Red marks on my face! *Pictures*

I never submitted pictures, I don’t have a camera unfortunately. My scabbing wasn’t this bad because my hair was not that dense. I had maybe 10 hairs per square inch or something, less in some spots. So the scabs were not very numerous, but I had one at each follicle just as brush seems to. I never even made a big deal of it (to you guys or her) because it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s my tummy, nobody can see and I don’t think she could have avoided it even if I asked her to.

As I told brush, since this is her FACE, then scabs like this can be avoided and should be, but it will be easier to avoid them with each clearance.

Thanks for answering the question as I was envisioning you with facial scabbing.

For body work, it is pretty much a given that you will get scabbing, even when using an Apilus Platinum with a great electrologist at the helm. All electrologists should tell their clients to expect this kind of reaction for body work.

Facial work is a totally different story and the standard should be higher for skin healing. No one should expect the kind of reaction poster brush got as normal. Brush’s electrologist has been alerted and she can now make changes to minimize the skin reaction so she can live her life without the embarrassment of having scabs all over her face. Thanks for the picture, brush.

Thanks. Glad to hear that.

My best wishes and empathy to you.

You name it - thermo, blend, galvanic - I’ve had it done by 11 practitioners now and I go very red and scab from most treatments.

I have red marks more than 4 months since some treatments. I have the fairest of fair skin that freckles.

I’m hoping that by 6 months after treatments the redness will be gone.

Like many say, I’ve found that treatment with an Apilus Platinum leaves less redness, less scabbing and less pain than other machines/methods.

Though I am having galvanic multiprobe on my neck (male beard area) as I found blend and thermo (with numerous therapists/machines) leads to a lot of in-growns that can take 3-6 months to resolve. I’m very scabby for about 10-14 weeks after galvanic on the neck; red for many months.

I’m also hoping that galvanic knocks many of the hairs right out the first time - it’s what I’m led to believe - whereas thermo/blend might require numerous treatments on the same (thick wirey beard) hairs, over a longer time frame.

My fingers are crossed … Wish I could fall asleep and wake up in 6 months with it all completed (being 6 months into this)!

PS - I must say that I am finally seeing positive results though - less and less hairs. So stick with it!

Dear Dee,

please let me recall that the term “common” we have used has a different meaning than the term “normal”. On the other hand the main message to brush’s question was the answer to her concern if that would lead to permanent scarring and helping her with that concern. And that was the main focus of our replies.

Everything else is IMHO secondary in the light of the original posting - nevertheless it is very important and worth its own discussion:

As to my own scarf dots - in the male beard region of my neck there is also a lot of scarf, especially where i needed to numb. In other regions of my face there is almost none. It can be tracked down on the structure of my skin as well as on the properties of my hair - straight or curved follicles, still many of those hairs shot white by IPL which tend to trigger stronger reactions of the skin and need a lot more of energy to be removed.

That’s definitely far too much and far too long. It might be acceptable on old skin, which heals more slowly, especially on the lower legs - but even there faster healing is usually achieveable.

Even in my times as an absolute beginner i was better (using “Omniblend”, i.e., classical blend) - and i still see a large potential to improve my skills in many respect. At least for me it is always advisable to minimise scabbing and to reflect my previous results. As a practitioner scabbing like that shown in the photos would make me work toward improvements, no doubt.

I’m also hoping that galvanic knocks many of the hairs right out the first time - it’s what I’m led to believe - whereas thermo/blend might require numerous treatments on the same (thick wirey beard) hairs, over a longer time frame.

Classical blend is nothing but thermally accelerated galvanic. It will knock out Your hair as effectively as galvanic will do. Have You or Your practitioners considered pulsed blend?

From a physical point of view blend using relatively short pulses should somewhat narrow down the area destroyed by the treatment to that what is actually needed to kill the hair forming cells and thus helps to reduce the reaction of the skin. (I assume that a significant narrowing down the affected area to better reflect that was actually needs to be destroyed is also the major advantage of the 27 MHz machines.)

My fingers are crossed … Wish I could fall asleep and wake up in 6 months with it all completed (being 6 months into this)!

Honestly, quite independent on the density of Your beard and the effort measured in hours of treatment You should expect a total time of about 1.5 to 2 years with decreasing effort - simply because we have to cover at least two cycles of hair growth in order to hit the hair which resist the first treatment. BTW: i am dealing with my facial hair for meanwhile 5 years and i expect still another year to finish.

