Quote from: Clara Kay on May 21, 2017, 09:26:52 AM
My experience is that electrolysis demands a huge commitment in time and money to be effective.  I know girls who have gone about it haphazardly for 5 or 6 years and still aren't free of facial hair.  Commitment and discipline are essential to see good results.  As someone else mentioned, you'll have to treat a hair multiple times to finally kill it.  A mature, healthy follicle is hard to kill.  You have to treat it in a weaken state to finish it off.  Given time, a weakened follicle will recover to full strength and your back where you started.

There's no point in starting facial hair removal if you can't follow through because of inadequate funds.  Save up aggressively till you have the money needed to do it right.  You'll have to forego a lot of other life 'necessities' in the mean time, but if you're serious about it, you can get it done.   I wish you the best.  It is worth the effort.

I have to disagree with one of your statements. A properly treated hair is killed the first time; you do not have to treat it "multiple times" to "weaken" it unless you're doing improper insertions or using insufficient current. This is a myth from the old days that has been soundly disproven by prominent electrologists such as Michael Bono. Based on the number of people talking about having hundreds of hours with little reduction in hair growth, I can only assume that many electrologists are too afraid of causing pain or skin reaction to adequately kill hairs on the first pass, but this is a failure on their part, not a problem with the process itself.

Quote from: AutumnLeaves on May 21, 2017, 10:43:49 AM
I have to disagree with one of your statements. A properly treated hair is killed the first time; you do not have to treat it "multiple times" to "weaken" it unless you're doing improper insertions or using insufficient current. This is a myth from the old days that has been soundly disproven by prominent electrologists such as Michael Bono. Based on the number of people talking about having hundreds of hours with little reduction in hair growth, I can only assume that many electrologists are too afraid of causing pain or skin reaction to adequately kill hairs on the first pass, but this is a failure on their part, not a problem with the process itself.

And there lies the problem. Finding that Practitioner. Living in a major Metropolitan area makes it easier, though not guaranteed. Living in smaller markets leaves much to be desired and may expose you to those that are using not only outdated machines, but may include those with dubious skill sets as well.
      To your point of killing every hair the first time it's treated?....that's a fantasy as there are just too many variables.

Quote from: AutumnLeaves on May 21, 2017, 10:43:49 AM
I have to disagree with one of your statements. A properly treated hair is killed the first time; you do not have to treat it "multiple times" to "weaken" it unless you're doing improper insertions or using insufficient current.

That may very well be true.  The catch phrase is "properly treated hair".  It's like saying a baseball player can bat 1000 with a proper swing of the bat.  It doesn't happen.  There are many variables that determine the kill rate, and although the skill of the practitioner is extremely important, it alone is not enough to achieve 100% kill. 

There are approximately 30,000 hairs on the face.  Using HF thermolysis (flash modality) a good electrologist can treat as many as 40 hairs a minute or 2,400 hairs an hour give or take.  If all 30,000 hairs were in the growth phase (they're not, but for sake of argument) it would take 13 hours to treat every hair.  If every hair was killed the first time, one could expect to be done with facial hair removal in 6 or 7 two hour sessions.  I know of no one who can achieve that kind of productivity.

With 12-sec blend modality which has a higher kill rate than flash, a practitioner can treat 240 hairs an hour.  If every hair was killed on first treatment, it would take 130 hours to be rid of all 30,000 hairs.  And being that blend is less likely to cause dermal skin damage, that would a viable way to go, only no one can achieve that kind of productivity, and blend is typically used only after the beard has been substantially thinned out.

Every electrologist will tell you that it's so important to treat a follicle when the hair is in a weakened state because the kill rate goes up dramatically when the hair is immature.  Electrologists often over promise the time it takes to complete facial hair removal because reality is hard to swallow. 

And, another thing.  Moisture content of the skin is even more important than the skill of the electrologist.  One does not have to be an expert to treat a hair with blend (galvanic+RF), but the creation of the lye which kills the follicle depends on the presence of skin moisture.  As the skin ages, moisture content diminishes and significantly reduces the kill rate which is why older patients take so much longer.

