Rachelle's Treatment Odyssey

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#61

hello again. i had my appointment today…session 14 for 15 mins with thermolysis. we did the usual> chin, side burns and chest bone. i usually do it on saturday’s but this time i did it today (monday). i noticed there was more hair than the usual, but i recognized the hairs to be the hairs that were not present at the time i started electrolysis. I believe its new hair that has not been treated. As we know that hair has about a 3 month growth phase at the end of which it falls out. so these new hairs are new growth of old hairs that were not treated before. and its been a little more than 3 months so it makes sense and the hair growth matches how long i have been seeing the electrolysis.

chest bone still hurts the most and i always have to have the heat lower than it is for the face. but either way, it is still tolerable. i dont use any anesthetic. After i used aloe vera and now i have on polysporin. redness has pretty much subsided (its been about 6 hours now) and skin feels very smooth.

alrighty i will report back next week with an update.

good luck everyone

-R

#62

hey all… its been a while… about 12 days since my last post and my last treatment. this is the second time i waited more than a week for treatments and i dont recommend it to anyone!! There was definatly more hair growth and i was more conscious about it when i went out. Though i never shaved it or tweezed or clipped or did anything. I just let it go knowing soon enough i’ll be back at the electrologist and it will all be gone. It was starting to take less than 15 mins almost 10 mins to clear my chin, side burns, random hairs on neck and chest bone… but this time it took the full 15 mins!! (because of the new growth)

it looked as if i started from day one all over again BUT the hair was finer. but still long (about the size of the tip of freshly sharpened pencil)–> of course, for letting it grow for 12 days…what is that about 5mm-8mm.

side burns always do better. they have been doing better since i started. the side burn hairs you can count to like 10 in total for both sides. the chin was a different story like i said above. but in the past i was plucking the chin way longer i was plucking the side burns.

so yeah, pain was same as before… maybe more bearable. the fat pads of the neck always hurt more than the rest of the face. I also told her to test try a few stray hairs on my upper lip, just to see how the area would react. we did 4 hairs at a lower heat setting i am used to. remember i never did my upper lip with electrolosis. I will do it when my chi, side burns and chest clear up and so i would still be going for 15 mins but moving on to newer areas.

right now i got aloe vera on and later on in the day i’ll put polysporin and do that for the coming day during the day when i am at home.

polysporin is great! i cant stress that enough. it helps so much in scars.

also i wanted to say that it felt so good to be done from the electrologist today. The treatments almost become like trips that I cant wait for and once its over, there is a sense of satisfaction and relief and hope for what the future brings (or doesnt bring…hair!) hehehe.

good luck everyone and keep on posting.

another thing! now that the weather is getting better and we will probably be going out more in the sun… be sure to put sun screen on treated area!!! its crucial. without it, you’ll get pigmentation change and scaring.

ok bye now!
-Rachelle

#63

hi everyone, i had another appointment today. everything was done the same as before… only different thing today is after i was done, i noticed my treatment felt a bit different and so i asked what heat setting she used (after we were done) and it was heat setting at 19 when i have been doing 22 for at least a month now! she totally forgot and was a bit embarrased. awww… poor lady forgot. in fact, i noticed she’s very forgetful. with all those clients i mean who can you remember everyone and everything!

so yes, after posting on here about vacation time and electrolosis…for the most part you guys told me to go on my vacation and not worry…

anyway, i told her that i could be going on a two month vacation to a foreign land that does not have electrolosis and she was very concered about my treatments. i was hoping i could get some reassurance from her and that i shouldnt worry… but she said it would be as if i was starting al over again when i come back from my trip. I DONT WANT THAT!! it have been doing electrolosis for 4 months now on my chin, side burns and chest bone and i learned that staying two weeks away from electrolosis allows enough time for the hair to be noticeable! what the hell am i going to do in two months!!!

so my electrologist suggested that i really set the heat on my next treatments to HIGH to get the hair thinned out faster before i go on my trip so at least the hairs wouldnt be to noticeable when they do grow out…

…so i am asking… is this a good idea? will it work? knowing that i got around a month and half before i potentially leave on my trip.

i think i can manage with clipping the hairs… but i dont know how much i can do of that in two months! and still look decent infront of ppl. i dont know, i have never gone that long without plucking the hairs or doing something.

this totally sucks. i mean i have gone this far with electrolosis and i still feel real far from the end (almost feeling hopeless)…that even a vacation could ruin things for me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

help!

