Okay so I’ve had 30-40 hours of electrolysis and I’m getting frustrated. I can’t seem to clear anyone area permanently. I’ll clear my upper and lower lip and chin and the hair will grow back thinly at first and then the thick course hairs will completely cover the area. I know hair grows in in cycles but I’m not sure if the regrowth is a new cycle or the electrolysis I’m getting is completely ineffective. I’ve had my upper lip cleared 4 times and my chin cleared twice. So here is what I want to know if anyone can help me.
Is the time it takes for the thick hair to come in a new cycle of hair or is it just regrowth of the hair removed?
Is the fact that I have thin hair growing in a week or two before the thick hair a sign that electrolysis is working?
Should I start seeing permanent results at this point?
I’m getting kinda frustrated because I’ve dropped so much money into electrolysis and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.
Oh and I’ve had three different electrologist. I’ve had about 15-20 hours with my current one but she only use thermolysis. I’m thinking of seeing someone else. Is it too early to tell?
I live in Norfolk Virginia if anyone could recommend a good TG friendly electrologist. Thanks.
How long have you been going for electrolysis (4 months, 6 months, a year, 2 years etc?) Are you getting a full clearance each time? It might be too early to be able to tell if you are getting permanent removal or not.
I have had my upper lip cleared 8 times in a year (not nearly enough, but all I could afford, and I focused on the upper and lower lip only), and while there is still hair there, there is a definite reduction, and the hair density varies from month to month. It is clear that some hair what treated in-phase and permanently removed, and some hairs came and went out of phase and were never treated (since I did not keep on schedule.)
All hairs begin growing with a soft tapered point - appearing to be fine, thin hair, but after gaining some length they also gain their terminal diameter.
catsonmars: Is the time it takes for the thick hair to come in a new cycle of hair or is it just regrowth of the hair removed?
barbara: If they are coming in soft, they are most likely undergrowth or new cycle hairs. If you are shaving, then they get a blunt tip. Those fine hairs are actually terminal hairs.
catsonmars: Is the fact that I have thin hair growing in a week or two before the thick hair a sign that electrolysis is working?
barbara: Yes. A sign that is not working would be the hairs growing in as a stubble within a few days of treatment.
catsonmars: Should I start seeing permanent results at this point?
barbara: Results are a matter of exponential reduction - less and less hairs to treat in an area with consistent treatments.
catsonmars: I’m getting kinda frustrated because I’ve dropped so much money into electrolysis and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.
Oh and I’ve had three different electrologist. I’ve had about 15-20 hours with my current one but she only use thermolysis. I’m thinking of seeing someone else. Is it too early to tell?
barbara: Why do you keep changing electrologists? There’s nothing wrong with that, but I would worry about the consistency of the treatments.
One of my colleagues used to take pictures every 2 months of the treatment areas. What she could then show the client was the area before treatment…say 100 hairs in an area…two months later there would be 50 hairs in the area and so on. If you started out with a thousand hairs and still have 500 - you still have a lot, but you are getting there.
It sounds like you may be waiting too long between treatments on any one area. You shouldn’t be waiting until hair turns coarse and plentiiful. You should go in as soon as that new fine hair surfaces to kill it while it’s still weak. On the face, hair cycles fast, so if you wait too long, you’re wasting treatments as you’re treating hair that is no longer in anagen.
How big of an area are you treating? How many times a week are you going and for how many hours per week?
I think that many hours you’ve been able to verify the effectiveness of the work you are doing.
If the frequency of weekly hours, mean that it has been over 7 months. Sufficient time to complete the cycle of all types of hair that characterized the area you mention.
Electrolysis treatment if you apply to be right, you should have doubts about their effectiveness.
In my experience, after 7 months, the frequency of meetings should be longer than 3 months. I believe my colleagues will agree with me. Let’s see what you tell them.
I’ve had electrolysis done on my upper lip, lower lip, and chin for approximately 8 months. I started out once a week at first for 1 hour then in the last 3 months I’ve been going two sesions a week for a total of two hours. When I get my upper lip done it usually takes 15min to 30 min and after that she moves on to my chin. After my upper lip is cleared completely she just removes any hair that grows in between sessions.
The reason why I switched electrologist is because I either moved or the pain was too much.
In cases where I have been allowed to do full clearances, on schedule with a TS, I have been able to finish in an average of 100 to 200 hours spread out over 12 to 24 months.
It would really help if you had a before picture and progress shots to compare. I will say that if you are not getting all the hair on your face removed at least once every six weeks, you need to see about going to someone who can get that done in one shot so you can either fall into a schedule of full clearances every 6 to 8 weeks, or get it all clear and try to see if your current person could keep up with the new growth once that is done.
I have had many TS people tell me that after 2 or 3 sessions with me, they have so little hair that their local person can clear it all in a short time, thus allowing them to appear to be finished, even as they continue working to get to the point where they no longer grow any hair in the treatment area.
Hi Cats:
From my experience and what I’ve read over the years,
James is right in saying that it will probably take you
between 100 to 200 hours in total before all your facial
hair is gone for good.
I think that once you achieve full clearance or close to it
you should see marked improvements in the amount and thickness
of the hairs that are regrowing. Once you get there you
try to maintain a regular schedule of clearances.
I went every 2 weeks for 2 hours always starting with
clearing the upper lip and moving to other areas with the
remaining time. From what I recall it took between 100-125
hours before the time for complete clearance of the entire
face and neck began to decrease to 1-1/2 hours, then 1 hour,
etc… We used mostly thermolysis, but occasionally blend if
I found a particular hair kept coming back.
Right now it may seem exasperating to you and you are
probably wondering if it will ever end, but it does
and in the end it really is worth it.
Hang in there! I did and am happy I did.
Alicia
How much hair are you removing? Is it a full beard? How much on the chin? Are you clearing the entire area you want smooth each time? That should be the goal - to clear the area each time. That’s how you know how long the treatments should be each week.