Rachelle's Treatment Odyssey

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#21

hi bianca!.. no i dont remove any of the hairs at all. they grow really slow now and there is no need to cut any hair anyway. its unnoticeable. but if you want to cut, its ok to clip the hair (like trim it with sissors). Dont wax, pluck, none of that stuff. It will interfer with the electrolysis success and the skin needs to heal continously. Clipping is the least harmful to the hair, skin and the long term success of permanant hairfree.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

#22

p.s. just wanted to add that the time i felt the least amount of pain was on my very first visit. its funny cause i was never able to go back to that “lesser pain” state. I still use the same high setting and the only explaination i can give is that the first time i went in, i was expecting something extremely painful and when i actually did it, it was nothing. Now, its bareable, but not like the first time, it was great!

It’s funny. I had the same experience. The first visit i felt practically nothing. But every time since then, it’s been a bit jumpy like they say it should be <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

#23

hi all again,

ok i had my 6th appoitnment yesterday (saturday). before i went, my side burns had barely anything. they grow extremely slower then the rest of my face.
my chin (which was my main problem the first time i went in) had couple of hairs and 5 or so dark hairs. Most hairs are much finer than the original hairs.
My chest bone had barely any hair, that took like a 1 min to do.
i spent a total of 15 mins at the office and i was able to do my chin, side burns, chest bone and the fine hair around my lower chin. this compared to 30 mins the first time i went in and i was doing much less area than now!..

i schedualed my next appointment for two weeks from now.
(i was used to every week)… the hair isnt comeing back as fast so i figured two weeks is good. i think i am also going to expand to my nipples. i was really embarrased to say anything about this and when i started to speak, my electrologist knew exactly what i was going to say and was sooo cool about it. she said it was very common and most ppl are embarrased at first.

pain was same as before. it wasnt any better, but still very tolerable. the soft fat part of the chin that is close to the neck was a bit painful. i guess thats a tender spot. the chest also hurt. but thats expected as its a tender spot as well.

can anyone enlighten me if the nipples hurt? i would imagine that would be the most painful as it is a very delicate area… no?

also, i have started to have issues with ingrown hairs. i guess because the hair is growing slower it gets caught? not sure. but the electrologist does try to free up the hair before she inserts the needle. i have some acne going on, but thats from the scabs i would say. but then again we started on new area and reaction is expected first time

apparently my electrologist said that i am one of her best clients, as i am progressing very good and fast. (knock on wood!) i have high tolerance for the heat setting and she said she wouldnt go any higher then what i am at. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> She does not want to risk scarring.

She applies witch hazel after treatments and when i go home i apply aleo vera and sometimes switch to polysporin.

thats all

later and good luck!

#24

Rachelle, I had my nipples done and really didn’t find it as painful as I thought it would be. Actually, I thought it was less painful than my brows.

#25

hey… was wondering… wouldn’t it cost a bomb to do so many treatments? From what i had in mind all this while… electrolysis was just a one time thing… and the hairs are gone… hahahaha…

#26

Rachelle, the nipples hurt a lot less than the chest bone and you have already had that done. So don’t worry, the nipples will be a breeze.

#27

WOW! i am so relieved that the nipple hurt less. phew.

hey tinkerbell… about cost, it is not costing me more. its all about the time. i mean, i am already doing my chin and side burns in 15 mins and if i can add in a couple of projects (i.e. more body hair) in this time, then i am doing more and paying the same money. plus the hair number gets less and less and i can keep doing more and more! hehe… cool eh? so thats why i moved to nipples, while still staying at 15 mins. and still doing chin and side burns. there isnt much to do there so it all works out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

with electrologist, its time. you pay by the time. Also i am doing thermolysis, so its fast. you also have to go many times. electrologist is not a one time thing. you need to go several times, maybe for more than a year to get permanance. you have to be patient.

Good luck and thanks all for your responses!

#28

I’m very grateful to read your first hand experience with electrolysis, Rachelle. hugs

I have just started looking for permanent solutions to my growing issues with facial hair, after plucking and waxing my upper lip and chin on and off for the past two years. It’s so frustrating… almost 32 and well on my way of having a thin goatee! -.-

I’ve learned so much reading the posts on this site. It immediately steered me clear from the unproven ‘radio wave’ tweezers, which seem like yet another farse to part fools from their money, and now makes me hesitate on my typical weekly routine of plucking and waxing unwanted hair from my face.

Keep us posted, Rachelle!! I can’t wait to hear how it’s going!

#29

I feel the same way about all of us sharing our experience with electrolysis, both at home and at the professionals’ offices.

I REALLY think that being able to post pictures here inside our comments would be of tremendous benefit. I don’t really know how a forum obtains server space for photographs and how much that would cost, but i know that there are lots of places that give you free space theres days (google for example, not to mention geocities and yahoo etc.)

