Lucky on the first try??!! (And possible log...)

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi everyone!
I have been spending A LOT of time on this forum over the past week; what a fantastic resource this place is!

A little background: I am in my late 20s, and have had excess facial hair for almost 10 years. It started with a few dark, coarse hairs on my chin, which I plucked, and slowly progressed to the point where I was plucking daily as hairs spread from my chin, to jawline, and slightly down my neck.

I finally decided to do something about it a few weeks ago. I went for a consult for laser, booked an appointment at the end of May, and started doing some research online. That’s when I started reading posts here, most of which say “no laser on a woman’s face!”

So I decided to consider electrolysis. I booked a consult with a woman who works about 5 minutes from my house, and had my consult Monday. She doesn’t do sample treatments, so I booked a 15 min appt with her, which I had yesterday. And, I think I’ve found a winner!

The good:
-40 years experience
-member of COPE, AEA, and takes continuing ed courses
-extremely personable, and gave a very thorough free consult (about 30 min long)
-uses Apilus (Junior plus, I think? And thermolysis…maybe flash, I’m not sure)
-Washes hands and uses gloves
-Uses a new, sterilized probe every time (I think she said size 5 for me?)
-Pretty quick, my guess is 10 hairs/minute or so
-After treatment, redness and swelling disappeared in 2 hours. 24 hours after treatment, and I still show no signs of skin irritation.

The mediocre:
-Uses an LED light, I think, and a microscope (or something that looks like one)
-Prices are pretty steep for short treatments ($35 for 15 min), but a good deal for longer sessions ($75 for 60 min)
-Felt some ‘plucking’ (sometimes, maybe?) during treatment, she said it is because my sheaths are very, very big (almost twice the thickness of the actual hair), and that it was the sheaths coming through that I felt).
-No thorough aftercare instructions – she said I could put on makeup the day after if I absolutely had to, but this was only after I asked.
-Said my treatment may take up to 2 years

The bad:
-Put on polysporin after the treatment
-Told me during the consult, that there is no way laser can cause hair growth (although, I can’t really fault her for this, as she doesn’t do laser!)

So, I’m looking for your advice – what do you guys think? Is she a keeper? I was really happy with her, so much so that I really don’t want to go through the hassle of going to more consults (even though I know you guys strongly recommend it!) While I’m not extremely embarrassed about my hair, I’d prefer to show it to as few people as possible, as having new people examine it makes me uncomfortable. I know this isn’t a good excuse, but really, in the small “city” I live in, I thinking the lady I found will probably be my best bet!

#2

Hi horray.

I really thank all the sweet electrologists that opened this forum,i have learnt so much that it has helped me differentiate the good from the bad electrologist.
Am in the same shoes as you.O well my advice is if you don’t feel to confident,you can still go around.But she sounds good.And yes most of the electrologist i have been too do not believe laser induces hair growth and i really don’t blame them.So i always don’t talk about that aspect so that they don’t see me as being confused.

Secondly,it is really good you found someone like this in your first consultation,the first one i met said thermolysis is synonymous to electric tweezers(yeah right!!).I took my bag and ran for life.

The second told me she can use diathermy for me.Looking at her enevironment—very appauling.so i ran away.

The third i went to told me she has treated people of my skin type and then went straight to try the blend on me without cleaning there with alcohol and she charged me for consultation time(talking plus 5mins of test patch).INCREDIBLE!!

The fourth i visited in the same place,the owner of the saloon a BIAE seemed really scared of my skin colour(am olive/caramel skin tone).She said electroloysis is not permanent and only permanent on 75% of her patients and some others do it for 5years.She said i should also wax before coming next time so that she can see the direction of my hair growth.She also tried charging me 9pounds for chatting time we had!i said WOW!A BIAE IS SAYING THIS(in my mind).Though her expalnantion of the process shows she is above average.

The 5th i met today is an angel.She stays about 1hour from where i stay.Very nice saloon/clinic,she’s elegant and seems like a pro in electrolysis.She told me to go for a blood check up again to see if my hormone levels are ok.I told her laser induced hair growth and she said she doesn’t belive.However i would go for a check up again to clear my conscience.But i really can’t wait to start with her.I have confidence in her and all our discussions showed is well skilled.

So dear,its all about your confidence in her but i think she should have take out time to explain after care and no plucking and all that.
Congrats on your first move.lol!

