Electrolysis or Laser Hair Removal . . .

[Melissa]

I'm with you on this Kate, although it didn't seem to hurt me as badly.  Let's not also forget that you have laser done with a clean shaven face, whereas you have to let it grow out for several days prior with electro, which sucks if you're fulltime.

90% of my hairs were also cleared on the first treatment, whereas with my electro, I'm still growing hairs where I had it done.

My laser place has me use tropicaine, which is supposed to be better than EMLA and it's also put on an hour prior.  Maybe that's why it hurts less on me than you.

Another thing to note is that not all lasers are equal.  There are the older generation of lasers (which don't work very well) and the newer generation (my place uses a lasersheer diode laser with a coolglide tip) which work much better.  Many people who discount laser are referring to the older generation lasers.

Melissa

[stephanie_craxford]

I'm with you on this Kate, although it didn't seem to hurt me as badly.  Let's not also forget that you have laser done with a clean shaven face, whereas you have to let it grow out for several days prior with electro, which sucks if you're fulltime.

That depends on the technician Melissa.  My electrologist is able to work quite effectively with one days growth, and while I agree it can be a problem for those living full time, I've found that with judicial scheduling of  electro sessions I can live with this issue.

90% of my hairs were also cleared on the first treatment, whereas with my electro, I'm still growing hairs where I had it done.

it is very obvious from the discussions on this topic that personal experiences and satisfaction vary with the individual and the results expected and achieved.  For my self using electro, my chin is clear and there has been no re-growth after two years so far.

My laser place has me use tropicaine, which is supposed to be better than EMLA and it's also put on an hour prior.  Maybe that's why it hurts less on me than you.

I tried EMLA several times but I was not happy with the results and stopped using it.  I simply grin and bear it now.  When It comes time to attack my top lip I plan on going to the dentist or my doctor and get them to freeze my lip and let the the tech go nuts
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Steph

[Melissa]

I'll probably get electro when I'm all done with laser, because I know I have a few light colored hairs, but I feel the route I'm going is the best for me.

Melissa

[Lisa CPE]

I wish that you girls lived near me and I could show you good electrolysis!  I can tell from the posts that some of you have gone to superior electrologists and others have not been so fortunate.  The best advice that I can give is to switch if you are not getting good results after approximately 4-6 months of treatment. 

Now electrolysis is not an instant change, especially when dealing with beard removal.  There are a lot of hairs there to treat.  I understand how difficult it is to see the hairs growing in.  We want instant success! 

It's true too that you do have to let the hairs grow a bit so that the electrologist has something to grab onto with the tweezers.  Many women cover the hairs at this time with make-up to conceal them before their appointments.  Then after the appointments you can shave the remaining hairs and let the air get to the area. 

I have had lots of electrolysis done myself.  I am proof positive that it works! 

[Hazumu]

Yes, electro HURTS!!!   I had my weekly 2-hour session with Lisa today, and I was making some very un-ladylike noises as she worked on my upper lip (I'm quite the opposite of Leigh and Terri who just kind of meditate and zone out (this reported by Terri and confirmed by Leigh.))

I'm having Lisa concentrate on my upper and lower lip.  As I tell her, if there's a veggie on my plate I don't like, I eat it first to get it out of the way.  Likewise, I'm having Lisa do a very sensitive area so that slowly, gradually, the sessions will get more and more bearable.

I had laser done on my neck ($180) and a month later, full face ($300).  I wanted to knock the dark hairs back, so Lisa could stomp the regrowth when it was small and easy to treat and kill.  Laser kills 10% of the treatable hairs each treatment.  So the second treatment should kill 10% of the 90% that's left, or 9%, the next treatment 8.1% of the original amount.  So three treatments gets maybe 27% of the treatable hairs.  Eventually, you get to a point of diminishing returns for your dollar, because the treatments are, say, $300 a pop.  And they are generally scheduled too close together.  To optimise the killing of treatable hairs, the treatments should be about 6 to 8 weeks apart.

