Upper Lip Electrolysis question

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello,

Firstly I’d like to say I’ve been spending a lot of time reading threads on this forum, and I’m amazed at the amount of information here and the generosity of contributers giving their time to help people.

About me-
I’m female, mid european/english and I have a lot of unwanted dark hair all over, specifically upper and lower legs, arse, stomach nipples upper and lower arms, and face (upper lip.) Before knowing better I had quite a few IPL sessions done on my legs, luckily it did have some effect though by the sound of it I spent a lot more time/money than I would have done on laser. I feel I’d rather just do electrolysis on the remainder rather than take a gamble on laser which may or may not work.

I want to take the plunge soon and start electrolysis on my face and legs since they bother me the most.

My question -

I have dark (mostly) fine hairs on my upper lip, and a few hairs that grow sporadically on my jaw line. My question is how to best deal with these hairs while undergoing treatment. I have quite severe social anxiety and am ultra paranoid about people noticing hairs/redness/scabs and the upper lip could hardly be in a more visible place.

If shaving/bleaching them, how many days before would I have to leave them before an appointment? I think I remember reading 2 - 3 on here but after one day I get visible stubble. How do people deal with this? Do they just accept that people are going to notice?

Post treatment - considering the hair is relatively fine and sparse how long will redness and bumps last? What are my chances of pinprick scabs? If say I go on Saturday morning will it be obvious to people at work on Monday?

I realise there are many variables, I guess I’m just asking for what I can reasonably expect in the normal run of things.

It may sound silly but worrying about this has delayed me seeking treatment, so I’d be grateful for any advice/reassurance.

thanks

#2

Generally, two or three day’s growth is required after shaving. However, if you closely clip the hairs just above the skin, rather than shaving, you could probably go in the next day with approximately 24 to 30 hours growth, allowing the electrologist to follow the hair into the follicle and remove it after treatment. It also depends very much on the vision/magnification available to your electrologist, but the primary consideration is enough length to grasp the hair with tweezers.

#3

I am currently getting my brows and upper lip treated with electrolysis. The treated areas are red and inflamed for a few hours after treatment. The redness goes away soon. The next day or two, I will have a few red spots in the treated area as well as a few white heads. I follow the aftercare as recommended and wont wear any makeup for 3 days after I get treated.

I get treatments every other week. I trim the hairs that have come in with a small pair of scissors in the brow area and the upper lip. I can trim the hair up to the day before because the scissors wont ever get flush with the skin. I do this because I want every hair treated as possible. I would rather have someone notice and be able to get every hair treated than be concerned what a stranger thinks and have this take even longer and cost me more money.

As for after appointments, I dont concern myself with what others say about the treated areas. I get treated during the week since I am too busy on the weekends with friends and family to get treatments. I go during my work day and if a client notices afterward, I just laugh it off.

#4

I am currently getting my upper lip treated and a few hairs on the chin. You can’t bleach the area only shave or trim with a scissor. No chemicals should be used while getting electrolysis done on your lip area. I go every week on saturday for a 1/2 hour treatment. I stop shaving the area thursday evening and by saturday afternoon this is enough visible hair for her to work with. It is not very noticable till saturday morning.

As for after treatment. I come home and use fresh aloe on the area and their is only minimal redness but after 24 hours there are some small red dots above the lip which i can easily cover with makeup. I use Boscia Tinted Cover Up makeup on the area since it is an all natural makeup with no harsh chemicals. Noone can notice the dots and believe me I have asked my friends and they swear you can’t tell anything with the makeup on. The dots last about 3 days and then they heal totally and are gone.

I must admit it is a sacrifice in terms of scaling back my social life to work around the electrolysis appointments but I think it is worth it to eventually be rid of the hair! I only just started treatments in march 2011 so i have a ways to go. Hoepfully the healing after treatments will get easier as I go along and the hair gets less. Hope this helps.

#5

Hello,
I am getting my chin and upper lip treated and I let it grow for about two and half days. I usually have my appointments on Thursday evenings, so Tuesday morning is the last time I shave. I tried to get away with less grow-out time but my lady had to then spend a bunch of time trying to sort of dig out too-short hairs and wasn’t able to clear all the visible hair so it felt like it wasn’t really the best use of my money.

