First off, thank you to everyone here. A few months ago, I was reminded how nice permanent hair removal would be. I'd always dismissed it because of the possibility of scarring, but this time I decided to look into it a bit more. The information here was, of course, wonderful, and I'm able to go through with this now confident I'll get what I want from this.

My current plan is to do my throat,nose hair (the outside kind), and unibrow. Of course, once I get clearance on those spots, I'll probably want more done

Based on a recommendation from a certain top poster, I went to see Rhonda Elmer in Monroe, Wisconsin. I live in Madison, so she's just over an hour drive away, but if I can get quick, effective treatment, it's more than worth the drive. While she was treating me, she was talking about how long her sessions usually are, and she mentioned sometimes she works on an electrologist from Buffalo, NY who always wants 4 hour sessions Apparently his post on this forum brings in a lot of referrals, too

The treatment itself hurt much less than I expected. The thermolysis hurt considerably less than plucking, which surprised me. However, overall the treatment was fairly uncomfortable, simply by nature of having a strangers hands all over my throat, and being unable to talk while she was working. However, I'm pleased with the results; my only disappointment is I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to get enough time off work for a 1.5-2 hour session.

Here's a picture, after the first half hour of treatment. Note the pimple and ingrown hair. They are what drove me to this.
Neck

Now that's a quality picture!

This looks very good, Zhentar. Yes, try to give her enough time to get the whole neck cleared asap. Let it heal and then get in for any new hairs that show themselves from that day on and you will see gradual permanence over the next several months. I'm thinking that an every three to four week schedule would be good for a while after that first full clearance, however, Rhonda, is the boss on that one.
Thanks for the picture and I will say again, this looks good.

Dee

Looks like you don't have that much hair on your neck, at least compared to other posters here. I would recommend to try to do longer sessions so you can get a full clearance before you leave her office. This will make your treatments finish faster, plus save you some driving and gas money.

p.s. I wouldn't do this for a unibrow or nose, but in case others are wondering, there is enough hair and it's coarse enough to be treated quickly and effectively with laser on your neck. it may not make sense for you since you're already doing the drive for electrolysis.

Thanks. The full size original is even better

I would like to second the motion on getting fully clear on that neck. If you give Mrs. Elmer enough time, she will have that all cleared out in one day, and you can get on with a good 3 weeks where you don't have a problem with it, and it will take less time for her to re-clear it the next time.

Let's see, good work done quickly, and comfortably. Sounds like a winner! I may also take this time out to point out that Mrs. Elmer is a perfect example of someone who has an older machine (although it be computerized) who does very comfortable work and does nicely without more than a circle lamp. (I just can't help imagining where she would go with at least a vision upgrade, if not a machine upgrade.

This sounds familiar. My neck is a labyrinth of ingrown hair. Until a few months ago I also dismissed the obvious option - part because of cost and part because of possible scarring. To make matters worse I tried tweezing for several years... which made things a lot worse (double duh! )

Well, I finally motivated myself and did a bit of research and found this site - probably the No. 1 resource out there. I still was pretty nervous going to the first few appointments kinda not knowing what to expect... well several weeks later, a number of hours lying still and hundreds of hair gone, I would say between this site in general and the help of the top posters (and maybe a little luck) I seem to be in good hand. And I am still amazed that you feel not much, except for the "tapping" of the short wave pulse.

Looking at your photo I would guess we are making progress at a similar pace. (Thank you for posting the photo - I felt like I was making progress, but when you are new to this it is hard to gauge - so it is nice to see another example.)... Except unfortunately, that amount of hair makes up only a small corner on my neck. So it will take me a little longer.

On the bright side, the area that we treated 7-8 weeks ago so far is staying pretty clear - a few fine hair and just now there are a few dark dots showing up, maybe 1 for every 30-50 hair treated before.

It's always good to hear I'm not the only one.

When I asked my dermatologists about ingrown hairs, they both offered the same advice: stop shaving. Thanks a lot, that really helps . Everyone around here is much more helpful

Oh, I got that from my doctors as well, all those years ago.