Does anyone here know how to help Andrea do this for us?? Let us all know. (sorry for the change of subject. you can PM me with your comments if you prefer)

#30

pictures are a must i am sure! i only wish i took a picture from the beginning so that i can see for myself the progress and show everyone else! maybe i’ll do that if i start on another project. but i will try to post something of what my chin/side burns look now and you guys can use your imagination as to what it looked before electrolysis… haha.

by this saturday, it’ll be a week since last appointment. so far no hair growth. just for two or three stubborn ones on the side of my chin/jaw area. my next appointment is not this sat, but next sat. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> that will be the longest i stayed between appointments and i dont care ! cause the hair is barely there! woohoo!..and so far i have only had 6 treatments. God bless, knock on wood… i do not want to jinx the success. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

take care all and please do consider electrolysis if it works for you. you’ll be hair free, but it takes some money and lots of patience and some pain tolerance. I get this everyone!!, since i started electrolysis about a month and half ago, i have never picked up my tweezers! not once! (thats pretty good for me, cause i was tweezing everyday for past couple of years!!!)… and i am only in my early 20s.

hugs to all!

#31

alrighty… it looks as though i might have waited too long (two weeks) for an appointment. i was feeling too optimistic with the results and my ego was like… heck i can wait two weeks! hair is barly growing!.. the second week hit and the hair is all there! and i was a bit embarrased if anyone was talking real close to me… but the thing is… the hair is not dark… its light… so thats good. but now i believe i have not reached that treashold whwere i can go longer than a week without treatment. i believe the next time i meet my electrologist this saturday, she might have alot more work then she isused too… just because the two week hiatus allowed ample time for more hair growth. aiy aiy aiy. not doing that again!

but you know what! its nice to give my skin a chance to heal.

i am going to take pictures this time and compare after treatment.

later

#32

Actually, you may find that she can remove it all, and put you ahead of the game, keeping you at two weeks, or jumping ahead to 3 weeks between appointments if you get it all cleared out. That may take an appointment a little bit longer than usual, but would pay off in getting full clearance, and perhaps being able to keep at two weeks already.

When I bare someone the second or third time, I usually find that they can go 3 weeks before it looks like we did nothing at all. They would start to notice hair in the second week, but it would take 3 weeks to feel like we did nothing.

I am very interested to see what happens in your case with your practitioner.

#33

thanks james. as always your posts are of much value. my appointment is tomorrow and i will post back to let you and everyone else know how it went. if there is time left in my appointment tomorrow, i am going to go ahead and do my nipples for the first time. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

i also tried taking pictures of my chin and face, however, every picture i took was not clear. it was a blur of skin and was really bright. i tried without the flash and you still cant see anything at all. i guess the pictures wont work after all.

how do others do it?!

ok ciao for now.
-rachel

p.s my mom isnt liking that i am doing electrolysis. she doesnt get it that it requires multiple treatments and a long time. she is pissed at me and was like “all that money for nothing! the hair is still there!” …she even said that i should have done laser…while i explained to her, laser isnt a one time thing either and cost more than electrolysis… but besides that, it could burn my skin! (i am not the best candidate… i am tanned with dark hair)

anyway, just releasing some stress here. hope thats ok.

#34

i also tried taking pictures of my chin and face, however, every picture i took was not clear. it was a blur of skin and was really bright. i tried without the flash and you still cant see anything at all. i guess the pictures wont work after all.

how do others do it?!

it depends on your camera. some have good enough lenses to take detailed close up shots and others cannot focus at a small distance. also, if you have the option to change settings, make sure that the resolution is the biggest that you can set it at, and that the “portrait” mode is on as opposed to the common landscape mode.

when you have the camera set at a high resolution, you can take the picture from further away and thus allow the shot to be in focus. Then, on your computer, you can crop the excess image and zoom in digitally on the area that you wanted to photograph in the first place b/c the resolution will be good enough for you to do so.

cheers

PS: OR, if you have no idea what i just said, you can pm me and we’ll talk. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

#35

p.s my mom isnt liking that i am doing electrolysis. she doesnt get it that it requires multiple treatments and a long time. she is pissed at me and was like “all that money for nothing! the hair is still there!” …she even said that i should have done laser…while i explained to her, laser isnt a one time thing either and cost more than electrolysis… but besides that, it could burn my skin! (i am not the best candidate… i am tanned with dark hair)

anyway, just releasing some stress here. hope thats ok.

do you depend on your mom for the money for the elctrolysis, or would she know in any way if you were to continue and not confront her about it?

if that’s the case, then you have to make her listen to you… i don’t know, break down and cry to get her to understand it’s not a joke for you. tell her that it’s really important to your self esteem, and that you know what you are doing and you are not being ripped off!!!

#36

I have a client who is a junior in high school who has come to me faithfully for eight weeks for treatment on her upper lip. Her mother cares little about her daughter’s progress and thinks it’s a worthless endeavor,but she is not trying to stop her from having treatments. This young lady impresses me. She pays for her treatments herself from her hard earned money so I always give her extra time, I guess, because I really admire her determination to actually do this on her own without support. She’s a real sweetie pie and braves this very well with a maturity you don’t see in most kids her age. Her lip is cleared and we are in the maintenance phase. It’s such a pleasure to see her smile and being excited about the time ahead without worrying about a furry lip.

I’m hoping her mother will come around and give her a little smile and a pat on the back when she see’s the completed job.

