Timeframe for clearing up ingrowns on thigh?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi all. I posted here months ago about my struggle with ingrown hairs dotted over an 8in x 8in region of my top to outer thigh. I have now been undergoing electrolysis for over a year now with about a 4 month break.

I am black with soft but kinky hair. Each session greatly weakens the hairs and as they come back they get trapped under the skin forming brown dots everywhere. I see some progress but not as much as I’d like.

Should it be taking this long? Can I expect clear skin eventually? If I just need to be patient I can do that but I nees to be sure this is all even working. Is this normal?

#2

It should take a lot longer. 12-18 months is the MINIMUM time required to remove all the hair permanently if and only if you are removing all of the hair over that time period and are having effective treatment.Your 4 month break, is going to cause some issues. If you dont get enough effective treatment duering that period, it can take longer.

#3

Okay thanks for that info. I am going to look into laser as I’ve been told it is quite effective on a wide area of ingrowns.

#4

“Each session greatly weakens the hairs and as they come back they get trapped under the skin forming brown dots everywhere.”

Huh? the hairs should not “come back!”

Q. Are you wearing tight pants in the area that is prone to ingrown hairs?

#5

Not at all. I’m a guy, not that men don’t wear tight pants. I am prone to ingrowns. From your reply I gather that you are saying a hair should NOT grow back after having been treated, correct? Everything I have been told and have read says it can take at least a year for the hair to not grow back at all. Is that not accurate?

#6

It takes a year for all the hair follicles capable of growing a hair to come into a growth phase and produce a hair.At any given time, only a small percentage of the hair follicles capable of producing a hair, are actually showing ahir present in the follicle. It’s not that new hairs wont come in, it’s that they should not be the same hairs you “killed” in the last clearance. Those should be dead. If they are coming in, finer, that would be indicative of under-treatment and that they were not in fact destroyed.
Also note that repeated undertreatment of hairs with electrolysis can lead to a permanent buildup of wound collogen in the affected follicles, resulting in what is known as “pebbling” ( Michaels very descriptive term) which is a form of permanent scarring.

Seana

#7

Oh no. That is not good. Could this be why I still see these brown spots? What course of action should I take? After this many treatments I feel as though there should be clear skin. I am now at a loss of what to do and am very concerned.

#8

Pic for reference.

#9

The brown spots appear to be Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation, and this condition resolves 100% after the treatment stops. It does often take a while ( 6-18 months not unusual) but it does slowly fade away and resolve completely.
I often get hyperpigmentation in the summer from hives in the summer hen I’m exposed to laundry detergent I’m allergic to on my clients as I treat them, by next spring it is always resolved and returns anew a few months later when I’m exposed again.

The presentation of PIH can be caused by either laser, or electrolysis even waxing…
Note that I dont see any indication of the beginnings of pebbling in your picture. Regrowing hairs can be caused by a lot of different things, one is undertreatment, another is inaccurate insertions. If the hair follicles are distorted ( as in the case of most ingrown hairs) it can be very difficult to ascertain exactly where the energy needs to be delivered, which can account for a high rate of regrowth. This wouldnt necessarily be the fault of the electrologist, if you came to them with a leg full of ingrown hairs Waxing is a common cause of ingrowns/distorted follicles and it too can cause pebbling.

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#10

That is quite informative and very helpful. The darkest spots are raised up and hard, and clearly have a tiny hair curled under them that cannot break the skin yet. The smooth brown spots are lighter. Some have a pinpoint size black mark in the center. Some do not. I was just hoping for more completely clear surface area by now. I plan to see an esthetician anyway. I also try to gently exfoliate.

#11

Whether a hair grows back or not is dependent on the type of method used. For this problem I would definitely only recommend multi probe galvanic electrolysis where, if the settings are correct, you will be completely finished within 12 months. I work on about 5% regrowth due to the low current used - current levels and timing are critical for these results and it has taken me many years to perfect.
Thermolysis and Blend will work differently, they are both dependant on the stage of growth, that is, the hair needs to be in the growing phase to be successful, whereas multi can successfully treat any hair at any stage of its cycle. All methods are permanent - it is down to the choices you make that work best for you

#12

What you are saying is completely false and this has been demonstrated with irrefutable evidence dozens of times in this forum.
1.- Whether a hair grows back or not depends on the skill of the practitioner, NOT on the chosen method.
2.- The hair phase is irrelevant for both Blend and Thermolysis to be effective.

So, please inform yourself before perpetuating old myths and continue to confuse Electrolysis consumers.