Big help. They offered to write my employers letters stating that I was under doctor's orders not to shave, but somehow, that never saved my job when they decided that I was in violation of their (adjuticated criminal) appearance standards (but how often do corporations violate the letter of the law and get away with it) and so I just figured I had better either get a job that did not have such a ridgid appearance standard, and/or get all my hair removed.

Oh, yeah, one doctor was helpful enough to offer to help remove my ingrowns, and write me Rx's for skin sloughing agents, and antibiotics for just $75 per doctor's visit, and the cost of the drugs for the rest of my life... I chose electrolysis instead.

Well, I'm a bit slow on updating. I had a 2 hour appointment with Rhonda a week ago. Luckily, it was just enough to get clearance on not only my neck, but my brow and nose as well.

Total to first clearance: 2.5 hours, $145.

Brow before: http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h153/Zhentar/electro/browBefore.jpg

Brow after: http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h153/Zhentar/electro/browAfter.jpg

I had to pluck a few hairs to even up the brow, but much better. Much much better.

Neck after 2.0:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h153/Zhentar/electro/neckAfter.jpg

It doesn't really show in the picture, but I could tell that the circle lamp is holding her back here; there were definitely some hairs she missed in the redness. Fortunately, since there's so much less hair now I'll be able to go longer without shaving before our next appointment, and make sure the hairs are long enough to see easily.

Okay, thanks for the great pictures. Keep on a schedule to punch away at any new, fragile hair that comes to the surface.

What kind of aftercare are using, on your neck especially, immediately after treatment?

Immediately after treatment, Rhonda applied some aloe vera gel. In the evening, after washing my face I applied an antibiotic gel prescribed for my acne.

Thanks. Is the prescribed gel working well for you? If you want, you can use tea tree oil at night if you are prone to pustules.

You're going good. Check back!

Dee

It doesn't work at all for the acne, but it works well for the electrolysis. I probably only have enough left for a couple more treatments.

Are benzoyl peroxide or Retin-A any good for after treatment?

I don't know. Why don't you try spot dabbing some on a small area and see what happens? I'm thinking that these products are too harsh for most skin types.

Benzoyl peroxide and Reten-A are not electrolysis post treatment products, they are skin sloughing agents, and alpha hydroxy acids. That is why we suggest things like Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera, and even Witch Hazel, they all have sanitizing and healing properties.

I had another session yesterday. It went faster, cleared everything again, and a few other spots around my neck, in an hour and ten minutes. We remembered to check the insertion count this time- 779.

So, everything seemed to go pretty well, but today, I woke up to this:

(Click for bigger version)

What happened?

Whoa Doggy! Better ask her if you can come in and show this outcome or take the picture with you. Please, please inform her and let her comment. Use some cold aloe vera gel carefully applied, since it's around your eyes. Spot treat with a little tea tree oil at night.

It will heal, just don't get treatment until it is completely healed. I don't know if this overtreatment is caused by probe selection, shallow insertions, intensity and timing issues, but she will know since she treated you. She'll want to correct whatever she thinks got you to this outcome, so do tell her so she can change her strategy. She'll know what to do. You'll be fine.

Dee

Zhentar- how long does it take the redness on your neck to subside and not look noticable? I am doing my neck as well but most of my hairs are shallow, blonde, vellus hairs. I find the neck the most painful and sensitive area to treat. Also- what kind of antibiotic is topical gel you use that you say helps with the aftercare? Does it help the redness and/or pustules go away?

I would say that especially since this result is in the place between the eyes that it is very likely that what happened was you scratched yourself while you were sleeping due to itching in the treatment area. This is why we say, Tea Tree Oil overnight to speed healing while also protecting from bacteria, virus, fungus and so on. Aloe-Cortisone to stop itching if needed, and Aloe Vera during the day to speed healing and to have something that has no scent working for you during the day.

James- I doubt it was scratching, I've never had any itching from treatment areas.

