My E3000 Results

[LizMarie]

I am home from my first session with E3000, on December 18th. They managed a full facial clear with two technicians in just over 10 hours total (5 hours per tech). Originally they expected a lot more hours so I got off easy. This was because neither my cheeks nor throat were as densely bearded as they initially feared based on the facial photos I'd submitted.

Their current rates are $110 per hour. My bill for this session was $1100, of which they already had part paid for by my deposit.

They use a sheathed needle so that the electrical and heat effects are only applied at the base of the hair follicle and not the length of the entire shaft which can cause more scarring and also damages collagen structures within the skin.

My face was very swollen and also very red in the immediate aftermath of those 10 hours. This is normal and their aftercare handout explains how to treat these conditions - ibuprofen, ice on the affected areas (20 minutes on/20 minutes off) and zinc oxide cream to promote healing.

The swelling goes down on its own over the first few weeks time.

Here is a before/after photo from the first session. The tiny hairs left in the after photo are not normal stubble but are dead hair fragments that are being pushed out by the skin as the swelling drops and the skin heals. Even with those though, it is very apparent that the first session removed massive amounts of facial hair. The picture doesn't show it but the neck hair was as dense as the chin and about the same grey coloration.

I was informed that in 2-3 weeks I should begin really seeing the second growth wave begin. We'll see how dense that is. The second session will likely be nearly as long as the first, but after that sessions should begin to be seriously fewer charge hours (probably switching to just one tech from session 3 forward).

You can also see some of the residual swelling (it was way worse three days ago!) and some of the residual redness as the skin heals.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3s6Ct7eoyCNYzE3ZFFzTlV1b0E/edit?usp=sharing

[Jamie D]

Wow!  That's a big difference. (Photos)

[Jennygirl]

Holy crap, amazing work! You have SKIN!!!

[LizMarie]

Thanks! I am really pleased at how things are turning out at this early stage.

It's only the first clearing so subsequent growth waves will fill things in again, though I am told each successive wave will be less dense than before.

I'll try to update this with before/after photos from each session so people can see the progress.

I will also very likely do a full facial dermal abrasion at least once after all the hair is cleared. I'm told that can greatly help smooth out differences in the complexion across regions of the face.

[Vanora]

How bad was the swelling 4 days or so after the first procedure?

[LizMarie]

At 4 days? I'd say it was about 80% gone. There were still things that you could tell were swollen but not badly. And no one remarked at a Monday meeting where I spent with other co-workers half the day. So it either wasn't noticeable or they were just being polite.

[LizMarie]

As promised, I am visually documenting my progress with E3000. I forgot to take an immediate pre-session before photo so I grabbed one at the 1.5 hour break mark. By that time the upper lip was largely cleared and work had also begun on the lower right side of the chin but it still conveys the amount of facial hair which was about the same as session one. I was told not to expect significant decrease in facial hair overall until we've completed at least four sessions but I will remark that there were more small "bald" spots on my face this time meaning less overall hair total.




The above were taken February 13th, 2014, in Dallas. The before photo was about 1.5 hours into the session and the after photo was immediately upon arrival back at my hotel around 5pm.

Also note that swelling continued to worsen until later that evening when my face was very swollen. I have a pic of that but will combine that with an "after" swelling has gone down photo in a few more days and post that then.

Using ice and zinc oxide cream and the face is recovering very rapidly again. If this goes like last time I will have about 2 weeks of no shaving at all then slowly begin to resume shaving as hair growth cycle number 3 begins to kick in.

P.S. Edited. Had to change image location as it just wasn't showing up despite setting sharing correctly on Google Drive. I used my blog's copy of the image instead.

[Unice]

Do you know the reason for them asking people to have had no laser treatment for 3 months prior to the visit?

[LizMarie]

Unice, I believe that this is because other hair removal treatments will interfere with and give an incorrect assessment of where your face actually is in terms of facial hair growth. By avoiding other facial hair removal for three months before hand, the facial hair you arrive with there will be a "normal" full wave of facial hair. You can continue shaving during that time and stop shaving 4-5 days before your first appointment.

Below are the before and after for session 3, that I had on April 4, 2014. Of note to me, I am seeing significant change in the upper and lower lip area between session 1 before and session 3 before. The chin and jawline are still pretty dense.



As a reminder to myself, costs were over $1100 for the first session, over $1000 for the second session, and $751 (and change) for the third session. The first two sessions involved two techs for 5 hours each (10 total hours) and 4.5 hours each (9 total hours) respectively. The third session was actually harder because it was one tech but I was in the chair for 7 hours total. There were breaks in there, including an hour for lunch, but total actual chair time was about just under 7 hours. So there was maybe 25% less hair total to be removed than during the first two sessions.

My next appointment is May 30th. I'm eager to see what the before photo looks like then.

I will note that my face has been smoother this time for longer than each of the first two sessions. I also took a few hours the second evening back and used tweezers to pull dead hairs that had broken off. It's very easy to tell which are dead and which are not. The live hairs still hurt like the dickens when yanked! The dead ones don't hurt at all, and occasionally slide out so easy that it's funny. I got about a hundred dead hairs then couldn't find any more, though I did yank 6 or so live ones along the way.

I will also note that now, a week after this session, there are still zero beard hairs showing this time yet. There are lots of very fine and small facial hairs, that many women often have, but no beard follicles yet. The process does appear to be slowly whittling down the number of facial hairs and HRT may be affecting new growth as well.

[PrincessPatience]

Liz, you're progress looks amazing! I'm definitely going to them considering they're just 2 hours away. I was wondering though how many sessions do you have to go? And how did you get started? I was considering emailing them my face pictures. Also can they do more than 14 hours on a face per session? Thanks in advance!

