I just thought I'd share my electrolysis experience for anyone who is interested. A year ago I was very hairy but am slowly but surely getting rid of my hair. I'm of Indian descent (but have very light skin for an Indian) and a genetic disposition for hirsutism. I may have PCOS and take Diane 35.

I started getting the hairs around my areolas done in Nov. 06. I was a daily plucker for many years and the hairs were coarse and numerous. The electrologist used thermolysis, had 25 years experience and, from the looks of it, was using the same machine she started with. I would go in every three weeks. I got fairly bad scabs and by the time the scabs fell off, I would have lots of new hairs come up, so my breasts were never such that I wouldn't be extremely embarassed to have someone see them. By July 07, there seemed to be fewer finer hairs, but I could see very little progress on the coarser hairs, so I started getting my breasts done weekly by electrologist #2, who used thermolysis with a much newer, computerized machine. She is MUCH quicker than electrologist #1. The situation is improving, but I still have an average of about ten noticeable hairs to grab each week. I do get some scabbing, but there are fewer and they're smaller than I got with electrologist #1. I'm sure I'll be thrilled when I'm finally done, but I often feel that I don't know if this has been worth the bother. It was annoying to have to pluck the hairs, but I only had to pluck 1 or 2 a day and my skin looked good, whereas currently, even when my breasts are hair and scab-free, which is maybe 2/3 of the time, the skin still looks spotty from where it scabbed. I reckon that I still have at least six months before the hairs are gone and that it will take about year after that for the spots to fade. I definitely didn't feel that I could have a boyfriend while I was going to electrologist #1. I do have a boyfriend now (which was my impetus for switching electrologists) but I'm sure he notices and most of the time I have to hide myself when I'm not in the dark.

I started getting the hair on my belly done by electrologist #2 in Feb. 07. (I was still going to electrologist #1 at this time for my breasts. I knew by this time that electrologist #1 wasn't very good, but at the time I was too embarrassed to ask someone else to do my breasts.) I had coarse hairs on my linea and finer, but still dark and often long hairs all over by belly, from the breasts all the way down. I previously waxed most of the area from time to time and plucked the linea. I go for weekly appointments. My electrologist took the approach of going for the most noticeable hairs first. I've never gotten full clearance on the whole area. She mostly clears the linea and vicinity and a 4 X 3 inch area above my belly button, where the hairs grow long and somewhat coarse. She gets the other areas, but not consistently. I'm not too bothered about it though, because I have fine, dark hairs all over my body, so I'm not trying to completely clear the belly as I have to accept a certain level of hairiness. Also, I find electrolysis on the areas below my breasts and on the ribs extremely painful. Initially, I got a lot of scabbing and after the first month or so we had to reduce the settings because I was scratching off the scabs and they scarred. With the lower settings and the arrival of warmer weather, the scabbing stopped, although I'm getting it a bit again now with the colder weather. I probably have about 30 scars, but they're better than hair! I don't have a nice belly to show off, so it's not as though people will see them really anyway. The electrolysis is working really well on the belly. The hairs on the linea were as coarse as those around my areolas, but they're now finer, even though started getting them done 3-4 months later. I assume that this is because I didn't pluck out the hairs on the linea as much.

About a month ago, I started getting my eyebrows done. This isn't really a priority area, but my electrologist waxed them for a special event and they looked so good that I felt that I couldn't go back to my old look! I really don't like having people touch my face, especially my eyes (which she has to do to rest her hand) and it really hurts in some areas, especially the forehead. (I have fine hairs all over my forehead and long ones between my eyebrows and the area above my temples. She's sort of getting the hairs near by eyebrows and fading out.) I have a lot of hair and I guess because they're so close together, the area scabs quite a bit. She tried using a gold needle, but I'm not sure if it helped much. I'm hoping that this area will go quickly since I only plucked about a third of the area she's doing, and that the scabbing will improve in a few months when there are fewer hairs.

For aftercare on all areas, I use witch hazel or aloe during the day and tea tree oil at night. I drink lots of water all the time and avoid caffeine in the 24 hours leading up to my appointments. I also find that moisturizing the areas in the days leading up to appointments helps prevent scabs.

I'm happy with my current electrologist, #2, because she works quickly and I enjoy our conversations. She's also relatively cheap and very close to where I live. Some things about her that aren't ideal: she just uses a magnifying glass with the light attached, she doesn't wear gloves and touches things (e.g. her phone) during appointments, she tends to cancel or move around appointments, and she does 45 minutes whether I book her for 45 minutes or an hour.

