Hello, I am a black African woman and I will be starting electrolysis on my chin and upper lip in October. I pluck a lot - I spend about 1 hour plucking everyday in order to be decent. I have done this for the past four years and, not surprisingly, I have developed quite a permanent shaving/plucking bump (Pseudofolliculitis barbae).
My question is as follows: will this go away when I start (and complete!) electrolysis and no longer pluck?
Also, I have some terrible hyper-pigmentation; will this lighten up when I carry out (and complete) electrolysis, or will there be no let up?
Finally, is it OK for me to tell the electrologist that I would rather bring my own tweezers myself - or just use one pair as I am a little obssessed - for cleanliness - with using just my things when I can? Is this rude?
Please, please help. I am really frustrated, and I am really concerned that I may be scarred for life.
One of the reasons I do marathon sessions is that a case like yours won’t get better until the plucking ends. The only way to end the plucking is to achieve first clearance, and maintain it from there.
Once one is no longer plucking, and the hairs are no longer becoming ingrown, the bumps and pigmentation have the ability to fade away. You will do well to get as much treatment as quickly as possible so you can get all the hair on your face treated as quickly as possible, and move into simple maintenance on the same.
As for bringing your own tweezers, the forceps used by your professional will be nothing like what you have at home, and are sterilized in between uses, and they have not been used on anyone else that day, prior to your appointment. The only way you can have “your own” forceps at the electrolysis office is to purchase two of them from the electrologist, and rotate them back and forth, as the electrologist sterilizes them in between uses. If you find anyone to indulge you on this, she or he could have the one forceps/tweezers processed for sterilization and packaged during your appointment, and trade you the other one when the appointment is done and it is in need of sterilization. You may find it hard to find someone willing to go this far for you, but you may have an easier time finding someone willing to allow you to pay them for purchasing a small supply of forceps for you, process them, and seal them, and allow you to bring them in with you, as long as the control seal is unbroken.
Yes, I agree. Get a first, full clearance asap even, if it means you have to deal with temporary side effects such as swelling, soreness, redness for a couple days to almost a week. I would only do this if the electrologist you go to is skilled and has one of the best computerized epilators on the market today.