I had another round of treatment on saturday. I made a longer appointment this time, and it was only two weeks since my last appointment, so I figured we'd have plenty of time left over to work on my chest. Nope, spent 1:45, and 1050 hairs, all on my neck and brow. After going two weeks straight without shaving, a lot hairs that had always been shaved off before they were big enough to be seen showed up, and two weeks was still long enough for some regrowth to start poking through.

I mentioned the scabbing to Rhonda, and she adjusted the settings this time. No scabbing.

I tried tea tree oil this time, and it does seem to be working a little better than the clindamycin gel.

Alli- the redness is pretty much cleared up today, two days after treatment. And I certainly find the neck to be more painful; I can barely feel it at all on my brow, but the sides of my neck and the crease between my neck and jaw are quite unpleasant. I hope next time doesn't have so many new hairs, because spending so long on sensitive neck hairs this appointment had me ready to bolt when my appointment was wrapping up.

I hope you're not treating this same area where all that irritating is because that's how scarring can be created. Let it heal first always. What that picture shows above is NOT a proper result. I hope you resolved it with your electrologist and you're not getting that type of reaction anymore.

The scabbing healed up in a bit under a week; now there isn't any visible scarring or redness that doesn't blend in with what acne has already left there. I did mention it, and whatever she did differently worked because I didn't have any problems this time.

That's the kind of feedback we like to hear. Electrologists encounter all kinds of healing scenario's, due to whatever? We need to have open communication with clients and realize that we have have other strategies we can use for clients who have reasonable complaints about skin reaction. She cares about you and doesn't waste your time, or hers, defending herself and making you feel like your the crazy one.

Dee

I keep forgetting to update; tomorrow I'll have my 3rd treatment since my last post.

#1 was pretty much a copy of my last post; 1:45 with 1150 insertions.

The second one, the hair was starting to look thinner to me, so I figured it wouldn't take as long. Nope, 1:45 again, but only 950 insertions and I think it we did better with finding lighter hairs around the edges.

I'm not going foolishly think it's going to take less than 1:45 again, and it doesn't look noticeably thinner than last time. But what's really exciting is I only had two minor little ingrown hairs this time; much much less than in the couple months before that. I really hope that keeps up.

Well, I am glad it all worked out.

Just always remember to communicate with your practitioner. Adjustments can't be made otherwise.

So, it's been a while since I've updated. Things have been going pretty well. My growth has slowed down enough that appointments every two weeks are too close together. It's inconvenient timing though, because I don't like waiting three weeks but I don't have enough vacation time regularly do two and a half weeks. Overall, progress has been much slower than I expected coming into this, mostly because I have far more hair than I ever realized when I was shaving regularly.

Last week, I had a great appointment. I'd taken the afternoon off work, and the opportunity to lie down was really relaxing. On top of that, my skin was in really good condition. Rhonda was really able to get going, so in 2 hours we cleared my neck, brow, and chest, achieving a new record for my appointments, 1450 insertions.

Good to hear from you, Zhentar.

Do you have any pictures to share at month 10???

You're absolutely going to love the permanent results that will be yours soon with electrolysis. You are going to love it especially so on your neck.

Would love to see some pictures of your progress.

Dee

It's not a great picture (we didn't quite get the flash worked out), but here's one after about 3 weeks of growth:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h153/Zhentar/electro/IMG_0813.jpg

Note that we aren't working under my chin, so the section that's much denser at the top serves as a good comparison of where I started.

Hmmm. There are two hairless areas on the left and right side of your neck. What is that all about?

How many full clearings have you had on your neck area over the last ten months?

Hello Zhentar,

thanks for posting your progress ! I seem to be in a similar situation, wanting to get rid of hair on my throat, between the eyebrows, nose but also in other places, so reading this is really motivating for me.

Did you experience improvement in the area between and around the eyebrows ?

Regards

No substantial hair has ever grown there. I guess I just have a pretty weird growth pattern.

Looks like I've had 17 appointments, and every one has been more or less a full clearance.