My electrolysis concerns

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

For the last 7 months I have seeing 2 different Electrolygists for treatments. I go an average of 4 to 5 hours for my face regularly, and yet it does not seem as if my treatments are tailing off. It’s as if within days of a treatment, new hairs are popping up. The worst area is my upper/lower lip and chin. Within 2 days of treatment I can already feel many thick hairs. I never realized I had so many hairs, and how fast they grow. Is there a point where I will not have to go so often. It’s so incredibly expensive.

Another problem is redness and swelling on my lip which takes a very long time to go away. Yet by the time I get another treatment it is red and swollen again.

#2

Can you be more specific about your schedule? Have you been going weekly for seven months? What does 4-5 hours regularly mean? Have you had a first clearance? What kind of equipment do they use? What type of electrolysis are you getting: galvanic, blend, thermolysis?

For the area you describe, you should have seen improvement. I’m very curious about the schedule you have been on and some other things.

Are you taking medication? Some medications can stimulate hair growth? Are you tweezing?

Do you live in the United States?

Dee

#3

I go to the electrolysists 3 to 4 times weekly at least an hour or more per session. They use the thermolysis method.

#4

It sounds like a lot of electrology treatments going on there.

I would need more information. Are you female or male? Does the hair cover your whole face? Is your face cleared each time? Are you seeing ingrown hairs? Why are you seeing 2 different electrologists?

#5

I am male, and no they do not clear my face each time. In fact I am wondering about their speed . I am going to 2 electrolygists because I am having difficulty getting the appointments.

Upper lip: 30-40 minutes
Lower lip: 20-30 minutes
Chin and Beard: 1 to 1 1/2 hours
Sides: 1 to 1 1/2 hour

On top of that I see and feel thick hairs within days of treatment. Maybe I just need to stay with it, but I would think that I should not have to go so frequently to clear my face. I have been told that having so many blond hairs makes it take longer.

#6

the color of hair doesn’t matter for electrolysis. i’m assuming that since you’re male, you have a lot of hair. the thing with electrolysis is that it takes a certain time to completely kill the hair after you completely CLEAR the area at least once. if you’ve never gotten to that point yet, your schedule might need to be adjusted, meaning that you should concentrate on them clearing the area completely in a short period of time, so that after that you would only be killing the new hairs that pop up. it’s hard to tell in this case since we don’t know how much hair you have. but if it’s an average male beard area, it will take much longer than 7 months to clear, especially when you’re never getting a full clearance…

#7

Have you spoken to your electrologists about your concerns? If so, what did they say? When clearing beards (men and women) I always tell my clients that they’ll see a huge improvement after 9-10 months, and it always happens. If from reading this site you feel they are performing treatment correctly then maybe it’s worth holding out for a few more weeks? As for the redness and swelling, it’s a little awkward but you could try applying a cold pack every 15 minutes during treatment. There’s a product called Chillerz which stays cold for 3 days, so you could freeze it overnight and use it later in the day. It has to be at least 15 minutes after treatment as that is the critical time when redness and swelling can be stopped (or at least reduced). If this is not practical then maybe your electrologists could try blend instead.

#8

Today I had another thorough treatment on my upper and lower lip since Tuesday. Again we cleared every visible and almost invisible hair. Those areas combined took over an hour.

I am so fortunate to have this one lady, as my electrolygist because she is patient and usually rewards my perserverance by giving me 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours instead of just an hour in some of my sessions.

As per her skill, there is no doubt that she is doing a good job. The thing is that within 3 days, there will probably be enough hair there to add another hour of treatment.

Today was especially depressing because she was surprised by the number of hairs that have come in since.

At this point I am not so sure there is anything that I can do except endure constant pain of the needle, and how bad my face looks all of the time; bumpy, blotchy, swollen,and red. Hopefully there will be a payoff at some point; that by now I would not have to log 4 to 5 hours a week.
So all I can say is that I am just feeling grief.

#9

Hi MorganPerry,

Would you let us know if the hairs glide out after the follicle has been treated or if you feel a tugging, tweezing, pulling sensation.

As you are being treated by 2 different practitioners, please refer to them in a way that can be distinguished, like as in A and B, and tell us if you are experiencing a difference in actual treatment and tissue reaction.

Thank you.

