I have read a lot of posts on here, but I haven't seen my specific issue addressed. My problem is my armpits. Even with a close shave, I can still see the shadow of my hair underneath the skin. My hair is dark and the individual hairs are thick. I like to wear tank tops, but I am very self-conscious about it. I've tried depilatories and shaving, but I need a method that will get rid of the shadow. I can't afford professional electrolysis or laser. I'm considering at-home electrolysis with the One Touch, but I'm not sure if that is the best option. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Colorado Girl: While it won't solve your problem immediatly, I would save some money to visit an electrolysist a half hour at a time as I am able to afford it. It may seem that for the first several hours of treatment there is no improvement;but then one day you will see vast area of where the hair is gone forever. I'm a male that had hairy underarms and as hair is removed you don't see hairless areas for awhile; because other surrounding hairs cover the spot where hairs have been removed. But sooner or later there are not enough surrounding hairs to hide those removed. Otherwise,you'll have a hair problem forever wheather you wax or shave. I prefer the waxing over shaving if your looking for smooth underarms. Incidentlty how do you feel about men removing their underarm hair?

Can you give me an estimate about how much time it would take, total? It's probably medium thickness.

As to men removing their underarm hair, I've never really thought about it. It's definitely different, but not necessarily bad, I guess.

Colorado Girl: Its hard for me to give an estimate of how long it took, in hours, to remove my underarm hair because I spread it out over a long period due to finances. Also as I got a better job with more money,I interrupted the underarm treatment because of my desire to get rid of the pubic hair first. I didn't start there because I couldn't find an operator to work in that area. I don't think you should think about how long it takes. Instead just keep at it whenever you have the money and one day you'll find smooth bare skin. When you begin seeing the first cleared out area,even though small and only after several hours of treatment,you get so excited that you begin devoting more and more money to it because not you can see results.

ColoradoGirl, one published electrolysis study found armpis took about 10 sessions and 27 weeks on average.

Hairfacts: Urushibata (1995)

I'm not aware of a laser study on armpits that kept as meticulous data, but many women have found laser to be fairly quick and easy.

Doing your own armpits is a little hard, especially with your non-dominant hand.

Barrester's comment about going as you have money is good if you can keep a fairly regular schedule. To increase effectiveness, you can wax in between. That way they are always treating actively-growing hairs. However, the best thing to do is shave between treatments and go regularly. Practitoner skill is vital to making sure you're done as quickly as possible.

Thanks so much for your help!