Newbie - f, PCOS, determined to get rid of my beard. I tried electrolysis 18 years ago - no research, just went in. (This was the early days of internet - so hard to remember how different it was!) I did 2 sessions. I don’t remember much about it other than the woman commenting that I had “keratinized root sheaths” which I have never been able to figure out what exactly that meant in terms of treatment. She made it sound as if those hairs were impossible to treat. I stopped going because she left the salon and moved on to a laser clinic, which was prohibitively expensive for me at the time as a new college student (laser there was $200/15minutes, electrolysis was $1/minute)
Needless to say the hair “came back.” I have no way of knowing if it was the same hair but over the years I def. developed new hair as well. So I did laser a few times - 10? - and it always works AMAZINGLY but then of course the hair comes back. I have decided to give electrolysis another, more educated try - as it really seems that will be the best option for my face.
I have found it’s really hard to find reviews on such places near me. I have tried looking on transgender sites for suggestions (because who would know more about removing stubborn male pattern hair?) and found a few names around here but still very few reviews. The place with the most reviews charges $100/hr which seems to be at the steeper end of the price scale - and according to their web site they do blend exclusively. I found another place that is $65/hr that lists blend and thermolysis - and decided to start there. I had my first session on Saturday.
The only thing I knew to ask about was if she used insulated probes, and she does not, normally. She has them and says we can use them if I like but she has had more success with the uninsulated probes. Her machine is an Apilus Senior and she used thermolysis on me - I had gone in thinking blend was best but she says blend takes longer and is usually only needed for the most stubborn hairs, and we can do blend if needed for those. Doing some further reading, this seems like a sensible plan of attack. She managed to clear my entire face in 1/2 hour which I was very pleased with - I was sure I was worse than a 1/2 hour job - and she didn’t make any mention of keratinized root sheaths. I could tell the hairs were sliding out, not being plucked - she did have to rezap a few stubborn ones so I def. knew the feeling when there was resistance. I left looking completely, totally normal (I was shocked!) and feeling pleased. I know it will take time to see results but right now I feel very hopeful. I took some pics of my chin before going so I can more objectively assess what goes on this time. (And it was more horrid looking than I ever realized!)
So now my questions. Should I be concerned at all that she is using an older machine? I like to research everything and try to make the best choices I can. From what I can find, this is a good machine, but there are newer and flashier models out there - platium and so on. I know operator skill matters, too, so all things being equal - should this machine work just as well as a newer model? (I know YOU don’t know her skill level, let’s assume she knows what she is doing)
Yesterday (day after treatment) I had a lot of redness and today (2 days post) I have a lot of small scabs. My face feels smooth, they are not crusty surface scabs, more something you can see than feel. I don’t remember this at ALL from my first go-around but I had a lot less hair and I’m really not sure the treatment did anything. Given how much hair was removed, I don’t think having irritation is at all unexpected. If I had no irritation, I’d be worried nothing really happened in there, to be honest. Is there any reason to think trying the insulated probe would result in less irritation or scabbing? Or is this par for the course for first timer + beard-type hair? (I have taken pics so I can show her, maybe we just need to fine tune the settings?)
I go back in 4 weeks. I feel like I should probably consider getting consults at least at a few other places to make the best choice I can, but as an untrained consumer it’s hard to know what I am looking for. I feel happy so far but it’s only been 2 days. I really want this journey to work this time. I’m hoping that in terms of my age and my hormones more or less being in normal range now, things are as bad as they will get - so hopefully it’s a good time to start this again.
Thoughts? Encouragement? And what the heck do keratinized root sheaths mean in terms of treatment???
(I think I know what they are, those thick hard plastic feeling sleeves around the hair shaft - but do they matter in terms of killing the hair? I kind of wonder if she mentioned them to cover for the fact that she was actually plucking the hair, it wasn’t just sliding out easily?)
I’m really hoping to learn a lot and become a success story.
