I’m in a bit of a pickle. I’ve been seeing the same Electrologist for two years come this April and have sunk thousands of dollars into treatments already. I don’t have an overly excessive amount of facial hair ( I can easily mask it with makeup) but my results are not what I expected at this stage of the game. That’s not the only problem either.
My last treatment I went in and felt nothing but my hairs being plucked as she worked on me. It felt like I had spent $40 to have someone pluck twenty hairs. This has happened on and off during my visits but last time was noteworthy simply because when I leave I’m usually a bit red and swollen but this time I wasn’t at all.
The other problem is the fact that she’s been working on my upper lip (my main problem area) steadily almost the entire time and I still have a decent amount of hair there, and I’m constantly dealing with ingrown’s. Not only that but I’ve recently noticed some scarring in the area as well.
One last thing I was curious about is cost. She charges $80 an hour and $170 for two hours treatments. Is this steep or normal?
Thank you to anyone who read all this and can offer me some advice.
Hi There, you might feel confortable if you try another electrologyst. However, I have also experienced that plucked feeling on my face yrs ago and when I confronted my electrologist about it, she said its the pulp (the root of the hair) that I was feeling leaving the skin. But I have tried several electrologists as well and have had some strange ones, so do the same and find one that you may feel confortable with her work. Afterall its our money that we are investing in. Do your search for the best electrologist in your area and if worse comes to worse you can always come back to the one you have at the moment. I also dont agree about the price of $170 for 2hrs. It should be $160 or less (special discount for more hrs), not more. So, thats another reason she might as well loose you as a client. Her loss! Good luck…
I’ve wondered about the plucking feeling, too. At times, the electrogist appears to pluck hairs out. She inserts the probe for a brief period and then pulls the hair out. Often times, the hair seems to slide out. I asked about the plucking sensation and got a similar response, which is the root of the hair is larger than the diameter of the hair so it feels like it is being plucked.
Well that is true. Also, in the beginning, if you are treating telogen hairs, there is no moisture in the follicle and the hair won’t slide out too well. If anagen hairs are treated, they side out easily, if treated with the proper intensity and timing. Always ask your electrolgist what’s happening. If she’s tired and being sloppy, then at least she’ll be aware that you are observing her treatment closely.
On the price issue, please allow me to say that I am the last person to knock anyone’s pricing policy. I will say, however, in her defense, that longer appointments cause a few problems for the practitioner. She is courting repetitive motion damage, not getting to change up the movements she is doing, and probably missing meals, and hydration breaks when doing longer, or marathon sessions. Additionally, many have found that they can make more money, booking 4 short appointments, than booking one long appointment.
I am not advocating higher prices, I am just looking to explain why some people charge what they charge.
On the other hand, when it comes to the “plucking sensation”, it would only be a problem if you felt that on EVERY HAIR. The problem with good treatment, is that it is often so unnoticeable, that what ever the client DOES notice becomes a big deal in their minds.
I once had a woman come to me. She thought she had this big horrible upper lip hair problem. I set to work on her and in 15 minutes, I handed her a mirror. She told me later that she was getting all mad at me thinking “When is this guy going to start working? I am paying him by the hour for Pete’s sake!” When she looked in the mirror and saw no hair, she was shocked!
Now if every 10th hair was one she had felt, she would have walked away thinking that I had plucked every hair that I had removed.
Thank you for all your replies, I really appreciate it.
The plucking sensation wasn’t what concerned me the most, its the fact that I felt NOTHING except plucking (and it was with nearly every hair) when every previous session there is at least a slight tingle of pain or heat. That coupled with the fact that I was not red at all in the areas where I felt only plucking was a huge red flag for me. Plus it wasn’t the first time it happened, it was simply noteworthy because going in that day my upper lip didn’t look too bad, but now it seems worse than it did then.
I used to sit for two hours, then one, now I’m down to a half. I’m only getting a clearance on my upper lip now because it’s just all I can afford. Like I said I’ve been seeing her for nearly two years and was expecting at least my upper lip to be done by now. I was in the hospital last January and didn’t go in for about three weeks. Now I haven’t been back for about the same amount of time and my lip looks the same as it did last year at this time. I sunk a good chunk of my savings into this already so I’m just very frustrated.
More than anything the scarring, though slight right now, is bothering me. I’m only 26 and don’t really want to have a pock marked upper lip for the rest of my life. If that’s my alternative I’ll just stick with a razor and makeup.
I’ve been looking into other electrologists and found one nearby who’s less expensive and seems to be more revered. I’m going to give her a call tomorrow.
It’s been a long the but I wanted to follow up on this in case my situation mirrors anyone elses.
I sought out a new electrologist and my results have been extremely satisfactory. She’s done more for me in 8 months than my last electrologist did in two years so my gut instinct was right. Also, I was horrified to hear she has quite a few clients who were dissatisfied with my 1st electrologists work and came to her.