MORE hair that you were supposed to grow anyhow with age.

#12

Speaking on the behalf of the consumer side and from a consumer who has is only in the planning phase of electrolysis with only one consultation, I am going to venture out and say it is highly unlikely that you are immune to the currents. People have electrolysis repeatedly for years and it continues to work with them. People become immuned to drugs, and hardline medications-not electrolysis. You said it worked well on your brows…that is a smaller and more defined area that may be easier for an electrologist who is not that skilled than a larger and possibly thicker area than the chest and neckline. And, still coming from someone who doesn’t know loads about the technical side of the procedure, the reason your electrologist thinks you are “immune” to the current settings may be because the settings are too weak to achieve the intended goal. Either communicate much clearer with your electrologist or find another one. Have you spent 7 years just on the collar area?
And now a question to the electrologists themselves… I’ve heard this somewhat discussed before but I’d like to clarify. James has said that men stop growing new hair at around 25. I am 21. If I got say, my shoulders treated first then in a year or two after that moved on to chest, would it be realistic to expect new hair to pop back up on my shoulders? The hair on my shoulders is due in large part to me tweezing the one or two hairs I had there to begin with (why I thought that would solve my problem I don’t know). But with electrolysis, correct me if I am wrong, you go through the treatment process and all the hairs that pop up are ones that are actively growing and they are destroyed. At the end, there is no hair left in the area. Still though, would it be wise to begin treatment at only 21 and risk the chance of new hair growing later? Or is it largely individual…

#13

I need to find tune this point a little. It would not be correct to say that men don’t grow any more hair after 25. Just ask your grandfather about the nose and ear hair that he never had in his 20’s, or 30’s.

What happens is that the number of hairs levels off, for a man, and any new hair grows in at a very low rate, and usually very thin.

Most men would not find this new whispy hair worth working on, but if they did, it would be easy to do because it is thinner and weaker than the coarse hairs that were grown in the younger years.

I actually had no visible hairs on my body until after I was 25. I now have a chest and arms full of hair, but no one who is not VERY close to my bare chest would take notice.

Young people who start electrolysis get bare, and can stay ahead of the game. They can even get to the point where the incoming hairs can be removed as they come in, and you still look as if you never grew any hairs even as you continue to grow them.

#14

Ok I am a bit confused James. You mentioned ear and nose hairs, but aren’t those hairs already on the body before the grandpa age? They just don’t mature in to darker, more coarse hairs until later. Please correct me if I’m wrong but if you take an area and you treat it, you are removing all of the hairs there on the outside. That is, all of the hairs that your DNA makes your body grow are killed. At the end of the treatment span, its gone. Thus the hair is gone forever, unless something like a drug that stimulates hormones and causes dormant follicles to grow new hair.
If heredity is to be our guide, I look just like my father in terms of hair growth (as well as my four older brothers). I have the same thickness in all the same places that he does and he is in his early-mid 60’s. He has the random ear hairs but has not had new hair growth in any odd place where it was not before. So I guess reasonably speaking if I were treated in an area like the chest then its safe to assume that I will not look the same as I do now when I am 45 in that same area?
I know what you mean about guys maturing later in life with body hair because I have a friend who our freshmen year in college had a bare chest and now two years later he looks more and more like me. Not all of it is thick and dark but its definitely coming in. Guys can peak at different times in their devolopment right?
In your all-encompassing wisdom please help me understand.

#15

Follow up:
With response to the possibility of hormonal changes, I imagine thats more in women if I understand correctly? I think its safe to say that I won’t be going through menopause, get pregnant, develop PCOS, or, since I am a 21 year old male, face puberty anytime soon. But with certain (and probably few) medications, is that why it is listed as not being universally 100% permanent for every patient? For the vast majority it must be but there are other factors that come into play as the body develops. However, you seem to suggest that for a younger person electrolysis is a definite positive step. My doctor recommended it with virtually no hesitation other than that I get my small amount of acne under control first. That is all good to know, plus I would get to enjoy being bare for much much longer than someone who begins the treatment in his 40’s.

P.S. My dad thinks its sort of odd that I would want any body hair to be gone except for the face but then again he was born in 1941 and is a bit old school.

#16

You understand this well.

The thing that happens to guys is that the hair they have can thicken as they age, and even grow longer, but if the hair is removed, there is little chance of new hairs growing to replace them. That is a problem women have due to factors men don’t usually have to deal with.

Now your electrologist will only remove hairs that are visible, and that leaves the insignificant hairs to possibly thicken later, but that would be a long time from now, and you would have spent lots of time visually hair free, and care free.

#17

James,
I love reading your posts because they always help to combat the skeptic inside me. I know electrology works because the hordes of information here would have to be false and plenty of TS would have problems if electrology was not for real. I just had bad experiences with LHR thats all. I have another post on the emotional forum talking about how once it grew back I thought it was doomed.
Its good to know that if I start soon I can get it gone. I imagine that even if new hair does grow back, there is no possible way it could ever be the jungle that exists now. And I could always have those sneakers zapped away. And since I developed (with regards to body hair that is) at about 18 and probably peaked when I was 20, plus looking exactly like my dad and my brothers, I’m good to go by starting soon. I plan to head off to D.C. or N.Y. for law school when I finish with my undergrad and have either you or Fino strip me down. Of course that is two-three years ahead but for now in Texas I plan on having Bette Pritchett in Austin do my shoulders. Plus, after seeing the picture you posted last week of a treated area right after the session only furthered my thought that this is the way to go. Maybe one day I’ll be walking into your office.

#18

md1239, just make sure that you take some before pictures…

or i guess you can always look at your brothers and compare [image]http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~ti24/electrolysis/smilies/animated/thumbsup.gif[/image]

#19

The electrologist I plan on beginning with does before and after photos. Then one day I’ll look at all my brothers and plan our vacation at the beach while they are thinking of somewhere colder! I’m the youngest one too so I’m sure they will love that.

#20

Speaking of the beach. I have a friend who is also covered back, front, shoulders, evreywhere (i’ve recruited him as my guinee pig while i learn to use the Fischer. He does not know the pain that is in store [image]http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~ti24/electrolysis/smilies/animated/nodding_smile.gif[/image] )

When we go to the beach he likes to lay face down and cover the back of his head with a large hat. We can never tell if he is laying face up or down…