Hi,
I’ve got excess hair on my face and started shaving it about 5 yrs ago. I’ve got nothing medically wrong with me, I just have to do it daily now as its got coarser and denser. I’ve tried laser an ipl which didn’t work as i am blonde. I’m now just starting to use meladine which apparently will increase the melanin in my hair follicles and trick the laser into thinking my hair is brown which is most suitable for laser. Has anyone got any success stories on this?
Thanks 
No, I haven’t. Why are you not exploring electrolysis?
Thanks for your reply.
I have tried electrolysis and had in done on the sides of my face to blend the hair back to my shave line but theres too much hair under my chin.
There is never too much hair for a skilled, modern electrologist. Do you live in the United States?
No, I live in the U.K.
Have you checked out several electrologists in your locale, sampling their treatments? Are there any using the computerized forms of flash thermolysis (MicroFlash/ PicoFlash) or even flash thermolysis?
Thank you.
I’ll look into it as I haven’t heard of this treatment before.
I’m surprised Meladine is still being produced. It’s shown itself to be an expensive disappointment.
Electrolysis is the only option with blond hair. Why do you think you have too much for electrolysis? Did an electrologist tell you that?
Well, keep reading hairtell, there is a lot of information you could use. Just know that electrolysis has been around for 13 decades and it keeps getting better for those practitioners that want to modernize. The principles are very much the same as far as damaging hair follicles goes, but there have been some newer modalities added to our “toolbox” in recent years. Computerized epilators are just awesome.
If an electrolgist in your locale is still doing blend on a “turn the dial” machine, then you will still get permanent hair removal as long as she / he is skilled. The newer forms of electrolysis speed things along nicely, sensation is decreased and skin outcome is much better as you heal between treatments.
I sincerely wish you much success in your search.Let us know how all this woks out for you. Okay?
Dee
I know this is an old post but it is important that those that read this get some perspective. I keep finding electrologists bad mouthing laser hair removal and this product Meladine. I guess it is no surprise given their vested interest in downplaying these technologies. I have personally worked with both laser hair removal and Meladine, plus know lots of medspas who have used both and have personally seen great success. So, for you readers, please be aware that many of the “professionals” who post here have a bias and are promoting their own industry. My favorite is “I’m surprised Meladine is still being produced. It’s shown itself to be an expensive disappointment. Electrolysis is the only option with blond hair.” Says the electrologist!! Don’t believe it…you have options.
Uh…Hello…laser practitioner here, says the (so called biased) electrologist!!
I know the options…hence the name, CHOICE. And I’m honest about the options. I have NOTHING to lose. I promote BOTH laser and electrolysis. Read my posts before you A$$ume otherwise.
All 4 of your posts seem to be promoting products. Meladine, Zcaine, Zcalm…and yes, I’ve used all 3, yet promote…none of them. I’m a product junkie, I try everything that comes out. My clients deserve the best. (Thanks Dee for the HerbsPro link)
Why is it so many laser only “medspa” people are so afraid of electrologists? Oh yeah…because we ARE the hair removal experts. A laser only biz with Meladine will never successfully remove as many light/non-pigmented hairs as a laser wielding electrologist.
Do you have any concept of how many light/non-pigmented hairs an electrologist can successfully remove for what a bottle of Meladine costs? 600 for me. Probably over a 1000 for Dee and James. How many SUCCESSFULLY with a laser? Oh yeah, gotta pay for the Meladine AND the laser treatment. So, make that at least 1200 hairs for me!.
My professional goal is to satisfy my clients desire to be hair free. I use whichever tool with get us there the safest, the quickest, and the most bang for their buck. I will not waste someone’s money when I know there is a better CHOICE.
Hmmm where are the Meladine success stories posted in this thread?
I’m always suspicious of new posters that just happen to register within hours of each other and start promoting products that they may sell at their business. Here’s how it works: they try to sneak in the back door, one person registers as anywhere from two to four different personalities/ posters, just asking innocent questions. There’s a good cop and a bad cop usually. Get the picture?
I just answered a new poster’s question in another thread about blond hair and laser from “missmarie”. Same meladine “does it work” question. How obvious can you be!? Your accusations of bias Toddly, are not received well. You obviously haven’t done more than two minutes of reading on this website about who promotes what and why? Iffffff you are posing as three different posters to enhance your business in Virginia, watch out. Someone else tried that here recently from New York and it ended in embarrassment for them. All we ask is that posters that come here, behave in an honest, ethically respectful manner. Is that too much to ask?