-Rachelle

#64

I don’t think a vacation will ruin things for you. I think you’ll more feel like things have “started back at the beginning” again, but I don’t think that will be literally true. Just go, and resume treatment when you get back, and use a method of hair removal that wont work against you (any reason why you cant shave?)

amy

#65

i have never shaved my face and i dont want to do it simply becuase even though time and time again peopl on this forum said shaving does not make the hairs thicker or more, i still believe otherwise. I think i’ll trim the hairs or maybe bleach them. but come this saturday’s appointment and i am cranking up the heat!!

#66

i have never shaved my face and i dont want to do it simply becuase even though time and time again peopl on this forum said shaving does not make the hairs thicker or more, i still believe otherwise. I think i’ll trim the hairs or maybe bleach them. but come this saturday’s appointment and i am cranking up the heat!!

Huh. You believe shaving makes hairs thicker and more numerous but don’t think the same of “trimming?” Shaving is just “trimming” hairs closer to the skin with a razor rather than a scissor. Neither one can “make” hair shafts be thicker than they already are. If you’re ok with trimming, you’ll be fine with shaving. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Unless you really have a lot of fine hairs and only a few thick ones and don’t want to have the fine ones cut off at all. Then it would make sense to clip individual hairs.

Otherwise, I think you’re just adding unnecessary stress to your vacation plans. There is only so much hair you can remove in this next month, and you will likely have growth when you are gone.

amy

#67

Unless you really have a lot of fine hairs and only a few thick ones and don’t want to have the fine ones cut off at all. Then it would make sense to clip individual hairs.

thats exactly my reason. i dont want to go anywhere near the fine hairs (and shaving will do that) and so i’ll be only selecting and “clipping” the few thick hairs and avoiding thin hairs. i dont want the blunt/sharp feel of more hair than necessary (whether with shaving or clipping)…

thanks for your post. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

-R

#68

Rachelle,
I think after two months away you will have enough regrowth to make you feel like you are back to the beginning. What was your hair like before? Thick, dark, coarse? lots of them or sparse? I think clipping hairs will be hard to do, esp once there gets to be a lot of them. I say pack enough bleach to last two months and maybe a razor, in case you feel too hairy by the end. Whatever you do, don’t take the tweezers!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

#69

Hi,
I was just wondering since got such great results, how did you find a good electroysist? I have thick hair on my face and want it gone, so I am seriously considering electrolysis, but don’t want to end up with a worse or different problem for an inexperienced or unqualified electroysist. Also does age make a difference when it comes to treatment? Thanks so much for your postings it really helped me gather more information and firsthand experience. I would really appreciate your advice.
Always,
Amber

#70

hi there amber!

thanks for your post. The way i found my electrolysis is by doing a search on the internet and yellow pages regarding electrolysis in my area. Once i found a couple that i was happy with in terms of how close they were to my house i started calling them all up. my main questions

  1. Do they use electrolysis on the face (or other body part…some will not do certain body areas)?

  2. what machine do they use? (i.e. thermolysis, blend, galvanic etc)

  3. how many years experience do they have?

