Permanent scarring or pitting are extremely rare and only really a possibility if you are going to someone who is not a properly trained electrologist and will therefore commit grave errors. You would know something is not right, you may feel the needle actually piercing skin or smell burning.
Personally, I would be a little reluctant to have fine hair treated by someone who is using basic thermolysis. The reason is that as well as being fine so requiring skill in insertions, this hair is very shallow which means that the damage is occurring much closer to the surface. You will for sure have more scabbing, that's not a problem, but the risk of skin damage is much more when performing shallow insertions.
If there are no aftercare products, don't worry as they are not essential. Just keep the area clean and ice if necessary.
Hi guys! Hope you all had a great Eid! Just wanted to update you all on my facial hair removal! I started electrolysis 3 weeks ago as recommended by this group for facial hair. I've been having some bothersome hairs I have on my neck and jaw line treated. So far I have had 3 half hour sessions. I'm already feeling less self concious about the hairs. My skin is also getting used to the treatments but my skin was burning after 1st. I can see some regrowth probably from 1st treatment. Anyone thinking about laser hair removal on facial hair, don't do it. It works on very thick hairs but will make surrounding hairs more course. I was having laser treatments for 2 years, £100 every month. Waste of money! I'm getting married in January and hoping the hairs will calm by then as I will be living away for a while.
Can anybody tell me their electrolysis experience? And how long it took for them to see some results?
I am having laser on my face, have had 2 sessions so far and I have to say, the whole face area was treated minus eyebrows and forehead and I have to say, so far Good, I am talking about my experience of 2 sessions so far and even the lighter hair have gone, so far no regrowth of fine hair into thick coarse hair. So lets see. I have 3 more sessions.
Saadia - I feel you did not read my first post thoroughly. It discusses shedding, treatment spacing and when you will be able to tell if it's working. I can confidently say that right now, neither you nor the tech can say if you have permanently destroying follicles. I'm not going to re-hash what I've said before, so please read the first post and later posts.
Unless you are having treatments with an 8 week gap (for face), you have not in reality had two actual treatments. Anything closer together and you can consider it a single treatment in regards to which 'lot' of hair cycle it is targeting. All the hair will shed and between treatments you can have hair free periods. But unless you are leaving it at least 8 weeks (face only) before each appointment, you will not have any idea if you are seeing a reduction or not. And really, for such an area, you won't know for sure until you stop treatment and wait at least 6 months for the follicles to re-establish themselves.
Take for example my full leg treatment. The hairs on the back of my thighs were very fine and I doubted Laser will be able to kill those follicles. The technician also told me to expect the same thing. However, since the clinic could not charge less to not treat them, we decided to do them anyway with as high settings as possible. I got full shedding of those hairs and the area, like the rest of my legs was smooth between treatments until the next cycle of hair started to emerge. It is when I stopped treatments and let the follicles that were still active to re-establish that I could see what the results were. About 85% reduction on lower legs (remaining hairs were the fine ones which Laser couldn't kill), 70% reduction on front thighs (remaining hairs were fine and medium again, that Laser couldn't kill. Thighs don't respond well to Laser) and no reduction on the back of the thighs since all the hair was fine to begin with.
aishi - Any hair you are seeing emerge now is NOT regrowth. If any follicles you have already had treated were not fully destroyed (i.e. they will produce a hair again), you will not see that happen until some months later. This should not happen that much anyway if the electrologist is trying hard to kill each follicle first time. Any hair that is coming through now would have come through anyway if you had left the area alone for the last three weeks. This is why I recommend people should leave the area alone for at least three months before starting electrolysis to let as much hair as possible emerge. Not all will emerge because some follicles will be in a different growth stage... but it will be as much as possibly can at any one time (about 70% of total hair on the face). This way you will have a better idea of how much hair you actually have that needs removing and so does the electrologist. Your expectations will be more realistic and you will be able to tell if it is actually working or not. For example, let's say after leaving the area alone for 3 months to let all emerge, it takes 3 hours worth of treatment time over a few weeks to clear it all. Over the next three months, a lot less hair should emerge if the first sessions were effective.
The way you are doing the work now is fine too. But you really need to bear in mind that you are at the beginning of the 3 month period so new hairs are continually emerging that you are treating as they come up. So you will not know until about 6 months in how effective the treatment is. If it's working well, by 6 months in, you will need less frequent and/or less long appointments.
Saadia - I feel you did not read my first post thoroughly. It discusses shedding, treatment spacing and when you will be able to tell if it's working. I can confidently say that right now, neither you nor the tech can say if you have permanently destroying follicles. I'm not going to re-hash what I've said before, so please read the first post and later posts.