These are practical considerations that one should factor into their plans for facial hair removal if you hope to be successful.  Ignore them at your own risk.

 Also blood flow and therefore oxygen flow is a big factor. I've been told the reason for my stubborn black hairs on the corner of my upper lip is due to that area receiving more oxygen and thus making healing of the follicle much easier/faster


~Brooke~

Quote from: Brooke on May 21, 2017, 11:46:59 AM
Also blood flow and therefore oxygen flow is a big factor. I've been told the reason for my stubborn black hairs on the corner of my upper lip is due to that area receiving more oxygen and thus making healing of the follicle much easier/faster


~Brooke~

Brooke, you are right.  There is a rich supply of capillaries in the area surrounding the mouth.  To kill a follicle you have to cut off the blood supply to prevent another germ cell from producing a new papilla (the root of a hair). 

I'm curious how many here have a completely hair free face and neck.  I still have hair of the villus type which is very fine and colorless and invisible to the eye.  If I shine an LED flashlight (torch) at an angle in a darkened room while looking at my face in 10X makeup mirror these tiny hairs show up plainly.  Some of them grow out about 1/4" and have to be plucked, but most stay short and are of no concern.  The fact that my T level is very low means that these hairs do not have the capacity to thicken and grow out like my former facial hair.  It tells me that killing every hair follicle is not really necessary.  Natal women also have 30,000 facial hair follicles with villus hair growth.  It doesn't start to become a problem until after menopause when their T/E ratio increases somewhat.

My goal is to get rid of the vellus hairs, which are the longer blonde ones. I actually want to keep the fine peach fuzz, as it is good for the skin.  I am about 80% there.


~Brooke~

Yeah...those vellus hairs (peach fuzz) are just part of the human condition and every woman has them. It's actually good for the skin so you wouldn't want to eradicate them even if you could. I've also noticed that the hairs around my mouth seem to be the toughest to kill. It's good to have the insight as to why that's the case because it certainly had me wondering.

I can't really advise you on methods of hair removal because I didn't have to deal with with facial hair. But I would say it would definitely be worth it. Facial hair is a huge factor in how people judge your gender. My boyfriend told me that as soon as he started to get some facial hair people started using male pronouns even though at that time he had not become muscular nor had he had FMS yet.(He is FtM)  Electrolysis is painful I am sure but I would say it would be worth it.
Hugs.

I was out for the weekend with a number of women around my age and every single one of them has a healthy growth of vellus hairs which can normally only be seen in the right light. I would be very happy to be at that stage. I am at that awkward stage where I should not really be shaving as I need all the time between sessions to grow out.

However I still have a number of hairs that are stubborn especially the black ones around my chin area...because of the laser treatment many of these black hairs have now thickened as part of the dying off process. They are easily seen no matter what makeup you have on especially up close.

Is it worth it... Consider this....It is one of the first and easiest give ways along with voice of getting clocked if they are not right.  The number of follicles under the skin changes the shape of your face subtlety along with the skin tone depending on how much black there is.

I feel you sister.   I did laser for 2 continuous years full face (and some body) and kept being told to "try longer" when in reality my hair is just too light for it.  It did help on my stomach some.  Then I started doing electrolysis.  To date I've had I think 60-70 hours on my face and it has helped, but I feel like the tunnel is no where near the end.  I still have to shave my entire face every single day and still have stubble by the end of the day.  It did help with some of the darker hairs I have less of a shadow in the last few months which I am so thankful for.  I hope one day I will eventually finish but I feel like the end is no where close!  I've also spent 10k between the lasers and electrolysis (the place I go is 12 hours away so travel there plus hotel etc)

Sidebar, this may be what you guys do (still a newbie) but I use an electric shaver and find its incredible esp for shaving every single day sometimes twice a day like if I work that morning and have a date that night.  My skin can hardly tolerate cream and a real razor anyway.    Keep trucking babes