Thank you so much! This is very encouraging … I think I will start with my upper lip and chin/underchin since they bother me the most… The hair on the sides of my face is not my biggest worry… I haven’t even started and I’m already looking forward to that “first clearance”! I’m setting up a consultation for the end of the august… I’m sure i’ll definitely be around to ask more questions/report on how it’s going!
For aftercare… Witch hazel and tea tree oil is what I’ve gathered from this forum? I already use witch hazel every day… is tea tree oil just for at night?
If I end up using this electrologist, they are most comfortable with blend method so I think I will stick with that as opposed to having them do thermolysis which they are not as familiar with and risk a botched job…is there an average number of hairs that can be cleared per session with blend?
You can stop waxing/tweezing now. The sooner the better. Switch to shaving. Most of my female clients prefer using an electric shaver.
Regarding the tea tree oil, yes, use it at bedtime and remember to use dabs. Use a cotton swab, not your fingers, to get small amounts on specific areas where you were treated. If you use too much, then your skin will dry out and get red. My clients swear by it and the ones who don’t like it probably used it incorrectly.
Blend is a highly respected, so don’t fret over that part. It is always about the human being performing the process that matters. There are distinct advantages though among the different electrolysis modalities. It is like driving to your destination point - you can go locally or you can get on the expressway, but you will still get there in the end.
ahhh I haven’t even started yet and already I’m feeling frustrated …
I was looking at myself in the car mirror today and I realized how much hair there actually is all OVER my face… even a few underneath my eyes (dark ones) and peach fuzz all over my cheeks that seems a bit longer than average… am I just obsessing? I just feel like theres SO much that if I want to get rid of all of it I’ll be in this for years!!! I said money wasn’t an issue… which is true to a certain extent, I don’t want to be spending upwards of 4000 for all of it. I don’t know. I just wish I could see other people’s views of me… they can’t possible see all this, can they? yeah, it’s true, in order to see the hair on my cheeks and under my chin, I have to practically touch the bathroom mirror with my nose and bend to a certain angle … and yet it still bothers me and I feel like everyone can see it!! I just wish I could stop obsessing… I want to get the upper lip chin and neck started on first because they bother me most but I feel like once that’s done with I’ll be freaking out over the fuzz on my cheeks and sideburns… ugh. . I hate this
At the risk of being accused of being “insensitive” again, I will tell you that no one other than you is scrutinizing your looks to the extent that you describe in order to see imperfections and take note of them. They are too busy hoping that you don’t notice theirs
The rule of thumb is don’t worry about anything that can’t be seen in the bathroom mirror when standing 4 feet away in normal lighting.
I’m treating the areas you’re talking about, and I have a lot of brown hairs and long blonde hairs from threading. I do ok with 1 hour a week. Also, I was thinking today that the blonde hairs have different growth cycles than the dark hairs. It seems like the blonde hairs take forever to grow back. Maybe they have less or longer growth cycles? At any rate it’s good news economically.
ok. phew. i’m going to step back from the mirror and try to stop scrutinizing… and try not to look in the car mirrors at all, oh my goodness they are awful! … and now , another question. (sorry!)
I have some acne on my chin… will electrolysis worsen it, is it safe?
Candela, that’s great to know! I see you’ve had about 13 hrs now … how far along do you think you are now in terms of getting to the end? I’m just curious as to getting average number of hours to completion for people who are having the same areas treated as me.
They say on here that you need 9 months to treat all your growth cycles, so I wouldn’t be done with that until December on my chin and upper lip. Then I’d need a few months more for cheeks because I started later and never seem to get full clearance there. After the 9th month mark I should see only hairs that weren’t killed the first time, so I shouldn’t need to go in as much.
Right now I’m still having a lot of hair come in, but nowhere near as bad as it was when I started on my upper lip and chin in terms of coarseness/noticibility. I’m looking forward to seeing a reduction in hairs on my lip and chin by the 6th month mark at the end of September.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes 30 hours to complete, but it’s worth it if I’ll never have to worry about facial hair again my whole life, never have to thread myself again (and my electrologists say I’m so good with pain! hah hah I’m just used to suffering for beauty or maybe a little masochist), and can sleep in instead of plucking every day.
And I notice that electrolysis helps my acne too! Short term it can aggravate acne, but long term it seems to fix the pores so they’re less likely to clog. Plus you don’t get acne from ingrown hairs anymore. I just wish there was some kind of electrolysis treatment for oil glands, so I could treat my nose.
Hi all, another question, and thanks for the reply.
I was not able to get an appointment at the doctor (an endocrinologist) until the end of september!! I wanted to have my hormones tested before starting the procedure, but I don’t want to put it off that long … would it be ok to go ahead and start having electrolysis and have the tests done afterwards - and then if there’s some imbalance - treat it at the same time as treatment, and if not just keep going? and I remembered one more thing… I have been using retin-a gel every other day for acne for the past two weeks. Is it ok to have electrolysis done while using this gel ? I’ve heard for laser that you cannot have the procedure done because it makes skin extra sensitive, but what about electrolysis?
