Okay, so I actually started electrolysis in January of this year. I think it was the 7th. I would say that I have been in the United States (I travel for work) really for about 8 months. So I have had 8 solid months of treatment for one year now. So since it has been awhile, my background is Arabic and Hispanic and I am more or less covered with hair. Before I began electrolysis, I was all about the tweezers. I plucked my chin, my upper lip, my eyebrows, my stomach, and my breasts. I started electrolysis on my chin first and then moved to my upper lip as there was time in appointments. Then I moved on to brows, then stomach, then underarms and breasts, and also the sides of my face. I have had Blend, Thermolysis, and Flash Thermolysis treatments.
MY ELECTROLOGIST: I had been treated by three different electrologists before I started seeing my current one. I’ve been seeing her since March. She uses Flash Electrolysis only and has over 20 years of experience. She has had electrolysis on almost every part of her body and has done much of her work herself. She is amazing. She is by chance the cheapest electrologist I have seen. By the way, I once flew to see a “highly recommended electrologist” who was by far the worst and most expensive of the four electrologists I have seen. What an incredible waste of time and money that was. So just because there is a lot of hype, doesn’t necessarily mean the electrologist will be so great. There is a lot to be said for just being talented.
AFTER TREATMENT & PAIN MANAGEMENT: I use witch hazel with neosporin CREAM and my skin reacts very well to electrolysis. I rarely get scabs and if I do, it is only on the body, never on the face. I use LMX-4 and maybe Advil for pain management. I have tried Emla but didn’t get good results. I have also used LMX-5 and generic Lidocaine cream and both seemed to be just as good as the LMX-4.
FACE: As I said before, the first thing I started on was my chin. At this point I could probably go once a month or a little less in between treatments on my chin. The hairs that come in are fine and lighter and they come in less and less frequently. What a difference I can see in this area. When I started electrolysis, it was a mess of ingrown THICK black hairs. I would go for treatments about twice a week and would look like hell between appointments. My upper lip is really doing well also although it is not quite at the level of my chin yet. My brows could also get treated around every 2-3 weeks if I wanted to. What I do now, is I go in once a week for about an hour and she works on my entire face. I have hair on my cheeks that is not that noticeable but I’d like all the brown hairs to be gone. My electrologist is telling me that I’m at a point of normalcy now and should come in less. With all the traveling I’ve been doing lately, I try to come in once a week when I’m home anyways. My face is really at a level that I’m comfortable with. If hairs grow in between treatments they are usually not noticeable. If they really bother me, I get them with a razor. I cannot express how happy I am with the progress I have made on my face this year. It was very hard at first but I am glad I stuck with it.
UNDERARMS: I started them in February or March and am now getting them cleared about once a month. There is probably something like 15% of what was there in the beginning growing in now and it is MUCH lighter and thinner. I can’t even see the hairs unless I get really close to the mirror. Amazing progress as well.
STOMACH: At this point I get my stomach cleared once a month and there is barely anything there. There is still fine light hair more or less all over but the thick black hairs, the “happy trail,” is gone. The last time I got this area worked on there were maybe 10 dark hairs there and they were NOWHERE near as thick or black as they were when I started. I also had a very bad ingrown problem that is now completely gone. I’d say my stomach and my chin are the areas that I can most see improvement in.
BREASTS: I get my breasts worked on probably around every 2 months or sometimes once a month. There’s never been too terribly much to work on here. There are some really light blonde hairs that she doesn’t really bother and that don’t bother me. As for the dark ones, they are fewer and fewer.
LOWER BODY: I had my bikini line worked on once about a month ago. She got the right side done and started on the left but I didn’t have her go very high. I just figured I would give it a try to see what the pain level was like and the rate of speed for that area and all that. I had my toes done once about 2 weeks ago and I’ve also been working on my lower right leg. I had my lower left leg almost cleared in March or so and just from that one treatment there isn’t as much hair growing on that leg as there used to be. There are patches where there is no hair. My right leg isn’t cleared but I’ve been having her work on it a little this week. I haven’t really committed to my lower body the way I have to my upper body and face but as the appointment lessen for my upper body, I will move on to lower body and then really start focusing on it hard. I’ve been just kind of playing around to see how long it will take to clear areas and things like that.
I am having surgery on my feet in January and will be a little bit immobile so that will slow down my appointments. I do plan on maintaining that once a week one for my face no matter what. That is super important to me.
At any rate, I want to work on my whole body and I’m doing it in stages. After one year I can tell you, electrolysis (with the right electrologist) is amazing. It works wonders. The downsides are that it is slow, expensive, and painful. But if you have the time and the patience it is worth it. It’s really really really hard in the beginning, especially when working on your face. I have never plucked or waxed or anything and it has paid off in the end.
I wish you all the best of luck and happy holidays!
jessie
