Topic: Mass volume electrolysis afterwards?

[Jessica15]

For those of you that have gone to Precision or Electrology 3000, what does the skin look like a few days afterwards?  Any pictures?

If I go this route, I certainly wouldn't be out yet at work in the beginning stages.  I I had the procedure done on a Thursday and Friday, how much explaining would I have to do by Monday morning when I return to work?

[Rakel]

Dear Jessica,

I have never been to any of the marathon electrolysis sessions, but I have friends who have. They tell me that everyone is different. Some people have severe swelling and redness that lasts several days and others are good to go the next day.

I suggest contacting the electrologist and ask what is their typical recovery time.

I am sorry I cannot give you a personal report on a marathon session, but my own experience is this. When I have my twice weekly one hour sessions, I am a little red but no swelling, then after applying some Hydrocortisone cream to the area, the redness goes away after a few hours.

[ToriJo]

It depends on how much hair you have treated and also how you react to the treatment.  Right now I'm a week out from my last bulk session, and I have a couple dark bruises on my face, lots of bumps still, etc, but I'm happy enough with how I look to be seen in person otherwise.  That was with 4 hours of treatment.  When I was getting 3 days of treatment, I'd be swollen for a week or more.

Right now I'd say it takes about 2 weeks for my face to basically be back to normal (no redness, no bruises, etc).

I'm glad to share some pictures of the immediate aftermath and the like, just PM me if you're interested.

[AnonyMs]

You can decrease the swelling significantly if you can get a prescription for prednisone.

[Nadine Spirit]

The longest I have sat through an electro appointment is six hours, with two techs working at the same time, so that would be the equivalent of 12 hours of work spent entirely on my face.  Sucked.  Bad.  Afterwards, my face would be swollen for about 3 days to a week.  Earlier on it was on the longer end of recovery.  I'm now 2 years in (covid caused some skips) and it takes my tech about 45 minutes to clear the entire face in one sitting and my face appears normal about two hours later. 

I will say that the quality of your tech is paramount.  Too much heat applied in certain areas will kill the hair for sure, but it can also leave you with scaring.  DO NOT trade hair for scars.  When mass clearings are done, the quality of your tech needs to be even better. 

[KatieP]

A couple of us have documented our time at PHR on this thread: https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,244758.0.html

My pictures seem to have expired, so the quick summary is:

Here is the end of day 1 of 2.


Here is the end of the second day, 33 hours of electrolysis later.

 I would say it was a week before I thought my face was presentable, and nearly two weeks for the swelling to subside.

Here is the day after the second two day session. 20 something hours of electrolysis. You can see this was not a big deal. I went to work in front of customers the day after this picture.


And, here is the end of the 1 day session the third time around. 15 hours or so, I think. I did not go work the day after, but I could have.



And as others have said, your mileage will vary. Almost, all of my pictures and the experience of others cannot predict your situation. So, if possible, I would recommend having at least a week after your session, at least the first time. You will know much better how YOU will respond after the first time...

HTH,
Katie

[Megan.]

I'll spare you all the pictures, but three hours of bottom electrolysis does leave things pretty swollen and tender for a few days!

I seem to tolerate facial work quite well, and if I have it done in the evening, I'm usually looking better by the following evening.

X.

Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk

[Jessica15]

All these pictures don't look nearly as bad as I was expecting.  Thank you all, this is somewhat encouraging, as I was expecting a lot worse.

[JessicaF84]

Just curious, I've been doing electrolysis for about 8 months before COVID for 2hr sessions and only really see a difference in the lip and chin area. Is electrolysis super slow for everyone else? I'm going g broke doing it no joke, but its something I need to do. It took about 11 of those sessions to get the upper lip done does that seem right? Or could it be my electrologist just found a gold mine they want to keep around?

[Nadine Spirit]

Jessica -

Electro is effective, but slow.  My tech has been doing this for trans clients for about 40 years, and runs a place that she has about 5-10 people who work for her business.  So she has lots of experience.  She told me when I started that she personally will not put her signature on bottom areas for surgery until about 1.5 to 2 years.  And what that includes is a once per month entire clearing of the area.  In her opinion that is the minimum length of time to be sure the hair is dead.  And with bottom areas she has had too many clients come in with hair growing out of their new vaginas from surgeons who told them they would scrape out the follicles to trust anything but electro and time to be sure that the hair will NEVER come back.  (btw - when that happens and they cannot actually see the hair follicle and gain access to it for the electro probe, they will not be able to ever remove it.  The same goes for follicles that get buried within surgical scars deep under the surface. )

For me, I started on my face back in June of 2018.  My face is almost clear.  Covid interrupted our monthly schedule.  I've got probably several more month, maybe six.  When she cleared my face the first time it took her about a total of 24 hours spread out over several appointments.  Now she can clear my entire face in about 45 minutes.  I've completely stopped shaving my face in between sessions now and barely notice the few stragglers.   

[Rakel]

... Is electrolysis super slow for everyone else? I'm going broke doing it no joke, but its something I need to do. It took about 11 of those sessions to get the upper lip done does that seem right? Or could it be my electrologist just found a gold mine they want to keep around?

Just to clear a face of an average mans beard will take about 200 hours more or less, depending on how much hair you have to start with. Younger men need less and some ethnic types need more. It will take 6 to 10 clearings to get all the dormant follicles. Some people just need more electrolysis than others. So far, I have had about 250 hours, but I am nearing the end of my ordeals with my electrocutioner.    What would I do without her?

Keep in mind that the skill of the electrologist is very important if you wish permanent results without skin damage.

This is not a gold mine for the electrologist. It is hard work, especially on the lower back because the tech is leaning over all day long. It is also some what of a tedious procedure, doing one follicle after another and listening to all the complaints of too much pain.

If you have any concerns about your electrologist, then, by all means contact a different electrologist.

[Zumbagirl]

Just curious, I've been doing electrolysis for about 8 months before COVID for 2hr sessions and only really see a difference in the lip and chin area. Is electrolysis super slow for everyone else? I'm going g broke doing it no joke, but its something I need to do. It took about 11 of those sessions to get the upper lip done does that seem right? Or could it be my electrologist just found a gold mine they want to keep around?

When I did my electrolysis and sorry but this was probably 25 years ago now, I ended up putting I would guess somewhere between 300 and 400 hours to do my entire face. I used blend which was about 20 seconds per individual hair. That's what was recommended to me by the best minds at the time. I would try and do a single 4 hour session every week and in the very beginning I was doing 12 hours/week 3 sessions of 4 hours each. I just wanted the hair gone. To me it was an impediment to living full time. I wouldn't go full time until I had met 2 criteria (1 was being ready financially to pay for round 1 of FFA surgery) and the second was having the hair down to the point where it could be kept clear week by week. Yes I recall the upper lip and it sucked. There's nothing happy about it except seeing the hairs gone forever. Near the end I had developed an immunity (tolerance) for electrolysis and could go without cream or anything. I just sucked it up and did it.

I'm happy to say though that 2.5 decades later facial hair is one thing that I have never had to worry about and still don't.