Disclaimer: I have to travel abroad to my electrologist so I can’t just stop by and ask her about this. I did email her asking about the risk of any potential scarring or whatever and she said it’s not possible and to chillax.
I got my very first clearance on my booty half vellus/half terminal hairs (too fine/light for laser) in early March. It was done by a highly recommended on here pro with decades of experience. It hurt like a mf but I laid through it without Emla for hours and in the end she told me I had one of the highest pain tolerances she’d ever seen lol. These red irritated pictures were taken 4-5 days after the treatment. It looked so red, crusty and frankly rather frightening that I started to worry if it was good at all that I’d braved through all that pain. Like, maybe I should have listened to my body?! I’d never had electrolysis before so I didn’t know how painful it’s supposed to be or not be.
I don’t know if this is relevant but this is a pic in the beginning of the treatment. It shows what we started out with. Some of the blonder hairs are hard to photograph.
It’s been 5 months now and I’m just waiting for the purple hyperpigmentation to slowly fade. I also suffer from KP in the area (which I already had there before electrolysis) so my butt does have bumps and it’s impossible to tell which bumps are from KP and which might be from electrolysis. So yeah I’ve no idea if the treatment caused any bumps or not. I’d totally hate permanent bumps obviously.
I still grew back enough hair to bother me so it’s time to head back for another clearance but I’m apprehensive bc I don’t want any scarring/bumps on my azz! So before I commit to it out of an abundance of caution I’m asking all you kind people if the initial reaction looks like too much or not.
Finally, the electrologist was otherwise very lovely and professional and I don’t believe for a second she’s evil or bad or anything like that but, you know, things can always happen…
This is roughly what it looks like now, 5 months after:
Reaction is fairly common and expected on bodywork. Also the buttocks is under constant irritation from clothes rubbing and sitting so such reaction will occur. A lot of time and a lot of patience will clear all the PIH.
For the amount of work you’re having done abroad. To clear a larger area of hair, and it appears the hair is much denser… this is definitely a normal reaction to the electrolysis treatment. I would suggest wearing loose cotton or linen clothing. Take epsom salt baths, and keeping the area nice and clean. Use a cream that is soothing to your skin.
I don’t have an answer but please update with your progress I want the same area done myself and could not find anyone doing this area with photo documentation on hairtell!!!
Hey crying! I’m actually not sure I will continue with electrolysis on my booty because of how severe the reaction was. Going in, I totally was not expecting that. It’s been literally 8 whole months since and the pih is STILL going strong and in the end I’m not sure if that’s not making my booty look just as bad as the hair! Also it’s very telling that I had ~something~ done which is…embarrassing lol.
I was also expecting better results /: my booty is feeling fuzzy again. It has admittedly been only one clearance but it just feels to touch the exact same as before although of course I cannot say that with 100% certainty bc I can’t see that area myself (and don’t have anyone else to ask xd) very well (even with a crazy mirror setup). I don’t think the electrologist was bad though bc during that visit she also did my thigh which has far bigger, thicker hairs, and that thigh showed a decent improvement. Curiously, the thigh had far less pih which disappeared pretty fast ):
And finally, I worry that the nature of these hairs is too difficult to deal with electrolysis. They are mostly very very fine and dark blonde and SO MANY. It’s almost like peach fuzz (albeit longer and coarser and a tad darker). It’s just a monumental task. As a last resort alternative I’m currently looking into antiandrogen drugs which could make my body stop growing this crazy hair in the first place. Anyway, whatever I decide on, I log on here sometimes and will keep updating.
I advise my electrolysis clients on Spironolactone (and equivalent) to consult with their physician about discontinuing these meds ASAP. They are not designed for continuous use. The worst part is these meds temporarily shut down some hair growth which gives the false impression this hair is gone forever. Instead the follicle is sleeping. In many cases hair will come roaring back when meds are discontinued. It’s like tweezing or waxing while having electrolysis.
I would disagree with you here very strongly. These hair meds, first of all, are not meant to be discontinued anyway and patients are happily taking them for life. Second, I as a hirsute woman in the end got better results with birth control pills than any violent hair removal method. And I can take birth control forever. Actually official endocrinology guidelines in fact advise combined birth control for hirsute women as a first line treatment, before any hair removal. Go look up ‘endocrine society hirsutism guidelines’ please so you can be a more informed professional and help your clients even more.
Oh yes and for the women here that asked if the hair drugs worked @parinda@anon70936330: OH YES THEY DID. ANY HIRSUTE WOMAN READING THIS: get on combined birth control pills TODAY. That is, active ingredients ethinyl estradiol + an antiandrogenic progestin. Progestin options: dienogest (my choice, works great), gestodene, cyproterone acetate, drospirenone. In 6-12 months these pills will stop your ovaries from making so much androgen hormones and your hair will get much better. In fact they also cured my acne for the first time in my life.
The way the hair gets better may not even be so much that it grows to be smaller but rather it begins growing veeeeeeery slowly such that if I pluck my thighs they will not grow back literally for like months??? It’s actually insane what the ovarian testosterone had been doing to me all my life. And I always had “normal” androgen levels in my blood!
Importantly, finasteride and spironolactone alone didn’t work as well as the birth control pills. I tested that first. You want to eradicate the source of the testosterone from the ovary, not block it at the receptor in the skin, in my experience. However, if you find that the birth control alone is insufficient or you just wanna hit the hair with all you can throw at it, you can safely combine birth control with finasteride or sprionolactone.
but it’s too soon to report results. I shall post how it went this fall.