  4. how much do they cost in treatment?

so those were my main questions to limit down who i would visit and get a test treatment.

i went for lenght of experience. for the most part, the longer they were experienced, most likely they are pretty good at what they do.

so then i was lucky. the first test treatment i had was great and i stuck with her.

you should go in and notice your surroundings. is the office well kept? is it sanitary?

how was the electrologist? was she/he going by electrolysis rules in law (i.e. using clean needles )? Was she/he answering your questions? nicee over all impression?

you should be comfortable with your electrolysis beecacuse you will be spending lots of time with them.

i am very happy with mine because , first she’s a female (no offence to the men out there!), but i am really shy and if i want to move on to doing my nipples i would rather have a woman take care of that than a man. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Plus she is very nice and understanding.

what i dont like though… is that she is the one that also works at the casheir… so after i am done with her, i’ll follow her to the front of the office to pay her and it just feels really awkward (that shouldnt be a judge of how good or bad an electrolysis work is)… i am just saying.

she also tends to skip hairs or not see them during treatment… its not a big deal and i’ll just point them out on the next treatment or put mascara on them to make them darker and show more.

ok got off tract now…hehe… sorry.

so yeah… once you get to the office, you should get a test treatment and see how it felt. was it painful? (it should somewhat be, but that depends on your pain threshold)…if you got no pain, maybe heat is not high enough… so keep talking to your electrolysis. communication is key to get the best treatment. was she/he fast? was he/she clumsy?
were you over all comfortable and happy?

thats about it. then when you go home, take care of your skin and keep tract of how your skin reacts in th enext couple of hours/days. you should notice some redening and maybe some scabbing. no reaction what so ever could either mean the heat was not high enough or the electrolysist was damn good! (does james ring a bell? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ) but some reaction is very normal.

the rest of this reaction info can easily be found by searching this forum. spilling all the info regarding reaction types etc will take forever… <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

if you got more questions, please feel free to ask me or anyone here. good luck!

by the way, make sure you got enough money and enough time dedicated to sticking to treatments for at least 9 months to a year.

-rachel

#71

had another appointment today. went great. was there early and treated earlier + more time so i worked more on some stray hairs on the neck. we used a lower intensity on my chest area because i have been getting nasty pimples and red marks in the area (see old picture) that, even though was never as severe as the first time, still is a little red and blemishy. so this way, i am still removing the hair (which is by the way not as much as before and much thinner) and i am not getting redness reactions that look scary.

my side burns are responding the greatest. If i was just working on my side burns, i would probably be coming in once a month or something. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> thank goodness.

the chin is always the hardest but considering the first day i went it. its a big improvement and every visit keeps getting better and better.

the chest bone… hurts the most with electrolysis (i.e. sensitive area)… and so we use lesser intensity here than the chin… BUT the area is responding very well, in terms of hair growth.

conclusion…

i plucked the chin longer than i was plucking the side burns longer than i was plucking the chest bone = chin longer to clear than the side burns which sorta equals the chest bone clearance.

so people DO NOT PLUCK!

good luck on everyone’s experience. i have been doing electrolysis for more than 4 months now and i am happy with it. the only thing that bothers me is the frequent visits (ie. money) and my skeptical mother. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

later

#72

had another appointment today, after feeling a bit depressed with the lack of improvement in the chin area for the following main reasons:

  1. everywhere else i am working on with electrolysis is doing great! but the chin is lagging behind considerably.

  2. i started off with high intensity (i was able to tolerate more than other people) and continued to go up in intensity with thermolysis.

  3. i was doing great in the beginning and then 4 months later, progress seems to stand still.

So i spoke to my electrologist today and i told her that its best that i go higher or something and she went up to 23 ( i was doing 22) with longer duration but still pretty quick as thermolysis is just that. she said that keeping it longer in is better than raising the heat as to protect the skin and then slowly we will raise the intensity in up coming appointments.

i used to be one of her best clients, but she said my chin could be doing better at this point calculated and seeing how i was moving along very fast when i first started electrolosis in december.

she gave me an explaination to the lack of improvement on the chin thus far and she said that the hairs could have gotten used to the intensity and that all we need to do is raise the heat or keep the probe in longer. and thats what we did today.

she spent more time on my chin, as the other areas dont have much work. my chin is still stinging a little bit now and i have aloe vera on.

thats all for now. my next appointment is a week from today for another 15 mins and i want to go higher intensity. i dont care about the pain i just want to get them gone!!! i am so sick of them! and its just the chin area, a small area and its causing me all this grief! sheesh!

