Between my most recent electrolysis treatments, I shaved. My electrologist said I should not shave, particularly as the treated area has achieved permanent clearage with some vellus growth. I have been getting weekly treatments for about 5 months and still have some areas with growth.
It was surprising that there was an issue with shaving. While I will listen to him, is this correct?
Are you sure he said, do not shave or did he say, you really don’t need to shave anymore because of your progress?
He shouldn’t have an issue with shaving unless he still believes all the shaving myths. Shaving has been well-defined and will not cause undesirable effects such as increased hair growth or coarser hair. Every well-trained electrologist knows this, that’s why I’m wondering if you misunderstood. Some electrologist’s prefer clipping instead of shaving. Both are fine.
Dee
Maybe the electrologist wants you to avoid problematic ingrowns, which can occur with shaving. But, I’m just speculating.
I think I concur with real_sore. From my experience, as the hair gets finer, the easier for hairs to become ingrown.
IMO, the heavier the hair, the larger ingrowns and more ingrowns I’ll get. I think it has to do more with the angle the hair comes out and if it has a natural curl to it, but I’m sure everybody is different.
In a way, you are both right.
The thinner hairs may have a hard time erupting from the skin and get stalled beneath the surface, however, they usually don’t cause pain and can run like a river under the skin’s surface.
The thicker, coarser hairs have more power to cut through the skin, but if they have even the slightest curl, or the skin has any creases or folds near the follicle, they become painful ingrown hairs causing puss filled bumps.
I wish to weigh in a little more on this subject. Thin or course ingrown hairs are distorted hairs that are unable to break through the surface of the skin.
The pus formation is caused however by the oil glands not being able to also reach the surface. That causes the oil to be pushed down into the follicle where it should not be, and the bodies defense mechanism then kicks into play, by trying to kill the oil that should have gone to the surface. The pus formation is a natural reaction to the sebacious glands excretions not reaching the surface. It is not the body reacting to an ingrown hair, but a reaction to oil unable to be excreted to the skin surface and getting to where it does not belong.
Thanks all for the opinions on shaving during electrolysis - particularly from the HairTell A-team. I have had a problem with in growns, particularly in areas rubbed by clothing. My electrologist seemed concerned about the finer regrowth where the root was weakened but not completed cleared. The belief is that it would take longer to complete full clearage with the vellus hairs shaved .
Next time I am in, I will ask about it. You have all confirmed that shaving is not generally an issue.
Al