I’ll be frank, it sucks, and I feel really self conscious about visible hair on those grow-out days. I plucked for 15 years prior to seeking treatment, and so it still seems like the hair is just coming in all the time (I’ve been doing treatment for about six weeks so I’m still “new”.) I have a management level office job and I hate going into meetings on my appointment days but I can’t afford to hide from the world! I use a lot of concealer which I think helps but maybe I’m fooling myself. I use Make Up Forever Full Coverage concealer.

The best part though, and what makes it worth it, is how my skin looks between appointments. I was a chronic plucker and my face was BEAT UP from all the tweezing. It looks so much better now and is not constantly irritated!

Everyone is different, but the redness from my appointment subsides within a few hours. I have gone from my appointment to dinner with friends within two hours and felt fine. I still probably look a little blotchy but again, way better than when I would go at myself with tweezers. I imagine you’ll be just fine by the time you go to work!

Hope that helps. Good luck!

#6

I just went for my 6th treatment of the upper lip area. My question is I do feel some plucking and tugging. I know your not supposed to feel plucking but I have also read on the boards that some plucking sensations are normal in the begining. Just wondering if this is okay? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

#7

Is there any pain associated with the removal of the hair? If so, that’s plucking. If all you’re feeling is a slight resistance then the hair slides out, that is simply the friction of the bulb and/or hair sheath coming out of the follicle.

#8

Yes there is pain at times not horrible but it hurts. Especially when she is doing the inner lip area and around the mouth my eyes tear up but again that might be normal to have some pain as it is a sensitive area to begin with. I do feel tugging on the coarser hairs at times. I can feel the difference when the hair just slides out and when she tugs. THere is a lot of tugging to get those coarser hairs out. Seems like the finer hairs slide out easily.

#9

I’m fortunate that my electrologist is conservative with energy settings, delicately skilled with insertions, and extremely sensitive when tweezing the treated hairs out of the skin. She’ll use a very weak and tentative pull to determine if a second treatment is necessary, and she’s never been wrong yet. Lucky me. :slight_smile:

#10

Yes, Lucky you! I have 6 treatments behind me. Which from reading the boards is nothing but it seems like this will go on forever. LoL. I am not the most patient person either. Between letting the hair grow in to go to the appt. and then the aftercare it really puts a damper on your social life. I wish there was a quicker solution to the hair issues.

#11

Dampener on social life…tell me about it!!!

#12

Same here! I started out going to Saturday appointments but switched to weekdays because it was ruining my Friday nights!

I hit my six week mark last week and mentioned to my person that it seemed like this hair was never going to stop growing and she said, “hang in there…around six weeks is the point where everyone gets impatient!” LOL. At least I am following the pattern.

#13

Nice to know I am not alone in feelign so impatient. I get it done on Saturday but that means Friday I have to let it grow in and I won’t go out that night. THen Saturday when I get it done it isn’t too bad but by Sunday I have the little red marks and I don’t want to use makeup so soon. So that pretty much takes up the whole weekend! I am hoping it gets easier soon. I really don’t want to spend my summer weekends in the house,LOL.

#14

Many who have upper lip work do not suffer from red dots, scabs or anything else. They don’t have to stay in all weekend. They are pretty much good to go. Having such temporary side effects is not a flag raiser either, but is is an annoyance. As the hairs become less dense and smaller, healing time should get better. I am a fan of the high tech epilators just for this reason. Side effects are few if any.

#15

I’ve been having treatment from 8 to 10 am once each week, and go in to work at the office before noon. Since I’ve switched from having maintenance on my upper lip every week to every other week, redness and swelling there are almost completely non-existent. Weekly maintenance of the same area wasn’t allowing quite enough time for my skin to recover as well as I preferred.

Here’s a picture of what it looked like two weeks ago, one day prior to treatment. These hairs are all new growth after having had approximately four months of weekly electrolysis.

photo_20110426.jpg1024×845

Here’s a picture of the same area, two days after treatment.

photo3_20110429.jpg1024×1012

#16

Hi Dee, I noticed that after this last session the red dots were less than previous treatments. My electrologist said the same thing as you, as the hairs become less dense it will get easier and the after treatment will be much less. It is an annoyance to be sure but to get rid of the hairs for good it will be worth it.