#3

mamy, glad it’s working out for you.

tell her to google “Paradoxical hypertrichosis after laser therapy: a review.”

it’s a 2010 paper with the conclusion,
“Paradoxical hypertrichosis has a low incidence, ranging from 0.6% to 10%, and most commonly occurs on the face and neck. All laser and light sources have the potential to cause hair induction, especially in individuals with darker skin types (III-VI); with dark, thick hair; and with underlying hormonal conditions. Possible causes include the effect of inflammatory mediators and subtherapeutic thermal injury causing induction of the hair cycle. Treatment for paradoxical hypertrichosis is laser therapy of the affected area.”

They say low but also say up to 10%, which I think sounds about right. It’s not really that rare. And contrary to their conclusion, further laser (at least to my knowledge of people who continued) does not seem to help.

#4

Thanks stoppit,i have told all my friends to stay off laser asides their legs.whenever i hear laser,i always feel like vomiting.

#5

hooray; sounds good. I got lucky first time too.

Having said that, I want to discuss the plucking sensation. I would sometimes feel some resistance but not a full blown ‘pluck’. from what I had read and my electrologist’s opinion, I too thought the same as you.

However, when I had treatment with Josefa, in the 13hrs of treatment time with her, I never once felt this sensation. Had my hairs suddenly shrunk? Every hair slid out like butter.

I knew by then that my first electrologist had a decent amount of true regrowth from treatments - meaning treated follicles would still produce hairs again later because they were not fully treated first time. However, I still got done in 18 months for my upper lip. This is not the case at all with Josefa; as we know she fully treats every hair, which is why the results are so fast.

Okay, so I am going to say that I’m not sure I buy that explanation any more. To me, the resistance sounds like it is more likely to be because the follicle is not fully treated. Especially if we combine it with the fact that she says the treatment will take 2 years. I’m not suggesting she is doing this on purpose as I don’t like to be that cynical but it sounds like undertreatment. The occasional plucking feeling like I had is forgivable but not routinely, if you want good results. Perhaps she is erring on the side of caution so you don’t get what you may feel is an undesirable skin reaction.

#6

Thanks mam and stoppit for your replies! And stoppit – I am back for another appointment on Thursday, so I will see how it goes then. You may be right about under treatment, as I had almost no skin reaction (redness and mild swelling for about 2-3 hours tops) and she was quite concerned about GIVING me a reaction…so much so that my next appointment is also 15 minutes, as she wants to do a trial on my neck to see how it handles the electrolysis. So maybe she is trying to err on the side of caution. I’ll tell her how well my skin handled the last treatment, and mention any tugging that I feel, and see what happens Thursday.

Thanks again to both for sharing your information with me!

#7

Alright, had my second 15 minute treatment yesterday. A few notes:

-She worked on one of my worst/largest areas, the jawline/neck on my right side, and was almost able to clear it in the 15 min. My other areas are left and right chin, and left jawline, all of which have pretty substantial amounts of hair, but less than the right
-The ‘plucking’ sensation I thought I was feeling is definitely not plucking. I had an ingrown that she had to pluck out, because it was too deep for the probe, and that pluck felt decidedly different than what I sometimes feel during treatment!
-My skin on my neck didn’t handle it as well as the skin on my chin – I have a couple bumps now, but they are not too red (only lightly pink) and there are only a few

The only issue/question I have is that she seems to be very cautious with her treatment plan. So far, I have had 2 15 min treatments, and she wants me to come in next week for 30 min to work on my left chin/jawline. I asked about a longer session to get total clearance everywhere, and she said she’d prefer not to, as she sees signs of hyper pigmentation on my chin from last week (although I haven’t noticed a difference). I think I’ll respect her opinion though, since it seems like she knows what she’s doing, unless you guys have other suggestions.

Thanks again!

#8

If she’s working on different areas, I don’t see the issue of making the appointment longer. I’d have 15-30 mins on either side of my face in the beginning.

#9

This is just my opinion, but to me she sounds pretty good, just cautious. Everything you listed under “the good” is very much so, and the fact that YOU know to classify it as good shows that you’ve already done your homework. So have some confidence in your gut feelings about the technicians you check out. IMO it’s difficult to confirm whether somebody is really good till you’ve tried them, whereas it’s far easier to rule out the bad ones if there are any glaring problems. Ask yourself, do you feel comfortable there, based on everything you saw or experienced? If so, and you’re satisfied with your first couple of treatments, stay. If not, keep looking.

Undertreatment can be an issue, but certainly if it came down to it, you’d rather have a technician erring on the side of caution than one who overtreated and left you with permanent scars or discoloration! Until you’ve gone to one technician a few times, and they can get a “feel” for working on you, how well your skin bounces back and so on, I think most (the good ones, anyway) will approach with caution at first. Once she is reassured you aren’t going to have extreme skin reactions or recovery issues, she may go much faster - full steam ahead! If you like her generally but are only unsatisfied with the speed or concerned about undertreatment, SPEAK UP! If she’s purposely going slower for a different reason, say she thinks you won’t be able to manage pain for longer sessions, she may tell you outright… in which case, you can discuss how you’re prepared to try a more aggressive regime.