As to the discomfort, I likened it to the same intensity as getting my upper lip electro'd.  The whole procedure WAS over more quickly, though.  But the end results are that the dark, treatable hairs are back all too quickly.  As we are moving outward from my lip area to my cheeks/chin and then on to my neck, I may consider one more laser treatment prior to seriously getting down on my neck area, just to give Lisa the opportunity to stomp the dark hairs as they regrow.

A good, skilled electro has a 70% chance or better that that hair that's being treated will NEVER return -- if you're getting less than that, your electro might be 'farming' you rather than making a good-faith effort to kill each and every hair she treats.  If you ain't seeing REAL results after 4 to 6 months, or if you suspect the hairs are being deliberately under-treated and plucked to extend the income from your face, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

I told Lisa today at the end of our session that I looked forward to calling her in two years not to make an appointment for my face, but to see if she wanted to do dinner with me and visit.

I do look forward to that day...

Karen

[Hazumu]

Hi, Tinkerbell;

Roger that -- Lisa has just RE-registered.  She had registered back in January but, because she hadn't made a posting within some period of time, had her account purged.  She consulted Kimberly about re-instating her old account, and Kimberly suggested it was just easier to register for a new account.

I buy tubes of canadian Betacaine through Lisa.  It's about as effective as EMLA, but easier to use -- you don't need to saran-wrap the application, and it's a colorless petrolatum-based gel.  I can even dab it on straight from the tube while waiting at traffic lights.  It does cut the pain of the sensitive areas somewhat, though I'd get shot up with novocaine if I could...

Whenever possible, we split the session in half with a break in between.  It's more bearable that way, knowing you can ESCAPE for 45 minutes to an hour and a half while Lisa has another client (and with the longer breaks, I can run to In-N-Out burger and grab some grub )

Karen

[tinkerbell]

just so we don't forget what it's all about   

I know...I'm twisted... >


tinkerbell

[Hazumu]

Girl, I KNOW what it's about!

More on electro -- I found out the last session I'm a 'watcher'.  Put a mirror in my hand, and if I can see the procedure as it happens I can better tolerate the pain.  But the mirror can't always be positioned to where I can see what's being done to my face.

Lisa uses special glasses.  They have BC frames with little 10x telescopes welded to the lenses.  I'd love to get a view through those as she goes about stomping hairs, 'cause I think she has the ideal view.  <sigh> an engineering problem to overcome...

Karen

[stephanie_craxford]

Lisa uses special glasses.  They have BC frames with little 10x telescopes welded to the lenses.  I'd love to get a view through those as she goes about stomping hairs, 'cause I think she has the ideal view.  <sigh> an engineering problem to overcome...

Karen

Aha, a bit of a masochist are we   My previous electrologist use a scope, it actually looked like a microscope but not quite as powerful.

Steph

[Hazumu]

Aha, a bit of a masochist are we   My previous electrologist use a scope, it actually looked like a microscope but not quite as powerful.

Actually, no.  I whine and I cry and I yelp and hold my breath and tense my entire body when she's treating that sensitive zone just beneath the nostrils.  But when I was watching in the mirror yesterday, it was somehow easier to take.  Now my idea is just to mount a camera on those glasses with exactly the same field of view she has in her telescopes, and a hand-held monitor or something so I can watch...

Karen

[Lisa CPE]

Karen, you are not alone in liking to watch the hairs come out....  Many of my younger generation clients in their 20-30's like to do this, or people who enjoy science.  The more mature ladies tend to not want to see the work.  Believe me, I have offered.  I guess that means that you are part of the "hip" crowd. 

By watching the hairs, you can see why I am waiting for the hairs to release.  You get to be part of the action!  You know what the alternative is......tweezing!  Yikes!!    There is a huge root sheath with the beard hairs so you might feel a little tugging.  In humor, I also offered to show you the difference between TWEEZING the hairs and TUGGING/TESTING on one with a large root sheath.     I LOVE to educate my clients so that they are knowledgeable consumers! 

One last thing I want to mention is that we have to be on the lookout for people wanting to "farm" the business in both electrolysis and laser.  That is the reason I stress RESULTS so much over mere promises of results.  Don't continue down the same path if you are not seeing a difference... You are wasting your valuable time and money.

[Leigh]

Truth on a stack of biblical books.

