How Long Does Electrolysis Take On Chin

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Before I start talking nearly hirsutism and PCOS, I'd like to remind everyone that I am not a physician and am writing this from my personal experiences, a survey conducted with 950 women who have PCOS and a series of interviews with dissimilar electrologists and laser hair removal technicians.
I recollect this mail service is going to be one of the most embarrassing and humiliating one I'll ever write about, but I recollect it'southward one of the nigh problematic symptom that I've had to deal with since 2010 and I think that writing about my experiences should or may help other women out in that location who bargain, accept dealt or will deal with this.

As almost of you know, this weblog is primarily dedicated to food and recipes that are gluten-free, sugar-free and low carb so that women with PCOS who are interested in losing weight and taking control of their symptoms naturally can refer to them and outset their depression carb journey.

Hirsutism a.k.a. Facial Hair

Ane of the most unremarkably known symptoms of PCOS is weight gain, but I think the about mutual symptom that no one really talks nigh is hirsutism, about frequently known as facial hair. It's one of the biggest struggle I've personally had to deal with since 2010, also as enough of other swain cysters. It's non something that whatever woman wants to acknowledge. I mean having facial pilus every bit a woman isn't a feature that I like to boast about. I've seen a few women online that have gone viral for sharing their facial hair and accepting the fact that they have a beard and I applaud them. I'm and so proud of them for accepting what they have been dealt with. I, on the other paw, couldn't and still can't. For the past 7 years, all I've felt was humiliation and embarrassment. I've never really felt very bonny or feminine because of information technology. I've never been able to accept it. Really, I've accepted the fact that I take facial hair, only I've never been able to have that I, as a adult female, should accept to suffer having facial hair. For those who aren't familiar with PCOS, when I say facial hair, I don't mean the calorie-free blonde facial pilus that every homo has, I hateful an actual man bristles that grows on a woman's face. It's most unremarkably associated with women who accept PCOS, but in that location are a few women that exercise non accept PCOS, but only have higher testosterone or other hormonal problems.
The hair started to appear when my weight passed 230lbs/105kg. My insulin was through the roof, in the 40s, and my hormones were out of whack. I was about 20 years quondam and pilus started to appear on my side burns and on my mentum. At first, it wasn't much. Information technology was simply a few hairs here and in that location. But as the months went by, the patches grew larger. They never fully connected, but were very noticeable as I am of Italian descent and my hair tends to be very nighttime and thick. I started waxing, bleaching, plucking, you name it. Anything to make it less noticeable. Just it wasn't working. The hair were at that place to stay. No matter what I tried, information technology would just grow dorsum correct away. When I turned 22 years old, I finally had plenty. I had read so many suggestions online to get laser hair removal and I decided to take all of my coin and get do it. I was a pupil at the fourth dimension and I wasn't rich or anything, but I had enough and decided to use the last of my savings for information technology as information technology was important for me to get rid of it. I needed this. I needed it to be gone and then badly.

Laser Hair Removal

I booked an appointment at a laser hair removal salon soon after. The showtime appointment, the technician explained to me how laser worked. She told me that she treated many women with PCOS, but that I shouldn't expect to be pilus-gratuitous. Instead, I should look that afterwards 5-6 treatments, I should take a lxx% subtract in hair growth. She so told me that light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation hair removal wasn't permanent, but it did significantly decrease the hair corporeality. I was happy with what I heard and decided to get ahead with the treatments.
The treatments were really painful. I cried every unmarried time. The upper lip was the worse. I have never felt that much pain in my life. Laser shocks your skin and burns the pilus instantly. One shock has a range of 1-5cm or something, I tin't really recollect. After the treatments, you need to ice the area for an hr or two and put some pure vitamin East all over. The peel gets really bumpy, hot and crimson, merely it disappears after a day or 2. Y'all'll notice some burnt hair that will autumn out after a while. Yous'll notice that your skin tends to exist really hot and burn for about an hour afterward the session. You may fifty-fifty get slight bruising if the laser touches a vein.

The effect

For the adjacent year, I did nearly 8 sessions. Not only did the hair all come dorsum 6 weeks after each session, only the amount of facial hair that I had basically tripled. I used to simply accept patches on my sideburns and my chin, but after the sessions, I had a full-on homo beard connecting my side burns, neck, chin, jaw and moustache. Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation hair removal, if anything, had me feel even more than worthless than I've ever felt. I started the treatments expecting to detect a cure or some sort of relief, a slight sliver of hope that could make me experience more of a woman and make me comfortable in my own skin, regain my self-confidence and feel beautiful. These hopes were completely destroyed after a twelvemonth of laser hair removal. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't depressed and disappointed. I don't call up I had always felt so distressing in my entire life. I was and then humiliated. I didn't want to become exterior, hang out with friends, and get seen by anyone any. Imagine existence a woman that is supposed so look a certain manner, especially the fact that being a woman in our society this day and age is already and so damn hard, but existence a woman that has a full grown human being beard all effectually her confront. Tin you even imagine the pain and embarrassment 1 can have? The worst part was that the hair wouldn't stop growing. It wouldn't stop like leg pilus at about 1cm, it would just go on to grow and grow, and if I wouldn't have cut it, I'd probably have the Guinness world record for the longest man bristles a adult female tin accept.

