Since reading these forums helped me so much in finding the ambition to start my treatment, I wanted to document it in case it helps someone else, and also get feedback from many of you experts along the way.
I am a light skinned mid-30s female who has used daily tweezing and occasional waxing on my upper lip and chin for many years. I remember a single dark hair appeared on my chin when I was 20 and I would tweeze it and it would be gone for months. Somehow over the past few years the number of chin hairs has rapidly increased. My upper lip use to be slightly darker hair but over the years they have increased in thickness and color. I would tweeze daily, sometimes getting a few and if I had skipped a day I’d get dozens.
I had considered laser in my early twenties and paid $50 for a consult, but didn’t want to grow out my facial hair and the price tag was $800. After reading these forums I’m glad I didn’t go through with it.
Over my last pregnancy I developed hyperpigmentation on my forehead, nose, upper lip, and chin. I thought it was just melasma, but when makeup wouldn’t cover my upper lip and I realized the dark spots matched where the hair grew, I started feeling anxious and depressed. I tried lightening creams, color correcting makeup, nothing worked. I saw on these forums users mentioning that stopping tweezing and having hair removed through electrolysis could heal skin. But I still couldn’t fathom going through life without tweezing and having all this hair growing on my face.
The final straw was running into a coworker I hadn’t seen for a while. She said "you have something right there’ pointing to my upper lip. We were both humiliated, and my entire day was ruined and I just wanted to cry. For the first time in my life I felt hideous.
After looking at all the providers in my area, I ended up calling for a consultation to a clinic ten minutes from my home (my electrolysis is Actually listed on this site). I stopped tweezing that day and have not tweezed since.
At my consult I ended up getting a 30 min treatment. The pain was very mild and I was somewhat red and swollen. My electrogist wanted to do sessions every other week, but I was so upset of the idea of having two weeks growth that I started crying right there, so she agreed to treat me weekly for the first month.
By my second session a week later I had sparse coarse beardlike hairs in half dollar sized patches on each side of my chin, and more coarse hairs and dark thin hairs on my upper lip. I noticed sometimes my electrolysist has to zap the hairs more than once to get them to come out without tugging. She once again was able to clear the area. After this treatment I had some more intense swelling and pustules after treatment. After reading the forum I figured it was something I was doing and not my provider because the redness was minimal by bedtime the day of treatment, and the reaction seemed to be over the two days after treatment.
I just had my third weekly treatment yesterday. I had much less hair this time and none of the super coarse hairs, but enough that felt stubbly. She was able to clear the whole area in the 30 minutes. She told me she thought my hair was looking thinner already and she was thinking that with my growth cycle that we had seen and treated the coarsest Of my hair growth. I was a bit reluctant to believe that, but she has 30 years experience. I made sure not to touch my face at all following this session and only patted some witch hazel on the area with a cotton ball a couple times. This seemed to help minimize any further reaction from my skin. .
Next week is my last scheduled weekly session and I’m hoping we can move to longer twice per month sessions, just so I can save a bit of money. I love how I feel after my sessions (no five o’clock shadow) and I can’t wait to see if my hyperpigmentation starts to fade. Although sofar in this process I notice I feel down in the dumps and anxious the day before my treatment session when my hair is visible, and more like myself and hopeful after treatment.