So, we got ToddlyinVa, missmarie, jlo6374 all registering within hours/days of each other talking products (Zcaine, Zcalm and Meladine) and Toddly is the common denominator, trying to start a laser verses electrolysis war from posts written in June 2008. Are you not busy enough these days lasing blonde hair treated with Meladine?
Oh, one more question, Toddly. Do you know Evan Parker in Chesapeake, Virginia?
I don’t know if meladine works or not, but can only say that I heard it was not all that great. Electrolysis would be far easier to rid one of gray, red, white or blond hairs than applying this stuff 16 times a day for weeks to prepare for LHR.
Hey, Toddly, I hear that Tiger Genitals and Rhino Horn Powder are still sold as a male erectile disfunction cures. Does that mean that eating them actually works?
hair_bear wrote:
>>I’ve got excess hair on my face and started shaving it about 5 yrs ago. I’ve got nothing medically wrong with me, I just have to do it daily now as its got coarser and denser.<<
I thought if you shaved your hair it wasn’t supposed to get coarser or denser. It thought that just happened with tweezing. It was recommended that I stop plucking and start shaving in between electroloysis appointments, but why bother if it results in the same problem I had with plucking? I know people have also posted about ingrown hair problems with shaving and razor burn.
In regard to laser hair removal, I have a friend who has PCOS and for many years she shaved every day prior to her 10 treatments spread a month apart. Things seems positive for a short time, but she said within 6 months of the treatment all her hair had grown back and she was having to shave every day again.
My endocrinologist also stated that he found good results were not achieved with laser hair removal and he wouldn’t recommend it.
Neily
Blood and hormones influence hair growth. Hormonally vulnerable people have a worse time with the hormone part. Shaving does not determine if hair is going to become thicker, hormones, blood supply and heredity do. Shaving is a mechanical action that takes place above the skin that cuts off the dead part of the hair. All the action takes place below the skin to nourish the hair, nothing happens above the skin. If you tweeze, you create trauma. Blood, with hormones floating in it, come to the aid of the hair follicle to repair the damage. Prolonged tweezing creates an environment where people with vulnerable hair follicles are repeatedly bathed in male hormones. Male hormones cause hair to change from fine to coarse.
Your PCOS friends laser experience doesn’t surprise me. Some people get good results and some don’t. Some laser providers are not qualified to do laser hair reduction correctly and in many cases, the client is treated with the wrong laser or an inferior laser. She may have had both factors against her. Did she have an actual laser experience or did she go to someone using an IPL? More detail is needed as a passing statement doesn’t tell the whole truth. I don’t like LHR for a woman’s face. She can get the hair off completely, rest assured, with electrolysis and she will look as if she grew no hair on her face within a day? two weeks? three months? after starting electrolysis, even though she has not completed treatments yet. Treatments take 9 months at a minimum and 18 months at a maximum, IFFF you have a modernly equipped and trained electrologist and IIIFF you actually lay on the table for treatment at the advised intervals.
Shaving has no effect on hair growth. Go to www.hairfacts.com and read about shaving. If that isn’t enough, then read the information from keratin.com below. Some people are prone to ingrown hairs. For those who are prone to getting ingrown hairs , clipping is better.
From keratin.com :
Does shaving stimulate hair growth / hypertrichosis
It is a common belief, but cutting or shaving hair does not stimulate growth. Hair fiber is dead, if it is cut there is no way for the dead hair to send a signal back to the hair follicle in the skin to grow more hair. The studies to prove hair cutting did not stimulate growth were done back in the 1920s but the belief still persists.
Several studies have been conducted where volunteers shaved half of their beard or scalp hair and left the other half untouched. The shavings were collected and measured and the hair left untouched was also measured. The results showed that the amount of hair produced was exactly the same whether the hair was regularly shaved or not.
Does shaving stimulate hair growth / hypertrichosis references
* Peereboom-Wynia JD. Effect of various methods of depilation on density of hair growth in women with idiopathic hirsutism. Arch Dermatol Forsch. 1972;243(3):164-76.
* Lynfield YL, Macwilliams P. Shaving and hair growth. J Invest Dermatol. 1970 Sep;55(3):170-2.
