My Electrologist on my last treatment mentioned that my hair was growing from the Seabaceous gland…obviously she means being nourished by the oil from the gland. The hair on my chin is fine, long and lots of it…I have been having electrolysis for a number of years on and off and have noticed that alot of the hairs in the treated area have become slightly course…could it be possible that those hairs were not treated properly and could have been plucked and not have been felt as they were so fine. Perhaps the follicle opening wasn’t seen due to mag and it was just hit and miss. Basically what I’m saying is if I had not ever had poor electrolysis would the hair have got thicker just by nourishment from the seabaceous gland. Hormone tests have come back normal and internal scans say no problems.
One of the things electrologists learn during training - about the histology of the skin - is that those very fine hairs (like the ones you can barely see on your nose) do not have the normal follicle structure and do grow from the sebaceous gland.
I wonder if your electrologist believes that the hairs she is treating are that fine. Unless they were black, I don’t think you would notice them to be bothered by them.
One of the things that I believe is important for women with hair growth to know is that normal hormones can still cause hair growth. That genetics and/or enzymes in the skin can cause hair follicles to accelerate growth from vellus to terminal. The fact that you have some hair that bothers you (and we’ll assume that you do not have body dysmorphic disorder) very likely means that you have that genetic or enzyme factor that makes vellus hairs become terminal hairs over time. I tell every young woman who comes in with 3 bad chin hairs that they will very likely see other bad chin hairs come in after we have gotten rid of those first 3 hairs. If it’s the enzyme thing, then vaniqa might work, but it’s more expensive and time consuming that electrolysis!
Not to ignore your question - poor treatment techniques, such as tweezing, could result in coarser hair.
Thanks Barbara for your explaination, so bascially what your saying is that I’m always going to have a problem? What in your opinion would you class as a terminal hair, and at what stage would you label a vellus hair as accelerated?
When electrolysis is performed, is the sebaceous glad also destroyed in the process? I ask because I was wondering if electrolysis could also be used as a treatment for sebaceous cysts.
Interesting, is there a (practical) way to destroy a sebaceous gland? Would at least having the hair removed via electrolysis from an area prone to sebaceous cysts help reduce or eliminate them?
One should spend more effort in finding out how to normalize the amount of sebum being created, instead of trying to break the producer of the end resulting sebum.
It is like the doctors who treat hyper-hydrosis (excessive sweating) with killing off sweat glands, instead of having the person drink more water and do a detox program, and eliminate toxins that are forcing the body to go into overdrive excreating via the skin, instead of the urine and fecal matter.
Now I’m more confused than ever to what could be causing my hair problem. I think it is part genetic as my Dad is hairy, mum is on her face too, though hers is downey. I also have very greasy hair & skin (face & back), so the sebum could be the culprit here. I’ve been reading about how to reduce sebum excretion and it’s all very confusing. I know medication can help but I don’t want to go down that road as it has it’s long term affects regarding health issues. I think the safest way would be to do it through diet, exercise and vitamins. If anyone knows of any tried and tested diets that would help I’d be most grateful.
I have the same problem (oily, greasy skin and hair), which my father’s side of the family also has. They are also excessively hairy and suffer from sebaceous cysts. One poor fellow has such an extremely heavy beard shadow and he looks like Homer Simpson.
One interesting thing I noticed lately is that some other genetic males, late teens to 30s seem to also have large hard red forehead nodules along the temples and hairline (but not any other noticeable acne.) I wonder, are they a form of sebaceous cysts? Though somewhat maligned, neosporin seems to help with them. Tea Tree oil and retin-a had no effect on them.
I figured that I could have the vellous hair above my eyebrows and kill the sebaceous glands in the process it might stop them from forming.
You might always have the factors that make you grow some hair, but you can keep the hair at bay by getting good electrology treatments. I have women in their 70’s who began treatments as young women, got the problem under control, yet get a couple of “clean-up” sessions a year. Anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes of treatment - 2 to 6 times a year.
Vellus hair is that short, soft hair that can be found on the cheeks and nose. On most people, you will not see this hair because it is so short and fine and unpigmented. People with the genetics that give them dark hair will “sometimes” have noticable vellus hair. Accelerated vellus hair has length to it. Genetics or hormones turned the follicle on a little more to cause length, but those hairs are usually not any larger in diameter. With some people, waxing or tweezing those accelerated vellus hairs will cause the hairs to become terminal. Terminal hairs are larger in diameter and are usually pigmented. Keep in mind that some people can wax or tweeze and lose hair in the area (think of women who have overtweezed and cannot grow a nicely shaped eyebrow) - but it’s a gamble on which way it will go.
Some electrologists believe that treating the hair can result in a smaller sebaceous gland. I wonder if the old epilators that blasted the follicle might have resulted in that.
Another fact about hair growth is that women with excess hair usually have oilier skin. Even though there are no measurable hormone problems - I really do believe that hormones might be the cause of your excess hair and your oily skin. Afterall, we do inherit the physiology of our body - that means body structures such as hair follicles and sebaceous glands plus everything else!