*pluck* OUCH! !#@%!.... *pluck*

[Ellieka]

I'm so sick of having facial hair that over the last few days I've taken up plucking them one by one. I was wondering how many of you have also done this and what have been your results, i.e. how long before you noticed regrowth and over time did you notice and permanent reduction in regrowth?

I have read that over time regrowth can slow significantly but I was looking for some real experiences here.

Thanks!  

[Nicky]

I can only talk about my eyebrows. They get less painful to pluck as time goes on. They seem to grow back thinner - could just be the tips of the hairs are pointy. The hair itself appears to grow as fast as ever but I think there is less of it. I read somewhere that continual plucking can reduce growth in the long term, as some of the follicles get damaged through plucking and stop producing hair.

Can you afford laser or electrolysis? That would be a more sure thing and you see definit results for the pain.

[Ellieka]

I would love to have laser but I can't afford the $3,000 price tag at the moment. Hopefully I will be back to work soon and can start saving again.

[Sandy]

I did pluck my mustache once.  Gawd that was painful!

The hairs did take a bit longer to grow back, but not unusually long.  Something like a few days as I recall.

Also, while the hairs initially seemed finer than before, within a few weeks the hair was as coarse as before.

I have also heard from my electrologist that plucking actually makes the hair thicker when it grows back (yuck!).

I have also heard about continual plucking eventually destroying the follicle, but I have no "real" information about that.

-Sandy

[Nicky]

Seems like people overseas only get these treatments in 'package deals'. In my country you just pay session by session untill you have had enough. There are no package deals that I am aware of.  I think it makes it more do-able instead of having a chunk of cash up front, but then there are no garauntees. I must be well endowed as I hear a lot of people saying 6 sessions is enough. I've had 10 and still need some work on my upper lip (plus some strays floatin about). I'm not taking mones so maybe that is the key difference.

That is a shame. I heard of people using eplilators on their face. That just sounds brutal to me.

You could use that hair retardant cream some people get. Apparantly the results are good. It is a bit pricy but maybe it would be a good stop gap? (not sure how it would affect future treatments, maybe you would have to wait some time for your normal growth patterns to come back. Probably not so relevant for electrolysis)

[Ellieka]

I can get individual sessions at about $130.00 per but even that is a bit much at the moment. I've heard about the cream too. Has anybody here used it? If so, what were your results?

[Nicky]

I think cindybc uses it. You could pm her.

[placeholdername]

I plucked a small area as a test and it grew back in a little less than a week.  Hopefully lase isn't too expensive in my area.... there's like 5 places within 10 mins drive so hopefully competition drives the prices down .  Good old capitalism at work...

[Ellieka]

I think cindybc uses it. You could pm her.

I'll do that, ty.

[NicholeW.]

There was one woman on a site years ago who said she used an epilator on her face and that it worked.

She also said that it took awhile before she "got used to it." I bet!! But she also said that after that while the pain was drastically reduced.

If you can recall or are going through eyebrow waxing in early transition I imagine that the process is about the same. Those earliest sessions as I recall were very rough with very coarse eyebrow hair.

Now, the hair seems much finer and the strips are much easier, in fact they pretty much glide off, because the hair has grown finer.

The hairs, I think, do not get "thicker" due to plucking although if I were an elektro I could see telling ya that to make sure you used me instead of doing the plucking! I've ever imagined my eyebrow hairs getting "thicker" after I pluck them. They all seem to get finer to me. Perhaps YMMV?

N~

[Miniar]

Not in your position, but I've picked up a few tricks from having four sisters and from plucking my 5 black facial hairs (I tend to scratch at them otherwise like a nervous habit 'til my chin's raw if I don't pluck 'em).

Pull with the growth.
Chill the area with something really cold. Like a couple of icecubes in a bag. Before you pluck.
uhm...
It gets easier, and a lot less painful, the more you do it.

But like the girls say, there's better ways to deal with it than tweezers

[Ellieka]

The brows are no problem and the face isn't unbearable... except that !@@#$! upper lip! WOW does that smart! I think I could handle and epilator on my chin and neck area.

[placeholdername]

Well the thing with the epilator is that they don't all grow back at once.  So after you do the first pluck-everywhere, only some of the hairs start to grow back, so you can just use the epilator as they show up and it's not like you're trying to pull the whole carpet up at once .

Unfortunately if you have deep roots there's a period whee the hairs are visible but unpluckable, which is annoying.  So I think I'll stick with the permanent removal track...

[V M]

I've been plucking for quite awhile now. I've somewhat likened it to pulling weeds  Like pulling weeds, the more you do it the easier it becomes  The hair does begin to thin to a degree. but some of the thicker hairs are rather persistent. The other thing is you have to deal with ingrown hairs from time to time  Get a good face soap and some facial scrubby sponges so you can exfoliate the skin. Also be sure to use an astringent after washing your face. Then put a moisturizing lotion. Also be sure to clean your tweezers with rubbing alcohol. Instant hand sanitizer works well also. hope that helps some 

[Kara Lee]

Cami, plucking might not be the best thing if you want to go to an electrologist.  The one I'm going to asked me first thing if I had plucked any on my face.  Apparently it can make it harder to get to the roots, I can't remember the details of her explanation though. 

[Ellieka]

thank you Virginia Marie! It does help. I hadn't thought about the risk of ingrown hairs. thanks for the info.

[V M]

Almost forgot, When you do get an ingrown hair, don't pick at it. I use one of those finger poppers that diabetics use to pop open the pour 

[Ellieka]

Yeah, scars would be worse then the hair 

[Lisbeth]

Almost forgot, When you do get an ingrown hair, don't pick at it. I use one of those finger poppers that diabetics use to pop open the pour 

What device is this? Do you have a link or a picture?

[Ms Jessica]

A few notes:
first off, plucking does not make hair grow back thicker, coarser or anything.  The hair just grows back.  I think we expect the hair to grow back coarser, but there's no feedback system at the hair follicle telling it that the hair has been plucked or cut or whatever.  It's like the myth about how cutting your hair makes it grow faster.  Totally not true. 
I'm sure that 99% of it is perception. 

Regarding the slow regrowth type stuff:
I use the Noxzema Hair Minimizing Shave Gel.  You can get a can at Target for $1.99 (assuming you're in the US) or something like that.  It's definitely under $5, and costs the same as regular shave gel.  Pretty sure you can get it at pretty much any pharmacy like CVS, too.  Sure, it's probably intended for your legs, but before I started laser, I was using it on my face.  It works pretty well.  You'll notice better/faster results if you use it every day, at least I did. 
Again, just my experience, YMMV. 

Also, make sure you're off it for at least a few weeks/months before starting laser.  I was using it while I was getting laser on my face, at least at first, and I realized that it might be preventing regrowth of hairs that should be getting zapped with the laser.  It took a couple weeks, but there was a bit of a growth surge once I stopped using it.