My electrologist said that how you shave affects the hair growth. This doesn’t seem right to me from all that is said on this forum. I know it can cause a blunt edge but does it actually affect the texture? Or are those two things basically saying the same thing and I’m not getting it??!! I know it does NOT affect the coarseness. I shave my chin in btwn treatments and she said to shave upward and not too close to the skin. I usually go upward anyhow but does it really matter? Would shaving down affect the texture any differently?
Shaving in the direction of the hair growth won’t feel so prickly as shaving against. Also, I think that shaving with the direction of the growth would keep the hairs from growing in another direction. Like changing a part in your hair. Changing my daughter’s part from the side to the middle took awhile for her hair to get retrained to go the direction we wanted it to go. But it did change direction. I am guessing it is that way with face shaving.
I never could stand face shaving. Made it feel like needles were growing!
The hair itself will not change texture. Not literally. If it’s coarse, it will remain that way one way or the other, though it may seem worse one way than the other.
Thinking some more… I’m thinking that shaving against the grain would give you more ingrown hairs, and would cause the hair to stick out more. I don’t know what your electro is talking about.
Coffeegal- One of my problems is that I have no idea what she is talking about half the time either! She seems to contradict herself at times and on some things know exactly what she’s talking about and on others she seems way off with nothing to back it up and she’s not a person that likes to be asked anything twice or even one time sometimes.I would never admit to doubting her but it is frustrating cuz I’m trying to piece together input form various places and I def. trust this forum more than anything cuz its not just one person’s opinion, learned or not. She just tells me not to listen to anyone else- plain and simple. That I can’t oblige. Coffeegal I’m gonna PM u tomorrow since I know u only pop in periodically.
I only shave the main part of my chin with one of those little fine electric razors meant for the face- not the rest of my hairface and neck! She also said not to shave too close. Why would that be a problem?
As for shaving too close, maybe she meant that she wants to make sure that the hairs are enough above the skin to get when she treats you or as was mentioned before, to avoid ingrowns.
Are there no other electrologists in your area? If I were paying for a service, you can be sure they would treat me decently and answer my questions or I would take my business elsewhere.
All HAIR IS DEAD and that is why it does not hurt or bleed when you cut it. It can hurt when you tweeze or pull it because it is attached to a live root system with nerves to transmit the pain to the brain. The texture you mention can be fine, coarse, kinky, curly, wavy, etc. Most of this is genetic as it is caused by the shape of the follicle as it grows. Some follicles are round and produce STRAIGHT hair. Others are OVAL and produce WAVY hair etc. and this is a genetic issue. I can not understand how many different positions are posted here by patients who had ABSOLUTELY NO TRAINING.
Please remember ALL LASER OPERATORS have a vested interest in their practice and can “SNOW” EVERYBODY. PROFIT is the reason they are in practice and they can come up with a reason why you have to use a yag laser or a long pulse or short pulse or Alexandrite laser. In most cases it is based on the laser they use that cost $65,000 (I know one operator who took a second mortgage on her home to buy a laser and gave up electrolysis because she lost so much business to another laser user in her area. Neither had any experience. Both used very low settings because they were afraid of causing side effects. They did not have major side effects but they did not remove hair either.)
Inexperience, lack of confidence, inability to accurately determine what treatment strength is needed (like what Fitzpatrick type is the treatment area), and NO MALPRACTICE INSURANCE (INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT SELL IT TO ANYONE BUT PHYSICIANS.). Lasers work on the basis of the color of the target (your hair not the skin around it. If the skin is dark or tanned, or black the risk of side effects increases particularly if the hair is also dark. Lasers do not work on light or blond hair because lasers ONLY work on dark hair). Lasers go through light and fine hair but are blocked by the color if the color is dark( like sun glasses block light because of the color which acts like a filter.) When the light is stopped by the filter this energy is transmitted to the hair IF it is dark colored. All this energy creates heat which coaggulates protein ( similar to the way heat causes egg white to get hard and change its form). Hair is 100% protein and the bulb from which the hair grows has a huge amount of protein, therefore, the heat generated by the interaction of the laser with the hair pigment is enough to coaggulate the growing portion of the hair bulb and kills the hair growing elements. Deliver enough heat to the right depth for a particular color hair and it will permanently do the job but there are too many other particulars to predict what will happen because EACH PERSON IS DIFFERENT.
