I am not sure if I am asking this right but here goes...

On my extremely thick coarse (but sparse) chin and neck hairs my electrologist sometimes has to zap a hair anywhere from 2 to 3 to 4 times before it comes out. He'll zap once or twice. Try and pull the hair out. If it doesn't slide out he'll zap once or twice more. Until the hair is able to slide out.

So is what he does normal? Is this ok? Now I do have some scarring/hyperpigmentations in the area. Kind of looks like 'peppershots' and when those finally go away I'm left with a black mark.

Note - when he does other areas with finer hair they slide right out with one zap/insert.

I'm just trying to figure out if this is normal or if I need to find another electrologist. Can this be the cause of my scarring? Aside from that I am happy with everything else.

Some hairs need a couple zaps. 1-2 is normal. 4 or more shouldn't be necessary.

It sounds like you have some pigmentation. What is your skin type/ethnicity? Have you tested out other electrologists to compare things? What is your aftercare routine?

You are not scarred! You have a temporary skin reaction to electrolysis. ask your electrologist if he can do something different to lessen your reaction.

For thick, deep hairs it can take one to three zaps. If the hair is a growing hair, it probably will slide out. If it is not, it will probably be resistant. No more than three zaps should be used. If the hair still doesn't release, then it should be pulled and energy adjustments should be made to treat the next hair. Probe size should match the size of hair one is treating. Many electrologists are afraid to use larger probes. If one has better vision equipment, then one would be able see that larger probes, 5's and 6's, are much better choices than 2's, 3's and 4's for coarser hair.

The first treatments are usually the roughest. Use good aftercare. Witch hazel, aloe vera gel and dabs of tea tree oil will help you heal faster and better.

Talk to your electrologist and see if he can make some adjustments, so your skin doesn't look too aggravated for too long a time after treatment. Just see what he can do.

Dee

Dee, why do you limit the zaps to three?

My electrologist zaps my breast hairs one to four times. I've always assumed this is an attempt to reduce scabbing, since hairs get the minimum number of zaps needed to remove them. My appointments are weekly, so the hairs are always in anagen phase.

For my lower back and my face, where I seldom scab, she only zaps once.

You may be scabbing BECAUSE she's zapping each one so many times. It shouldn't be necessary. Are you saying she needs it because the hair doesn't slide out easily after one or she's zapping the spot again several times after the hair has been removed?

One of the reasons many electrologists use blend or galvanic on breast hairs is so that one treatment can make due. The lye created moves around the curves and treats the whole follicle. If one is using Thermolysis to treat breast hairs, one may find that placement of the probe is not optimal, as the follicles are not nice easy straight insertions. This would cause one to find that many treatments of the same follicle are needed to finally get treatment energy to the needed tissue to release that hair. In the process, some unnecessary damage is done to some tissue that could have been avoided.

This is why we say that although Thermolysis is the fastest form of electrolysis, one needs to know how to do all three, because there are times when one is the more prudent choice over the others.

James is exactly correct about breast hairs. Curvey, crazy hairs are a charactaristic of breast hairs and blend would better serve the goal of treating the hair follicle completely. Zapping a hair more than three times can damage the skin and will deplete the moisture at the bottom of the follicle. We need moisture to be present to work with the currents.

I asked my electrologist to use blend on the breasts, but she said that "they" (her and the other electrologists at her salon, I presume) feel that thermolysis is best and they don't use blend on that machine. (They have Apilus Seniors, so I don't know why they don't like Blend.) She is doing an excellent job on my face and I don't want to go to another electrologist just for my breasts, so I'll have to stick with her.

It makes sense that the scabbing would be caused by too many insertions, but I don't really know how I could get her to use higher energy and fewer zaps. Electrologists don't really take well to laypeople offering them advice on how to perform electrolysis!

What's odd though is that she uses the "Breast" setting for my breasts and since I've been having these hairs treated frequently for TWO years, you would think that my hairs there would be weaker than the average person's. (And I do know that these hairs should have been gone a year ago, but other than not getting blend, I don't know what's going on. I've changed electrologists twice and I saw definite results from the last two on other areas of my body.)