-rachelle

#73

gonna make this short,

had another treatment today,

15 mins

chin, side burns, chest bone, random hairs on neck

heat raised to 24 (23 was last time). hurt more, but still tolerable

plan to raise the heat yet again next week. i am kinda in a rush becasue i could very well be leaving for vacation for two months and i am trying to thin out the hair as much as possible.

side burns doing good, chest doing great, chin not as good as i hoped. still a pain in the you know what and its been more than 4 months! almost 5!

put witch hazel after treatment, then aleo vera when i got home and now polsyporin.

two months ago my electrologist predicted it would only take me 8 mins to finish treatment by now becasue of how well i was doing, but it is still taking me 15 mins to clear my chin and sideburns. my progress has really started to go downhill (just the chin area, its so stubborn),

so thats why i am pushing the envelop with what i can tolerate with the intensity with thermolysis.

good luck to me and everyone!
ciao
-rach

edit addition: my mom is still not conviced and wants me to quit and go to laser. so you can imagine the kinds of arguing we have and its so tiresome.

#74

hey everyone, this is another update.

before i went in today for my treatment, , the hair on my chin has signigicantly reduced since last week. i was so happy, thank god! since i have been feeling on the down side as every other part of my face was doing well except my chin. but this time it was wayyyyyyyyyy less hair.

all due to the higher heat setting. i went up again this visit to 25 compared to 24 last week and compared to like 19/20 the very first time i had electroloysis.

side burns doing great as usual.

chest bone doing good as well. it damages the easiest and hurts the most but because of the great hair improvement we barely have been doing work there and it has given my skin good time to heal.

this month and the next is crucial for me for treatment as i will be leaving for two months without electrolosis and i am trying to pick up the pace and get this hair removal business done or at least slowed down.

remember i started in mid/end december and have been consistent mostly every week till now. So its been 5 months of thermolysis and the time is flying so fast and its great because i know soon i’ll be done.

ok i got aleo vera on as after treatment and later tonight i’ll put polysporin as usual.

thats all for now. take care everyone!

-rachel

#75

hey guys, its been two days sincec my last treatment and as i said in my previosu post i went up in intensity /heat and have been steadily increasing the heat for some time now.

good news, hair has shown great improvement after looking like it stopped.

bad news, two days latter and higher heat treatment resulted in white head pimples and red scarring. its looking pretty nasty and bumpy, but i dont care. As long as the hair is weak and killed that makes me happy. Plus that kind of reaction i guess is expected as the skin is getting a new blast of heat. I can help with the white head pimples by tend skin, ,but i am too lazy to make it or buy it, ,so i am opting for leaving that to the natural healing processes. AS for the red scaring, i am using polysporin religiously as it has helped me greatly in the past. the chin, however, does not have any reaction, even though we used the same setting.

thats all. take care everyone. by the way, i have not schedualed another treatment yet. i am going to hold out and see how the skin does first.

ciao

#76

hey yall, you bored of me yet? hehe. ok have another treatment today (friday). so its been 6 days since my last treatment. we didnt take very long, less than 15 mins. chest, nothing much to do on it, chin is always the bulk of the work but it is doing much much better than couple of weeks ago. side burns are good too. not much hair.

my electrologist is very happy with me and she thinks i will be just fine before i leave for my trip for two months. so i got one more month before i leave and because we got the heat a bit raised (though same as last week) and my skin is reacting a little bit, i dont care, i just want to get as much done as possible so i dont have to worry about my face while on vacation.

good luck everyone.

