Hey everyone…I’m new to all of this. I have a bad hair problem on my chin…seriously I could probably grow a go-tee (sp?) and that’s not very attractive for a professional 28 yr. old woman. I’m considering all of my options. For years I’ve plucked, now I’m shaving but I always have the 5 o’clock shadow look…I’m looking for a permanant solution. Should I be considering laser or electrolysis??? Any suggestions??
Hi pasimon,
For me I decided to go with electrolysis because it’s the only guaranteed method of permanent removal, as long as it’s done right. With laser, many people get permanent removal but some do not. (How well it works has a lot to do with the color of your skin and the color of your hair.) And an unlucky few find that their hairiness gets worse. I didn’t want to spend that kind of money on laser and end up with no results or even worse. So I cut to the chase and am doing electrolysis on chin and upper lip. I hope that helps.
–susie
Thanks for your reply Susie. How far along are you into the electrolysis and how is it going? Does it hurt? Any adverse effects? How many treatments are they thinking it’ll take you and how spread out our the treatments? Is it very expensive? I definately want permanent removal so maybe this is the way for me to go too. Look forward to hearing from you and how it’s going.
I started last month, so I’m still really new. It seems to be going well. I am sooooooo relieved to no longer have to deal with my hair problem by myself at home. It used to take up soooo much of my time and make me so angry and frustrated. Now I know that after every treatment I’m closer to freedom.
As far as pain factor, I put a numbing cream on my upper lip 'cause I probably couldn’t hack it. But for my chin I don’t need the cream. Some of the thick, coarse hairs sometimes hurt, but not much. It’s just a pinch of pain when the hair gets zapped.
The only adverse affects was a LOT of redness and swelling at first, I even broke out in a bunch of whiteheads on the chin once. Some of this was from it being the first few treatments, some of it was the electrologist. It’s important to try a few people if you can, so you get an idea of what kinds of sensations are “normal” in electrolysis and how your skin normally reacts, so you know if someone is being too strong with you. But I still have redness now for a few hours. i don’t go out after a treatment.
How many treatments is a hard question to answer. I have a LOT of hair to clear, so it’ll probably be 18 months till I’m totally done. But the frequency of visits will taper off over time. I’ve been going once a week but it’s not enough, too much hair grows in and I feel embarrassed in public, so I’m gonna start going twice or even three times a week. I go for 30 mins on upper lip and 30 mins on chin, you shouldn’t go any longer on those areas. By the end of a year, I should only need to go once every two weeks, then once a month, etc. I pay 60 bucks for 30 mins.
i hope this helps,
susie 
[ June 23, 2004, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: VespaSusie ]
VespaSusie, your explanations are always so clear and truthful. Thanks for all you do to be helpful from the consumer side of things. You’re just great.
Pasimon, I have a break now at work, and I just reviewed a few client charts concerning chin treatments. As you know, different people have different amounts and coarseness of hair (hair on the chin ranges from very coarse to fine). The fine hair is of no consequence. As electrologists, we always go for the thickest hairs first and then work our way down. I just finished a lady who had an average amount of very thick blond to white hair on her chin. She started treatments last August. I saw her a total of 16 times over the last ten months. Treatments were every two weeks until all was clear and then she would pop in here and there over the last several months for treatment as she noticed new hair or some regrowth from previously treated hair. I saw her last week, and treated 3 medium hairs on her chin and then she requested we move to her upper lip. I used blend with gold probes in the beginning for the coarse hairs and switched to thermolysis for the thinner hairs. Her skin reaction in the beginning was a little more intense because more energy was needed for those thick hairs. She always recovered within 3-5 days. As we moved closer to completion and less heat was needed for the smaller hairs, her redness and swelling subsided within a couple hours.
Another client’s problem was greater than the first ladies problem on the chin area. More hair and thicker hair due to years of twezing. She’s been completed for sometime, but I still see her, as I am working on another area. Her chin is still truly hair-free, smooth and lovely. It took us a little longer than the first lady (a little over twelve months) with a few cleanups thereafter. Her skin reaction was next to nothing. Her skin practically returned to normal as we had a little converstation after her treatment. Great skin!
These are just two examples and I hope it helps you understand a little better what is involved with electrolysis,if you choose that option. They both said it ouched a little, but wouldn’t go as far to call it total PAIN. Your electrologist can make adjustments in the timing and intensity to help you with the pain thingy. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is, once you start electrolysis, stay with a routine schedule for treatments that your practioner recommends and stop TWEEZING OR WAXING immediately. Shave or clip hair to disguise it until the electrolysis treatments brings you to clearance. For most cases, it’s only a matter of weeks until you don’t have to do anything to conceal your hair problem. However, you will still have to continue your electrolysis schedule as hair keeps popping up here and there because the hair growth cycles for all the hair in a particular area is not sychronized.
