Questions about electrolysis + photos!!!

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello,

I’m seriously considering electrolysis to remove my facial hair which I absolutely hate. I let my facial hair grow out for several days for it to be visible where I would need electrolysis treated. Beforehand, I would like to ask:

  1. Would I have to let my facial hair grow out THIS much to be able to have electrolysis done?

  2. How much of MY facial hair do you reckon would be removed in a 1 hour treatment? (More or less, I know it depends a lot on the professional but guiding yourselves by the amount of faial hair I have, which isn’t a full face of beard.)

  3. How many hours would I need in total for my face? (Also, this depends on many factors but I would like an objective, rough estimate.)

I would really appreciate an answer! :slight_smile:

Here are some pictures and please excuse my slightly oily, acne prone skin!

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#2

I wrote this reply to someone asking about arm treatment. It is sort of relavent here too.

In your case, you need to ask the electrologists you visit for consultations to give you an estimate. If they have treated beards in the past, they should know how many hours roughly are required to complete the job and over what time period.

#3

Based on my personal experience, you should expect to have a two-hour appointment at least weekly for the first six to eight months, then judge how often you’d prefer to keep going. Sometimes just eliminating the most troublesome hairs and thinning out the rest can work wonders. But in general, expect 16 to 18 months of weekly and/or bi-weekly treatment to permanently eliminate most of that hair.

#4

Mhmm, IMO that should be a bit less effort than that. As a rule of thumb that might very roughly be about half the effort of an average beard. But it is hard to tell because there are places where the hairs still seem very short - so the pictures may be misleading.

To question 1): length. Almost every electrologist has different demands, partly caused by visual equipment, partly by treatment approach. Speaking just for me, i could work on shorter hair. But there seem to be certain regions where the hair is too short to be treated (parts of the sub nose section of the upper lip and the tip of the skin). Maybe 2/3 of the length. Even shorter will reduce the precision of the insertions and increase the risk of injuries.

BTW. what finally counts is not “hairs per minute” but “payed time for whole project”, isn’t it?

#5

I am sure Caith721 would agree that I could clear that beard of yours out in a day, maybe a day and a half if some of the angles got tricky.

Once you get one full clearance, you would then be able to start on a maintenance schedule of full clearances once every 2 to 3 weeks, or full clearances once every 6 weeks, if your practitioner was too far away to do a 3 week rotation (that would make it look like you never grow hair again).

Either way, it would be possible to keep you looking bare, while making the beard a memory in 18-24 months

#6

Hi there everyone, thank you for your replies.

I started electrolysis yesterday and I had a 1 hour session booked. She cleared most of the “sides” of my face - ~25 mins on each side. It HURT, a LOT. Is this normal? My electrolygist is a member of the British Institute & Association of Electrolysis, here in the UK.

Also, she recommended I have some laser sessions on my top lip as “it is quite dense and will hurt a lot and take a while to remove just with electrolysis. Laser may help a lot”. I’m not sure though.

Also, she said if I went weekly it would take about a year and half to clear fully (more or less, depending on my hair growth). I’ve also booked in another hour for 2 weeks time.

Thanks

#7

your hairs are terminal thick hairs requiring more current…so pain will always be there but as the regrowth appear finer after each full clearance ,pain will be reduced as less current is required to kill the regrowth.You can see my electrolysis diary to see my progress and have an idea…although my hairs are finer and of less density…now I am reduced to 30 minute session every 2 weeks and I am hairfree most of times…these 30 minutes are generally spend on the fine hairs which appears or become visible…I may go without electrolysis and only bleach these hairs as they are not very noticeble but I am determined to get rid of all the hairs…even these finer ones.

#8

yes the laser will make your hairs finer which will require less current…but laser is highly unpredictable on face and may increase your total time of completion.

#9

Hi Daniel & welcome :slight_smile:

In response to your latest post, the face is one of the most sensitive areas of the body so any work you do there is likely to be a bit harder to get through. I have had several places worked on and nothing has been as bad/touchy as the upper lip. When we are doing that spot, my electrologist always preps with topical lidocaine lotion in advance to help it get good and numb, and even then a hypersensitive spot or two can sneak up & make you wince. The trick of getting through it is just pain management. What are you doing for that? If you read around this forum there are plenty of suggestions from pros & clients alike about things that you can do to make it easier on yourself. (ex: Tylenol, topicals, ice, relaxation techniques, a good night’s sleep, cutting caffeine, doing shorter sessions, etc.)

As for the laser, I would agree with what madhu said. Many laser clients report finer hairs after treatment – many, but not all & not reliably. I have never done laser myself, and for just this reason. If you do it & it works for you then great, but what if you’re one of those where laser actually makes it worse? If that happens with you then, as madhu said, you’ll take that much longer for total completion with your electrolysis schedule. Personally I didn’t feel like taking that chance, esp. not for something that wasn’t a permanent & complete removal and doubly so if you’re already planning to finish with electrolysis anyway. Not to mention time, money, and energy potentially wasted if it doesn’t go the way you hope. Just MHO.

If you are happy with your technician then I would keep at the electrolysis for a while longer before seriously considering laser, and see how quickly you progress. You may need to schedule shorter sessions more frequently, up front, if you want to see major progress very quickly, but that does taper off once you get rolling & achieve some real clearance.

#10

The laser may help in that the re-growth might be more sparse. I had laser treatments done on my jaw line, neck and upper lip about 6 years ago. It actually seemed to stimulate hair growth on my jaw and neck, but the hair on my upper lip is (to this very day) finer and less dense than anywhere else on my face. However, for what I spent to have the treatments done I did not find it to be worth the cost.