My hairy adventure - another scandinavian diary

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi everyone,
I ended up on HairTell when I was reading up on laser and have since then been trying to read up on electrolysis instead. I’m really happy I’ve found this community and reading everyone’s diaries is very inspiring and comforting.

I’m a too-soon to be 30 female, originally from Iran, with pale enough skin for the black hair to be incredibly visible. It’s long and it’s everywhere… It’s been taxing to have to deal with all the body hair before doing normal things like going to the gym, going swimming or just wearing a t-shirt/skirt - I’m so sick of it and ready to do what it takes to get rid of it. At first I was thinking of maybe traveling to see Josefa but I quickly realized how busy she is and how busy I am. :grin: I don’t really have the vacation days to do out of town sessions so I decided to try to find someone where I’m located (Stockholm, Sweden) first.

A handful of candidates remained after my google-search screening, everyone who was offering both electrolysis (well, thermolysis) and IPL were weeded out and today I had my first consultation. It went ok, it stung more than I thought it would, like a a quick needle stab but still trivial and the hair would slide out just fine, no resistance there. However, there were two things that I’m unsure about:

[ol]
[li]The first time she inserted the needle she was explaining what she was doing so it was kind of in slow motion (I’m inserting the needle now…I’m gonna zap you now) but once she started picking up her pace it felt like the actual insertion was painful, I wonder if that’s because I couldn’t follow the speed so I thought it was the insertion or if well, it was the insertion? :crazy: How can you tell the difference?
[/li][li]She zapped the same (?) follicle 2-4 times several times. I added the (?) because she seemed to have lost track of what hair she was treating, to me it looked like she tried pulling out a different hair than the hair she actually treated so I’m not even sure she managed to zap the same follicle when she couldn’t get the hair out…maybe she zapped a different one and then she couldn’t pull the hair out again…and again. BUT at least she didn’t want to just pluck the hair, when she felt the resistance she zapped it again (and again, and again :wink: ). What am I to make of this?[/ol]
[/li]All in all, I’m very happy that I’ve finally started this journey and hope to add my story in the success thread in due time. :grin: In the meantime I’ll update this thread with my (grotesque) before and (lovely) after photos.

#2

I had my second consultation today and I think I got the answer to my first question…this lady did not zap me while inserting the needle, there was a clear difference between insertion and zapping and she was still much faster than the first lady. The hair all slid out with no resistance and to my untrained eye it looked like she did a good job.

I was a little worried because she didn’t seem to use any magnifying tools but she didn’t get lost like the first lady did at least. She did however seem to miss the “insertion point” one or two times, she inserted the needle and pulled it out without zapping. Not sure if that’s just something that happens to everyone or if it was because she couldn’t see properly.

Here’s a picture of my arm and you can see the spot she treated.

For a bigger, more detailed picture, please go here: http://imageshack.us/a/img11/8559/20130410203250.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img9/5660/20130410203523.jpg

My next and last consultation is next week but I went ahead and booked today’s lady for 1 hour anyway, not sure if that was a wise move or not but I feel that I need to see her work more than a few minutes to make my decision.

#3

Looks very good. Sometimes insertions are aborted and restarted sometimes. Vision aids are nice for the comfort of the practitioner, but some people do fine with minimal help. I’m not one of the them though. I need those surgical glasses for ergonomic reasons and to make better insertions.

#4

Oh now I feel dumb, never heard of surgical glasses before and she did put on a pair of glasses before she started the treatment. :blush:

The swelling has completely subsided today, I was expecting more since she told me about the expected side effects (red dots and scabs) but maybe it takes more time before they appear.

EDIT: Nevermind, I looked at some pictures of surgical glasses and that was not what she was wearing.

#5

I wear surgical loupes, but some use a magnifying lamp and wear nothing on their face. So, we have different options available for our varying needs. One size does not fit all when it comes to vision aid, Shewolf. Yes, most electrologists are using something to see the hair they are treating.

#6

It was just the initial shock that made me worry a little, it had never occurred to me that it could be done without a magnifying tool. It’s sorta awe inspiring. :slight_smile: I’m not too bothered by whether she’s using anything to help her see or not as long as she can get the job done.

The red dots did appear later in the day today but I see no scabs forming (maybe I’m the one in need of visual aid).

http://imageshack.us/a/img687/2082/rarmpatch2.jpg

#7

It usually takes 48 hours for scabs to form, if they are going to happen at all. Expect scabbing on body areas for the most part . IT’s OKAY!

Great picture!

#8

Oh, I wasn’t fretting over the scabs, well I was but it was because the lack of them. :grin: They did appear after 48 hours and the patch that got treated looks like this now:


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1191/rarmpatch6.jpg

I met the 3rd electrologist today for my last consultation, did not quite like her like the 2nd one because the consultation wasn’t so good (she talked a lot without giving me time to ask questions and only treated one hair).