I agree with James and Dee. I used microflash on all areas, but switched to blend for breasts due to exact same reason. It wasn't really working that well either because the hairs were deep and curly. That's where blend helps a lot.

It is my humble opinion that you won't get permanent hair removal until you have someone perform blend or galvanic on your breasts. The good news is, if you did go to someone other than the people who are doing a great job on everything else, your breast appointments would be short. Fifteen minutes or less, maybe.

There is no way one could have treatment on the breasts for two years and not have achieved permanent hair removal UNLESS one either had new hairs growing in due to a physiological problem (like PCOS), one was not going on schedule, and was missing growth phases, or one's practitioner was missing the necessary growth cells.

I think they just never learned how to do the blend, and are afraid to step out of their comfort zone. On the other hand, you probably don't want someone trying to do something they don't know how to do either.

I think breast hair is very simple to do. I have never had anyone take longer than a year for this area, In fact, all is well by month nine as a rule. Both sides are cleared in one appointment of less than an hour and subsequent appointments are usually shorter, save for 2-3 times where a big growth cycle kicks in during the first six mpnths. I use a mixture of Blend and thermolysis with the largest probe possible.

Does this count for the dark vellus hairs? Cause I have a TON of them around my breasts. They're not noticable to the naked eye, but I can clearly see them and they're still annoying

Any hair color or hair structure "counts" when electrolysis is used. With your situation Jag, what counts the most is if the electrologist has the vision tools to help her/him see the small hairs that YOU want treated. So, we are back to the point we stress here ad nauseum and that is, practitioner skill is all important, however, practitioner skill dramaticaly increases when she can actualy SEE the target in order to make perfect insertions to permanently affect hair. It's all one big circle that leads to success.

Thinner weaker hair is even easier to kill. However, you may notice as I did that after you've removed all the relatively coarse hair, the vellus hair looks very natural, especially if you get a little tanned.

I almost forgot about my own thread.............


I am Type V black female.

My scarring/ingrown/peppershot finally went away and now I am left with hyperpigmentation spots. I really like this electrologist but my skin look horrendous after a session with her. It takes over 1 week for ths redness and swelling to go away. And this is with using which hazel, pure aloe vera, and tea tree oil! After the week I get these peppershot looking things and it takes weeks of tend skin, exfoliating, etc for them to unlodge. After that I left with black marks all over my neck.

So I finally tried out another electrologist yesterday. She used short wave(which I believe is the same as thermolysis?). She said she doesn't use blend b/c its more prone for scarring. She treated my neck and it was a much less painful experience than the first electrologist. And afterward my skin was just a tad bit red, very little swelling. The following morning you hardly tell I had anything done.

So my skin reacted great BUT I now worried that maybe it was not an effective treatment. I don't know any details on settings, probe size, etc...

So do I stick with the first lady and deal with the super long healing time very noticable hyperpigmentation(which can fade over the course of a year) and stick with second lady which may not be effective at all???

Sounds like the second person you tried is more skilled. What you're experiencing is normal. You shouldn't have many side effects. If you're not feeling the hair being plucked and they slide out without much resistance after being zapped, then your treatments are good. Plus, thermolysis is faster and usually less painful.

It sounds like with your other treatments hairs were getting broken off on their way out, causing ingrowns and what you describe as "pepperspots". That's a matter of skill.

Thanks for the input lagirl.


So.....
Its been 4 days since that electrolysis treatment. Yesterday morning I work up with a whitehead on my chin...last night it swelled up 3x the of my chin and is soooo painful. The circumference of the swelling is about the size of a nickel. It hurts to talk, to move, it hurts when my pillow or cover touches it when I sleep..

I continue to use the tea tree oil and the white head has gone away but its now one huge red painful swollen throbbing bump. I NEVER knew a whitehead could hurt this much. Help!!

What did I do wrong? What can I do to speed up the healing process?

Is this going to happen everytime I go to this electrologist? I'd almost rather see my first electrologist. The treatment area may look horrible but at least its not this painful.