You can start treatments now even before you see an endo. The only thing you’ll find out from him is whether you may want to get on medication to control future growth. You’ll still need to start removing the hair that’s already there. So might as well start now.
You need about 12 months of treatments after your first clearance if you go on schedule and leave fully cleared each time. Treatments will decrease in frequency the entire time.
Blend removes about 2-3 hairs per minute vs thermolysis at 5-10.
OK! I’ve finally got an endocrinologist appointment scheduled, and will be going for an electrolysis consultation next week- this has taken just a bit longer than I had expected!
I have a question though… It’s recently occurred to me that the acne on my chin and upper lip might be from my removal methods, I have perfectly clear skin on the rest of my face. I had left chin hair untouched until last April when I waxed and then broke out insanely, which still hasn’t cleared up and continues to flare up. I started shaving recently in preparation for electrolysis and notice that the “acne” looks worse… How do you tell if the acne is just hormonal or might just be from removal method irritation… my acne is a lot of little red dots, hardly raised but visible… Could removal methods be the reason for that and- if so- would electrolysis solve that with time?
I let the hair grow out for about 3 days just to get an idea of how much is there… about 20 dark hairs on the upper lip and maybe 8-10 on my chin, and the rest is really fine, but some of it is dark. I have decided just to have electrolysis on my upper lip, chin, and neck and disregard the sides of the face and upper cheeks- the hair I have there is reasonably normal and I was just obsessing over it…
Electrolysis would not cause acne. Usually, acne is reduced by electrolysis. Chin acne frequently has to do with pressure, like resting your chin on your hand, and the weight of your head causes the pressure to lead to acne.
I had my first consultation yesterday. Looking for feedback on the experience! We did my upper lip and chin, she says I should come in every week for a half hour to start. I was a little red afterwards, but it was gone within the hour… as for pain, it hurt a bit, and I thought I felt something kind of like a plucking with some hairs… but I’m not sure, some were really short (I only came in with one days growth) so I think that might have been the feeling. The electrologist uses blend method, after treatment she treated the are with with hazel and said overall the process could take from 8-12 months, but possibly more if there’s a hormonal issue. She seemed very informed and explained the whole process very well plus the place was very clean. I’m not sure what kind of machine it is (something starting with an e I believe?) I will find out at the next appointment, but I know it’s the computerized blend method …
so what do you guys think? Sound good? She said if she ups the intensity level she can treat more hairs per session, I’m thinking I can go up higher for the next one but is it possible to be overtreated that way? It healed very quickly at this intensity level, will making it higher make the healing take longer? The pain was bearable, some of the chin and upper lip ones hurt really bad (we didn’t do any in the middle of my upper lip yet) but I could deal- thinking about taking a motrin before the next appointment? Is a half hour enough for every week? She got rid of most of the dark coarse hairs on this important but there are a lot of fine hairs that hadn’t grown out from shaving yet or were too short… so I’m going to go in with two days growth next time.
Have you been tweezing or waxing your chin hairs prior to electrolysis? She will know how much time should be allowed. With so many different epilators out there, it’s hard to say how much is too much and we all have different skill levels. The skin reaction and healing should be our guide. With the newer and best epilators, all bothersome hair could be removed if you gave her enough time and she used the faster forms of thermolysis, but she has to make that decision because she can see you.
Watch your skin closely and maybe you should keep weekly 30 minute appointments until you see how things are going for you. She may want to break you in gradually and increase the intensity as she see’s fit. There is a lot of assessing to do in those first few treatments because everyone is so different. Give her a chance to try some things until she can settle on what is best for YOU. Advil is a good choice to take 1-1.5 hours before your treatment, but do take it with food so as not to irritate your stomach lining. Keep shaving, but give her enough growth so she can grasp the hair. One to three days worth would be very nice.
Did you sample other electrologists in the Pittsburgh area? We always suggest this so you can compare many things.
had my second session. we’re doing a half hour a week, as that is really all I can afford to do at once now anyway…
We haven’t really gotten to the middle of my upper lip yet, she has just been treating the sides so far and getting rid of the darker/thicker hairs, same with my chin. My question is though: when can we begin to tackle the finer hairs? it seems like every week new, darker ones will come in… is that normal to just start with those, and will they eventually stop coming in so that the finer hairs underneath can be treated? I know it’s only my second treatment but already it feels like this might take a looong time, just looking at all the finer hairs that are there ( I don’t want them ALL treated- i’m ok with “peach fuzz” but, if I let them grow for more than a week, some are longer- those are the one’s i’d like gone). I had been tweezing and waxing since I was about 13 but I started shaving over a month ago in preparation for electrolysis.
