22-11-2014, 11:59 AM
Yesterday I completed the clearing of hair on my face and neck using electrolysis. It's actually thermolysis whereby high frequency microwaves heat the hair root to kill it and seal off the blood capillaries so another hair cannot grow. It took 32 tech-hours (2 girls working a total of 16 hours over two days) to clear all the hair under local anesthetic. I have to repeat this process every 6 weeks for about a year until all the hair is killed permanently.
Here's how a session works. I arrived at 6:00 am the first day. I was instructed to put on a gown and then seated in a reclinable chair. My electrologist cleaned my face and neck with alcohol which had a mild burning sensation. She then applied a prescription lidocaine numbing ointment to my beard area. It was stronger than prescription EMLA. I could feel my lips getting numb within a few minutes.
Next a medical tech came in to set up an IV drip on my arm. An MD then administered a quick acting, short lived, narcotic sedation. When it took effect, the doc injected lidocaine together with a vaso-constrictor at several locations around my face and neck. Without the numbing and sedation these injections are extremely painful. Within seconds my face and neck were completely anesthetized and I was wide awake shortly thereafter.
Two girls, one on each side of me, one left-handed and the other right-handed, began to extract the hair on my face. They used a 27 mhz Apilus electrolysis/thermolysis device using insulated probes. The probe is very thin like a needle. It is inserted deep into the follicle along the hair shaft. The tech then sends out a pulse of microwaves from the tip of the probe to literally cook the moist cells in the vicinity of the hair root (papilla). She then extracts the hair out with a tweezers. It usually comes out with little effort, indicating an effective result. The tech will make adjustments to power setting, type of probe, etc. until the best results are obtained. High skin moisture is critical for good results. It's wise to hydrate you body well before a session.
They work very fast pulsing 10 or 12 follicles in a row, and then coming back with the tweezers to extract them. It was completely painless. They chatted back and forth, myself joining in when they were not working on my jaw. You can't read of watch TV during these long hours due to the bright overhead lights. It can be rather boring when the conversation dies. I nodded off many times and could have slept through some of it except that my snoring would wake me up...LOL.
I spent 9 hours in the chair the first day. Both sides of my face and neck, as well as my upper and lower lip areas had been cleared on day 1. I experienced some swelling, and the anesthetic made is hard to talk and eat that evening. I was instructed to apply neosporin cream to the cleared areas and apply ice for 15 minutes on and off that evening before going to bed. I slept in a reclining position to allow gravity to help drain some of the swelling. In the morning of the second day I was still quite swollen in my lower face.
The second day started at 8:30am. They put me through the same preparations as the first day. It took 7 hours in the chair to finish clearing my face and neck, again with two techs working on me.
I presented as a mix of feminine and masculine, but they always called me by my preferred name (Clara) and used the female pronouns. They tried to make me as comfortable as possible at all times.
My face handled the trauma of being subjected to an estimated 35,000 microwave bursts pretty well. There was very little redness or secretions (except in the chin area where follicles where density packed). I had no lifting of the skin (blistering). I do have swelling in the lower face and neck. My lips are enlarged as well, but not grossly so (some clients are able to see their own lips due to swelling - yikes!).
It's strange to run my hand over my face and not feel any whisker stubble at all. My face will be back to normal in a week or less, followed by a month of almost no facial hair. A quick, easy shave every three days will keep new growth at bay during that month, but then in the sixth week post-clearing, thousands of hairs will return, but in reduced numbers than I originally had. 25 to 50% of the hairs will have been killed in that first clearing. The kill rate depends on the skill of the electrologist and your own physiology. On the second and subsequent clearings, the kill rate is even higher if you do another clearing shortly after the regrowth hair emerges. That's right around 6 weeks after a clearing. Allowing those 'baby hairs' to grow strong before hitting them again will reduce the kill rate substantially.
I've scheduled my next session for January 8, roughly six weeks from now, and I anticipate needing, at most, the 23 hour package instead of the 30 hour package. As I said, the second clearing if done right at the 6 week interval provides a better kill rate than the first clearing. After the 4th clearing, 90 to 95% of my face and neck hair should be permanently removed at an accumulated cost of about $10,000. Yeah, not cheap, but that's accomplished in just 6 months, it's painless, and it's permanent. The remaining hair can be cleaned up with regular short visits to my neighborhood electrologist over the course of another 6 months or so at about $75 and hour.
Laser will not produce permanent hair removal for most people. Some will get good results doing laser first, to weaken the hair, and followed up with electrolysis to kill it off for good. You'll always get some hair regrowth with laser, It works best for people with very dark hair and very light skin. The nice thing about laser is it's faster and cheaper than electrolysis. It gets you part way there. Keep in mind that if you do laser, you have to wait 3 months before doing electrolysis to get the most out of it.