I think I spent about $200 with the first electrologist and I'm at about $2000 with the second.

I intend to start getting my lower back done in a couple months. I'd just like to get the coarser hairs removed, so I'm hoping this area will be reduced enough after six months. I'd also like to get my full face done - I have fine, dark hair everywhere a man's beard would be and they type of sideburns that seem to be common on Asian people. (Sort of as though the hair on the scalp just extends down that far.) I think I'll have to find another electrologist for my face, given how much scabbing I get from my current one, so I'll have to wait until my eyebrows are nearly done since my current electrologist would take it very personally if she knew I was going to someone else.

I'm in various stages of getting laser done on my bikini area, underarms and legs. So far bikini and legs have responded really well. It's too soon to say for legs. I'm hoping to be at an acceptable level of hairiness with the next 2 or 3 years. (I've come to accept that I'll always be somewhat hairy, since I'm not going to go nuts removing all the hair on my torso and arms.) I've already come a long way in the last year.

I know this is an extremely long post, but I hope someone will find it helpful!

Thank you for your wonderfully informative post.

We love it when someone has so much to say, and even filled out the profile so that people in your area might be able to contact you to find out who you liked, and maybe who you did not like.

Please do keep us informed and we hope all your hair removal dreams come true.

Hello, and like James, said, thank you for sharing this experience with us. We are here to help and please keep us up-to-date with your endeavours.

Is your electrologist listed in the referral section?

You are an example of why it is necessary to check out more than one electrologist.

You are an example of a why combining laser with electrolysis can make sense.

Does #2 electrologist do blend. I'm thinking that for some of the nipple hairs, blend would have been a great choice, but with 10 hairs left per side, that is still certainly progress.

Dee

Yes, my electrologist is listed in the referral section.

I wished I had checked out a few different electrologists right from the start, but I was too embarrassed. I convinced myself that the area (breasts) was so easy that I couldn't go wrong.

I'll have to ask about using blend, although I don't think she does.

Here's an update on my treatment:

Belly is looking pretty good. It's almost at an acceptable level of hairlessness (although I've lowered my standards for hairlessness) and I'm not getting much treatment there these days because it was scabbing a lot from harsh winter weather. Also, my laser technician was covering the area in the middle as part of extended bikini so there hasn't been much regrowth there. I have noticed that I have way more scars than I originally thought though. I guess they're more noticeable now that hyperpigmentation spots have faded.

Breasts are finally at the point where I don't feel hideous when the hairs grow out. They're still dark, but now reasonably fine. I've noticed a few scars on them, but nothing I can't live with. I'm at the 18 month mark with them.

I can't tell if I'm making progress with eyebrows because it's only been 5 months now and I never really let them grow out that much. The skin there looks terrible. I was getting some pretty bad scabbing, which leads me to my real news, which is that I've been seeing two new electrologists.

I went on the hunt for a new one because I knew my then current (now former, electrologist #2) wouldn't be able to do a very good job of the fine hairs on my upper lip. Wow! I realize now she was pretty bad.

I went for a consultation with electrologist #3. I told her that I was very concerned about scabbing on the upper lip and she told me I wouldn't get any above the neck, just on the body, where it was normal. She looked at my eyebrows and breasts and said I was being scarred. Everything she said sounded right, unlike electrologist #2 who had just told me that week that shaving my eyebrows between treatments would make them grow back thicker and that shaving is a technique she uses on clients with sparse eyebrows to get them to grow back thicker! Anyway, elctrologist #3's treatment on my upper lip was so much less painful than #2's on my eyebrows. I also got a bit done on my lower back, which hurt quite a bit. Electrologist #3 uses gloves, a microscope, halogen lighting, etc and an Apilus Senior. I have a private room with the door closed and she doesn't answer the phone (or call people!) while she's treating me, unlike #2. The only drawback is she's a 45 minute bus ride away, and that's if the bus is on time.

I tried a fourth electrologist who very close to where I live. She said that scabbing on the upper lip was normal but suggested we don't put settings too high and I only come in every two weeks to avoid scabbing. She did my eyebrows, upper lip and lower back. It's the least painful electrolysis I've ever received. I felt no plucking on the face, but I'm not sure about the back. I felt a bit of pinching, so unless she was grabbing my skin every single time, there must have been some resistance. There was no scabbing though and my eyebrows were clear of hair for six days. With #2, after a few days the hair would be back! #4 used this weird thing on my upper lip after treatment to remove the redness. It was this glass rod thing with purple light in it. I can't remember what she called it, but she said it disinfected as well and there was no redness when I left the appointment. Again, there was a private room, no distractions, gloves, and an Apilus Junior, but just a regular circular lamp light with the circular bulb.

