Update: Went in for an hour yesterday. She cleared new hairs on my cheek and then I asked her to move onto my neck. That was extremely painful. The hair on my neck is probably as thick as or thicker than the hair on my head so I wasn’t expecting this to be a breeze. I had huge bumps after the treatment and now the scabs are pretty big as well. She had to zap each hair four or more times for them to come out and it started getting too painful. I’ve probably waxed/threaded the hair on my neck more than I have any other place so I hope that at least that the next batch grows a little bit thinner and not as resistant.
One thing I noticed was that some hairs on my sideburns have come back thinner and I don’t know if she can see them or not but she didn’t get those hairs. I’m not sure if her magnification is not good or if she left them to get them next time. Hopefully that’s what she does.
Most electrolysis practictioners remove hair in a level by level plan. The focus on the thickest, darkest hairs first, and that usually takes all their time. Next, when there are no big thick hairs left, they go on to thinner lighter hairs. Since the power levels would be different for these hairs, you really don’t want your practitioner stopping to reset the treatment energy after every hair… but then again, we DO get paid by the hour 
Sensation is greatly reduced with the best epilators on the market today. She doesn’t have one, but you will still get permanent hair removal. If you are the very sensitive type, then you might want to investigate the possibility of getting some 5% lidocaine cream to the neck area. All colors and structures of hairs can be seen with a quality pair of surgical loupes. If your practitioner doesn’t have good vision wear, then you can only hope that all bothersome hairs are seen and removed eventually with whatever technique and strategy she uses.
Dee
Can anyone tell me what a really good moisturizer is for the face? I’ve been noticing that my face dries out very badly. But when I use some of the moisturizers out there, I get very oily. So it’s a lose-lose situation for me. I use Aloe Vera gel every morning ever since I started electrolysis but that doesn’t help with the dryness of my skin. It’s worse now because of the freezing weather in CT.
Thanks in advance for any advice given.
Not to sound like a broken record here, but hydration of the skin starts from the inside. You must get a well balanced water and electrolyte intake.
Now, since you are living in CT, I know that the humidity of the air falls to desert proportions in the winter, so you would do well to obtain a humidifier that has an automatic setting to keep the room at your desired humidity. I would keep the place between 45 and 60 persent humidity (Celine Dion and I like 55% best). If you have fan forced heat, a humidifier can be mounted to your heating box to humidify the hot air being blown into your air space, thus solving this problem. If you have radiators, baseboard heating, or any other type of radiant heat, stand alone units will be needed.
The products marketed as “moisturizers” are in fact only oils made to put a barrior on the skin thus making it harder for sweat to escape the pores and evaporate.
Quick update: Went in for my 10th hour treatment. She cleared my cheeks of any new hair then went to my upper lip. She did remove a decent amount of hair but there is still a lot visible on my lip.
Thanks James for the above information. I’m doing my best to get my skin hydrated.
The upper lip has an INCREDIBLE amount of hair, especially the middle upper lip under the nose. That’s why we start with the biggest hairs first, no matter what the color, and work our way down to the medium then finer, longer hairs. It’s an eliminating game we engage in that works great. Keep that “punching the hair” attitude and you will overcome.
Can you see the hair without a magnification mirror or even a regular mirror?
Dee
That’s also what my electrologist told me Dee. As for your question, I can’t see the hair on the right side unless I go really close to the mirror but I can see a bit on the left side. It is considerably less and lighter than before so I am not complaining.
A lot of new hairs have grown in on my cheeks, sideburns, and neck. Some are not as visible as they used to be and I’ll be going on Saturday for another treatment so those should be gone then. I’ll update at the time.
I had a question for the experts out there: How do I get rid of the pigmentation on my face? I’ve had this since before I started electrolysis treatments but I’m sure it started after I began removing hair from my face. Now, even though my face is clear of hair after every treatment, the pigmentation on the sides of my face makes it appear as though I have a shadow of a huge sideburn that runs into my cheeks. My skin isn’t all that dark, it’s more of a dark tan color and the pigmentation part is a darker brown.
Please give me any advice on how to take care of this. If there are good, tried creams/medications out there, let me know. Thank you.
Just curious. What was your healing like after each treatment? Was your skin back to normal within minutes to a few days?
Hyperpig is not a problem that requires any treatment with my clients. What is your aftercare like?
Mild daily exfoliation with products that are made for daily use would be helpful. Products with kojic acid and licorice root extract is helpful.
I’m not sure why you are getting this level of hyperpig. Type of electrolysis you are getting? Older epilator? Scabbing?
Dee,
My skin heals pretty well after each treatment. It is usually red and hurts for a few hours on the sides of my face but the next day the redness is gone and there are only scabs. I get quite a bit of scabs but they haven’t left any marks so far. As for my upper lip and neck, they are red for almost a day and a little swollen as well.
For aftercare, I only use 100% Aloe Vera gel every morning and usually ice right after treatment. The type of electrolysis I’m getting is shortwave (I believe that’s thermolysis). She uses a Proteaus 2000, which seems like an old machine.
Okay. Well, you should let all heal well before doing any exfoliation. Never disturb a scab! Let it fall off naturally on its own time frame.
How long do you have scabs? Are you talking to her about her concerns? All I can say about the epilator situation is that there is better technology available today that leaves one scabless, when one has skill and superior vision wear. I know I repeat this a lot, but it is true! You will still get permanent hair removal with the present setup.
If you have not sampled others then you should, even if they all have the same epilator as your present electrologist, that way you are comparing skill levels.
Dee
Quick update: I’m upto 11 treatments. I’m working on keeping the sides of my face and cheeks clear and alternate working on the neck and upper lip. I would say that my electrologist is doing a decent job but she seems more hesitant to do my upper lip. I always seem to ask her to work there as she just automatically continues to my neck after getting the new hairs on my cheek. When I look in the mirror, I can see more hairs on my left side of the lip then the right. She sits to my right so she always seems to do a better job on that side. It kind of looks odd with more hair on one side than the other and mine is pretty obvious.
A lot more hairs are beginning to grow in now. And there seems to be a never ending amount of hair. Hopefully this is the second cycle and I’m getting closer to the end.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated my treatments. I’ve finished 18 treatments so far, coming up to 1050 hours. I don’t see any improvements as for hair growth. I have new hairs coming in constantly. I’m hoping for more improvements in the coming weeks. Right now, my face feels rough and I can feel new hairs growing when I rub my hands on it.
Did you do a proper Before picture, and take additional pictures during your treatment to compare as the months go by? Without these, you are really NOT the best judge of what progress is being made. Many people here can tell you that their impression of what was going on was not in line with the facts displayed by their forgotton Before, During and later After pictures. Other people saw improvement before the person getting the treatment thought a positive change had come.
1050 hours?
Are you getting full clearance? Is this the lady with the Proteus?
Did you mean 10.5 hours?
sorry, that wasn’t 1050 hours but 1050 mins which is about 17.5 hours. She does use the proteus and I have taken pictures throughout the treatment but I haven’t sitten down and compared them. My only worry was that new hairs keep growing and she keeps doing full clearance in the areas. Thanks for the replies.