Painful insertions

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi. I have been reading this site for a month or so and it’s by far the most helpful source of reliable info for electrolysis I’ve ever seen.

I am female with a lot of course dark hair on my chin and neck. I had 18 months of electrolysis four years ago and it did not help. I never tweezed while undergoing electrolysis, and I never missed an appointment. It was about half an hour every week for the first few months, then every two weeks, and then every three weeks.

I’ve decided to try again with someone else. The first person I saw this time did not work out for a number of reasons. The person I am now seeing seems competent and does thermolysis with an Apilus Senior.

But the insertions of the probe are painful. I can tell when the current goes through because there is a beep. But even when the probe just enters the follicle, I feel a sharp stab. She’s not using a pedal; I hold the thing with wet towel on it. Is it possible there is a small current when she inserts it and that could account for the pain? Is painful insertions enough reason to start looking for someone else? I’m quite discouraged, as I have gone through the whole process before already. I know I have to have a very skilled electrologist this time.

#2

Let me ask this: If your treatment times got shorter, were you seeing less hair? If so, and you stopped and then started seeing more hair, then it is quite possible that you have some condition that keeps turning hair follicles on.

Insertions are painful? Sometimes you will “feel” an insertion, after all we cannot see under the skin, but we try our best to give you the perfect insertion. Could it be possible that there is some kind of current flowing during the insertion without using the footswitch? I have wondered this myself. If there is, I do believe that some people could be sensitive enough to feel it. If there is, I do wonder if it is a form of galvanic current…

Kelly, one of our contributors, has a great phrase for consumers to remember: No pain with insertion, no sensation of tweezing, and no sound of sizzling bacon. I’ll add that they might happen on rare occasions, but the electrologist had better be checking technique immediately!

#3

Sizzling happened to me today on a client and I lowered the intensity. This was the same level I used on her last time. The hair stick melts and the hair won’t slide out. Yes, adjustments have to made. Every appointment is different when working on the same person.

#4

Yep it happens. Excess surface moisture or higher internal hydration than the time before. Evaluate settings, needle size, and insertions.

#5

I saw in another thread that you mentioned the three Bad Things for electrolysis, and saw that painful insertions was one of them. That’s when I thought uh-oh.

So, does it mean that the probe is not placed properly in the follicle, and it’s not going to work? I have seen this electrolygist for a month now, every week, and the insertions always hurt.

I’ve asked various doctors over the years if I have a hormonal problem. They ran blood tests and said they were normal. I don’t have classi PCOS symptoms; my cycle is regular, and I had kids in my mid-30s with no fertility problems. But I do think something about my hormones must be messed up. The chin/neck hair problem started at puberty, when I was 13.

#6

Are you sure the insertions hurt, or are you just feeling the treatment current? A good way to test this out is to have your practitioner do an insertion or two without the current on. ou can make this happen on your own if they are using an auto sensor, or doing blend or galvanic, as you need only stop touching the inactive pole and the practitioner will insert the probe but the machine won’t deliver the treatment current. You will then see what it feels like for that person to do an insertion without the treatment energy on.

#7

Good test for her to do, James!

SabrinaD: You would not believe how many of our clients have had “normal” results with their hormone tests. There are so many things that can cause hair growth.

I would love to take credit for the Three Bad Things, but they are the brain child of Kelly Morrisy-Stump.

#8

The problem with a doctor telling you that your hormonal levels are “normal” is that in some cases, the range of normal can be anywhere from 20 to 120, for one measurement or anywhere between 2 and 30 for another. Quite simply stated, the ranges are too wide to be useful in saying what would be normal for each individual person.

How useful would it be if I answered someone’s question about electrolysis costs by saying, “It would be well within the normal range to spend somewhere between $500 and $20,000”?

#9

Thanks, James. She’s doing thermolysis where I hold the pole, so next time I’ll try not touching the pole for a few insertions.

I think the electrolysis I underwent 4 years ago probably did help a bit, yes. I didn’t take a before and after picture, as I now know I should have, so I wasn’t able to compare in that way. But at the beginning I had to shave my face every day to remove all the coarse black hair, and at the end I still had to shave every day to remove all the coarse black hair.

Actually about 15 years ago I had 2 years of thermolysis that was awesome. It rid me of the hair on my stomach, around my areolas, and on my upper lip. 15 years later and I still don’t have hair in these places. So based on that experience I have confidence in electrolysis.

She also did my chin and neck, and I would guess there was about 75% improvement. But after two years treatment I moved overseas and didn’t know how to find good electrolysis.

When I returned to the US enough new follicles were active that I decided to try laser. I wish I had known about this site. It was about 2003, and I remember poring over a very odd site called consumerbeware. It was very pro-laser for all body parts. I think it later was exposed as a front for some laser company.

Anyway, I ended up with laser-induced growth on my chin and neck. So that’s when I went back to try electrolysis four years ago. I had confidence it would get rid of the hair, but I didn’t know what to look for in the treatments. She used blend, and I’m pretty sure she undertreated. We agreed she should turn it up, and I would remind her at the beginning of each session, and she would look confused and say oh, OK, and fiddle with something.

My chin/neck hair is just incredibly stubborn. I hope it’s not hopeless.

By the way I had hours and hours of electrolysis on my stomach and areolas when I was in my late 20s, and went on to have kids with no problem several years later, so that article mentioned in the other thread about electrolysis causing infertility seems ridiculous to me, based on my experience.

Sorry this is so long.