My Experience w/Maria Vega in NYC

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi - I posted a message a while ago when I was looking for an electrologist in the NYC area. Someone sent me some previous messages that had been posted about Maria Vega, so I decided to give her a try. I just wanted to describe my experience/progress so far.

By the way…I previously did laser on my face (10 treatments) and I had terrible results. The laser actually stimulated hair growth and I now have thick, dark hair growing all over my face and even some on my neck!

Anyway, I had my first appointment with Maria Vega last week and it was great. The hair is just growing in from my last laser appointment, so the hair is not all out yet. It takes about 3 weeks for all the hair to come out. The area treated was the sides of my face, and my chin. She used thermolysis with a machine called Apilus (sp?). I only scheduled half an hour since I wasn’t sure how my face would react. She actually removed A LOT of hair…the majority of it. She really tries to get rid of as much hair as possible.

After the treatment was over, my skin was pink/red and bumpy (I have very sensitive skin and turns red easily). By the time I got home, the pinkness/redness was gone and my skin was just a little bumpy. When I woke up the next day (the appointment was in the evening)it was all gone. My face looked great…couldn’t tell I had anything done.

I did not really use any after-treatments. Just a little hydrocordisone cream when I arrived home from my treatment. I am prone to acne, so I didn’t want to aggravate that. Also, Maria told me that skin heals best by itself, so I just left it alone and it worked. I did not get any scabbing or pitting or anything. My skin looked great the next day.

Anyway, I have my next appointment on Thursday for 45 mins. The hair is still growing in from my last laser appointment which was in January. The areas treated last week w/electrolysis have not had any hair growth.

Maria Vega is a little more expensive than other electrologists, but I think it is worth it since she works so fast and doesn’t leave any marks.

I am so glad I found this website. I will post my progress as often as I can.

#2

Thanks for the report, Isabel! The Apilus is a very good machine, and others have attested to Maria’s abilities. Keep us posted!

#3

Hi - I just had my second treatment a few hours ago. This time I went for an hour and she cleared my entire face. This includes the sides of my face, my chin, and a little on my upper lip. I had a lot of hair growth since my last session because the hair was still growing in from my last laser treatment. None of the hair she treated the first time has returned.

The treatment does not hurt. Well, maybe it hurts a little tiny bit, but NOTHING compared to laser. She always asks me if it hurts after she does a few hairs. I think she changed the setting for my upper lip because she said this area is a little more sensitive than the sides of my face. I am not sure what setting she used though.

Once again, my face was a little red after the treatment…not bumpy though. By the time I got home most of the redness was gone. I used a little bit of witch hazel and hydrocortisone cream. It has been 3 hours since my treatment now and my skin looks great. No hair, no marks, no redness, nothing!

How long will it be until I see hair again?

#4

Although your electrologist will be able to see treatable hair in 3 to 7 days, it typically takes 3 to 6 weeks for you to see hair again.

There are hairs that are still in the follicle, but not above the surface that your electrologist would have to dig out to treat on treatment day, but will be above the surface in 48 to 72 hours. There is usually more than enough hairs to keep us busy so that we don’t worry about those until we see them later.

At any rate, these hairs are untreated hairs, not hairs coming back, or any sort of “Re-growth”. They are just hairs that were not available for treatment previously.

#5

Hi - I know it has been a while since I posted.

James, thanks for your reply… makes sense.

I actually did not have any hair for a week and a half since my last treatment. After that, it seemed like all the hairs were growing in at once, so I made my electrolysis appointment. The hair was not as dark as before though. I could see the difference in the texture of the hair. It was lighter and not as thick, but still noticeable. My appointment was exactly two weeks from my previous one.

The electrologist told me it was good that I came in so she can catch the hairs while they were growing.

I had a little over an hour done. My face was red afterwards, but cleared up by nighttime.

I try not to use make-up or acne products for at least 24 hours after treatment since the area is still a little sensitive.

I will not be able to go next week for treatment, so maybe I will keep my appointments to two week intervals.

