One year on...

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

So, it’s been exactly one year (to the day) that I got up the courage to start electrolysis and rid myself of excess hair.
I by excess hair I mean, the crippling social and personal blight that has existed from the age of 15 onwards for me and has prevented me from being able to go out and live my life the way I have wanted to.

Now that’s clear, some specifics…
I’m in my late 20’s (I’m sooOO OLD waaah!), i’m of an asian background with a genetic predisposition to thick, black coarse hair everywhere. (is this thing on?) EV-RAH-WHERE.
The worst has always been on my face. I will link back to the original photos when I can find the link… http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/107556/Re_Is_this_reaction_normal_I_m.html#Post107556

I have a pretty much a beard, only my cheeks and forehead are relatively spared.
I had attempted laser when I was 18, spent 12 sessions and £1,000 and in my humble opinion it made everything much worse (or perhaps it coincided with a hormone shift? I can never be 100% sure which). Either way it meant approximately 10 years of waxing my face every two weeks to remain even remotely socially acceptable.

I started last year february on this forum, scouring and devouring anything and everything i could find and a couple of posts (orangecode and karii’s threads) hit me like a sledgehammer, because I finally saw women who had a similar problem to mine and who had, through some miracle of god, managed to deal with it. Something which i had been told by various aestheticians, doctors, nurses and friends/family could never be done.

I live in London (hi-five londoners!) and I found a kind, generous and warm professional who helped me get going. I posted the original sessions with her on here for people to give me feedback at the time.

This continued for 2-3 months, going every two weeks (even though I was desperate, read DESPERATE for more time as the problem was so severe but she unfortunately couldn’t fit me in due to time constraints). Then, after spending ages reading/stalking people I arranged an appointment with an another warm, kind, funny and AMAZING professional for a marathon session for body work. When I arrived, she also had a look at my face and offered me the option of coming to see her every 6-8 weeks, to do clearances of my face.

I will add in photos below to illustrate the process, but if you wan’t to scroll to the end, that is my face today. 4 weeks post any hair removal whatsoever. this is unprecedented (for me) and has truly changed my life.
And here’s something I never thought I would hear my self say: I went on a date. I can wear make-up. I can go out with my friends whenever they ask me. i don’t have to be scared or ashamed if i sit/stand next to a small child. I’m not an embarrassment to my family anymore.

I will understand people’s concerns about the pigmentation on my face - to this I will say two things 1) I am asian, therefore am extremely liable to post inflammatory hyper pigmentation 2) On a personal level, i blemish with remarkable ease, case in point last year I was on holiday in brazil and had multiple mosquito bites on my legs, 6 months later THE MARKS WERE STILL RUDDY THERE.
I know my own skin and know that eventually it will go so i’m not too concerned, in fact my skin is in better shape than ever right now (in my humble opinion) due to the lack of hot waxing three times a month for a year.

the photo’s are terrible quality!! I am so sorry! but it’s with the iphone3 (sigh. need a new phone.) I will try to get better pictures.

#2

This was taken immediately 1 week after my first clearance by the second practitioner in early October 2013…

This is about 2-3 weeks later - I have added these primarily to emphasise the density, thickness and spread of hair present. Remember, guys, I said I had a beard?

#3

January (1 month after my 2nd clearance in December)

my skin is calming down I think, and i definitely started to notice the hairs were sparser.

#4

After the treatment at the end of january, we made a decision to wait about three months (again the thinking was designed primarily to help my skin heal and give it as much at time as feasible in between treatments.

Therefore, the next sext of photos are from may, 3 months (grabs microphone) THREE MONTHS. thats why if you’re skimming through the photo’s it will look like no progress but in reality, I should have had double the amount of hair at this point.
It had started to definitely impact me as for the first time, i didn’t have to wrap a tight scarf around my face and avoid direct eye contact with people while getting on public transport to visit my practioner. first time E.V.E.R. My mum also noticed, as did my sister that things were getting much better. But again, still not ‘normal’.

#5

I’m so happy for you. The results are incredible!! You have indeed a lovely summer incoming! : ))

#6

Awesome story, congratulations on not giving up!! I see no problem with your skin, it looks great!

#7

You are going to inspire many people with your story and photographs. Your skin is dramatically recovered compared to the initial photographs, and clearly demonstrates how wonderfully electrolysis allows the skin to recover no matter how traumatized it was from waxing/tweezing etc. Well done and I look forward to your next update.

#8

Congratulations. You look wonderful!

Question: did you have any long-lasting PIH? How long did your PIH take to resolve? Do you still have any? Ty

#9

I would say that I have some PIH, maybe around the chin but it’s not noticeable enough for anyone to comment on (by that I mean by very candid siblings) and the marks on my face went after maybe 6-8 months?

#10

Great! I’m Asian as well, and dealing with PIH atm. Your experience gives me hope that mine will resolve.