If you have had treatment on an Apilus Platinum, there should no reason to get multi-probe galvanic on your neck only. If your practitioner uses the LARGEST probe possible (I use Ballet size 6 insulated and James uses Ballet size 6 Gold)you should have no problems with ingrowns. The probe has got to be inserted deeply, to the bottom of the follicle, before the energy releases. The skin above should look like nothing happened. There should be NO blanching or leakage of clear fluid. It is not necessary to get galvanic for any hair structure and have this prolonged skin reaction for weeks! We have better and faster ways now to affect change, even though galvanic does work well, it is slow - very slow.

These pictures show that your electrologist is not doing it right. I will suggest you to keep looking. I have treatment from bad, moderate and awesome electrologists. Even the worst electrologist didn’t scab me that bad. Please use this forum to find a good one in your area. It is very hard to find a good electrologist.

In the Bono book, he asserts that blend can kill a hair in any phase of growth (and gives an explanation and some diagrams.) One thing I am still unclear about, is whether or not galvanic can or cannot kill a hair permanently in any phase of growth also.

Vickie: I’m not a pro of course, but I am pretty sure it can if you are sure to insert deeply. I used the One Touch (galvanic only) and was able to kill pretty much every hair there in only one session. The only bits that grew back were a few hairs that weren’t visible to be treated by me at the time. Of course the bald spot was pretty small because that gadget is slow as hell. :stuck_out_tongue:

All modalities of electrolysis will kill a hair in any phase of treatment, if the insertion is done in a way that makes this possible. Since the way to do this for telogen hairs is more painful than the way to do this for anagen hairs, most electrolysis professionals don’t do it, since the number of telogen hairs that are left can be removed easily when they come back in phase 9 to 12 months later, at a lower treatment energy, and in a session where fewer hairs per square centimeter are present.

My apologies everyone … I meant to write “10-14 DAYS” where I wrote above: “I’m very scabby for about 10-14 weeks after galvanic on the neck; red for many months.” … so insert days there! :wink:

I last had galvanic on my neck a week ago and the scabs have come off today. Sometimes it takes longer.

I find Apilus works very well on my face, the beard area there and the finer blonde hairs on cheeks and brows. Any redness is gone within days. I would not dream of galvanic on those areas.

Just anytime I’ve had thermo or blend on my thick wirey curly neck beard hairs (with numerous therapists, including with an Apilus) it’s led to long-term disaster for me. Red lumpy sores that take many months to go down. I’m way too scared to try that again. So I’ve decided to go with heavy duty galvanic for now. It makes a mess for a few weeks, as opposed to months. Every therapist I’ve seen has said my neck hairs are some of the toughest they’ve ever treated. They’re the hairs that have given me the most grief with (in-growns and rashes) from shaving. It’s been a long trip through a kind of hell - 8 months of nasty sores and redness on my neck - but I am persisting 'til the end.

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all your insights on this very sensitive subject. I very much appreciate it. I’m so sorry to get back to everyone so late. I’ve been quite busy since I’ve gotten back. Well, I’ve finally figured out the kind of machine she was using on me. When those pictures were taken she was using Apilus. Since I came back to town, i’ve gotten two more sessions where she’s using an old Instantron machine because she sent the Apilus in for refurbishing. Although the pain is still there, surprisingly, i have gotten no where near the scabbing/red marks I got from when she used the Apilus machine. I don’t know if it’s because she changed the machines or if it’s because she adjusted her technique due to my complaints about the red marks. However, I am getting 1 or 2 ingrown hairs in between. Right now she says I no longer need to come every week. Instead, I’ll be fine coming in every two weeks. I’m really surprised at how much hair is actually growing back in between. It is less but not by too much. I honestly thought I’d be done by the end of the summer :confused: However, she informed me it should take me about a whole year to be done with me coming less and less each time! Is that true? Based on the density of hair which you can see in the pics? Also, would it be all right to bleach the hair in between? I used to shave in the beginning but now the hairs don’t grow back fast enough for her to treat.

And like aussierobert, I do have very fair and freckly skin. Is there anyway I can reduce the redness caused? I feel like a topical cream would be a good idea. Which one is the best and safest?

:slight_smile: The reason she says it will be a year is because she needs to get hairs in every cycle. But it sounds like you’re well on your way to getting hair free! Think of it like that rather than as a quick, easy (and permanent!) fix - I don’t think that exists in hair removal, lol.

The hair is not “coming back” every week. You’re seeing NEW hair from the next growth cycle come in. Hair grows in cycles, which is why you need 12-18 months worth of treatments.

You don’t need to come in often. In fact, you can come in every 3 weeks if you want to. The important part is leaving the appt with no hair present, i.e. a full clearance.

Redness should be going away within a few hours. If it’s not, ask for settings to be adjusted.

You should also make sure to use good aftercare. We recommend witch hazel during the day and tea tree oil at night. And avoid makeup and lotions etc for at least 24 hrs or until the area heals.