Unless you are having treatments with an 8 week gap (for face), you have not in reality had two actual treatments. Anything closer together and you can consider it a single treatment in regards to which 'lot' of hair cycle it is targeting. All the hair will shed and between treatments you can have hair free periods. But unless you are leaving it at least 8 weeks (face only) before each appointment, you will not have any idea if you are seeing a reduction or not. And really, for such an area, you won't know for sure until you stop treatment and wait at least 6 months for the follicles to re-establish themselves.
Take for example my full leg treatment. The hairs on the back of my thighs were very fine and I doubted Laser will be able to kill those follicles. The technician also told me to expect the same thing. However, since the clinic could not charge less to not treat them, we decided to do them anyway with as high settings as possible. I got full shedding of those hairs and the area, like the rest of my legs was smooth between treatments until the next cycle of hair started to emerge. It is when I stopped treatments and let the follicles that were still active to re-establish that I could see what the results were. About 85% reduction on lower legs (remaining hairs were the fine ones which Laser couldn't kill), 70% reduction on front thighs (remaining hairs were fine and medium again, that Laser couldn't kill. Thighs don't respond well to Laser) and no reduction on the back of the thighs since all the hair was fine to begin with.
Stoppit I appreciate your reply to my post but dont get offended if you see my post as its against the laser logic, but I did write that so far its been good. I did read your first post, many times in fact. The first time the technician did not target all hair so I came back after 4 weeks, and this time she did target the ones that she had missed before. She did tell me I have to come 5-6 times to be sure that I have hair loss and then might have to come time to time to target hair that might come out later. Which is ok with me.
I know u are for electrolysis for face but find me one in my city and I will happily go there, in google I have not found any place for electrolysis in my city.
Saadia, all I'm saying is that it's too early to say that it's been good in regards to whether the follicles are being destroyed or whether you will get induced growth. Shedding hairs only means that the settings are enough to have caused this. Right now it may be a temporary phenomenon akin to waxing for all anyone knows. If you only have 3 treatments left I'd space them every 8 weeks otherwise it's just waste.
Hi stoppit. Thanks for the advice, I did leave the laser treatments about 3 months before I started electrolysis. What do you think results will be like by January. I dont touch my hairs or skin between treatments. Thanks
Wow ok. Waiting only three months after laser before starting electrolysis is going to mislead you a lot. Because Laser messes up the hair cycles and they take 6 months to 1 year to stabilise. It's hard to predict for how long you will keep seeing actual regrowth from Laser but I'm confident 3 months is not enough. It will therefore be hard for you to know if it's the electrolysis that is not working well or if any growth you are seeing is still from Laser as this can continue for many, many months. Also, did you do anything to the hair in those three months? Waxing, threading, shaving?
The expert electrologists I know won't even willingly treat someone who has had Laser so recently.
The lady I'm seeing said that at least 2 months after my last laser treatment is enough. She seems to know her stuff. She's a member of the institute of electrolysis, that's where I found her from too, she has certificates and all sorts and aftercare gels, creams etc. She's been doing it for years. It's only the thick hairs that where very visible and not bleachable that i wanted treated not my fine hairs so she has just been treating the odd course hairs which multiplied throughout my laser treatments. I just hope it works. I'm just so fedup with it now. I never did any form of hair removal after during any treatments.
Well that's great. But their members mostly don't know what they are talking about in regards to Laser. I can tell you without a doubt that two months is not enough. It's enough to get started on electrolysis yes, but it's not long enough to see the effects of Laser which can interfere with electrolysis results.
And don't go for all the aftercare gels and creams (let me guess - she has sterex branded stuff?). They can do more harm than good. She should clean the area thoroughly before treatment with sterile soap and water and again after treatment. The most you'd want after that is aloe vera. You can ice the area when you get home if it feels hot.
But anyway, just take my advice if you think it will help. No need to share it with her because no one likes a third party sticking their nose in their work.
Q-switched lasers are used for tattoo removal and skin treatments, not hair removal.. at least they shouldn't be.
Oh really?? :O
my dermatologist is suggesting me q-switch laser Nd yag for face. I have no idea how it is different from long pulse Nd yag. Can you explain me? She just said its better if you have thin hair and the long pulse is for hair in areas like underarms etc. Also when I asked her about the induced hair growth, she said its because of the wrong type of laser used. That is the one meant for thicker hair is used on the thinner hair aswell. so confused