* Trotter M. Hair growth and shaving. Anat Rec. 1928;37:373-379
* Seymour RJ. The effect of cutting upon the rate of hair growth. Am J Physiol. 1926;78:93-8
* Bulliard H. Influence de la section et du rasage repete sur l’evolution du poil. Annales de Dermatologie et de Syphiligraphie. 1923;Series 6:386-91
DEE
Thanks, we’ll look forward to your reports. I hope you understand that the process called “Electrolysis” did not cause your problem, but rather and most probably an inept “electrologist” caused your skin to react in undesirable ways. There is a big difference between temporary skin manifestations and scars. They are not the same. Let us know if laser solves your problem for BLONDE hair. I already know what the meladine outcome will be, but I know you have to follow your heart. We are here to advise you further when you discover the truth.
When a thick hair is removed, you may notice a space because the hair that was removed occupied that space. The space closes well afterwards as it heals. In your case, you probably had poor electrolysis care and blaming the process of electrolysis, rather than the person doing the electrolysis is rather illogical. I don’t care how many others you have known, who complained of the same thing,it al relates back to this - you proably had a moron doing the procedure if you got scars. I have done thousands of treatments on chins, lips, backs, etc. and the outcome you describe is not possible if this is done by a professional who knows what the heck they are doing. It’s a shame that you didn’t get good care and now have to resort to some gimmick like meladine. If you get electrolysis again, do yourself a favor and research carefully. Get as many consults and sample treatments as you can.
If you want to present a detailed account of how electrolysis was done on you, then start with the modality, size probe, type of hair, experience and training of the operator, sensation, healing, aftercare, regularity of appointments. Maybe we can pinpoint where things went wrong for YOU. What you are saying in effect is, when I misspell words, it’s because of the pencil I used.
Scarring is rare with electrolysis and is caused by an ill-trained, inept practitioner or a neophyte do-it-your selfer. It is up to the consumer to research and advocate for themself.
I do not understand why so many women give us a little info and expect miracles. No doctor would give a diagnosis without seeing the patient. If you have a doctor that does this… get rid of him/her.
We see so many women who state they have NO MEDICAL PROBLEM but with the proper questioning it turns out they have any one of a few possible conditions that can stimulate follicles to produce coarse dark colored hair. A male has all his follicles before birth but one day as he reaches puberty there will be growth of blonde hair that increases and gets darker. It does NOT happen all on one day. It is a slow process and one day he realizes it is time to shave. As he matures the hair growth area spreads to adjacent areas.
Before long the en tire face ,body, legs, back, chest, trunk and extremities are covered. Usually women have the same pattern, however, if the hair covers a large area she should have it checked out by an endocrinologist. It is amazing to me to find so many women who have irregular or skipped periods
who believe there is nothing wrong. Some of these women are going to find they are unable to have children later. This could all be prevented if they thought enough of their health . I understand many very young women have entered the work force recently and do not earn much money but a medical exam has to be worth more than a new pair of shoes. They have to learn that some things are worth more than others and it is better to get the exam to have a reference point to compare with in the future.
There are many serious medical conditions that have minimal symptoms. They start off with virtually no symptoms except for a few hairs in the wrong p[lace that keep spreading to adjacent areas. Cancer is one of these conditions, however, electrologists are not in the position to diagnose or treat patients. We can suggest the patient seek help, however, this, usually, is not very successful. It is very difficult to work on a patient who expects MIRACLES from us when her body is working against her .
Hi,
I’ve not been on here for a while and just read all the posts. I would just like to clarify that I am genuine and my question was genuine.
I’d like to thank the people on this site who have given me helpful feedback - thank you!
Hi,
I’ve just read your post. I’ve also heard that shaving your face doesn’t make it denser or thicker but believe (know) that its untrue! I think you still have the same amount of hairs but then grow back coarser for definate.
I’m continuing to shave now until my treatment is over as I’ve tried plucking and find that I get more ingrown hairs as a result of plucking than shaving. I have also heard that plucking/waxing stimulates the hair growth as its being pulled from the root. But I would not advise shaving unless necessary. Also with shaving, I’m forever catching new areas and the area gets larger and larger with continuation.
I had electrolysis on the sides of my face by a experienced electrologist, who specialised only in electrolysis and she was brilliant. The hairs started to blend back and I have never been left with any scarring. I would reccommend electrolysis. I consider laser vs electrolosis similiar to the tortoise and hare story. Electrolosis is the tortoise and wins my vote now. Go for the tortoise and get rid of the hare (lol, sorry - couldn’t resist). 
Good luck and hope your treatment goes well!