Thank you to everyone who posts their experiences and pictures. That was what motivated me to get electrolysis done. Also, cause I couldn’t keep walking around with all that facial hair. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

#6

Hi all,
Isabel referred me to Maria Vega and I am really glad I followed her advise. She works fast and very accurate. She uses this machine, the Apilus, that is not painful at all. I had electrolyses done in the Netherlands and the machine that the lady over there used was a lot more painful. Maria cleared my chin and my upper lip. My skin looked a little red but that was gone after a hour or so.
I used to tweeze my hairs all the time and between appointments with my previous electrolysist. Since I read on Hairtell how bad that is I stopped doing that. (I knew that I shouldn’t do it but did anyway)
I have a question though Maria recommended me to shave if I wanted the hairs to be invisible. I don’t like that idea at all! I am afraid that the soft and invisible blond hairs on my chin and cheeks will then become hard and I’ll have stubbles all over. I want those thin and soft hairs to stay as they are. They don’t bother me. Shall I shave or just leave them alone?
Jeannette

#7

I have the same problem Jeannette–I wanted just the darker hairs removed along my jawline, but my electrologist said I needed to shave first to make sure she doesn’t zap any out-of-phase hairs. But I didn’t want to shave! I was afraid of irritating my cheeks. So I didn’t, and at the next appointment she did my upper lip but again declined to work on my cheeks, charging me for only half an appointment. So then I used Nair and got -really- irritated, for like a week. Next time I tried just trimming it close with my cuticle scissors, but I messed up and cut my lip a little. Then I just shaved. I hated every second of it. Men, I don’t know how you do it, it felt awful. But hair’s mostly gone, so hopefully at next appointment (Friday!) she can get rid of some of this crap on my cheeks. Finally!

#8

I have never understood these electrologists who fight with their clients over shaving. Yes, it is the best way to make you look better in between treatments, but the reason most electrologists ask you to shave is so they can see which hairs are in the growing phase, and which are in shedding, or resting phase.
They think they are doing you a favor, because they can treat only the growing hairs, and simply pluck the shedding and resting hairs. They do this because they reason that since they can’t effect permanent removal on these, (without utilizing a technique that most electrologists don’t know, and many of those who do still won’t use) they can at least pluck them out to clear them, while saving you money on a treatment of that hair that would only weaken it for later treatment a year from now.

I am no mind reader, but I was once a client as well, and I have to say that I think most people who understand this would rather the electrologist just treat all the hairs if the electrologist has any speed at all. If you are only capable of treating 100 hairs an hour, this hair selection makes sense, but if you can clear out the entire area in a few weeks no matter what, why bother?

If you feel like I do, perhaps you can explain to your electrologist that you understand the reason she wants to be selective of hairs to treat, but you would rather she just take 'em all and let god sort them out!

Once you get to first clearance, and stay on a good treatment schedule, this won’t even be an issue, as all the hairs visible will by definition be growing hairs.

#9

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME MARIA VEGA’S PHONE NUMBER SO I CAN CALL HER AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE!!
MY EMAIL IS E V E L I N A 4 2 0 @ A O L . C O M

#10

Her phone number is 212-765-3214 and her website is www.mariavega.com.

#11

I have never understood these electrologists who fight with their clients over shaving. Yes, it is the best way to make you look better in between treatments, but the reason most electrologists ask you to shave is so they can see which hairs are in the growing phase, and which are in shedding, or resting phase.

can you expand on this a little? how does shaving them all identify them differently to an electrologist? how do they differ in “look?” what does a growing, shedding or resting phase hair look like?

is it something you can describe at all? im totally curious.

thanks,

amy

#12

Growing hairs come out the skin so fast that one would need to shave every day or 3 to keep the skin smooth. Hair that is not growing is either being pushed up by the much slower shedding process, or is only being exposed futher by the shedding of the skin above it.

In any case, when you shave, three days later, you get three different lengths of hairs. One long group that are the growing hairs in Anagen Phase, a second shorter set of hairs in shedding catagen, and a group that may only be stubs against the skin, in telogen resting phase.

When electrologists do this technique, they treat all the longest hairs, and pluck the others, or just ignore them altogether.

You can easily test this out yourself, by looking at an area you shaved a few days ago. The smallest hairs, are not in growth phase unless you have a few that only got to the point of being above the skin’s surface just that day. But those would not have been shaved, so they would still have a tip and not a blunt end. Anyway, you could tell the difference.

#13

Hi - Just wanted to give an update on my progress. By the way, Maria never suggested I shave. She told me that if the hair bothers me between treatments, then I should trim the hairs with a small scissor or cover them with make-up. So, far I have only trimmed my chin hairs.