[LizMarie]

I am six days after the most recent session and didn't do pics this time. There is still slow steady progress being made. This time however we went back to 2 techs because I had extra dense hair growth on the lower chin and the neck area below the chin. The outer edges of the neck are thinning. The upper and lower lip continue to slowly thin. And the cheeks are very very sparse now.

Because of the extra hair, this session ran $990 total.

E3000 has also relocated, from Carrollton to Lewisville, about 15 minutes further northwest, at 105 Kathryn Drive in Lewisville.

My next session is July 18th.

Patience, they can do more than 14 hours but then require two days in the chair. A lot of first sessions are two day affairs, particularly for people whose facial hair density is very high.

I love E3000 and the work they've done thus far.

[LizMarie]

I completed session #5 on July 18th, 2014. Session #6 is scheduled for September 12. This session was over very quickly, less than five total technician hours, for $515 total. The senior technician said that the decrease in facial hair was very obvious to her. Compare this to over 10 hours total on the first session back in December 2013. Time in the chair is now down to half.

I am attaching a composite photo of the before from session 1 (before I did any facial hair removal) and the before from session 5. There is still very clearly a long ways to go obviously, but just as obviously progress is being made. If you look at the two photos, the upper lip is clearly less dense as is the area all around the mouth and the center of the chin. Also, not as obvious from this photo, the cheeks are almost fully clear before this session.

I am not including an after photo this time because they all look the same. I've realized that the interesting comparisons are the before photos from each session. Finally, as she said is true for almost all customers, the lower chin and neckline are the very last areas to begin to thin and clear.

[LizMarie]

I underwent my sixth session at E3000 on September 12th. The before photo is a bit blurry but does show continued decreases in overall facial hair with remaining high density areas continuing to be the lower chin and neck.

I will note that the results seem different this time. In the past there tended to be more hairs broken off that had to push their way out afterwards and I would often pluck those. They never hurt because they were already dead. But now, three days after, there are still zero hairs to pluck, I suspect that HRT is continuing to change facial structure including thinning the skin in a more feminine manner, perhaps making yanking the hairs after being zapped easier.

My electrologist seems to be confident that we're headed the right direction. Oh yeah, total cost this time was $678, a bit more than last time but she also seemed to take a bit more care this time on the neck and jawline.



In other news, I have my appointment with my lawyer tomorrow (9/16) to begin the formal legal name and gender change process. If I can obtain all the relevant letters from doctors and such in time, she can include me in the September 29th session she is going to do. I'm looking forward to getting this step done.

[LizMarie]

October 30th, 2014 session

I went into this session very aware that there was a lot less facial hair this time. It's getting thin everywhere now, even the neck. We've still got a ways to go but we've turned the corner on this.

My time in the chair was not quite a full 5 hours this time and total bill with tax was $586. And she took her time this time rather than speeding through. I didn't mind either because there were far fewer "leftover" hairs and now, just 6 days after that, my face really feels smooth and soft. I know it won't stay this way... yet, but it's a promise of things to come.

And... on the morning of November 5th, Wednesday, I got up and went to the bathroom and noticed something that I have never ever seen before as an adult. Looking in that mirror, for the first time in my adult life, there was no discoloration of the skin where facial hair normally grows. Today I could have literally walked out of the house with no makeup and there wouldn't have been a clue that I had ever had facial hair.


I am not done yet. I know this. But the progress has been swift and amazing and I am so very thankful for the professionals at E3000 and the work they do.

[AngieFerg]

Thanks for posting this LizMarie. I have a question. Have you noticed any skin damage or negative results from the electrolysis? I've had a lot done over the years but I still have some hairs left and would love to get them all done at once.

[Alexis2107]

OMG you did 10 straight hours?! jaw drops

I know, 20 on 20 off... but... wow...

You're amazing!!! Congrats on having the pain tolerance. 

I am undergoing laser, and once my 15 minutes is up, I am ready to turbo run the hell out of there.  And I am sure that ^^ is a bit more painful. 

[LizMarie]

December 19th, 2014 session

This was my 8th session at E3000. As a correction, my prior session was just a bit over five hours, not under. This session, on December 19th (a year and a day since I started) was four hours and fifty five minutes - $525.

Additionally, Denise was remarking how she's noticing how sparse the lip and cheek hair is getting finally.

The jawline and lower chin continues to be somewhat thicker though it too is thinning. The center of the neck remains almost as thick as always, not quite, with the added caveat that there are small spots that are showing and staying completely cleared.

I once again used the aspirin therapy starting the night before and continuing on into today and the swelling has been much less than times past. It's still swollen though.

My next session will be February 6th, 2015. We'll see where we stand after that but I'm sure there will be yet more sessions to go, the only question being how many more?


To Alexis, who posted back in November - I go to E3000 because they use lidocaine injections into the face. The shots hurt (especially upper and lower lip) but once an area is numbed, I feel almost nothing while the hairs are removed. In fact, I've fallen asleep in that chair and did so yesterday again.

[Jeneva]

Have you always done full clearances?  Isn't one of their big sales pitches 3 treatments and done (or is it an old pitch)?

[Jeneva]

I see they say most are done by 4th now.  But at one point the buzz was three and that is why people flew in to see them.....  Maybe when they renamed.

[HelloHeidi]

Thanks for posting LizMarie. Have they mentioned anything in passing about it taking longer than usual? 8 sessions seems much more than average to still have thick areas of hair. Sounds a little discouraging compared to all the hype for E3K, but you seem pretty happy with your results so far, right?