Tomorrow I’m gonna have my first 1 hour long treatment and I’m super excited but still haven’t managed to decide where to start…face…arms…legs…stomach…back…face…arms…legs…stomach…back…face…arms…legs…stomach…back…it’s just too much! :crazy:

EDIT: Btw, how long would it take to get a first clearance on one arm? The first place told me 3 hours, second place told me 2 hours and 3rd place told me 2 hours but she only wanted to get rid of the most visible hair.

#9

how long did it take to clear that patch in your pictures?you could multiply that patch = time by the area you want treated
I think they are being a little conservative quoting two hours for one arm ?

#10

Very conservative indeed. Perhaps the practitioner recommended starting with a 2 hour session and this could have been misinterpreted.

#11

No, they recommended 1 hour for the first session. The patch took 1 min maybe? I wasn’t paying attention to the time. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see then. :slight_smile:

#12

This past week I have started a case of arm, with a density of hairs very similar to yours. As you were interested in knowing what area you can do, I have taken a photo after an hour, and another photo after 2 hours.

Before:

DSC04697.JPG711×533

After 67 minutes:

DSC04699.JPG711×533

After another 53 minutes (totaltime of session 120 minutes):

DSC04719.JPG711×533

Note: If you do not like these pictures in your thread, feel free to say and they are deleted immediately.

#13

Is that really the same density, I feel that I’m much hairier. :o Pictures are more than welcome, it’s very helpful to be able to compare.

The 1 hour appointment went good as far as pain goes but I felt that she didn’t get so much done or rather as much done as I thought she would. She worked on my chin and both my wrists, I’ll upload pictures later if I remember. Funny thing, the general consensus on all 3 salons that I visited was (is) that there’s no need to remove all the hair, only the most visible ones for a more natural look. I didn’t think I would like it but my wrists look much better than I thought they would.

#14

I think the person getting the hair removed always overestimates the density. From what I can tell from the pictures, it looks about the same

#15

This is what my right arm looked like after 2,5 hours.


More detailed picture: http://imageshack.us/a/img822/5150/rarm2hours.jpg


More detailed picture: http://imageshack.us/a/img35/4251/rarm2hours2.jpg

And now after 4,5 hours. As you can see there’s still plenty of hair left.

More detailed picture: http://imageshack.us/a/img705/8744/rarm4hours.jpg


More detailed picture: http://imageshack.us/a/img32/6849/rarm4hours2.jpg

I’m not too happy about the speed but I’m not so sure I can find anyone who’s faster around here either. I booked a time (1 hour) with the 3rd place I went to, maybe the treatment is better than the consultation was. :confused:

#16

Wow what a difference! looks great.

#17

Well, today you got me singing:

“B-L-O-S-S-A, B-L-O-S-S-A, B-L-O-S-S-A, Glügen heter Blossa!” (Yeah, just a little early. But once that thing gets in your head …)!

DON’T worry about SPEED … it’s ALL about permanent hair removal, and the hairs not coming back! So, your person is taking an hour more here and there? So what!

If you want speed, well, just wax it off! Lots of folks out there are FAST, but what about when all the hairs come BACK!

It’s all about counting the final hours (TTT) … not how quickly each appointment goes. Just stay tuned and don’t “Kvetch!” I think you are going to be pleased.

Okay, so you’re not on the “Concord,” you’re only on a “747-8.” You will still get there in a very reasonable time. (“A-380?”)

#18

Thanks, both of you. It calms me down a little. :slight_smile:

But! It’s not the speed per se and it’s not about money either (this is SO worth it), it’s about time. I have a lot of hair and all 3 practitioners I’ve talked to have told me that the hair will come back thinner and thinner and then eventually die. That makes me believe that their kill rate is not very high and that I’ll have to re-treat every hair two or three times (maybe more if I’m unlucky) before it’s dead. That means it’ll take a long time before it’s all gone, longer than 2 year which is what I was aiming at and that makes me really sad.

(@Michael: Now you’ve got that song stuck in my head too!)

#19

" … The hair will come back thinner and thinner and then eventually die. That makes me believe that their kill rate is not very high … "

I agree with you! (One kid had an electrologist tell him that each back hair would have to be treated between 12 and 25 times!) YIKES!!! Actually, if you do it right, it’s ONE TIME!

I have never been a fan of the “breaking down process,” that says the hair comes back thinner and thinner and then eventually … blah blah blah …

I do think this “theory” is an excuse for not killing the follicle outright. Yes, I few times I have seen a hair return, but it’s usually very oddly formed: a remnant of a few stem cells left in the follicle that managed to re-construct a “crazy” hair.

The thing is about these “thinner” returning hairs? Mostly, these are in early anagen and appear thinner at first (as does every anagen hair). Given time, however, they will look like the original hairs; because they ARE, i.e., the original hairs!

Sorry about the “Blossa” … I am a real “Tompta!” (That always sounded like a bad word: “Tompta.” I probably spelled it wrong!)

#20

It’s “tomte”, haha.

I actually asked the lady I go to about the hair coming back thinner and thinner, if it happens because of the settings is set lower than it should be and she said yes, either that or because the insertion - if the needle only hits some of the connected blood vessels instead of all of them. What am I to make out of this, can one not count on perfect insertions? If not 100% of the time then at least 80% of the time?