Hello all. I took the plunge and had my free 15-minute consultation.
The lady electrologist uses the blend method. In 15 minutes, she removed about 20 hairs (she had to do some 3-4 times!). It was comfortable. She was not plucking. Some discomfort, but certainly not plucking it!
Anyway, she says I may have high testosterone. Question is, if this is the case, will electrolysis work in the long run if I do not take hormones or medication to correct this problem?
Please help. She was not a bad start, to be honest, but I wonder about this (I have my blood test tomorrow morning at 06:30am!).
The hairs you have now and are treated today can be successfully killed. The problem is that hormones could cause inactive hair follicles that do not grow hair to start growing hair in the future and those will require future treatment.
Treatments you have today will still benefit you, since any hair that may grow in the future will not be growing next to the hair you have today.
I had a nightmare client whose case answers your question.
A male with a testosterone problem that was causing every follicle in the beard and neck area to be recruited and grow hair did not want to take hormonal treatments (estrogen) for his testosterone imbalance. He came to me desperate for hair removal (and relief of both the physical and emotional pain) and deliverance from the side effects of testosterone reduction drugs for a man.
I explained that his would be a very expensive and LONG TERM project, as we were really looking to fight a war with the body in a case where the body could continue to send replacement troops for a good long time.
This guy went from seeing me 3 to 5 times a week for at least 3 hours a session to 5 years later breezing in and out in an hour or less, once every 3 to 6 months.
The truth is, he actually has less hair on his face than I do these days! (I am sooooo jealous)
His body still recruits new follicles, but there are so few left to recruit now that the once awsome army, is now reduced to a loosely connected band of militia that can’t even get close together to put up much resistance any more.
Your case simply could not be as bad as his. I say with confidence that you will either finish, or simply fall into a comfort zone where you get short treatments once every 3 to 6 months to catch the few new hairs as they come in.
I have had clients who insist that I should be able to complete genital hair removal within a year and I have to stress over and over again that this hormonally rich area will produce hairs for years. So please, those electrologists who do not have extensive experience with genital hair removal, please clarify in your statements that a one year estimate excludes the genital region and those with hormonal issues.
It does take more than a year for most of my clients who want bikini line with hair removal per electrolysis. Average time spent is about 15 months with the client coming one time per month and getting a full clearance each time. If I did blend as opposed to the faster forms of thermolysis, it would take longer.
I also have been plucking for 5 years, which I now learn is a big no-no. I think I will go find another electrologist who uses thermolysis, so things can move a little faster.
Also, I was worried because she had to go back 3-4 times on many hairs. This concerns me. Oh, yeah, I am black African, so my follicles are curly, which apparently makes it tougher to complete electrolysis. I will have my blood test on Monday morning (I missed it the past two days!). Results should be out by Friday, at which point I will see. I do not want to take the anti-testosterone drugs as I don’t have a robust liver. 23 year old female. Thanks for all the replies so far. All very helpful.
Ah, yes, plucking… I have a client who plucked for years, and the result was that I needed to use a male beard chin setting on the upper lip! The only grace was that the number of hairs was a comparatively low number (when compared to a man’s full mustache) but it was a lot less fun than it could have been had we been working on that same area without it ever having been plucked.
I wish I could clear you out and at least make it easy for your person to keep up with the hair as it comes in, but since you don’t have your location in your profile, I don’t even know if I have been down the street from you on one of my globe trotting trips. It has happened more than once that someone said, I wish I could have work with you, only to find that I was actually in their city the day they wrote that. :o
As for you VickieCNY, I will leave my jokes for when I have you in person to Poke 'n Joke, as too many people seem to misunderstand my humor when it is left in type. Lately, I can’t even answer a question without someone accusing me of being mean, or having an attitude. Go figure.
How many hairs do you estimate you have? Which specific areas?
For deep curly hairs, blend may be a good idea and sometimes necessary, so it would be great to find someone who does both blend and thermolysis. It’s also not uncommon to need a couple tries when you first start on this type of hair which can be ingrown too.
Do you have any other signs of hormonal or thyroid issues or PCOS?
LAGirl, I have some hair around my belly-button, but regular periods otherwise. I still haven’t done my hormone bloodwork because I fainted at the doctor’s when I saw the needle the last time. I will have hormone results in a few days.