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#13

Ouch!
what if I am 100% correct? It is my opinion that your irrefutable evidence is not valid. You offered no scientific evidence to support it, do you have it?. When a few operators get together all with a vested interest in the same process, and all get the same outcome according to them, then, that is the first step in a great discovery. As professionals, they know that clinical evidence is now required. the next step would be to set up independent trials to confirm their findings, until then it is just another point of view. So now, my turn, I am asking you to reflect on your knowledge - is it just another point of view as an operator or clinical evidence based as a professional?
maybe you can help me. I have been looking for the clinical trials of blend for years, never been able to find any. I need to know are we just doing thermolysis or does adding galvanic make a difference? If there are no official trials, then has blend been built on imagination?

I place great judgement on the intelligence of consumers. They are searching for truth and I see it as our responsibility to share our knowledge, no matter how different we may all think as long as we can support our claims clinically. I respect your comments even though they are very different to mine and I ask you to do the same

#14

You have made claims of thermolysis and blend that are antithetical to the experience and knowledge of not only the electrologists on this forum, but of the industry as a whole. You admittedly lack any experience or skill with either modality yet expect your views regarding them to be respected. This is not reasonable. If you’re truly interested in learning, which I don’t believe to be the case, there is evidence and information throughout the forum and on YouTube. Anything by Michael or Josefa is a good start, but others have also contributed.

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#15

Ouch!
Firstly, I have done thermolysis for over 40 years so feel very qualified to comment
We know all modalities work, have never questioned that. I asked questions of you as electrologists, surely you must have asked yourself similar questions over the years? Or not?
We all have videos and photos - that is called marketing from either a sales or educational marketing point of view and it is a great window for us all to use BUT it is not clinical trials/evidence
Don’t you want information to be properly validated then we can pass it on to future electrologists? I do.
Again I ask you, be respectful of others and in return you as a professional will be respected

#16

wow, permanence,
Well first, I will say welcome to the forums. We welcome new points of view here and I encourage you to contact me personally. You can reach me at 613-807-5005 or by email at info@electrolysisbyseana.com. You can also message one of the other moderators, Dee Fahey, Arlene Batz or Andrea directly on this site.

The “empirical evidence” you seek is actually established. You’ve spoken to one of the people already who have disproven your "galvanic is better " theory, consistently, for over 35 years. Josepha’s work is considered a specialty and among the best int he world and she has a consistent track record of over 35 years of results that 100% conclusively disprove your theory on modality. We are able to remove all hair, in any stage of growth, with any of the 3 modalities, in 3 full clearances and achieve complete permanent flawless results consistently by following the protocols she uses.
I’ll take 35 years of consistent results over a random opinion, any day of the week.
I’m going to recommend a less argumentative approach. There are some top notch professionals here who are more than willing to discuss modalities, treatment strategies, and a host of other topics with you and you may even learn a few things.So stick around, and by all means lets hash it all out .
I will say though there has been a recurring theme on this site for all of the years it has been here, and that is that “facts outweigh opinions” . You’re correct that CLINICAL STUDIES ARE VERY RARELY performed with regard to electrology, but that does NOT mean the clinical evidence doesn’t exist. IT does, and lots of it. The emprical evidence is results based, and therefore not refutable.

I’d like to bring the tone of this conversation closer to a discussion of the material, rather than confrontational.

Welcome to hairtell.

Seana

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#17

As perfectly explained Josefa, your statements are false. Based on scientific evidence and practice, I have to say you also that thermolysis and electrolysis or blend give the same results, and they work regardless the growth phase.

Can you give us scientific evidence explaining that blend is superior than thermolysis ? Why do you say electrolysis is successful only on the active phase of growth ?

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#18

Dear permanence,

This forum is community of professionals and consumers trying to help electrolysis clients on their journeys and trying to raise the profile of this amazing treatment to the level it truly deserves. We are all chipping in time and sharing expertise to achieve that. If anything has been contributing to the negative image of electrolysis, that’s infighting of electrologists trying to stand out from the crowd by shouting that their method is the best and bad-mouthing every other method with a helping of desinformation to strengthen their case. So please don’t do it.

I am keen to hear your viewpoint and the evidence you have for it, but laid in a different manner than the " me,me,me,me" we’ve seen so far.

1 Like
#19

Jeri, I leave your pearls of wisdom with you

#20

Ok, I do not need a clinical trial to be certain that when I add galvanic to the thermolysis my needle produces hydrogen bubbles that sometimes overflow the follicle, which logically, could never happen when we work only with thermolysis.
Therefore, when we use blend, the galvanic plays its role, or otherwise we would not be seeing bubbles. Do not you think?

I also do not need a clinical trial to deduce that if one year after carrying out a full clearance in an untouched area (80% telogen), the percentage of regrowth is between 10-20% meaning that most of the telogen hairs were destroyed.

However, you are right in one thing, consumers are not stupid, many of those who participate here have had the opportunity to verify for themselves that telogen is as effective as anagen regardless of the modality used. You can continue to deny the facts, and thus insult the intelligence of consumers and thousands of electrologists around the world, but that will not make you right.

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How often should I schedule Electrolysis treatments for best results?