Sunscreen seems to be working okay, but I stick to just the witch hazel/aloe vera for the first two days after...Thanks for all this help!

I had my 4th electrolysis earlier this week. The woman who usually does it couldn't be there so the other woman who works in her office did it today. She is also very nice but it felt like she didn't do the electrolysis in the most effective way--I don't have much to base this off of, since I've only had sessions with one other electrologist, but from what I've read on this website also it seemed like it might have not been the best way. She seemed to do more per minute than the other woman but the blasts of current were much shorter-like a split second---I was almost suspicious of it hurting less, because it barely even tingled. Usually the electrolysis is bearable, but will bring tears to my eyes. But I was mostly unsure because after the blasts of current it really felt like she was plucking most of the hairs out, and not kind of sliding out like they usually do. If she wasn't doing it in the best way and was sort of "plucking" hairs, I assume this is okay just for one time--that if those particular hairs will grow back in a way the electrologist I normally go to can get rid of them? I just wanted to see what people thought - if it does really feel like she is plucking them, it's probably not being done right, right? And also I wasn't sure if the length of the blasts of current has anything to do with anything--I assume this may just have to do with the type of machine. It's mostly the plucking feeling I had a question about. Thanks

It's not clear. Did you feel the hair being plucked? (this usually hurts, but in a different way). Or were the blasts not lasting as long as last time and you assumed she was plucking? Technically, she could have been using a faster method of electrolysis, like microflash, which would have shorter currents.

Yeah, she may have been using a type of electrolysis with shorter currents. The blasts were shorter, but I definitely also felt her plucking afterwards. The plucking didn't hurt, it just felt like normal plucking does.

Anytime you feel like hairs are being plucked, ask the electrologist why you feel it. There are circumstances when you could feel a tweezing sensation, but it shouldn't feel that way for every hair. If you ask for an explanation, and she really wasn't treating the hair properly, you've at least put her on notice that you know what it's suppose to feel like and hopefully she will adjust the settings.

Anytime this may happen to you in the future, I agree with Choice that it is best to ask the electrologist to stop the treatment and give her feedback as to what you are feeling.

Are you clipping or shaving before you go in, hollym? I assume you are talking about your upper lip, right? Are you close to a first clearance? She was using either flash, microflash or even picoflash thermolysis, which is fine, as long as the energy and timing levels are correctly set. Insertions have to be dead accurate with these modalities and vision wear has got to be up to par if the hair is light and fine. If her insertions were off, then the hair was not receiving dead on treatment, thus the tweezing sensation, although, there are hair structures that are not in the growth stage that are resistant and offer traction after they are treated. Hopefully, you can just see your first electrologist from this point on, since you were so satisfied her.

Yeah, the electrolysis is being done on my upper lip and chin. I'm not clipping or shaving before I go in. I usually don't bleach in between either if I can go without it because my regular electrologist says it's easier for her to see the hairs when they are darker.

The electrologist I usually go to goes slower than the electrologist I had today did but I feel like she gets the hairs more accurately--because she says it's easier for her to get more hairs when she can see the root better and she even told me when I first started the electrolysis in the beginning that I shouldn't be feeling a plucking sensation, more like the hair is sliding out--which, based on what I've read, sounds like the correct way. She (the electrologist I normally go to) uses Flash, but I'm not sure what the electrologist I had today used.

I don't think I've really gotten a full clearance yet, but the hair is definitely getting less dense -this is fine right? It seems the clearance might vary person to person? I feel like the electrologist I'm normally going to is working well. Hopefully I will be able to continue going just to her.

Clearance means that you're completely cleared of all the visible offending hair in the area you are treating. You achieve it when you go in as often as possible in the beginning for longer treatments to get all the visible hair on the area. That way, afterwards, you only need to come in when new hair pops up and clear it all in one sitting. So you always look cleared and you always kill the hairs as soon as they pop up when they're still weak.

Hollym, you are being plucked. You are getting something else but I prefer not to say that on this forum. Pearl..

Yeah, then I haven't gotten full clearance yet. I'm still going once a week and think it will be a little awhile before I can go less often. I've only gone 4 times though...so it's normal not to be fully cleared by then right?
If I am being plucked, this doesn't mean it will end up messing with the electrolysis I have got that I think has been done right, right? And I am going back next time to the woman who I'm pretty sure does it well-I rarely feel the plucking sensation with her, even though the electric current is longer with her --but I assume this is because she uses a different kind of thermolysis.