need some advice : )

Hi, I like the forum and site, and I feel comfortable asking everyone’s advice, so can anyone help?

I’m a 22 year old male with dark hair, I have quite a bit of hair on my shoulders, and parts of my back and upper arms.

I’m looking to get rid of it, hopefully permanently if possible.

From what I have read, electrolysis seems to be the safest, most consistent form of hair removal, so my question is…

what do you think, and recommendations? and, rather than do a search for ‘professional electrolysis’ on Google UK, can anybody recommend electrolysists (is that how you say it?) who operate in the UK? I’d trust people here over a search engine.

many thanks for your time. :smile:

From what you’ve written, it sounds like you don’t have much hair, and you’ve read the posts, and made your choice on electrolysis over laser?

If you’re in the UK, the simplest thing to do is to look in the yellow pages under “Beauty Therapists”. Most of them do electrolysis, even if they don’t advertise it.

Some adverts explicitly state “women only” - I’ve no idea why, but they’re very few and far between!

Who you choose is entirely up to you - you might give price more priority, or experience, the ‘newness’ of the machine, or locality.

Hi mmmfreegoo (nice Simpsons reference! :wink: )

If you have dark hair and light skin, laser can be a good option for larger amounts of hair. You might do a few laser treamtnets and finish up with electrolysis.

If it’s sparse, you might do just electro. It’s definitely got the best track record, as long as you go to someone good.

Toni’s advice should lead you to someone good. Be sure they use a device where a probe is inserted into the follicle-- there’s a lot of bogus devices floating around the UK.

Thanks for your help Toni and Andrea - I’ve used mmmfreegoo in other message boards before - so far you are the only one thats noticed - nice one!

I’m still not that sure what to do with regards to the unwanted hair. Before I go off and try to get an unbiased (I’m not sure which clinics offer this!) opinion, could I get both yours again because…

I have a digital camera, and I don’t mind posting a couple of pictures of the areas (back/shoulders)

If you could see exactly my skin type and type/amount of hair, then maybe you could make a more definite recommendation (if you don’t mind), it may save me a bit of time…

many thanks for your valued help so far,

let me know,

thanks

Here’s a nice online test to estimate your skin type (no substitute for a dermatologist assessment):

Sarah Alexander: Skin Type Test

As far as hair, if it’s “quite a bit,” you may find electrolysis to be time-consuming. I’d look into a few clearings with laser, or at the very least a waxing followed by elecgtrolysis on hairs which return.

I’d love to help, but I don’t think a digital photo (and an amateur’s opinion!) would be quite good enough.

If you’re going for laser, they actually measure the light reflection off your skin to establish its type. (I’ve tried digital photos before, and you never get the color match quite right - even if your camera’s spot on, my monitor might be slightly out of whack!!)

If you’re trying to choose between laser and electro, I think the primary consideration for you is the amount of hair that you have. If you have lots, you might like to consider laser first. If you phone around, you can find someone that will do a free test patch.

(Or, as Andrea says, get a few waxings!)

Electrolysis is s—l---o—w !!!

Lots of UK Beauty Therapists do all types of epilation (waxing, plucking, laser, electrolysis, etc). If you find one that does everything, there’s no reason they should fob you off with an unsuitable treatment.