laser or electrolysis for caramel complextion skin

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
1

Hey there.

I have browsed the boards a bit, but never posted.

I’m a light-skinned black woman, with a reddish skin tone. I have horible coarse black hairs on my chin and under my jaw-line and a few sidebuns.

I never have fully let the hairs grow in because I tweeze everyday. I use dilapitories and tweeze the stubble. I had a bad waxing experience that has left some discoloration on my skin as well. I also have a horrible ingrown hair situation underneath the jawline. I usually wind-up covering this up with make-up - now bare minerals because I was concerned that the make-up chemicals could in fact be making the situation worse.
At any rate, I talked with a laser specialist referred by a friend of mine who is Greek, and a bit dark, though not as dark as me. She said the woman used the darker hair laser on her and did a fabulous job, and she only has some wispy hairs now. The woman said she wasn’t sure about using the laser on me because it could actually increase the hormones by using the laser.

I’m leaning towards electrolysis, but I’m wondering because of all the past problems on my skin (dark marks and ingrown hairs), if it’s even worth it, or if it would cause more problems. The laser seems the most effective dealing with ingrown hairs and the rate of growth that I’m dealing with.

Any ideas about which might be better for me?

2

If you have a lot of coarse dense growth, large patches similar to a man’s beard, laser could be a good solution. We don’t recommend it for small patches of growth, even if the hair is coarse, because it can stimulate finer hairs around them to become more coarse. Laser or electrolysis do no affect your hormones. Neither does make-up.

Have you had your hormones checked? Do you have any other symptoms associated with PCOS? You may want to address this as if you have an underlying condition causing the growth in the first place, you’ll always need touchup treatments after you’re done with laser or electrolysis for the new growth that your body develops in the future. There are birth control pills and other medication available to control the hormones if you do have a condition. A good endocrinologist will be able to determine this.

With a good Nd: Yag laser or an experienced electrologist, you won’t have any side effects. Finding someone experienced is most important.

3

Hi Tymie,

I am African American with a medium brown complexion and have tried both laser and electrolysis. I do believe I have laser induced growth from laser and skin discoloration, so based on my own experience I wouldn’t recommend it. I had it on my chin and neck for over 2 years, I believe the clinic I went to was dishonest about their ability to treat my skin type and now has plenty of unsatisfied customers for various reasons. So finding a good practioner with the right equipment may make the difference. I have been satisfied with my progress with electrolysis, but it is definately more time consuming than laser and in my case more expensive. I’m no expert, just wanted to tell you my experience.
Good Luck!

4

Thanks b_girl,

More growth from laser is something I don’t want to go through - it’s hard to find a place that actually specializes in brown skin, and I know a lot of people out there are about the money.

How has your experience been with electrolysis? How much do you do at a time and does the hair in fact come back?

5

Hi Tymie,
I’ve done electrolysis for facial hair (brow, upper lip, and sideburn) and so far my results have been quite good and I’m pleased with it. One thing you have to remember about electrolysis is that it’s a commitment–hair is always growing in different cycles so even if an electrologist gets all the visible hairs in 1 session, there are a lot more waiting under the surface. You could probably go weekly and the nice thing is that the hairs are removed after they are treated so you don’t have to deal with tweezing/removing them.

6

From my side of the fence as a practicing electrologist, I can tell you true that I treat many, many people of color, with all hair structures from fine to sturdy strong and all progresses extremely well. When one presents with hyperpigmentation from using temporary measures or picking at their skin, once the hair is treated in the proper stage of growth and is treated with the proper probe size, intensity and timing, that follicle will not grow another hair to cause trouble ever again. The source of attention and irritation (the hair)has been removed and the skin can now heal. The brown spots fade and the skin tone will even out in about six months, give or take a few.

I have used MicroFlash thermolysis, but have now switched it up to PicoFlash thermolysis, on people of color and both work very well! I like the speed that these modalities offer so clients can get cleared and stay cleared. It improves their appearance and thus, their psychological well-being. Another bonus is, their skin is beautiful in the end when all is said and done.

There is a way to do this correctly, safely and within 9-18 months, depending on the amount of hair and the client’s compliance to keep on a proper schedule. It is highly possible that you will be 100% satisfied if a certain strategy is followed with an experienced electrologist who uses good equipment expertly. Blend and manual thermolysis works as well, by the way.

I am less familiar with laser, so I can only parrot what I have heard. A good Yag laser practitoner can bring fabulous results for conditions like pseudofolliculitus barbae. This can literally change ones life. Good electrolysis can, too. The hard part is finding and then trusting the practitioners for either modality.

I personally like working on people of color. Today, I attended a continuing education seminar on dermatology. I heard words like keloiding, hyperpigmentation, scarring being used in relation to electrolysis treatment of black skin. It sounded very unfamiliar to me, because I have never had such things happen to my darker skin clients after they completed their course of properly spaced treatments. They respond very well and I have seen some real messed up skin from years of tweezing and picking ingrown hair out incorrectly. These new cases always brings a big sigh from me in the beginning because it looks so awful. Eventually, it all turns around for the better. I am so proud of one client in particular who presented with an angry mess of ingrowns and hyperpig on her neck in Janurary 2007. I saw her last week after a long hyatis and her neck was beautiful! She’s been in maintenance mode for a while now and there are only very few sparse hairs left on her neck after 18 months. She got off track at times with her appointments, but amazingly, it didn’t throw things off that much. She looks so good, and her happiness is contagious.

Spend some time to get consults and short appointments, so you can find someone to help you get rid of this hair with care.
I wish this could be easier for all consumers, but fact is, it is not. There a many fabulous electrologists out there, but we have no way of knowing who all of them are unless hairtell posters actually post about their positive experiences in their communities.

Dee

7

Thanks for the info. Dee, it’s really helpful. Any recommendations for good electrolysis who’ve worked on brown skin in the Washington, DC area?

8

Tymie, keep in mind that pigmentation and scarring can be an issue with both laser and electrolysis ONLY when the practitioner is not experienced. It’s also a non-issue when they are experienced. Induced growth is not an issue from laser if you’re only treating dark coarse hair. You haven’t described your situation exactly, so it’s hard to say what’s best. Laser is definitely less time consuming overall, so that’s an advantage if it’s the right method for you. So make sure to consider everything when you make your decision. And to repeat, laser is not a good option if you don’t have large patches of coarse dense hair growth.

There are recommendations on this forum for clinics in your area for both laser and electrolysis. If you run a search, you’ll be able to find them. There are also a couple places nearby in Virginia. So search by all the city and states near you. Also, go to www.cosmeticenhancements.com laser forum and read success stories thread where there are several recommendation in your area.

9

To answer your question I am happy with my progress with electrolysis, we have been focusing on my chin so far and it is definitely better. My first session was 3 hours to clear my chin, in 3 months I have completed about 25 hours. I was hoping to cut my hours back but we have not gotten to the point were we can clear both my neck and chin so I will have to try and maintain this pace. Luckily my electrologist just told me she is updating her equipment so that should help move things along. Also I have noticed my complexion is evening out.

10

Thank you very much for all your input. You don’t know how much this helps all the people reading this information in the wings.
So happy for you that this going well. Be sure to hug your electrologist for caring to do her job well.

Dee

11

I’m also a caramel complexion black female. I have coarse black hair on my neck and chin but its not dense. It’s very scattered. Without doing any research I did laser a few years ago which resulted in induced hair growth. I am now doing electrolysis. I am happy with my progress overall but I do have a few issues that may be just practicioner based.

If your hair is scattered like mine was I would recommend electrolysis over laser.