Re: treatment prices being weighted heavier toward the front - if you price shop, I think you will find this to be the case most everywhere. At first this may seem like unnecessary gouging… e.g. if an hour costs $80, why doesn’t half an hour cost $40? But you may better appreciate why after you see the mechanics in a couple of treatments: whether you stay for 5 hours or 5 minutes, your practitioner still has to load a fresh probe, put on clean gloves, strip sheets/towels from their treatment table, etc. All of it is overhead, and this is really no different than most other industries… It’s just a question of fixed base cost vs. variable cost. In fact I seem to remember working algebra problems on this very topic (though I think the example there was a pizza parlor, LOL) way back in high school! I’m not sure if there is maybe a higher tendency to forget that with electrologists or aestheticians, especially if it’s someone’s home practice where you mightn’t directly think of it as a “business.”

I don’t know that I would necessarily count the polysporin as a negative strike. I have seen some disagreement here as to whether antibiotic ointments like this are okay or no-nos, and my own technician does not apply this after treatments – she uses a lotion, I believe it’s an aloe one from Dectro – but she does mention it in the aftercare handout she gives to new clients. (It’s specifically in one context, for light use on the face when women insist on wearing makeup <24 hours after treatment… which itself is discouraged.) It’s also possible that, since you state how you pointedly asked your tech about applying makeup the very next day, she took it that you meant you fully intended to do just that and so she applied some polysporin as a mild intervention before you could slap any harmful/irritating cosmetics on a just-treated, highly sensitive area. If anything I think she ought to have asked you first whether you had used such a product before and/or if you knew you were or could be allergic, in order to avoid a potentially bad reaction. I would be interested to know if she used any on your subsequent visit(s)? You might ask her, if you haven’t already determined, whether that is standard procedure with her treatments. If you’re not comfortable with it, tell her so & explain your concerns, and have her stop doing this step after your sessions. Personally, having sensitive skin prone to hormonally influenced adult acne, my greater concern with polysporin on the face would be simply that it can clog pores very quickly if you tend to have oily skin.

Finally, if she’s saying she sees signs of hyper pigmentation on the area where she’s worked last time, but you yourself don’t notice a difference… again, speak up and tell her so. Say you don’t see these indications so would she please point them out to you particularly? PHOTOS are your best friend for this situation. Ideally, take a photo before she ever starts work on an area, then take one immediately after initial treatment for comparison, and repeat shortly before you start your next session. Photos give you something more tangible to examine, with “before” and “after” versions side by side, and provide a means for her to point out these indicators she notices, in a way you can see them as well.

#10

Thank you stoppit and Leah for your comments and advice!

I had my third treatment yesterday, and in 30 min she cleared the entire left side of my face (chin and jawline). Actually, she went well over 30 min (the entire appointment took almost 50 min, but she takes a while to get set up, and takes several talking breaks during treatment). Still, I’m sure I got over 30 min of actual electrolysis, but she only charged me for 30 :slight_smile:

I’m still feeling some resistance/traction/something when she’s pulling out the hairs, and did mention it to her, and she stated it is because the sheath is larger than the follicle. It’s still a different feeling than plucking, so I think I’m okay with it.

As for the polysporin, she did ask me the first session if I had ever used it and if I tolerated it well. I said I had used it without problems, so she has been applying it every treatment. Thanks for the clarification on that Leah, I was under the impression that polysporin was a bad thing, even if you didn’t react to it. I don’t mind the polysporin, and maybe it actually helps me, since my recovery after sessions has been pretty good.

And I did take before pictures, as suggested. I’m sorry that I’m not going to post them on this site, as I know how helpful pictures can be, but I’m a pretty private person and I’m not really comfortable with putting pics of myself on the web, even if no identifying features are seen.

I’m going back on Thursday, and the plan is to clear the right side of my face. I’ll come back here after that appointment.

Thanks again for all of your support and advice! I really appreciate it!

#11

I would like one of the electrologist’s to chime in here, in regards to the resistance.

I was okay with it before too. I would not be okay now as I personally feel that it is because the follicle has not be fully treated or not in all the right parts to completely damage it beyond repair.

There is not much you can do about it to be honest. But I would expect those follicles will certainly produce hairs again.