Someone else will have to offer their expertise about laser treatments for the chin area.
Learn all you can before you choose a practioner for either laser or electrolysis. Just do it and stick to a plan. Being that you are only 28 years old, ridding yourself of that embarrasing chin hair now, will give you years of freedom from this daily bother.
As usual, I talk too much, but hope this was of som help for you as you search for answers.
Dee
To Dee and Susie—thank Y’all so much for your truthful and detailed answers. That was very helpful for me. At this time I must say that I’m leaning towards electrolysis…though I actually have a free consultation at a laser treatment center this coming Monday so I’ll just see what they have to say. I haven’t yet looked for a local electrolysis place…I live in Greenville, SC so if anyone has any referrals I’d love to hear from you.
Based on the messages from Dee and Susie it sounds like it may take me a while…the hair on my chin is very dark, course, thick hair as I was a tweezer for many years…now I’m shaving but just can’t stand the 5 o’clock shadow look and am pretty self conscious about the whole thing. Anyways, thanks again for the advice and keep it coming if anyone has anything to add. Susie–good luck with your treatments.
Hey pasimon! I live in your area! I called a bunch of electrologists in Greenville the other day. Only one answered. The electrologist’s name is Judy and she is associated with a dermatology center…so hopefully that will be a good bet. I went to my very first electrologist yesterday (Wed.) in S-burg. So far, so good. I set up a consultation with Judy tomorrow, but I think I am going to cancel it because I’m going to go see my electrologist again. I’ll give you Judy’s info… Her receptionist told me that she charges $25 for 15 min. and usually not more than $40 per session. I mentioned some of this in the ‘Scabbing’ thread. Anyway, Judy’s # is 233-8088. I think that’s CMA Dermatology’s number actually. Set up a free consultation and see how it goes!! Keep us updated
Thanks for the info. on Judy…I will give her a call and try to set up a consultation. That sounds like a good place for me to start. Good luck with your treatments in Sptg and thanks again for the info. Keep us posted on how things go for you!
Hey Pasimon. Did you see Judy yet? Have you gone to anyone yet? Just curious…
Hi pasimon,
just wanted to pop in and say hello.
I am thinking about starting electrolysis soon. My main goal will be the abumdant extra hair around my eyebrows (since they won’t work on this area with LHR) and any other stray dark, thicker hairs that are popping up around my face, neck, chest, and breasts.
I am currently doing LHR on my chin and upper lip. I started treatment on my underarms and abdomen first, though, because I wanted to do some test areas that were not so visible to the world. After the first treatment, everything went pretty well, so I decided to proceed with my facial hair at the next treatment.
I just had my 3rd treatment on my face yesterday and things are looking pretty good. I just wanted to mention to you that you might want to check into LHR first to clear a lot of the hair more quickly, then go to electrolysis afterwards.
LHR does cause a few possible weeks of difficulty hiding hair after treatment. The worst is after the first treatment when there is the most hair. The hair is a bit hard to shave after treatment, so it is not shaved as closely after treatment and is a bit harder to hide. After my 2nd treatment, I didn’t have much problem at all. There was so much less hair that it wasn’t much of a problem that the hairs left did not shave as well.
This morning, I have a sprinkle of small pimples/whiteheads from treatment, but I normally have acne, so it’s not too much worse than usual. Some of the follicles are a bit red, but I think I’ll be able to cover everything just fine. Most of the hair hasn’t grown much since I last shaved over 24 hrs ago, so shaving won’t be a problem yet.
My first treatment was April 13th, so I am right at 3 months now and a most of the hair is cleared already. It seems like LHR gives results a lot quicker and a lot of ladies on the boards I read are having lasting results, so it seems promising.
Anyway, just wanted to throw in my 2 cents and wish you the best of luck. Let us know what you decide and how your treatments progress.
Your problem can easily be taken care of. Just read the site: ElectrolysisInformation very carefully and it will answer all your questions.
Hi Ellen–thanks for giving me your two cents. I haven’t responded in a while because I’ve been out of town. Anyways, I never went to see Judy (the electrolysist) but I did get a consultation with a laser hair removal place and I’m thinkin of starting with that. I appreciate you telling me of your personal experience with it. I’m hoping to get started soon so we’ll see how it goes. I’m glad that you’re having good success thus far. Thanks again for the info.