It sounds like one spot got infected during healing. Are you using any moisturizers, lotions, facewashes, sunscreens, etc on the area at all? I would only use witch hazel during the day and would avoid all of the potentially harsh things with chemicals mentioned above. Are you using tea tree oil only at night? Do you tend to touch the area with your fingers during the day or while applying any of the above? That could get infection started.

If the area is inflammed as you describe, then something is missing on the hygiene side of things. Did she wash her hands and use gloves? sterile probe? did you observe her opening a new probe package? sterile tweezers? antiseptic used before and after? Did you touch the area after treatment with unwashed hands? did the dog lick your chin?

So many things could be at the core of this, but basic hygiene is usually the first thing I look at seriously.

Use warm compresses to the area and continue with the witch hazel and tea tree oil. THINK about how you handle these aftercare products. Wash your hands before applying. If a germy little kid at hime touches the bottles, clean them off. Stay alert to what the electrologist is doing as she touches you. Something went wrong here with the hygiene. It is not the fault of electrolysis.

THIS IS NOT WHAT AN ELECTROLYSIS HEALING OUTCOME IS LIKE BY NO MEANS. REPORT THIS AND WATCH WHAT SHE DOES AND THEN, THEREAFTER, BE MINDFUL OF WHAT YOU DO AFTER YOU LEAVE THE OFFICE. EITHER ONE OF YOU COULD HAVE INTRODUCED BACTERIA INTO A FRESHLY TREATED AREA. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Apply this cute saying to electrolysis and all should go well thereafter.

If she is overtreating your skin, then this could be a problem, too. Please talk to her.

Dee

Yes, its extremely inflamed and now is getting hard to the touch.

I do not recall seeing her wash her hands or if she used gloves.
The proble was new and she actually gave it to me in a container to use at my next treatment. Not sure about the tweezer either.

BUT I guess I am ultimetly to blame. I did touch the area after treatment without washing my hands. I did this many times before with the other electrologist and this never happened so I got careless. Lesson learned.

I will use a warm compress and continue with the aftercare. Thanks for the tip about handling the products too.

Whoa...Big Red Flag! What are you supposed to do with the needle? Take it home and lick it clean? Arrrrg. Hand washing and donning gloves would be something you'd notice.

I'd keep shopping for an electrologist.

You need to insist on hand washing, gloves, a new disposable needle each visit, sterilized tweezers, etc. Ask about this. Those who follow the standards of care will love the opportunity to tell you and/or show you, those who don't, will make excuses on why it's not "really necessary."

And if there are any electrologists out there reading this who skimp on gloves and needles because of the expense, RAISE YOUR RATES by $2.00! You give the rest of us a bad rep!

And run your biological monitors!

Electrologists are supposed to be sterilizing tweezers. We all learned how to do this. There are several steps we must take before we actually get those tweezers in the dry heat sterilizer or autoclave. Ask your electrologist, if you go back to her, to show you how she sterilizes her tweezers. Ask her to show you what a biological moniter looks like and how she uses it. If she responds, "Huh?", then RUUNNNNN FAST!!! Well-trained electrologists know all about biological moniters.

Choice, I don't know about you, but I'm personally sick of some electrologists that run dirtball offices. There is no one monitering these work places, so dear consumer, you are on your own to check out these details regarding hygiene. Just watch and think about what you see.

If there is a licensing board for electrologists where you live, Atsui, and you feel the need to report certain things that you observe, then I would encourage you to speak up. That doesn't leave you off the hook for anything you may have done to your newly treated area. I think you know what to do now. You have got to do things to avoid infection in the first 24 hours especially.

I hope you feel better soon.

Dee

It's probably my biggest pet peeve, Dee.

Some electrologists may not be in a situation to afford a modern epilator, I know I wasn't for several years.

Some electrologists may not have the hand-eye coordination to remove 10+ hairs per minute.

But there is absolutely no excuse not to run a hygienic practice. The thought of someone carrying their needle back and forth to appointments makes me want to scream. The thought of someone touching my skin with unsterile tweezers makes me nauseated.