I think I’m just being overly sensitive about this. I’ve been getting electrolysis for about a month and a half now, with about 16-18 hours. I have a lot of hair on my face although it is on the finer and lighter side as I have said in other posts (laser induced). Is it normal to still have a lot of hair after this much (or should I say little)time? I know the first few months are the hardest, and I know my electrolygist is removing a lot of hair with each visit. She’s doing microflash. I shouldn’t expect a slow down in visits with her for a while right? Like 4 months maybe, or more?
Try very hard not to think of yourself as being overly sensitive or paranoid. Just know that there is, by God’s design, a lot of hair on the human face. I don’t know what your particualr situation is without seeing a picture or seeing you close up, but will say that most of the small vellus hair you have or any woman has, is meant to be there. This kind of hair actually softens a woman’s face. Most people don’t look at this kind of hair as something that is unappealing or repulsive, but look at it (if they can even see it) as normal. Start looking around at other women and you will probabaly see fine, light hairs on their cheeks and side burns, etc. I don’t consider this kind of hair as something that makes a woman look like she is flawed, but rather think it is as normal and beautiful, just as the soft fuzz on a delicious peach.
As an electrologist, I just hate to put a woman’s skin through the process of electrolysis if the hair that is present is barely noticable. No sense tramatizing the skin and paying good money to get rid hair that is really supposed to be there. I will do what the client wants within my abilities, but will always tell them the truth as to what I think when I see them face to face. So many of us look great and we don’t give ourselves enough compliments.
Timewise, you shouldn’t be completed. As I said, there are hundreds and hundreds of hair follicles per square centimeter on a womans face and permanent hair removal can’t be accomplished in less than 9-12 months. Being that you are concerned with vellus hairs that are close together, your electrologist needs to spread out the work to protect your skin from overtreatment. She is probably choosing hair that is longer than the hair next to it. In order to see these hairs, the light has to be moved frequently to pick up a good view as these hairs are hard to see if you don’t shift and position the light almost every minute. These kinds of hairs can really slow down the fastest electrologist, as this is very challenging work.
Have you asked these questions of your practitioner? What kind of magnification are you using to view your facial hair? Have any of your friends or relatives been as bold as to ask you why you have hair on your face? Are they noticing and asking you questions or are you the only one noticing?
I have a lot of fine, blond hair on my face and I could have it removed at no charge by a colleague. I choose not to do this. What I will do though from time to time, is ask my colleague to seek only the hair that is sticking straight out and is much longer than the thousands of other hairs in the vicintity. This is reasonable, very doable and brings satisfaction. I also, will shave every 2 months, but they are really so small that I don’t even have to do that if I don’t want to. These kinds of hairs are slow growing.
I’m saying all of this without seeing you, but wanted to give you another perspective. I frequently run into this kind of client. All I can do is tell them what I see and encourage them not to focus so heavily on what is natural and beautiful. If I see areas that do stick out in the light, I will agree and sympathize with them, roll up my sleeves and go on the attack to remove those noticable long hairs. I don’t like to refuse to help these clients, but I sure don’t like taking their money when their facial hair looks so soft and normal.
Work with your electrologist and keep a nice balance about this hair stuff. Don’t ever expect permanent hair removal to be accomplished faster than a year or on the cheap.
Can you possibly submit a picture?
Take care,
Dee
Have you gotten to a full clearance? In order to get the fastest results and see improvement soonest, you need to go in as often as possible in the beginning to get to a clearance of all hair you want gone. Then, after that, you should come in as soon as you see new hair pop up and get rid of all of it right then and there. If you’re not clearing the entire area each time, the process takes longer as you’re ultimately missing hairs in the right growth phase each time since the electrologist can’t tell which ones just recently came out.
Lagirl, all you say is correct, however, if michgirl has as much vellus hair as she says she has, first, full clearance takes on a different meaning. The best one should aim for requires thinning of selective hairs and leaving the unnoticable hairs alone. Again, I say this without seeing her, but relate my comments to many others that I have seen with fine, blond facial hair.
Typically, 3 months is when aggressive work starts to show a difference the client notices as a stable reduction. 6 months if the work was not so aggressive.
Thanks Dee and lagirl,
The hairs that I have are all very different. Most of them are light and fine, some are brown and fine, and then there are the dark course ones on my chin. Those have been taken care of. However, the lighter finer ones are long and do stick out and glisten in the sun. That is not normal, especially since before laser, this was not a problem for me. I understand that facial vellus hair is natural, but not even close to what I have. My electrologist said I have accelerated vellus hair. I also have just recently been diagnosed with PCOS and have been on spiro for only a month and a 1/2. I’m hoping that helps with the electrolysis. So my facial hair is not that of your average female, which I used to look like. I’ll try to work on a picture.
Even with the amount of hours I’ve put in I haven’t gotten full clearance, but I’m close. I have been going in for two hours a week, but will most likely be going in 4 hours a week fron now on. I know it takes time, but it would be nice to be able to slow my visits. I know that time will come soon though.
Thanks!
Okay. We’ll look forward to singing, “Oh, Happy Day” with you when you reach first clearance. Keep it going. Ask your electrologist if you can share her name with this website. She sounds very good.
Dee
Yes, it sounds like you need to up treatment times at 4 hrs per week. That should be a good improvement. 2 hrs is not a lot if you’re talking about a lot of vellus hair here.