So my plan is to drop #2, go to #3 every third week (so that tiny hairs are caught) and go to #4 weekly in between (so every 1st and 2nd week.) I'm scared on bumping into #2 on the street though, as I'm sure she'll take it personally that I left her! I hope my eyebrows heal; #2 assured me that effects were only temporary.

A question for the experts though, do you think that #4 is probably under treating, even on the face where I definitely don't feel plucking? I'm suspicious because it doesn't hurt as much as #3, and I would think if anything #3 would hurt the least because she's using good lighting and a microscope (and probably has more experience.) They're both using Apilus's, although I notice that for most hairs I hear two beeps with #3 but only one click (no beep) for #4. I intend to mention the pinching sensation on the back to #4, but it's not that easy to communicate with her as we speak in French and my electrolysis-relation French vocabulary isn't that great.

For those considering electrolysis or undergoing it with a not so great operator, I urge you to only settle on someone who is good! I've been reading this forum since right before I started electrolysis and I tried a few and settled on the best (#2) I told myself that the experts on this forum were super electrologists and I would never find someone like them in my town. I think it's quite possible to try ten electrologists before finding a good one, but there certainly are good ones out there. Because I told myself that I had a good one, I had to undergo painful treatments, have scars, and probably spent more money than I should have.

Wow! Sorry, but your list of attributes there for #3 are almost the essential basics. I cannot believe you were seeing someone without gloves, good magnification/lighting, privacy(!), and a focus of attention on the client. Your #2 should be a prime example to our community of who to avoid.

I, too, thought I had a fine electrologist, but after a year of little progress, I finally switched and have definitely experienced significantly superior results (after just 3 months now). Afterall, this is not a marriage; you can go out and look around, make an appointment, and see for yourself if you might just find someone who is better...

- Good job on switching electrologists. #2 sounds completely incompetent. Scarring is NOT acceptable.

- Little pain is not a big deal. It could be a sign of good treatment. What you need to look for is her not plucking. If the hairs are sliding out easily and you're not feeling them being plucked, the treatments should be good. Apilus is a good machine. If she's using microflash on it, it usually hurts less.

- What method are they using on your breasts? I find the blend is better for nipple area because the hairs are deeper.

- Make sure they're not treating any area that hasn't yet healed from the previous treatment to avoid scarring and irritation.

- Are you using aftercare? Make sure to apply witch hazel several times a day for a few days after each treatment.

- Good luck and let us know how things progress.

Update:

I'm going in for weekly appointments with electrologist #4 to do my eyebrows. I've also added the cheekbones and since I have a pretty hairy forehead and temple area, she cleans up all around. I've been working on my eyebrows since November and I'm finally starting to see some progress. I've only been with this good electrologist since April. I had lots of large scabs with my old electrologist, the electrolysis hurt a lot and I often felt plucking, but I have none of these problems with this current electrologist.

I also have weekly appointments with electrologist #3 to treat upper lip, breasts, lower back and, more recently, chin and lower cheeks. (I'm going to two because #4 does a good job of shaping my eyebrows and it doesn't hurt as much, but #3 uses a microscope so can see finer hairs and doesn't leave me with scabs on the upper lip.) I also do a bit of clean-up on my belly every month or so. I sometimes get tiny scabs on the back, but other than that there is no visible evidence of electrolysis within two hours of finishing an appointment (except on breasts, see below).

I'm quite happy with all the progress I've made, except on the breasts. I've been doing this area for 20 months and I still get some somewhat coarse hairs (although they've become finer) and I still get a least one or two in-growns (possibly more, my electrologist seems to pick at hair sometimes) a week. I asked if we could do blend on them, but she said that she doesn't do blend on that model (the only one they have, seemingly) and that they think that thermolysis is best. Apparently they don't do blend on anyone, which surprised me. I only get scabs on this area, but I don't want to tell her to reduce the settings because I'm just so sick of working on this area. Anyway, she didn't seem to think it was that big a deal that I was still working on this area (remember, I've only been going to her for three months, so it's not her fault) which worries me somewhat, because it makes me think that lots of her clients take more than 18 months for an area. She does seem like an excellent electrologist though. I can find no fault in her, except that she doesn't do blend!

Anyway, I'm at the maximum appointment time for #3, but I plan to add lower lip and sideburns as time allows. I just started the chin and lower cheek area, but I hope that I'll be able to start what's left on my face within three months.