A few questions about electrolysis?

[drippin]

I'm planning on starting electrolysis next month but I had a few questions hopefully someone can answer. I was thinking I could clear my upper lip and chin first since those are the hardest areas to cover up with makeup. Has anyone else done this? Is it possible? My main question is, how many hours would it take to clear the chin and upper lip with someone who has a medium amount of facial hair? The main reason I haven't gone full time yet is facial hair. I can never seem to totally cover up the facial hair and no matter how good my hair, body, makeup etc. look I find it impossible to look passable with my face looking the way it does. The cheeks are not bad at all and completely cover up. But the chin and upper lip just look rough and even when I get the closest shave you can still see the pores from where the hair was shaved. Anyone have any answers for me? I'm hoping it won't take too many hours to clear chin and upper lip. Once those are cleared, i'm going full time!!



Thanks in advance

[Ellieka]

Have you Considered laser instead of electrolysis? I know there are arguments for and against either one but laser is much faster and in my experience cheaper in the end.

[Flan]

A laser reduction first pass (couple sessions) combined with electro is what I would recommend.

[K8]

I did laser for the dark hair and am doing electrolysis for the light (mostly gray, but blond and red, too).  If you have dark whiskers and light skin, laser works well.  If not, you probably have to go the all-electrolysis route.

My electrologist started working near my ears first and is working toward my chin and mustache.  I didn't ask her why.  (Maybe this Friday I'll ask).  I've had 25-30 hour-long sessions and she is jsut getting to the edges of the chin.  And that's with laser clearing most of it!

It's a long and expensive process, but the results are worth it - at least to me.

- Kate

[Flan]

the average is 200 hours for electro, but it depends on the individual. an electrologist will be better at guesstimating the amount of time to clear two areas.

[Janet_Girl]

My electrologist is pretty quick.  If you can stand the pain and depending on how dense you are, I would say that a couple of sessions should clear the darks at least.

[drippin]

Thanks Janet! Just what I was looking for.

[Kay]

The number of hours you require can be a fairly deceptive measuring tool.
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For a whole face, I've heard between 300-400 hours of electrolysis.
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Regardless of the number of hours, it's typically going to take you 2 years to complete an area, because not all of the hair is growing at the same time.
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If you're only doing a certain area, and not the whole face, you're probably best left judging how many hours to expect...by waiting to see how long it takes them to clear that area every week.  That duration will slowly diminish as the hairs are killed, but it's a good point of reference.  Then you can assume maybe half that time after 10 months, and trickling down to nothing from there.  (Hair growth/resilience is highly variable, but this is one way you could look at it)
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I started electrolysis in July of 2008, doing on average 2 hours per week.
(not enough for the whole face, but you do what you can afford)
From Day One, we started on the upper lip, until it was cleared. 

(A note on the word "cleared":  It doesn't mean "finished" it just means that you removed all of the hair that was visible at that time.  More hair will continue to grow, and you'll need to "clear" the same area the following week.)

Then we continued to clear it every week since.  My hair was extremely dense and very coarse when I started.  Now, after a year-and-a-half  it's very light and sparse, but we still clean what's left on the upper lip every week. 
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One bit of advice:  If you have large areas to do, don't let your electrologist use the 'buckshot' stategy of a-little-here-and-a-little-there. Since hairs are really only vulnerable while in the anagen phase, it's best to get an area clear every week (so you know that everything in that area is in the anagen phase)  (anything treated that's in the catagen or telogen phase is just wasting your money) and then keep enlarging that area.
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To be realistic, look at this as a 2 year commitment until you're through, but take heart in the fact that your face will gradually look better and smoother.  Even though it won't be completed at the end of 1 year, you'll notice a great difference, and makeup will be able to cover things more easily.

[Dana_W]

My electrologist is pretty quick.  If you can stand the pain and depending on how dense you are, I would say that a couple of sessions should clear the darks at least.

That would have to be incredibly quick if you're talking two sessions to clear the upper lip and chin. I'm thinking it would likely be more like 20-40 hours at least, if we're talking enough dark hair to make passing a problem. Even with some really long "sessions" I don't see that happening in just a couple.

[placeholdername]

In my experience, an hour long session can maybe clear about 3/4 square inch of average density hair.  Chin/lip is probably double the average density, and 3/4 square inch is not particularly big, so you're still talking many hours for the chin/lip, and that's not taking into account any speed reduction from the fact that that area probably hurts a whole lot more.

I started about a month ago, and after 4.5 hours worth, we've maybe cleared most of the hair underneath the base of the jaw (aka neck hair, GROSS), and we're just starting to get to the hair under the jaw.  I'm doing 2 hrs per week now though so should start to progress faster.

[K8]

Electrolysis only gets the hairs that are visible - the ones the electrolygist can grab with her tweezers.  Since hair grows in stages and one stage is a resting stage, you can completely clear an area and still get growth there.  That's one reason you have to keep going back.  Eventually you will get them all.

Keep in mind that on most male-bodied people, the densest hair is on the chin and upper lip.  That means more time will be needed to remove those than on the cheeks or neck.

I remember reading years ago, before laser was available, that the average male beard took 400 hours of electrolysis to completely remove.  If you can do it with laser, I say go that way.

And we are just barracks lawyers here.  Consult a qualified electrolygist if you want an accurate answer.

- Kate

[cynthialee]

I was lucky to start with a sparse beard.
I have been getting electro and laser. Whatever the lazer fails to kill the electrologist gets. My electrologist has mostly spread the job out and has not focused specificaly in 1 area. Each time I go my beard gets thiner and thiner pretty much uniformly.
I have had her clear just my moustache but doing a consentrated area really is painful. So I just let her do her thing. At it about 6 months so far and my beard is as thin as it was in my 20's.