The average time-frame for electrolysis is 12-18 months. At 13 months, most of your hair should be gone. What percent reduction have you experienced since you began electrolysis?
Newbie journey
Typically I would say about half but this month maybe 1/4 to a 1/3 less of what I started with? I remember I started with 30+ coarse hairs on that patch on my chin and before my apt today I counted 27. There were no thin dark hairs remaining but the coarse ones are the most troubling anyway.
I had my monthly 30 minute appointment today, putting me at ten hours of treatment. My provider said she feels overall I have a good reduction in hair but she is troubled that I have so much coarse regrowth and I’m having to shave almost immediately after my appointments now. She said typically when clients experience this it’s an untreated medical issue but she doesn’t believe that’s my situation. She says having to shave twice a day is not where I should be at this point. She has asked me to give her another day of growth before sessions (72 hours vs 48) because some of the thin hairs were too short to treat. I am hoping the hair we are seeing now was dormant or under treated in the past because I am feeling quite low.
Hang in there! I had a period at the beginning of mine where it seemed hopeless, then one session we got through my entire face in a session. After that, it got a little easier each visit until I was done. I haven’t been back in 20 years!
Thank you for your words Andrea. I’ve stayed smooth since my session over a week ago and it’s such a relief. For more than a day I thought I had a crop of coarse chin hairs coming in but it ended up being the hair sheaths coming out. I am due for some good results so I am crossing my fingers!
I got exactly 11 days of being stubble free—Monday morning I had nothing and then after washing my makeup off Monday night there it was. I suppose if its regrowth from the month prior it’s right on schedule at around six weeks.
Nope, it is not regrowth from the month prior. It is the next new group of hairs coming forth to the surface and it is such good news. The electrologist can now see the offending hair and disable the follicle - permanently.
I never want to hear my clients come in weeks later and say the hair is back. It is not! It’s a NEW (I said NEW) group of hairs - another hair growth cycle. We have got to get to the bottom of the hair barrel and that takes a good schedule, along with the proper and complete disabling of the hair follicle. The bottom of the barrel happens somewhere in that 12-24 month timeframe. Be patient. Stay steady. Keep your eye on the prize. Get cleared every 6 weeks and you will be happy.
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Strongly agree.
Once epilated, either by waxing, plucking or electrolysis, a hair cannot return until its next growth cycle, which is months away. Of course, the reality with electrolysis is that the hair won’t return at all if it’s done properly.
Thanks for the encouragement! It seems I’m always going through a cycle of despair regarding my treatment. This month’s growth was probably the best ever- less than 20 bothersome chin hairs and only a few annoying upper lip hairs. Of course there are also the thin dark hairs but they don’t bother me as much, in fact one positive over the past month was I could clip the few bothersome hairs and ignore the rest because it’s fairly slow growing. If I could keep this up I’d be so happy! I imagine if I wasn’t avoiding the sun like a vampire because of my hyperpigmentation the thin hairs would lighten up on their own. 21st treatment session/10.5 hours/14 months complete!
Last week I had my monthly 30 min electrolysis apt, putting me at 11 hours in and 15 months of treatment. There were few coarse hairs (maybe 10 bad ones or less?) and quite a few mediums. There is also the thin dark hairs that can only be seen at some angles or close up, which I’m not as worried about. I had some swelling on the left side of my upper lip which lasted a few days, but amazingly there were no pustules or scabbing until about 48 hours after treatment. One positive I noticed this month is one spot on my upper lip that I have always had dark thick hairs had not one hair this month. When I use to tweeze I would have some hyperpigmentation in that spot, and now there is a pit, but no hair today. Another positive, I went away for a night and didn’t have to do any hair removal or worry about it, which was a first time for me. Small victories!
There is so much to read about starting electrolysis but I haven’t found anything about what it looks like in the end stages of treatment. I want to be done so badly! Will there someday be no hair when I go for my monthly session so then I drop to every other month or every six weeks? I have talked about this with my provider before (long ago) but wanted to hear from others.
I am Herry Braun, a newbie at this discussion board. I am sales and marketing head at Leeds local cosmetic clinic Call Lane Aesthetics.
Harry ,
This post doesnt have anything to do with this posters thread, and doesnt really belong here. It would be better if you delete this post, and create a new post under the appropriate category. If you reply to this I can do it for you. It comes accross as a little “spammy” to post illelavant information to the post . Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Seana
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Nearly two weeks after my session and feeling pretty down about the condition of my skin—the pitting seems to be getting much worse. Looked up Michael Bono’s work on skin healing to give myself hope, but still so afraid that I am going to living with regrets.
I do see little dents, however you are only two weeks out from your last treatment. What you see is part of the normal healing process. Your skin should heal up fine. Over time these little imperfections will smooth out.
I do not see pitting from electrolysis. What I see is your natural skin with large pores, minus the hair. Many people have that orange peel characteristic that they mistake for pitting. These are also prominent above your upper lip on the side of your nose. Did you have electrolysis there?
Thank you for some hope!
Maybe the photos don’t capture it fully. I do have large pores all over my face, but these vary from dents to lines to little craters. I do get that orange peel look to my chin shortly after appointments but it typically settles down. I liked Michael Bono’s point about some of this being caused by the void where the hair use to be. That makes me feel hopeful.
I have a week until my next appointment and the growth has been intense, probably about 50% of my starting point this far in. This is certainly not one of those feeling good about things months. I’ve been on the same monthly treatment schedule for nearly a year (with weekly and then bi monthly before that) and have been anxiously waiting to reach a level of progress where I’m having shorter appointments or more spaced out appointments. I don’t see that occurring in the near future. Is this manageable? Of course. But emotionally it’s hard. It’s not even about the hair anymore, all I care about is my skin. I started this process telling myself I could give up a year to look better, but now I could be looking at several years and then needing to wait to heal and also explore cosmetic treatments if and when I’m ever finished (my provider has been recommending this).
Last week I had another monthly session and am now 11.5 hours in/23 treatments. Provider used a higher setting and this is the first time since the beginning I can remember still being so scabbed over and red five days after a session. My skin also feels much more sensitive to my regular skincare products. I had zero pustules this month though which was wonderful. I told my provider I felt like I was only half done in my treatment and she said it was more like 75%. I suppose no one really knows. Early on all the articles said up to 12 hours for female chin and upper lip, but that would put me around 15+ hours which I suppose is in line with previously being a “chronic tweezer.”
I have noticed with the higher setting this month I don’t have the eruption of leftover hair sheaths all over the treatment area like I do usually.
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My next appointment is a few days out. Three semi coarse hairs recently appeared at the corner of my upper lip, but otherwise all growth has been thin dark hair that grows very slowly. Honestly that type of hair doesn’t bother me and I could live with it. My chin has around 20 coarse dark hairs total right now, vs in patches like before. They are very fast growing and need to be trimmed a couple times per day.
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It’s been two days since my 12th hour/24th session of electrolysis. I’m having a lot of pustules and scabbing, although I realized I used my regular anti-aging facial cleanser vs the typical post-treatment tea tree cleanser I’ve had some good results with which probably contributed.
If next month is similar or better than this past months growth I will feel like I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. 
My photo of chin growth from March was around 2/3rds more than I had this month.
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