Does anyone know the average length of time for one full cycle of hair to come through on the (female) lower back? I achieved first clearance in June and was hoping to treat most hairs at least once, as I’m only trying to thin the area out. Unfortunately, I seem to have developed an allergy to Emla and don’t know if I can endure more than ten minutes of treatment without it.
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Do you have an allergy to lidocaine or something else in EMLA? Because there are other lidocaine creams available
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Have you ever tried treatments without a numbing cream?
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What type of machine is your electrologist using? Some like Apilus don’t hurt that much. I never used a numbing cream on any areas.
At first I had no problems using Emla, but recently the skin has been quite itchy for days afterwards. I’ll ask my doctor if there are other creams I can use.
She uses an Apilus Senior and a microscope.
At first I tried having the area treated without numbing cream, but it really does hurt a lot, especially after ten minutes or so. I’ve had all parts of my face, my breasts and my belly treated and the pain was always tolerable, even with bad electrologists and really old equipment.
And I eat well, am well hydrated, drink caffeine and alcohol only occasionally (and never less than two days before a treatment).
Apilus makes good products, no doubt, but not all models are the same as far as comfort goes. The Apilus Pure and the Platinum are the best by far for sensation (27 MHz). It’s very nice when clients have no worries about needing expensive topicals or oral medications for discomfort. Can you see an 27 MHz electrologist for this ouchy area only and continue with your present electrologist for the less sensitive areas?
I’m already seeing two electrologists - one for my eyebrows and one for the rest of my face and back. The one who does my eyebrows causes less pain and I was having her treat my back at first, but it felt like she was plucking on the back. (She said I could feel the hairs being pulled because they were in telogen, but this didn’t make sense to me because I had bleached the area so she would have been able to target the new hairs only.) I guess I could try a third electrologist, although I’m not sure how much luck I’ll have. Is it only the Apilus Pure or Platinum that would be better than Apilus Senior or Junior?
Any idea about the growth cycle on the lower back? Perhaps if I knew that I only had a month or two to go I could suck it up and deal with the pain.
Here is a general guide that may help.
Average regrowth rates after tweezing and waxing:
Deep, COARSE, terminal hair ( chin, genitals, arm pits, beard, chest, in men) 5-6 weeks
Medium depth terminal hair (side of face and some body areas) 6-7 weeks
Medium depth accelerated vellus hair 7-9 weeks
Shallow vellus hair, peach fuzz 8-10 weeks
Hair growth tables vary by author. This is an example of one authors view.
My advice would be to get the hair off fast and then maintain the area as new hair comes forth. Keep it hair-free, until there is no hair left to treat.
The Apilus Platinum and Pure are about comfort. Less sensation means one can go for longer appointments to get an area cleared faster, which is always the goal. Yes, you can have better sensation while achieving deadly results to your hair follicles with MicroFlash and PicoFalash thermolysis. It’s that good.
Generally the Apilus SM-500 and SX-500 are one step up from the Senior or Senior II but one step down behand the Platinum.
Originally, I think,
first gen
Jr., Sr., SM-500
second gen
Jr. Plus, Senior II, SX-500, Platium and Plat Pure
Jr -> Sr -> S*-500 -> Platinum
All a bit of an over generalization, but you get the idea.
The SM and SX0500 do microflash, Platium and Pure do picoflash (one step up microflash)
Why did you feel she was plucking? Is the hair coarse there? I don’t think an electrologist would be using a good technique on one area and bad one on another. It DO feel the coarse hairs being removed often because they’re very thick. There is a difference between the feeling of pulling out the coarse hair after it’s been zapped and plucking a hair. There is usually some pain associted with plucking, which you can try yourself to see how it feels.
Thanks, everyone, for all this help.
The hair is probably “medium-depth terminal”. I was told it was too wispy for laser. I’m just trying to thin it out because a) I’ve already put a lot of time and money into electrolysis and b) I have fine hair all over my back so it would look weird to have a bald patch at the lower back. But I am following your strategy, Dee. She cleared the area is June and is now maintaining it. (So I do have a bald patch right now.) I’ve fallen a bit behind on the clearance these past couple of weeks because of the allergy, but perhaps I’m close to having achieved the clearance I wanted to anyway. It’s hard to tell because there’s not much hair right now and I can’t see the area that well.
I did pluck the hair on the lower back to see if it was the same sensation as the electrologist pulling them out, Lagirl. It was the same feeling, a slight pinch. What struck me as odd was that the electrolysis hurt less than the pulling of the hair! I chalk it up to her not having much (or any) experience with electrolysis on the lower back. It must be one of the more unusual areas to treat.
I wonder, though, if she actually has a Junior Plus. Because the hairs come out easily on the face (eyebrows and cheekbones) without much pain. Perhaps I should give her another try on the lower back. The hairs should all be in anagen now.
I’m also going to speak to a pharmacist and maybe try Emla again. I suspect that I may actually only be allergic to an ingredient in the generic cream, since my allergy seems to have developed around the time that I switched from brand to generic.
Is she using the same probe size and settings for the lower back?
Same probe size (I’ve never had an electrologist change probes!) but different settings.