Anyway, I just returned from my electrolysis appointemnt. Last time I waited 2 weeks between appointments because I had no hair after the first week. I thought I would be be going every two weeks. Boy, was I wrong. This time I got lots of hair growth after the first week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go in for treatment cause I was very busy last week. So, I ended up going in today, which is exactly two weeks after my last treatment.

Actually, this time I had a lot of hair and she even had to do one hour and fifteen minutes instead of the usual hour. She told me that some of the hair that was on my chin was old because they had a white bulb at the end. She told me that the white bulb means the hair has been there for a
while. The ones that are newer are pigmented at the end.

Once again, I was a little bit red for an hour or two…then the redness was gone. Now the skin is a little bumpy. She always asks at the beginning if it hurts, so I guess that means she uses more power or strength each time??? Not sure.

I don’t see a huge difference in the amount of hair, since I have only done 3 1/2 hours so far. I do notice a differnce in the texture of the hair though. I is thinner and lighter. I guess I still have a long way to go. I have A LOT of hair and it’s all over my face… it even stretches down to my neck a little bit on the sides.

I am really happy I don’t get any scabs, pitting , or marks on my face. And so far, I don’t really use any after treatment…just a little bit of witch hazel when I get home to clean the area.

#14

Hello. I just wanted to post an update. I have ben doing electrolysis every week for one hour for the sides of my face and my chin. Yesterday, the electrologist told me that I am getting ingrown hairs. She said that since the hair is growing in weak, it doesn’t have enough force to go through the skin, so it grows underneath the skin. I guess she had to treat these hairs more the others, so now I have little red marks on my face. I think they will go away in a couple of days. She told me I had more ingrown hairs on the left side of my face than on the right side. I never noticed them though. Also, I always seem to have more hair on the right side of my face than on the left side. I hope I don’t keep getting ingrown hairs. They seem to be time consuming and a little painful to treat. Other than that, my face looks pretty good.

#15

Isabel:

Did laser treatments make your face red and irritated longer than electrolysis?

#16

Isabel,
Try Tend Skin for the ingrowns. You can buy it at some beauty shops or at hairfacts.com (the info site that is a companion to this one). Or if you do a search in the archives, you can find posts with recipes for how to make it yourself at home with a tablet of aspirin.

Also, keep those red dots very very clean to prevent them from getting infected.
susie

#17

Turtle98, laser did make my skin red for a longer period of time than electrolysis. I have very sensitive skin so I get red very easily. After my laser treatments, I would be so red that the technicians would get scared and make me sit there with ice for a bout 30 minutes. Then it would take several hours for my skin to go back to normal. The last time I had laser done, they used very high joules (sp?) and I was still pink the following day. I got really scared when that happened. With electrolysis, I think most of the redness comes from my skin being touched cause most of the redness goes away in like half an hour and then I’m pink for a couple of hours.

Susie, thank you for the suggestion. I had no idea there were products out there for ingrown hair. I wonder if I can use it with my acne medication. I am using Proactive now.

Does everyone get ingrowns from electolysis?

#18

Tend Skin is not a medication, so it wouldn’t interfere with your Proactive. But it can be harsh on the skin, because it’s basically a superpowered exfoliator. Check with your dermatologist about using it on your skin, and/or ask your derm what you could do for ingrowns.

I don’t know if electrolysis causes ingrowns. The only ingrowns I get are chin hairs I tweezed for years that got really really deep and strong and ingrown long before I started electro. They are turning out to be the hardest hairs to kill and they still get ingrown. I hate them! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

#19

In my own experience I would have to say that electrolysis does NOT cause the ingrowns. After years of plucking my chin and upper lip, I had TERRIBLE ingrowns and scarring. After about two months of electrolysis the ingrown problem was gone. I was (and am) very agressive with two treatments per week on those areas so maybe that helped. At first my electrologist had to spend sooo much time on the ingrowns but they steadily stopped growing in that way. Since those hairs are distorted, they keep growing back and have to be treated more than a normal hair. But they grow back finer and lighter and therefore don’t grow in ingrown. I could be wrong but that’s my take on the whole thing. If you stick with it, that won’t be a problem for you anymore.

#20

Thank you everyone for all the advice. I never plucked in my life though. And I started getting the ingowns after about 5 or 6 hrs of electrolysis. Maybe it has something to do with the laser treatments I did before electrolysis. Well, hopefully won’t the problem won’t persist.