So, I started electrolysis a few weeks ago (should have started this post back then, but too late to do anything about that now). My details, briefly: Male, 27. Hair on 90% of body. Tried IPL (flashlamp) on my back, for 6 months, 1 treatment per month. No noticeable reduction of any hair after this time. Light skin, dark hair.

I made a note of the questions from this website, added a few of my own, and went in for a quick consultation. I spoke with the lady who will be performing the electrolysis. She answered my questions to my satisfaction, and she explained clearly about the hair growth cycles, what I should expect, the different methods available etc etc. The pertinent details are: 13 years experience as an electrolysist; using a proteus 2000 with manual timing; clean, new needles for each session; explanation of the hair phases, the likely path that we'll take, and so on.

Since I didn't want to wait another week before 'starting', I had the waxing (hot wax - yikes) done there and then. I want to eventually get my whole back (and possibly other areas, depending) done, but as a kind of 'test phase' (I read that it's possible for someone to not have success with electrolysis) I wanted just my shoulders and the hollow of my throat done. Stupidly, I didn't take photos (even though I meant to) before the treatment, and haven't since I've been back (again, I wanted to, but without the original photos to show how much has changed, I figure it's pointless now).

We started off with the front of my shoulders, and a bit at the shoulder blade (maybe 2 inches down my back). I came back a week later to get my first needle-sticking done. It was an hour session, and I wasn't sure how much would get done. The process as explained to me is to wax an area (in this case my shoulders, including the front and back and throat - she referred to it as the "t-shirt area") and then to catch the hairs as they regrow. Once we're on top of it and it's no longer overwhelming, we can start moving down the back in layers.

My first impressions from the first hour - holy **** that hurts. Okay, I'm probably overreacting a bit, but when the electricity was applied, I really felt it. I would equate it with a bee sting or a large ant bite. I asked about pain relief, and she suggested a pain-tablet (I dont live in the USA, so the names I mentioned probably wouldn't mean anything to you - I guess they'd be the equivalent of tylenol?) 1 hour before coming in. I managed to tolerate it, but I have to say, I'm not sure I could do sensitive areas with it (I was thinking about getting my face done eventually). The sensitive parts so far are my neck (the hollow of my throat), and the back of my neck up near the hair line. These places sting alot. I imagine the face would be twice as painful, and since there's alot more hair on the face, I really don't know if I could tolerate it.

The pain was bad enough that on subsequent visits, I asked whether it would matter if I drank half a bottle of vodka before visiting (for the record, her only concern was whether I'd make it up the steps). In the first session, we did the front of my throat, the bit around the back of my arms, and a tiny bit on the top of my shoulders.

In the second session, we redid those areas, and then managed to get the majority of the left half of my shoulder (top and back) done. In the third (and most recent) session, We did the regrowth of the above, and the majority of my right shoulder blade. There's a bit left in the middle, and she says the next session (next Tuesday) will probably take care of that.

I'm not sure how much more detail to go into - it's possible she reads these forums (although I gather quite unlikely). I wouldn't want to give her name or business, especially if something goes wrong and I write "bad" things - couldn't I get in trouble for defamation? As far as healing, I can't see perfectly (given my back area anyway) but so far, I can't say I've noticed any major problems. The area around the back of my shoulders has been itchy, but I admit that it's possible it's due to the shirt collars now rubbing against my bare skin. I've noticed quite a bit of what look like pimples in the areas treated (not a huge amount tho, I'd have to take pictures to be sure though).

I'll leave it here for now.

Hi:

You may want to try some tylenol 3's before treatment
and Emla cream also before treatment.

With the Emla you should apply it to the area to be treated about an hour or more before and cover it with plastic wrap. The area at the base of the neck and the neck itself can be quite painful depending on the machine
used I suppose.

Alicia

Welcome, alphabet-boy. I think the waxing bit before you start is a good idea, so as to make each application of energy as effective as possible. I didn't do that and probably should have.

You might take a look as my treatment diary. I'm getting close to half-way done with my back and shoulders after almost one year of treatments (4-12 hours a month). I have photos and you can compare how my skin looks after so many hours of treatment. My skin is still nowhere near perfect. I'm guessing that it's going to take at least a full year after my final treatment to get the clear, hair-free skin I want.

