I’m on my third electrolgist, and I really like her because I’ve noticed more effective results than with previous people I’ve gone to. Because of that, I’m cautious to ask her to change anything because I don’t want to risk getting worse results.
However, there is one new issue that I haven’t had with other electrologists. I’ve noticed a lot more hairs breaking below the skin. That is, there will be short (1 mm) shards/pieces of leftover hair post-treatment. They will usually push out of my skin eventually, either cleanly or as tiny pimples 99% of the time. That’s nbd to me. But sometimes, instead of pushing out, these hair pieces seem to go deeper into my chin and form deep cysts.
I get maybe 1-2 of these a week or two after each treatment, and they become very large. When it finally comes to a head (or I can’t stand it anymore and pop it with a sterilized needle), the pus that comes out will usually have the hair shard, and only then will the cyst start to heal.
Unfortunately, this is really affecting me because I hyperpigment badly. I’d tolerate it if they heal in a week with no scarring, but I’m being left with pencil-eraser-sized dark patches wherever a cyst was and they lasts for months, even using fading creams.
I didn’t have this issue with my other electrologists, but my results were also less effective. Are these broken hair pieces a result of the treatments being too strong? What do you think the solution is to avoid them but still get effective treatments? I’m African American (medium skin tone) with curly hair, and this treatment is on my chin.
I’m a little confused by your description.I’m also wondering about the cause of your hair growth in the first place… If I’m right, by your description of these coming out with resistance they dont appear to be rooted pieces of hair and I’m thinking they COULD be tombstones. Which fits with your statement about effectiveness. Tombstones are good news.It means the hair follicle are dead. The little cycst that is forming is whats confusing me but with dark skin and curly hairs, yes I could see that especially if some other factor is affecting the cyst development, such as elevated testosterone from PCOS . Then your description makes more sense with this theory.
Oh wow! I’ve literally never heard of tombstones before, but I looked it up, and that sounds exactly like what I have. And to answer your question, I have PCOS, so you’re right on the money about that as well.
Follow-up question: I agree that it’s great that the hairs are being killed. The growth is soooo much slower, and I knew a week after my first treatment that so many of the thick hairs (that I was used to returning again and again) just weren’t coming back. So, I’m very pleased overall, but are the tombstones avoidable at all? For some reason, they really do seem to be staying in my chin, instead of coming out…I think because my hairs are rooted very deeply.
If not, I’ll just have to deal with it, and I’ll just treat the hyperpigmentation when my treatments are done. But it would be great not to have to worry about it. Should I mention this to my electrologist/will it make any difference? If there’s nothing she can change without making the electrolysis less effective, then I’d rather just deal with it I suppose.
they arent avoidable and they dont happen to all people, some are more susceptable to it. But as stated they are good news. Tombstones are what they are, because that follicle is dead. I dont actually recommend clients to pup out tombstones like blackheads as there is too much potential from scratches or skin damage , so unless you can grasp them sticking out of the skin a bit its better to let the electrologist do it.
Here’s an oldie but a goodie on tombstones, I still remember mikes explanation was awesome:
