I get to shave!

[LeaP]

Sounds odd, huh?

Having hit 150 hours electrolysis, my appointments have been reduced to 1 hour, as that's what it's taking for a full clearance. I haven't shaved since last Fall. But my tech says to shave tomorrow - she wants to be hitting only the stray anagen growth hairs at this point. My face already feels very nice, but tomorrow is going to be baby skin heaven!

[PretzelGirl]

Love the feel of progress!

[LeaP]

It's amazing. Not even a teeny vellus hair in sight.

What's equally amazing is how rapidly things change. When I hit 135-140 hours or so, suddenly regrowth and new growth started dropping dramatically. Every appointment I'd hear "don't get discouraged ..." I'm still dozens or scores of hours from maintenance, but it was very heartening to reach this point and about 20 hours earlier than best guess. The latest guess, anyway. Like everyone else it seems, when I started it seemed like 50-60 hours would do it. :brolleyes:

[Kate T]

Sounds great.

I must admit I HATE electrolysis. It is just such a PAINFUL way to effectively use up hours of my life!! The flip side is I probably hate my facial hair more! Arghh... so it's off to the dentist for a nerve block then on to the electrologist for a 3 hour session next week. I know, I'm a woos, but I can barely last an hour without a block, at least this way I get 3 hrs in at a session.

NB: I live in regional Australia and there is only 1 electrologist within a 2hr drive. She is nice enough and reasonably efficient but I do usually get a bit of swelling and typically 3 or 4 very small (i.e. <1mm) blisters after each session. In her defence I have asked her to concentrate on problem areas (Chin, upper and lower lip). It takes about 1-2 weeks to heal up back to where I don't need to use concealer. Is this normal?

Cheers

[Angela Campbell]

It's a nice feeling when you get to that point. I go about once a month don't shave but once or twice in between. 171 hrs now she told me. 3 years almost.

[LeaP]

As funny as this sound, I have loved shaving after (well, next day) after a session over the last year or so. The contrast was the experience. When I stopped shaving, I started getting a little obsessed about the bits of growth that would crop up. Even though I was much further along, I never had that fresh post-electrolysis, post-shaved smoothness, which was like a look into the future. Knowing full well it would not last, I nonetheless always hoped it would!

So in some ways electrolysis is not as satisfying anymore. Perverse or what? I also feel like I'm moving on.

Kate, for the most part I have had no issues with pain from electrolysis. I have had individual sessions that were more or less painful for some reason, including one that was excruciating, but that is the exception for me. My last session, in fact, was a bit more painful than usual, but I think that was because I had a facial and microdermabrasion the week before. My tech had recommended it to get a little bit of fresh skin surface and remove some embedded debris from electro. I don't use any pain blocks, creams, etc.

What you are experiencing in terms of healing time does not sound normal to me. Maybe you could be more specific about the type of healing you're talking about. If you are experiencing heat, redness, and localized swelling for a week or two, that is definitely a problem. On the other hand, it is not unusual to get some transitory discoloration or textural change that lasts a week or so.

The red flag is blisters. Clear blisters are burns. The occasional small red spot is usually just zapping a capillary next to the follicle and is not a problem. … Unless you get a lot of them – which could indicate that her technique is not good. Other things to watch for include pain extending into the next day or beyond and "blowouts." You can sometimes even hear the latter. It happens under normal circumstances occasionally when a little bit of sub-surface moisture or oil is zapped and "explodes" through the pore. If it happens frequently, the tech is running things too hot. To give you some perspective on this, I have probably had less than a dozen over my 150 hours to-date.

Healing can stretch out if you are particularly prone to developing ingrown hairs. I only have that problem along my jaw line, and the very worst thing you can do is pick at them, which will only make the situation worse. A good tech will remove these quickly and easily as part of his/her routine.

Look to your aftercare and hydration. The more dehydrated you are and the dryer your skin, the longer healing takes. I'm perpetually dehydrated. I don't drink enough water under any circumstances and Spiro doesn't help. Until recently, I iced after sessions and then used pure aloe (not the stuff with color, scent, or alcohol). As my tech tends to work across my face from one side to the other, I noticed that the side she started on healed significantly faster. So I stopped my aftercare regimen! And found that I healed better and faster without it! Mileage definitely varies on aftercare, but it is something you might look into.

Follicle density on the upper lip is very high in most males. My tech tells me that complete clearings of the upper lip early in the process can not only result in skin damage in some people, but can cause some skin collapse and produce puckering and lines as a consequence. Her approach to my upper lip has been to thin it over time. Even so, my upper lip takes a little longer after a session to return to its normal look and feel.

I hope this helps.

[Kate T]

Thanks Lea

I'll monitor carefully what it response and recovery is like after my next session. Because I was insanely lucky with laser and have been really pretty lucky generally with others perceptions (even without shaving for 2 days I am generally addressed as correct gender) I have been pretty lazy about electro and tend to get it done in fits and spurts every month or so.

Maybe it would be better if I only did an hour each week? I don't think I could handle much longer. Also as I said, access to electrologists is a problem. Up until a few years ago I would have had to drive 2-3 hours to get to Canberra for an electrologist.

Thanks again for the info though. I might do a daily photo run and see what it looks like :)

Kate