I spoke with Dr. Rox Anderson (the developer of lasers for hair removal) and he said," I do not do any laser hair removal because patients want to get permanent removal and I can not promise them this result. I treated people with very white skin and jet black hair and IT ALL GREW BACK. Until I know why this happens I can not treat anybody because I can not tell them what to expect."
Andrea has a submission that shows a lot of laser damage on a woman’s legs. You can see it on Hairfacts: “Scarred for Life” (laser hair removal injury) or
http://www.hairfacts.com/medpubs/lasergen/overtreat.html
I might try shaving downward but i don’t like how its not as close of a shave and the hair on my chin grows so fast. I only shave once a week and get electrolysis once a week as well. My routine is that I shave 3 days after the treatment , which is usually 4 days or longer before the next treatment. I always have at least 4 days worth of growth, if not more.
I feel like I may have misrepresented my electrologist above. She is a caring person who is skilled at what she does and is compassionate in her own way. She has been doing electrolysis for 38 yrs and she’s set in her ways, which in some way I understand, but yet as a consumer sometimes it rubs me the wrong way and literally scares me b/c I am relying so much on her and don’t have too many other resources but have to sometimes deal with my needs not being met. She’s friendly but abrupt and intimidating at the same time…I know that may sound contradictive but it is the true dynamic of what she embodies.
Hi… I have been reading a number of posts about shaving causing changes in hair texture. There are so many DIFFERENT stories bout this that I wonder where these “professionals” get their info.
I shave my face and neck every day because my job required that I LOOK NEAT AND CLEAN. I hated starched shirts but it was part of my “business” dress code. I called on doctors every day for 35 years as a pharmaceutical sales represenative. My territory included one of the most famous hospitals in the world (The MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL WAS THE MAIN ONE). I worked for a dermatologist one day a week for ten years where I did my electrology. The Derm and I BOTH HAD VERY DARK AND HEAVY BEARDS. I inquired of him about shaving because I would break out on my neck regardles of how I shaved and regardless of whether it was with an electric or blade razor. He gave me the best info I ever recieved about avoiding eruptions from shaving.
Wash with ordinary soap and water (as warm as you can stand it). Rinse and repeat. The first wash removes the oil and dirt. Oil makes the hair WATERPROOF, therefore, removing the oil allows the water to get into the hair and soften it up for the shave cycle. I use the new Gillette Fusion razor with 5 blades because it has a battery in the handle that powers a vibrator in the handle (this is a razor not a toy). The vibrations oscillate so fast that you do not feel the razor cutting. It is extremely smooth. I tried it on my neck with absolutely no ERUPTIONS THE NEXT DAY FROM INGROWNS. A few days later I tried shaving across the direction of growth. I made sure NOT TO PRESS DOWN and it was the best shave I ever had. It was close and no eruptions the next day. The results were so good that THIS IS THE WAY I SHAVE EVERY DAY. No more break outs and a very close shave. My neck beard grows up. I have seen some men whose beard grows down. I will never shave against the grain because I am very happy with the results I get and it is much closer than before. Make sure you try washing then repeating before shaving. You will not regret it. Shaving against the grain should be ok on the legs because underneath the surface there is more muscle. On the neck there is very little to press on and the skin is not very thick which makes it condusive to form ingrowns.
Of course, situations like lefty2g’s are why UPS drivers, police officers and others with “appearance standard” jobs come to me to get the hair under the chin permanently removed, leaving them with only a design of the hair they want to keep left on the face.