my healing has been fabulous- only red for about an hour or two afterwards… but I have one question: some hairs I can feel a pull- it’s not necessarily a “plucking” feel but definitely a pull- can this happen sometimes? ie. if the hair is thicker, can you feel it coming out?
unfortunately this is the only place I have gone for a consultation. . . I don’t have adequate transportation to get to any of the other offices I found. overall, she seems highly educated - using the blend method- the machine looks a little old, but it works… oh I think she has been treating me on .3 - how does that sound? should it be higher/lower? this treatment wasn’t as painful so i was thinking of telling her to up the intensity next time so we can go faster…
For your upper lip, doing a half hour a week is fine in the beginning as long as you are healing well in between. The middle upper lip is the last to go. There are more hairs in this areas than on the sides in my years of observation. It is ouchier, so clients will not usually allow you to work for more than five minutes (unless they have an Apilus Platinum or Pure). This is an area where the magnification part
that your electrologist has chosen matters much. Those hairs can be very fine and probe selection is important, also. I don’t know what she is doing, but give her a chance. Blend will work, but the new kinds of thermolysis are faster. If a better brand epilator is used that is computerized, the sensation factor is better. You can get some topical anesthetic through your medical provider and apply it to that middle area if you really need it.
Treating the darker, thicker hairs is what we do first. It is visually pleasing to the client to get rid of the noticeable hairs as you can imagine. We then go after the finer, longer hairs of all colors next. Again, this can be accomplished if the electrologist has good surgical magnification. Even then, I personally like to give my clients a mirror so they can point out hairs that I missed as I am not perfect . Your description of the hair you have is the reason why many electrologists are upgrading to Apilus 27 megahertz epilators. They make hair removal so much easier for both the client and the electrologist. Blend is very good, but one can have about 200-400 insertions in a thirty minute session using the faster forms of electrolysis. Skin reaction is good, healing is good, sensation is much better and getting the hair off fast is certainly desired, and that can be accomplished with modern tools that the electrolysis manufacturers have provided for us. If you can’t find someone that has modernized, then so be it - you will still get permanent hair removal. It’s just so much nicer to go to someone who has skill with an enhanced setup.
I think it is a good sign that your healing is fabulous. Sometimes a pull is felt for some of those hairs with dry, white bulbs, but we like to see the majority of hairs slide out without traction. Sometimes, tweaking the timing for these white, dry hairs will eliminate that pull sensation. They are stubborn even though they are little guys. Some hairs with big bottoms pop out of the follicle even though it has been properly treated. Tell her if you feel consistent traction when she lifts out the hair.
It would be good if you could test out other electrologists if there is anyway you can change your transportation strategy, but you can only do what you can do, I understand.
Giving levels on your practitioner’s epilator means nothing. We can’t tell you if that is proper level or not. We need to be involved with you up close and personal. Electrolysis is a very technical procedure that requires much assessment and levels can change from week to week or even within the same session. She may need to bring up the intensity? or timing?. She just can’t turn it up because you want to go faster or she may damage your skin. If she had a better epilator, she would be free of all the constraints that an older epilator offers. She could go lightning fast if she purchased a better epilator and re-trained, thenyou wouldn’t be thinking that this is going to take soooooooo long.
Dee, thank you for your reply… She does use a computerized machine.
I was just getting a little worried is all. But I feel like I’ve seen a big improvement already just with two treatments. Right now there are only about 5 or 6 thicker, darker hairs that come in on my chin as opposed to the small patches there were on my first treatment and which would start re growing every day I shaved… those areas only have fine hairs growing on them now. I actually haven’t shaved my chin in a week because I wanted to give the finer hairs time to grow in so they could be removed- and it seems as if there’s not a REALLY big job to do like I was feeling before (there are a few dark ones like I said before, but much less than before). We haven’t started working on my lower lip yet either but again… all of that hair is fine and only a few are dark. I’m going for another session tomorrow.
Everything sounds great here, apart from the slight traction, and as Dee said ,there could be a reason for this, particularly on a first clearance. It is great to see such an obvious difference so quickly, and this leads me to beleive ,that you must be in skilled hands.
. Your description of the hair you have is the reason why many electrologists are upgrading to Apilus 27 megahertz epilators. They make hair removal so much easier for both the client and the electrologist. Blend is very good, but one can have about 200-400 insertions in a thirty minute session using the faster forms of electrolysis. Skin reaction is good, healing is good, sensation is much better and getting the hair off fast is certainly desired, and that can be accomplished with modern tools that the electrolysis manufacturers have provided for us. If you can’t find someone that has modernized, then so be it - you will still get permanent hair removal. It’s just so much nicer to go to someone who has skill with an enhanced setup.