#11

I’ve been lucky, I have no PIH from my self treatment. None! Anywhere!. This is not true of the laser I did before that, shortly after I ceased laser treatment my partner noticed some hyperpigmentation from it.I asked him to check a few days ago, and he said it’s still there, though somewhat lighter. It’s been over a year now that I havent done laser. It’s minimal and lighter, but I think the long healing time described so many times here on hairtell is accurate. Given enough time it should fade, as it should on you as well.

Seeing those pictures was very hard for me, because I know exactly how you felt about each and every one of those hairs. It made me very much want to grab my probe-holder and help out though considering I’m in canada makes such an unlikely event. Still I pray that you find peace and ever disappearing hair!
I do wonder though about your genetic condition. Is this caused by a hormonal imbalance ? PCOS? I do feel it important that you address the root cause of the hair growth.

Seana

#12

I was ‘diagnosed’ with PCOS, but I don’t have any of the symptoms bar excess hair. I have the appearance on ultrasound of polycystic but then so do upwards to 10-15% of normal women. I have regular periods and am normal weight. I prefer not to take any medication, and even when i did it didn’t really help. There are no studies that I have been pointed towards which suggest that metformin, spironolactone etc caused a meaningful reduction in hair.

The only conditions that would cause this level of hair growth and be physiologically abnormal would be an androgen producing tumour. Which i’m very thankful I don’t have! I think i’m on the extreme end of ‘normal’ hair growth for women. Please note this isn’t socially acceptable ‘normal’ hair growth (which is a whole other kettle of fish) but likely the result of multiple complex genetic variants, associated with ethnicity, that probably caused this. I guess i’ll never know though?

FYI, My dad is a gorilla. As are my two brothers. (Le sigh).

#13

Not taking medication is of course your choice. As it is, spironolactone is in worldwide shortage at the moment( I seem to be the only one I know who has a stockpile of such, and many of my transgirl friends have been after me to get them!Unfortunate for them, since having a backup antiandrogen is generally a good idea, especially when changing endocrinologoists like I have to right now)). However I wanted to point out that such medications dont reduce the hair, they prevent the anogens ( testosterone) from forming and thus generating NEW hairs that would have to be removed. They dont do anything to rid of existing hair.That has to be removed with electrolysis.They do howeverdo a good job of preventingnew hairs from forming.
My partner has PCOS, but for him it’s not a big deal, as he’s transguy and wants to grow the hair!

Seana

#14

Summer I just wanted to say what a great attitude (and sense of humour!) you have :slight_smile:
Your progress is fantastic and will be very inspirational to anyone going through this or about to start treatment!

#15

Update…

So this is 3 months after my last treatment. Again, my camera phone is shite. Apologies, but i hope you get this gist.



It still looks like a lot (the camera is about 3 inches from my face lol) but to put it in perspective this would be like removing 5-6 hairs once a week to keep it clear. And not dark thick ones like before either.
I used to get my face waxed once every two-three weeks and there was still thick regrowth in between.

This is a photo of the view from the restaurant I ate at after i had my face treated (we did 20-30mins work with no redness or swelling, i didn’t have to scurry into tesco’s and eat my dinner hiding in my room - first time ever yay!).

The highlands and inner hebrides are bee-yoo-tiful!

#16
#17

I typed so much and it got all deleted. but Hiiiii I am indian 21 years old from Birmingham, UK. Have PCOS suffered from a mans beard from the age of 15. I have my first electrolysis appointment in one hour and gosh i want to cry. I have taken a year out University to sort my beard out. If you want to see any pictures i can email them cause for some reason i cannot post them here which is annoying. But my beard is not much different to how yours WAS lol. I so hope I see improvements summer crush like so so so so so bad. I dont want t get married dont want to go on any dates and dont want to do anything can you please tell me how long it took with electrolysis to get rid of the hairs.

thank you so much

#18

I am now at month 18 post starting electrolysis, and I am having some difficulty remembering how bad my hair was. I haven’t had a noticeable ‘beard’ for about 6 months i think (i have trimmed it in between and of course people can see hair on your face, but it wasn’t this distracting huge thing anymore)
It is very difficult in the first 6 months, to persevere, but you have to find the strength in yourself to bear it. And the results are DEFINITELY worth it. I promise you. It has beyond transformed my life.
I’m now getting body work done.
My only wish is that i’d started at your age. Then maybe I would n’t have lost my twenties to this ‘thing’. But, hey, I always be grateful I found it all. Miracles can happen! xx

#19

Summercrush i have pm you :slight_smile: thank you so much for your response as i said i will always look back at your story cause i know somewhere i will find motivation to fight it all again. once again thank you so so so so much! i can’t wait to get body work done aha xxx

#20

Also i still shave is that ok? xxx