-r

#77

hey guys, i had another tretment today for 15 mins, as usual. did my chin, side burns and chest bone.

side burns, literaly was a total of 5 hairs.
chin, is always the most work as it was the densest, but i am very satisfied with the results till now. remember i started mid/end of this past december and it is now end of may!. pain was the usual, still bareable and i dont use any numbing cream.

my chest, for some reason, still has the scar/blemishes that i had if you remember in the picture i posted a while back with all the nasty red marks. there is still residue makrs of that on my chest and they are very noticeable. i am hoping they are not permanant. the marks resulted from a combination of electrolysis reaction with acne. this happened months ago, the redness is down, but the marks are still there, like whitish/yellowish/pinkish marks/ scars. can someone let me know if this is something i should really worry about. please tell me they will heal eventually and that my skin goes back to normal.??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

however my concern now, is not the hair, but my mom!. before i went, she got into a fight with me, how that i was wasting my time. no matter how many times i have to explain to her that this is not a one time deal kind of thing and requires many appointmetns for a significant amount of time for the problem to be addressed, she does not get it. i am a scientific student and i tried even going into biology with her and researach and all that and she seems to turn a deaf ear. its so frustrating, i almost went to my appointment crying. i dont think she understand how hard it is to have hair on my face and chest, being a girl, thats not a good thing and really brrings down the self esteem.

you know whats funny (actually makes me angry), my mom advocates for laser when she never had it done!! i keep telling her, i am not taking my face near laser! nor will i first shave my face to get laser done! then she goes, “you dont have to shave your face, thats a lie” and i am so dumbfounded i couldnt believe what i was hearing especially since its the norm protocol for laser! hello!. and then she’s like, “all my friends do laser and it works wonderfully”. and i am like who are ALL your friends, and it turns out to be this one woman that i know as well and frankly, she still has a very stumbly face, and i have touched it before and it feels shaven to me. i dont know whats wrong with my mom. i also told her my face is not as white or pale as other people and the hair now (especially with electrolysis) is much finer and lighter and laser wont even pick it up! and she’s like “no its fine! laser is great”. i also told her that some ppl had their face burnt by laser! others the hair came back more and darker! and i told her i do not want to take that risk when i got something that is already working for me. electrolysis! and she is STILL not convinced. its killing me and to top it all off, i got finals right now and i dont need this from her. she’s my mom after all and i was trying to keep my cool the whole time and did not yell and just sort of left her alone.

i wish i could just go for appointments without lettign her know, but the problem is i need her car to get me to my appointments!

anyways, since she is sooo fond of laser, i am gonna make her pay for lasering the rest of my body! lets see what she says about that! at least the rest of my body is really white and i got dark black hair and i wouldnt mind shaving my udnerarms, legs, arms, since i already do it regularly. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

sheesh!

ok maybe this post should have been in the emotions part of the forum, lol.

-rachel

#78

Hi,

From my experience, sometimes it’s best not to argue (even with facts at hand). Just smile when your Mum disagrees and say that she has a point. In the meantime, you keep getting the electrolysis work done without talking about it and voila, in a few months time you’ll have the real, living proof that it does work. Results speak volumes!

I know it’s frustrating but the hair on one’s face is even more so! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My Mum was absolutely terrified when I first suggested electrolysis (and I’m 30!). We went to the first consultation together and she was so scared that my face would mark that she did not want me to go through with it. Now she’s a convert and is thinking about it for herself!

Laser (IMHO) is a no no. Speak to any REAL plastic surgeon (not cosmetic surgeon) and get them to tell you the truth. It ain’t pretty.

Cheers!

Electrobaby

#79

I agree. I think you need to find a friend with a car, or find a way to see your Electrologist without your mother being a part of you getting there and back. That way, she can even think you are hanging out with friends, or reading at the library when you are quietly getting your work done. Later, you will have the clear face to prove that it worked.

Just take and keep pictures of your progress, so you can prove to people that a probem ever existed.

#80

thanks so much for your words of encouragment and advice. it really means a lot and i am going to continue with electrolysis no matter what anyone says. i know my lil sister is happy for me and i always make her “check out” my progress after every appointment.

anyway, just for everyone else regarding my usual post treatment. i got polysporin on right now and i kept applying it since yesterday after my treatment. i cant appreciate it enough.

-rachel