Sometimes things work better if you are in a position to quietly figure this out for yourself and then take action.

Dee

One more comment: could you persuade your mother to sit with you to read some information and posts here on hairtell about laser and electrolysis? Maybe that will bring her around. I don’t think she understands either one very well and you know what they say, “Knowledge is Power”.

#37

thank you guys so much!!! dee…that client of yours does sound like a strong brave soul. I totally understand how she feels. The money i use for electrolysis is actually my dad’s. I am still in school and i dont work (partially because i cant find a job, second my dad wants me to focus on school). He alway says (about himself) “i am working for what reason then! For you, my children!” hehe. i love him. I am too embarrased to tell him what my appoitments are for, and he thinks they are some sort of skin treatments and he doesnt ever question me more than that. Its his money and he gives me blessings to spend it wisely. My mom, as i said before, thinks its a waste. but i repeatly remind her, how it normally would take two days for the hair to grow and now a week!.. she is coming around, but more so i dont talk to her that much about it. i think i’ll do what iveline says. just sort of do it quietly and when the results are there and i am done, i can go “you see! i told you so!” <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

ok now. today’s appointment! i had waited two weeks for this treatment (my 7th), which i think was too long. my mistake. there was alot more hair to do this time and so the 15 min appointment was soley for my chin and sideburns. There was no time to do my breast bone as i normally did in my appointments and my nipples, which i thought i would start, but did not because of time lack. So from now on, i am sticking to weekly appointments, so each time there is not alot of hair and i can do more areas of the body. my electrologist said the same.

there was the usual redness and bumbs… but right now (couple of hours later), nothing big at all. I have polysporin on and i feel nothing.

i am bit disappointed now a bit, because she did not do every hair. it looks she focused on the dark ones (most of them). but i think its my fault because i waited two weeks and that allowed for more hair to grow back. Also there was another client waiting and it was only fair to stop.

overall, i am more determined then ever to keep going and to stick to my appointments! i love you all for your posts and encouragements and great advice.

-rachel.

p.s. thanks for the pic tips iveline. i will keep trying. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

#38

finally i got the pictures, but i am not sure if they are that clear. took me a while to figure the pictures out.

ok so imagine time!!

the chin has hairs, (its been growing almost a week now) but please imagine (3 months ago) that hair there… much more in numbers and darker… as in black and thick hair. as you can see, its much tinner and less in number. on the lower sides of the picture… it looks like long hairs or something curving around on the sides of bottom chin… but its like dark shadow lines or something. dont get confused and think thats long hairs. its not. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

the side burns. the most bottom part of side burn… i did not really work on and for some reason shows ALOT more on picture than in real life. damn, i guess i should work on them. hehe… the more superior parts of the side burns which is about two inch square and extends from the hair. that used to be dark long hairs just like the ones on my head. so as you can see, that is not the case now. actually the hairs havent grown back yet. the hairs there are the finer hairs that dont really show in real life. also side burns grow back much slower than the chin. the remaining of the face in the pic is very fine hair which shows ALOTTTTTTTTTTT more in the pic than in real life. its scared me actually. i also took a pic of the chest bone area and it freaked me out… so much i will not post it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

face reacion/scars: side burns have almost absolutely nothing! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> chin is red and bumpy, like slight acne. but i have hope that will fade with time and once treatments are over.

ok enjoy! oh before i forget… these pics are 6 days after my last treatment. and i started treatments mid december 2004. so its been about almost 3 months! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> my next appointment is tomorrow (saturday) and i am hoping to start on my nipples. wish me luck!

if you got any more questions, ,let me know!

[image]http://www.geocities.com/rachellepics/chin.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.geocities.com/rachellepics/faceside.jpg[/image]

p.s. james and experts, do you mind commenting on my condition. i would love to hear anything you got in mind.

#39

i had my appointment today. setting went up to 22 on thermolysis for total of 15 mins for chin, side burns and chest bone(no nipples area as was previously planned)~i guess not enough time and the electrolygist was so focused on getting some fine hairs on my face, i figured i wont interrupt with new places today. first time i increased the heat to a setting of 22 which is fairly high. i did not use any emla.

pain was not that much worse becasue of the increased setting. though chest bone hurt and i stayed at 20 setting. after treatment, i used aloe vera and for the first 40 mins, my face was really red and pain in the chin area. but now (2 hours later), i feel nothing and the redness has reduced greatly. i’ll put some more aloe vera in a little while and later at night i’ll put polysporin to take care of any scaring or pits and help with healing.

If my skin reacts (heals) ok to the newly increased heat setting, i’ll continue, if not i’ll go back to 20.

Note: increased heat = faster hair permancy. but potential for skin damage. So it’s a fine line and i really like to get to hair permancy as quickly and as safely as possible.

#40

Yours seems to be a simple case of heredity, with a possible assist from other factors that may be leading to more hair growth chemicals in your system. (lots of things, like prolonged stress, diet, medication, and so on) I would say that you should be ok, with good treatment.

You may find that you will need more treatment periodically during life around certain events, like pregnancy, and other female milestones. You will of course find that better than all that hair piling up and adding on as you add new milestones.

Congratulations.