Lower leg taking too long or okay?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
1

How long should a lower leg take, normal female hair growth? I know this is very individual, but I had to ask because I am getting frustrated and broke!

I have been getting electrolysis done on my lower leg (just one leg for now) for the past 13 months, 1-2 hours per treatment, almost every week. I had the blend for the first two months, then thermolysis because I was pregnant and then back to the blend the last couple of months. I cannot say I’ve had full clearance after each treatment; it seems that while she was focusing on the front, the back would get out of control and the other way round.

Now, 13 months, 80 hours and at least $3,500 later, I still have 30% of hair left. If I do not go in for treatments for 2-3 weeks, there is enough hair to make skirts or walking bare-legged out of the question.

Is my experience normal? Should I stick with it, change the electrologist or quit altogether?

(I have fairly light hair, which makes me a poor candidate for laser, this is why I started electrolysis).

2

Well… ELectrolysis does deliver permanent hair removal for any color of hair or skin, so if you stick with it, eventually you will get finished and will never have to shave your legs again.

Frankly, 80 hours for one lower leg blows my mind. No wonder we hear the phrase “electrolysis takes forever” repeatedly. I don’t know if you have an average hair amount and distribution for a woman or not, but 80 hours for ONE lower leg is a bit much, and you are not even finished?. Do you see why we say here that blend electrolysis is very good and will “kill” hair, however, the faster forms of thermolysis performed on a modern, computerized, powerful (yet gentle) epilator, is your best and fastest option.

RULE #1, #2 and #3 : Clients want the hair off fast. There is a way to do this faster so as not to leave the client broke, depressed and partially bare. Every electrologist has a different approach. So, your experience is probably normal for what she can do. She is not cheating you, she probably doesn’t even know that she can speed things along and get you on your way sooner. This is how she learned to do electrolysis and does not feel the need to change some things.

What is her set up like? How many hairs is she doing a minute? Does stop and talk? answer the phone? shift around? Do the hairs release easily? You can tell her that you are frustrated and then let her explain from there. You may have a tough case? I don’t know? At some point, the money spent and the effort expended are going to be compared with the progress made and thngs may look really lopsided, just like the are beginning to look now.

How many electrologists have you visited? Maybe there is someone that can move faster with microflash or picofalsh thermolysis? I can tell you in terms of ME, that it has taken anywhere from 8-15 hours just to clear ONE lower leg, in general. Those time ranges depend on the amount of hair that one initially presents with. A few cases have been a little less than eight hours, but most fall between the 8-15 hour range for an initial clearance. After that full,first clearance is reached, one needs several more clearings over a year to 18 months, spaced farther apart. Each clearing takes less and less time as the hairs get sparser and sparser.

You certainly have the patience ingredient down right, so no one can fault you for not putting in enough time, so I’m wondering what are the missing ingredients here.

Can you submit a picture of your untouched right leg with a few days growth so I can see how much hair you have?

Dee

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This is how she learned to do electrolysis and does not feel the need to change some things. You must be right here, Dee. She has been doing electrolysis for 25 years. On one hand, since has been in the business for so long, she must be doing something right, right? But on the other hand, she might be doing things the same way she was doing them in the 70’s.

The intial clearance took her 14-15 hours, app. 10 hairs per minute. Now that the hair is thinner and shallow, she probably does 15-17 per minute. The hair releases easily. I do not know the brand of the machine she uses, but it does seem to be older. She does not chat, answer the phone or get distracted.

She treats even long and old (3-4 week old) hair. She says you never know when you can catch it in the anagen stage, does not have to be when it has just come out. Is that correct?

There is not a huge selection of electrologists where I live. I used to go a different lady at the same place for my bikini line. She used the blend on me and worked fast (can one be fast with the blend though?) and when I had a two-week break after 6 months of treatment ALL OF MY HAIR GREW BACK. I got so discouraged that decided to put off the incredibly painful bikini line for now and try the leg with this current electrologist.

If I do decide to continue with electrolysis, I will follow your advice and shop around for someone who uses microflash or picoflash.

Here is a photo of my untreated leg:
Photo

Thanks!

4

Whoops! Forgot to look at your photo! Multi-tasking - watching that basketball god LaBron James! What a cutie pie! Has anyone seen that Poweraide commercial of his shots at halfcourt?

Okay, looking at your picture, you are not that hairy. I assume this is your untouched right leg. The hair density is not that bad in this area at least. I’m thinking it would take less than 10 hours to clear a lower leg like this with Micro or Picoflash thermolysis. Speed will depend on the electrologist’s preferences and skill. If you can’t find certain qualities, then you will have to take what you can get in your locale, knowing that you will eventually see the end.

Dee

Oh, the main thing I wanted to question was the mode used. If she is removing hair that fast per minute, is she using flash thermolysis?? That means,that each hair is treated in less than a second. Manual thermolysis and blend is several seconds per hair. I’m a little confused by the numbers?

1 Like
5

While it sounds like you are getting somewhere, I do think that it’s taking you too long. I’m glad you are looking elsewhere.

I looked up a client whose lower legs were dense and dark with hair. When the electrologist looks at virgin hair growth on legs - we see hairs in groupings of 2 or 3 hairs. This client had 6 to 9 visible hairs in every little grouping. This client had 100.5 hours of thermolysis treatment over a period of 10 years. (She took 5 or 6 years off to have a baby.) Several hours of this would include having her upper lip and brows treated AND her missed time - and she got both legs done!

6

What I see in that leg, is the complete removal of hair secondary and tertiary. Of the three groups, there is only one of each. Indeed, they have removed 60% of the hairs… but at what price! Encourage your electrologist, not only those who choose to grow to devastates all in all phases. You will see results much faster. However, those hairs that are in the picture are all in anagen phase .

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Note to Ded10 - I think that the picture is the untreated leg! The leg that has not been treated.

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The picture is of the untreated leg (the right leg) as stated by ah who lea.

9

What she says is not what is in that photo. That leg has been treated previously, when? I do not know, probably more than a year. But that has been treated is obvious, there are indications that it is shown: A series of balds in unusual areas, permanent scars probably due to an overtreatment of Electrolysis, etc …
I have no reason to doubt the testimony of her, but this photo says otherwise.

10

What say you, ah who lea???