PM me if you have any questions about the company I had do my hair removal, or other details.
Clara
Here's how a session works. I arrived at 6:00 am the first day. I was instructed to put on a gown and then seated in a reclinable chair. My electrologist cleaned my face and neck with alcohol which had a mild burning sensation. She then applied a prescription lidocaine numbing ointment to my beard area. It was stronger than prescription EMLA. I could feel my lips getting numb within a few minutes.
Next a medical tech came in to set up an IV drip on my arm. An MD then administered a quick acting, short lived, narcotic sedation. When it took effect, the doc injected lidocaine together with a vaso-constrictor at several locations around my face and neck. Without the numbing and sedation these injections are extremely painful. Within seconds my face and neck were completely anesthetized and I was wide awake shortly thereafter.
Two girls, one on each side of me, one left-handed and the other right-handed, began to extract the hair on my face. They used a 27 mhz Apilus electrolysis/thermolysis device using insulated probes. The probe is very thin like a needle. It is inserted deep into the follicle along the hair shaft. The tech then sends out a pulse of microwaves from the tip of the probe to literally cook the moist cells in the vicinity of the hair root (papilla). She then extracts the hair out with a tweezers. It usually comes out with little effort, indicating an effective result. The tech will make adjustments to power setting, type of probe, etc. until the best results are obtained. High skin moisture is critical for good results. It's wise to hydrate you body well before a session.
They work very fast pulsing 10 or 12 follicles in a row, and then coming back with the tweezers to extract them. It was completely painless. They chatted back and forth, myself joining in when they were not working on my jaw. You can't read of watch TV during these long hours due to the bright overhead lights. It can be rather boring when the conversation dies. I nodded off many times and could have slept through some of it except that my snoring would wake me up...LOL.
I spent 9 hours in the chair the first day. Both sides of my face and neck, as well as my upper and lower lip areas had been cleared on day 1. I experienced some swelling, and the anesthetic made is hard to talk and eat that evening. I was instructed to apply neosporin cream to the cleared areas and apply ice for 15 minutes on and off that evening before going to bed. I slept in a reclining position to allow gravity to help drain some of the swelling. In the morning of the second day I was still quite swollen in my lower face.
The second day started at 8:30am. They put me through the same preparations as the first day. It took 7 hours in the chair to finish clearing my face and neck, again with two techs working on me.
I presented as a mix of feminine and masculine, but they always called me by my preferred name (Clara) and used the female pronouns. They tried to make me as comfortable as possible at all times.
My face handled the trauma of being subjected to an estimated 35,000 microwave bursts pretty well. There was very little redness or secretions (except in the chin area where follicles where density packed). I had no lifting of the skin (blistering). I do have swelling in the lower face and neck. My lips are enlarged as well, but not grossly so (some clients are able to see their own lips due to swelling - yikes!).
It's strange to run my hand over my face and not feel any whisker stubble at all. My face will be back to normal in a week or less, followed by a month of almost no facial hair. A quick, easy shave every three days will keep new growth at bay during that month, but then in the sixth week post-clearing, thousands of hairs will return, but in reduced numbers than I originally had. 25 to 50% of the hairs will have been killed in that first clearing. The kill rate depends on the skill of the electrologist and your own physiology. On the second and subsequent clearings, the kill rate is even higher if you do another clearing shortly after the regrowth hair emerges. That's right around 6 weeks after a clearing. Allowing those 'baby hairs' to grow strong before hitting them again will reduce the kill rate substantially.
I've scheduled my next session for January 8, roughly six weeks from now, and I anticipate needing, at most, the 23 hour package instead of the 30 hour package. As I said, the second clearing if done right at the 6 week interval provides a better kill rate than the first clearing. After the 4th clearing, 90 to 95% of my face and neck hair should be permanently removed at an accumulated cost of about $10,000. Yeah, not cheap, but that's accomplished in just 6 months, it's painless, and it's permanent. The remaining hair can be cleaned up with regular short visits to my neighborhood electrologist over the course of another 6 months or so at about $75 and hour.
Laser will not produce permanent hair removal for most people. Some will get good results doing laser first, to weaken the hair, and followed up with electrolysis to kill it off for good. You'll always get some hair regrowth with laser, It works best for people with very dark hair and very light skin. The nice thing about laser is it's faster and cheaper than electrolysis. It gets you part way there. Keep in mind that if you do laser, you have to wait 3 months before doing electrolysis to get the most out of it.
PM me if you have any questions about the company I had do my hair removal, or other details.
Clara