Update: I've now had my 4th 1 hour session working on my shoulders. For this session, I took a painkiller an hour before the procedure (the painkiller was codeine and paracetamol, apparently one of the more powerful dosages according to my doctor). During the procedure, I noticed no reduction in pain at all. I still felt it every time, and it still stung, and I still hated it.

I've been looking around for emla cream, but my local pharamacies are selling it for $15-$20 for 5 gram tubes of the stuff. I dunno, but that seems kind of expensive to me, especially if I'm going to be using it over large areas of my body. Does anyone know a place that will ship internationally that sells it cheaper? If not, I'm really going to have to try the vodka bottle alternative, because I'll quickly rack up bills buying things like Emla cream. While on the subject, some cheap witch hazel would be good too.

After this session, my electrologist said that my shoulders were looking good and that soon we can start expanding down my back. However, when I look at my shoulders, I see alot of little black hairs (which seem to be recent regrowths - the waxing was 5 weeks ago). Is this normal? I know that electrolysis isn't quick or going to get rid of all the hairs in one pass, but it seems like there's an awful lot of regrowth that doesn't seem to be of any concern to my electrologist. I can take some photos if need be.

Any advice ?

It may be that the hairs you are seeing are growth that was removed from the wax. The hairs she has removed up until now were different hairs and now you will be seeing the hairs removed by the wax starting to regrow. You have many different cycles of hair going on. On the pain killing note I have found that some clients get relief from certain herbs. You may also want to try Extra strength Oragel that is used for toothaches. It is cheaper than emla and may take the edge off. The liquid works better than the gel for large areas. Herbs to help with pain can include but are not limited to Valarian, Willow bark, Cannabis(if it is legal where you live or you have a prescription.) Of course be careful when mixing pain relievers, mainly heavy duty ones. Hope this helps.

Hi Alphabet:

It is cheaper to buy Emla in the 30 gm tubes than the 5 gm ones. Also if you live in the US, you can probably buy it from a Canadian online pharmacy for less. Unfortunately Canadians can't get the same prices. At the price you quoted for a 5 gm tube, 30gms would work out to $75-$100.

I live in Canada and got my doctor to write me a prescription with refills. With the prescription I do save
close to 10 dollars/30gm tube compared to buying it over the counter.

Alicia

If you had someone nearby that used an Apilus Platinum or Pure instead of a Proteus 2000, you wouldn't be on here discussing pain. It's just that good. The power and comfort of 27 MHz technology has brought permanent hair removal to a higher plane where expensive topicals or oral medications are not needed.

With that said, all of the above suggestions are helpful.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the whole point of waxing was to remove all hairs in the area, such that they would then be regrowing, and hence in the anagin (anagen?) stage suitable for zapping. If these hairs are the regrowth from the waxing, wouldn't they be ideal candidates for zappage ?

As for alternatives, well, in this entire city there are 2 electrologists. I haven't made contact with the other one yet since it's about an hour out of my way, and their website is down - I might phone them tomorrow and find out if they do 'real' electrolysis or if it's one of those dodgy ones using an epilator or something.

I'll try extra strength orajel (it's marginally cheaper than emla - although I'll have to buy it from the US and hope that I can get it shipped overseas) but I'm not holding my breath. Thanks for the suggestions though (and that cannabis one is looking better and better...)

I seem to be twice cursed with a low tolerance for pain, and a curious immunity to most pain-relief medication (headache tablets, anaesthetic gels, none of that stuff seems to work on me at all )

You are correct about waxing. The hairs that come in 4-5 weeks after waxing are in anagen. If they come in too early, i.e. within a week or so, then they were likely broken off due to bad waxing.

I'm not sure I understand your question about it though. Are your treatments long enough to remove all the hair that's visible?

I wouldn't have Orajel shipped from the United States. Surely there is a similar product where you live that has 20% Benzocaine. I mean, babies teeth in other countries as well and there must be something similar to Oragel that one can purchase. I'm not sure about this working so well, but will take Alicia's word for it. Topicals need to penetrate to the the base of the hair where the bundle of nerves are tp work really well. A lot of products metabolize quickly, which makes them unsuitable for electrolysis.

Can your electrologist go for longer timing and lower instensity to help with the pain issue?

Waxing is fine for one time only, prior to starting electrolysis, but it is not an absolute must.

Dee