I went to sleep several times and no pain killers either.  Well not when she was doing my face.  When she was doing the lower, even though my Dr said it was not necessary one jab of the needle and it OH THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.  Nocacain shots later it was great.

A good tech is difficult to find.  I have seen some work that looked like adolescent acne at its worst and some that 3 hours later you couldn't see any inflamation.

Just my thoughts but when you make your first appointment and the tech says I can clear you in XX hours--don't walk, run out the door.  There is no way they can predict how much endurance you have, how you hair responds to treatment, how much and how fast you regrowth is.

Some techs do a clear cut, working one area exclusively while others skip around to even out the color differential.  Personally I liked the skip around for the simple reason that I had so little to start with.

Now with old age and the radiation burns it wouldn't have made any difference who I went to see.

Leigh

[Lisa CPE]

Quote from Leigh:
"A good tech is difficult to find.  I have seen some work that looked like adolescent acne at its worst and some that 3 hours later you couldn't see any inflamation."

I certainly agree with you here.  The skin should not look like adolescent acne at its worst after a treatment. Whew!  It is best to do a small test patch for 15 minutes.


I have experienced the good and the bad too.  Fortunately, the bad was only one time.... It was an eye opener for me.

[Kate]

Just my thoughts but when you make your first appointment and the tech says I can clear you in XX hours--don't walk, run out the door.  There is no way they can predict how much endurance you have, how you hair responds to treatment, how much and how fast you regrowth is.

Reminds me: does anyone have any experience with the "Lucy Peters" electrolysis centers? I believe they do give a wriitten garuntee for time to clear an area. I also believe they use a different tip (bulbous?) which is supposedly quicker and less damaging than the usual needles.

I have NO idea however if any of this is true - or just marketing hype.

[Terri-Gene]

   

the radiation burns it wouldn't have made any difference who I went to see.

actually there Leigh ... not that I noticed anything that would affect the feeling of being with you for a shortage of time ,.. Just keep out from under the hoods ......but yeah, electro stuff.

I really liked the slow poke around method.  Its slower at first, pure mind wise, but it works pretty fine.

I just tell my electrologist that im particular about certain areas and she does what she does.  It's good to be worked on by someone that perhaps knows more then you do about her factual job.

Terri

[Lisa CPE]

Terri,
Thanks for the vote of confidence.    Actually it IS a lot easier and faster if a client does NOT try to direct the process too much...  By that comment I mean: There are well-intentioned clients who want to tell me "get this hair, and now get that hair and so on."  This is when the area is full of hairs too. 

I listen and follow their instructions, however this type of client actually gets FEWER hairs removed for the time that they are in the office.  In other words, they waste a lot of time and money.    Often times too, these are the client who have tons of hairs and would benefit most by just sitting back and letting me do my work.     If it is NOT obvious what hairs need to go or what area bothers them the most, then I do not hesitate to ask for their input.

My goal is to have happy and satisfied clients so that they will go out and deliver the good news that electrolysis works! 

P.S.  I just want to make sure to clarify what I mean by overdirecting and skipping around too much..... spending 5 minutes on the left underarm, then 5 minutes on the right underarm, 10 minutes on the bikini, 3 minutes on the right shoulder, 3 minutes on the left shoulder, 10 minutes on the chest, etc.... with each area having lots of hair.  The result of too much skipping is little progress in made in any one area. 

[Melissa]

Lisa, the only problem is that you're down in California and not here.   I know I will need to finish up with electrolysis once laser is done on the dark hairs (99% are dark), so I'll see if I can get any recommendations over here at that time.  I would say at this point that my remaining facial hair causes me to feel worse about my body than even my genitals, but that's probably because it's the hairs that are visible to other people (unless I come untucked ).

Melissa

[ssindysmith]

I am not looking forward to electrolysis, I have been considering laser first then a few years later as the problem children retrun have them zapped with electrolysis.

[Lisa CPE]

What can I say?  Something can be made a lot tougher if in a person's mind they already dread it before having tried it.  The pre-conceived attitude can affect the outcome.   

[Melissa]

For me, the pain of having the hair outdoes any pain felt from the removal.

Melissa