#10

The electrolygist that I refered to in the previous thread is just better of the 2 that I see. Because of that I am going to discontinue the second one that I have been using. So from this point on I am using one electrolygist.

As per her technique, she slides the needle a few millimeters into the hair shaft and as she slides the needle out, she applies current. After 3 to 5 hairs she tweezes them out of the shaft with almost no resistance. I am pretty sure she is getting it, especially since some of the hairs are so thick that she has to reapply the current. If she were plucking I would definitely feel it.

#11

I have a small concern about the technique your favorite electrologist is using. If she has begun sliding the hair out of the follicle before appying the current, it could be resulting in regrowth.

When I began as an electrologist, I had a woman whose hairs were deeper than most. It seemed that she had a lot of hair every time I saw her. I was new and inexperienced and so I was always (and still am) reading anything I could get my hands on that would help me be a better electrologist. At some point I decided to insert deeper and when I did that there was less hair from that point on.

It is well known that the current application needs to be in the lower part of the follicle to result in permanence. Most well trained electrologists use techniques that avoid any sensation of tweezing, but with the heavy coarse hair that men grow, there can be a sensation of traction due to the healty root sheath which anchors the hair in the follicle. If the middle of the follicle is treated, the hair can come out very nicely, but the papilla might not be treated, and the result can be the same diameter of hair growing in soon.

Something else you might do if you are having lots of skin problems with your treatments is to be very very diligent with your skin cleansing. Use a liquid soap and water before treatment and apply witch hazel several times a day after. Alcohol can be very drying, so while it is good, it can be too hard on skin. The ice mentioned above should be a great help, too.

#12

Hi everyone and thanks for your input. So far it has been approximatly 4 sessions since last posting this. Although it it might be too early to say, I think this time my facial hair growth might actually be showing signs of tapering off. I mean to say that there was not the same amount of growth on my face that I have come to expect each week.

The sides which usually take an hour to 2 hours to complete only took half an hour this time. My upper lip took only 20 minutes this time while not getting as red and swollen. The chin and beard only took 45 minutes total. Normally my sessions take up 4 to 5 hours a week, but now seem to only on average a bit over 2 hours.

I should also give credit to my electrolygist. She is wonderful. Almost every session, she gives me an extra 20 to 40 minutes without charge. One time she even gave me an extra hour no charge because I was so discouraged about extra hair growth.

Sometimes she will even invite me to dinner with her family. We have a great relationship and I bring gifts every now and again. I want to move out of San Antonio, but I would be willing to stay here on the basis of my electrolygist alone LOL.

#13

So far it has been 1 session since I last posted. AS it stands now it has nearly been 8 months, and I really feel that there is a big difference. It looks as if I will need to go for treatments about once a week where as before I would need 3 to 5 sessions. I think in a one session I will be able to clear everything on my face.

#14

That is such good news, I’m so glad to hear you’ve gotten over the ‘hill’ so to speak <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

#15

I am glad you are seeing good progress after being so disheartened, with all the time and commitment you expended, if there were no results, I would feel terrible too!
Experts, I am confused as to how the session time was reduced from over 4 hrs per week to 2 hrs in just 10 days, after 7 months of going 4 to 5 hrs treatments? Can that happen? Its just that last treatment was so effective???

#16

hert9, I thought about what you were asking regarding the sudden drop off in my electrolysis appointments. I posted earlier of needing to go 3 to 5 times a week down to once a week after nearly 8 months. I realize now some reasons how that is possible.

First, that is because she tended to spend way too much time trying to clear hairs that were just barely above the surface. I think this was the biggest time waster.

Second, she was working with an injured finger, and that would slow her down a little.

Third, I am not sure but I have been taking spironolactone for nearly a month, and that might be having some effect in slowing my facial hair growth.

Fourth, although I said once a week, I probably may need to throw in an extra session every few weeks just to keep things under control.

Then again, maybe this is something that happens after certain period of time.

#17

spironolactone has a strong effect on hair growth. i would attribute a lot of this to it.

#18

In my experience, at around the 9 month stage most hairs have completed a full hair growth cycle (not all though). If most of those hairs have been successfully treated then they will not start growing again, hence the big drop in regrowth. However I have many clients who just stick with 1 hour a week/fortnight until the hair has gone, which may take a little longer to see a difference but ultimately takes the same number of appointments overall.

#19

All these reasons make sense, thanks <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.