#12

Yup…I totally agree with stoppit$tidy suggestion…when my electrologist does my electrolysis session,I never felt the resistance or any other feeling…Yup upper lip area is one where I feel a sensation…its not pulling sensation but very different…difficult to explain and I fully understand that sensation comes from the nerve irritation as upper lip is most vascular and nerve enriched part…

#13

You are completely correct, Stoppit, even without resistance, no way to guarantee the permanent removal, imagine how it will be if there is some resistance. Sometimes, you know that with a single pulse the follicle has been treated completely, but you want to make sure that “nothing” have overlooked, so give it a extra pulse, or insert again, on the opposite side of the first time.

There are many ways to remove hair from a follicle that has been treated previously. I’ve seen some colleagues pull so slowly that the client could not feel plucking, but really, the hair was being forced out. 10 to 1 that this follicle to produce hair again. Does the hair will be finer? I’m not so sure, little trauma can be a revulsive and get the opposite effect, ie, give more strength to the hair.

#14

All thanks to you educating me :slight_smile:

I believed this ‘sheath bigger than follicle opening story’ before being treated with your hands. Suddenly this sensation was no more!

I will say though, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to ‘attack’ the right bits without the fear of causing too much damage. Therefore I don’t want to be ‘down’ on anyone who is cautious… howeverrrrr if the electrologist has many years of experience then you would hope that they would have acquired the skill by now.

#15

Oh dear. This does not sound good.

What do you think I should do? The electrologist does have many years of experience, however, her machine is fairly new to her (about a month old, she tells me). It is an Apilus Junior Plus. Perhaps she is not used to her machine? But I would think that if I can feel the pulling, she can too, right?..so wouldn’t she then adjust her parameters?

Should I voice my concerns again and ask her to up the intensity? Or should I go somewhere else? And, if I do go somewhere else, how do you “break up” with your electrologist? I know business is business, but she is a really lovely lady and I worry about awkwardness/hurt feelings!

#16

I don’t really know what to advise.

My first electrologist, who I did complete areas with (such as upper lip) had this issue, which I never realised was an issue. But the job still got done. It just took about 18 months instead of the one or two clearances Josefa could have done it in (so let’s say 6 months).

I guess it depends how often you feel this during treatment. To be fair to my first electrologist, it wasn’t too often during a session.

I don’t think you can ask her to up the intensity because I don’t think it’s just a matter of that. In her above post, Josefa has given an insight to what she does. The electrologist has to target the right areas of the follicle. I don’t think this is something you can ask someone to do… if they knew how/what they should be doing, they would be doing it already.

Don’t worry about breaking up with her just yet. Have some more consultations and see how they go and if you like someone else better.

#17

pls does anyone know anything about Pure Aesthetics in Rotherham.Thanks alot.

#18

Thanks again for your advice everyone!

I had my (fourth?) treatment yesterday, and she cleared most of the right side of my face in a 30 min session, but wasn’t able to quite get all of it. I’m still feeling pulling…I would estimate 10-25% of the time? I think the advice you’ve all given me is good, and so I’ve booked a consultation with an electrologist who’s a bit of a drive away, but whom I have very high hopes for – she’s been recommended on these forums quite a few times.

My consult is on Thursday, so I’ll update again after that!

#19

Okay, another update:

I had a consultation today with a new electrologist (one that James had recommended on this forum) and now I’m more confused than ever.

She was lovely, and did a 10 minute sample treatment. It felt IDENTICAL to the treatment my current electrologist is giving me (i.e., I still feel pulling/traction/something on a lot of the hairs). She said the same thing my current electrologist said – that my hairs have big bulbs, and the skin opening is small.

Since this woman was recommended by James, I can probably assume that both she and my current electrologist are giving me effective treatment, right? Even though the hairs don’t slide out effortlessly? Or maybe I’m just very sensitive to the feeling of the hair being pulled out…I don’t know.

I’ve scheduled a longer treatment with the new electrologist on Tuesday, she is going to completely clear the hair that I currently have. I booked it with her because, although she is quite a drive away, I felt badly for talking up her time with the free consult, and not following through! After that visit, assuming it still feels the same, I will likely go back to my old electrologist, as she is much, much closer.

What do you guys think?

#20

I have said frequently, there is a difference between a PoP and a Pluck. If you ever saw the hairs I take out of some upper lips, and necks, you would have no question about this. Some are as fat as potatos, and long as carrots! I have other hairs that come out looking like bananas.

Your practitioner is likely attempting to treat the target zone while not doing excess damage that, while making the hair fall out of the follicle, just serves to give you more skin to heal after treatment.

All sounds good to me.