Quote from: Ember L on October 27, 2007, 12:38:08 PM
I ran out of money and had to put my laser on hold. But I have gone for both laser and electrolysis and I find electrolysis so much more painful. I was crying for some session, the electrologist kept saying "do you want me to stop" and I said that it was more pain to not get rid of the hair. laser seems to be faster but I still think for most people a combination of both is best.
Going to an electrologist within a month of the last laser session is a waste of money. The electro spends a lot of time picking out hairs that would fall out anyway. Plus, the skin after laser is ultra pain-sensitive for about 3 weeks.
I don't know about the dangers of getting laser right after electro -- the strong energy may do something to the treated follicles (they're mini wounds, after all...)
Hair follicles work in cycles.
There is a dormant phase -- the follicle is resting, and the previous hair has fallen out.
The growth phase is when the follicle is actively growing a hair.
At the end of the growth phase, the hair stops growing and soon falls out.
For every visible growing hair on an untreated male beard, there are about 5 or so dormant follicles.
It takes between 18 months to two years for each follicle on your face to go through a growth phase and back to dormant.
Imagine someone who has had no treatment, and has all their follicles.
First, electrolysis.
If you clear the face in each treatment, you will have some of the dormant follicles enter the growth phase after the clearing, and you will have some more whiskers soon after the treatment. But if you completely clear the face each time, you will kill almost all of the currently-growing follicles. And gradually, you will have fewer and fewer hairs to treat each session.
In about 18 months to two years, assuming the electro has a 90% or better kill ratio when treating the follicles, you will end up with a female face, with no more than a few annoying hairs -- just like any other natal female may have.
Second, Laser.
The same growth rules apply. The laser will treat those hairs that have the ideal conditions, i.e., dark or black hairs in light skin which can absorb enough light energy to heat up sufficiently to kill the hair-producing cells in the follicle. Hairs and skin that match the conditions will be successfully eradicated. Blonde or white hairs will not be sufficiently treated, if they are treated at all, and will remain.
The laser treatments have to be conducted over the 18 month to 2 year period that constitutes a full growth cycle. Follicles which are dormant do not contain a hair that can be nuked by the laser, and remain untreated.
At the end of the growth cycle, the laser has gotten as many follicles as it's going to get. Now the patient has to switch to electro for cleanup.
But it's going to take a whole growth cycle for the hairs that laser could not treat to cycle in. 18 months to two years. The good news is that, depending on how ideal a laser candidate you were, you may only need one 2-hour appointment a month to complete the clean-up. But it's still going to take 18 months to 2 years to complete.
So, laser + electro will take a total of 3 to 4 years to complete, if you go as fast as you can.
It's your money;
Karen
