Options - Help please!

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Laser/IPL
#1

Ok so I’m in a little bit of a dilemma. I start university in a month, and I have a little bit of a hair problem down below (the penis shaft). I’ve posted about this before so you may recall me mentioning it.

Anyway, ideally I would like to get electrolysis and get the problem resolved for good. This is an option, since I’ve actually found an electrolysis who has done work on the area before, and is also recommended by quite a few people on this board. However, here’s the problem. If I go and get one session of electrolysis, when new hairs begin to grow back through after however long, I won’t be able to cope with any ingrown hairs in the area. When I’ve plucked the area in the past, I’ve had ingrowns there before (never in any other area, just on the shaft… could someone tell me why that area is prone to ingrowns after plucking?) and they are awful. They can take months to come out, and unfortunately I have a little scar in the area from trying to get one out once. They really just throw away what’s left of my sex drive.
Will any ingrowns occur if I have elctrolysis?
Even though I’ve found someone who I think will do the job well, ideally I would like to wait for the oppurtunity to visit James to get this area treated.

So, in the meantime between now and when I do finally get the area treated, I figured it could be a good idea to purchase a home IPL device. Let me make clear, I’m more than happy with temporary hair reduction (even if it only reduces say 30% of the hair temporarily, I’ll be happy). I just want something that will calm down the hair in the area slightly for uni. I’ve also heard good things about the Sieko CleanCut (I’m currently using the Philips Bodygroom) so I will be purchasing one of them at some point soon. I figured that if I’m using that combined with the IPL device, I could have fairly good temporary results. Bear in mind I’m also the ideal candidate for the device (white skin & dark hair). The hair is coarse too so that should make it even easier.

Another question is, say the IPL machine does give me results, will I get ingrown hairs from it like I did from plucking? I really don’t understand why I was getting them/how ingrown hairs happen, so if someone could explain this to me it would be nice.
I’m currently contemplating between the Silk’n and the Boots Smooth Skin (the smooth skin is very popular in the UK now just incase you haven’t heard of it), although I’m leaning more towards the Smooth Skin because it comes preloaded with 10,000 flashes, whereas with the Silk’n, you need to buy new cartridges every 750 flashes I believe? If the Silk’n will give me better results however, I would choose that instead. So if anyone knows if either are better at removing hair out of the two, please let me know. I have a feeling the Smooth Skin may be though.

I cashed a cheque in two days ago, so I reckon it’s gonna clear pretty soon (tomorow or the day after). I want to buy my device as soon as I can, since as I said I only have around a month until uni, so want to begin my treatments immediately!

Thanks so much in advance for any help you can provide… I wish there was an easier solution to hair removal!! Who ever though a bit of hair could cause so much trouble… lol.

  • Charlie
#2

I will leave it to others to discuss the idea of LASER or IPL on the shaft. I will only say that I don’t recommend it.

As for the ingrown hairs from plucking, this is a common problem when plucking any area. It is more likely on the shaft because of t he unique situation the skin finds itself. while the hairs are growing, the skin changes elasticity, and position all the time.

If one got good electrolysis work done, ingrown hairs would not be a problem, as the hairs would simply be removed with no long term after effects.

It would be nice if you could live with the hair a while, or get by with clipping them close with scissors until you get started on your permanent hair removal.

#3

Thanks for the fast reply. Just out of interest, why wouldn’t you recommend using IPL in that area?

It seems like my best option since I’m able to do it at home, and it will get me by until I’m able to have permanent hair removal. However, it it’s going to cause any long term damage or cause any other issues, maybe I wont bother :confused:

#4

The skin in this area is usually a little darker than normal, so there IS a chance that you could burn yourself. But some home devices make you test the area with a “key” first and the key will only unlock your machine if the area is light enough. I don’t THINK you will harm yourself, but there is a risk. And ingrowns are a definite possibility after this as well since the hair has to grow back from scratch through a possibly calloused follicle.

Electrolysis can cause ingrowns if the follicle is kind of scarred over from the energy but the hair itself isn’t fully killed. I’ve had a few of those. But since MOST of the time the hair IS killed, it’s not that common. I’ve only had a handful of very mild ingrowns out of the tens of thousands of hairs I’ve had treated, and they all happened at my first clearance, I haven’t really had any since.

The IPL device is probably more likely to cause ingrowns of the two options, especially if your electrologist is a good one.

Just my opinion though.

#5

I understand what you’re saying and I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
When I’ve had ingrown hairs on the area after plucking in the past, I think they’ve always been very deep ones since it has always taken quite a long time before I’m able to get them out, and sometimes after retrieval it’s just been obvious that they were quite far under the skin.

After looking at this link (http://www.tackyblueeyeshadow.com/2010/07/ipulse-boots-smooth-skin-week-15.html) on the images around say week 5, even though the hair is gone, you can see that where the hair was previously growing from, there is still a slight black mark there from what I’m guessing is the hair underneath (correct me if I’m wrong?). Seeing this makes me think that if the follicile is actually calloused, the worst you would get is a small ingrown, similar to a razor bump, which is usually gone within a couple of days. Similar to something you would get from shaving.

What I’m trying to avoid is having an ingrown hair that will stay inside of me for weeks on end (I’ve had ones which have lasted months before), since they really throw my sex drive away and generally get me depressed. I even have a small scar from where I’ve had to get one out in the past (silly I know, I shouldn’t have got it out the way I did).

If what I would be deealing with is razor bump style, I honestly don’t really care about that. I just hate the thought of having them like I have had in the past after plucking.

  • Charlie
#6

They will not be “razor burn” type of ingrowns because those are caused by shaving (cutting the hair in a blunt manner near the surface of the skin). Those are always very shallow and are more irritation than actual ingrowns.

This device causes shedding (hair falls out at the root), so the ingrowns will likely be deep. Some people get the cystic acne style ingrowns and some people just get black lines growing like rivers under the skin (no redness or irritation, just long, curving black lines way under the skin). If you get any ingrowns at all, it will likely be one of those kinds, I don’t see why on earth someone would get “razor burn” from an IPL or diode device that removes hair at the root. Irritation, maybe, but that’s not indicative of the sorts of ingrowns you will get. Only you know what kind of ingrowns you are prone to.

#7

Fair enough, I see what you’re saying.

Since the area’s quite small, I don’t think I’ll need to have too much electrolysis done on it - I’ve decided that I’m going to book in for a treatment in the week.

#8

Good luck!

#9

Electrolysis would be best, the home laser/IPL devices don’t work. I’ve purchased them before thinking the same, that even if it’s temporary that would be okay. The problem is the hair would never shed for me at all, so it’s pretty much just like shaving.

#10

is it true that electrolysis causes ingrown hair?? if yes are they gonna be gone eventually? or wats the cure for ingrown hair?

#11

Good electrolysis won’t cause ingrown hairs. typically, if one does get ingrown hairs, it is because one has had a hair break off in the follicle, a bad insertion, or some kind of spill over treatment that causes a neighboring follicle to have trouble.

In any event, once the treatment is finished, there won’t be any hair to become ingrown or break off. Stay the course.

PS, you should not have a lot of ingrowns unless you already had them prior to the treatments.

#12

I’m sorry but in the context of this thread that is way too funny…