The emotional roller coaster of having regrowth

At that time, I'd completely given up feeling slightly normal. I was so sick and tired of shaving, waxing, plucking and bleaching. No affair what I tried, the pilus would come dorsum the same day. I'd take a v o'clock shadow by the end of the solar day, irritated peel from shaving, pimples from waxing and my self-esteem had completely gone down the drain. I eventually gave up on dealing with the hair equally I just didn't have plenty courage to practice it anymore. It came to the point where I honestly didn't care what other people would think of me as I, myself, had lost every ounce of respect and cocky-dearest I had for myself. I gave up on the outside world for a while, and I recollect from when I was about 22-24 years old, I had reached the highest level of low one could reach and I really wasn't in a happy place. All I could retrieve was that no one would ever beloved me or look by my facial hair. All my friends knew I had facial hair, I mean it was obvious. Merely simply the fact that they would discover or slightly await at my face up for that extra second made me feel and so cocky-witting. It injure me in a mode where it's been really hard for me to move forward and accept who I am and what I've been dealt with.

Laser doesn't work with PCOS*

After the eight^th treatment was over, the laser technician told me that light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation wouldn't work on me since I have PCOS and that I should exercise electrolysis instead. I had used all of my money and basically had tripled the amount of hair that was on my face. I looked into electrolysis and it was just completely out of my price range. Electrolysis zaps one hair at a time and so to do a whole face tin have 20+ hours of treatments and each hair follicle needs ii-10 treatments. The worst matter is that electrolysis treatments need to exist regular then you can't just skip a few months and go dorsum. Information technology won't work and the hair will come dorsum and y'all'll take wasted your money. Evidently, at that time electrolysis was out of the question and out of my price range. So I completely gave upward. I stopped shaving, plucking and waxing. The hair amount was just so ridiculous that annihilation I tried was just making it worst. My skin felt then sensitive and irritated that I had merely enough. I decided to let the hair grow out and but bleached them. I was tired of the pain of pulling each hair out of my pare ii-iii times a twenty-four hours just so that I could feel like a woman, then I just let it grow out. I retrieve I had the long facial hair for about 2 years. Everyone noticed. Obviously my friends didn't treat me differently, but they did observe and so did strangers.

*Looking back, laser may have been more effective if my hormones and insulin were at normal levels similar today. I think the reason laser didn't work is considering my insulin was in the 40s, whereas information technology'southward seven today, my male hormones were too high and my female hormones, LH and FSH, were irregular, whereas they're all normal today. Simply I think that because my hormones and insulin were out of whack, laser did not work. However, I can't say for sure that it was because of that. I definitely think it was one of the master factors that made it unsuccessful. If perhaps my hormones and insulin would take been normal, it may have been successful, but considering my experience was negative, I can't recommend light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation to anyone.*

Electrolysis

For those two years, I had gone to a few electrolysis clinics in Ottawa and Toronto to encounter what it was like and how information technology felt. I had explained to them that I did laser and that it had tripled the corporeality of hair I originally had. She told me that light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation really shouldn't be done anywhere where hormones are sensitive. Hair that grows on the confront, under the abdomen push button, on your bum, betwixt you thighs or behind you upper arms are all very sensitive to hormones, whether male or female person, and and then having laser washed on those pilus follicles merely stimulates the dormant ones to come out even more because information technology zaps a broad area and touches the ingrown hair too. I think I went four times total to electrolysis because I didn't actually have the funds for information technology. But my goodness. Laser is painful, yes, merely at to the lowest degree it'southward quick. I hadn't realized that doing electrolysis would take so much fourth dimension. The way electrolysis works is that they insert a tiny needle into the hair follicle and zap the root of the hair with an electric electric current for 1-x seconds depending on the motorcar and the electric current information technology's gear up at. The shock can exist a little painful to ridiculously painful. The electrologist will adjust the power according to your pain reaction. I've read that the stronger the power, the better because that way the root of the hair tin be certain to exist burned. However, information technology'southward not similar you lot can suddenly withstand a super strong electric shock 300 times on your face for an hour. There'south a limit to how much hurting one can handle and my pain tolerance isn't actually high.

Try out dissimilar clinics

I tried four different electrolysis clinics and let me tell you something. Before you decide on a clinic to continue your treatments for the following number of years, Test out the electrologists. I do not mean to be rude, but electrolysis needs to zap one pilus at a time pregnant that the treatments will take an enormous amount of time. We have over a million pilus on our faces and zapping i hair can take i-x seconds. I don't deny that electrologists know what they're doing, but the speed they practise it at is important. Time is money, peculiarly for electrolysis. I tried four dissimilar clinics and I swear some took so much fourth dimension compared to other clinics that I honestly thought they were doing it on purpose and so that they could go more money out of me. Then definitely try out different places and see which one gets the task washed fast. If you become to a deadening clinic and don't check out other ones, your treatments will toll And then much more than over the years and so definitely be careful with that. I one time counted how many hair this one electrologist zapped in 45 minutes and she zapped about 400 something. When I went to a slower electrologist, she had zapped virtually 100 in the aforementioned amount of time.

Time is money

In addition, the equipment used is extremely important. The fast place used a vivid lite that would become over my face so that she could see all the hairs, plus she had these mini magnifying glasses that would make her see all the tiny hairs and make sure to zap every 1 of them. She besides held the tweezers and needle in one paw and used her other hand to stretch out my skin to get admission to all the hair. Besides, she sabbatum on a lower chair while I was lying on a bed and she was crouched over me and so that she could encounter everything. On the other paw, at the slowest place, the electrologist didn't used any magnifying glasses, and she stood up so her face wasn't close to my face. She couldn't see the hairs as well, thus the reason why she was dull. After one handling with her, I decided that it was a huge waste of coin and too my precious time because she wasn't competent enough. And then honestly brand sure your electrologist is fast. It is SO important.

Patient or purse of money?

Some other important affair to consider is whether the electrologist treats you like a patient or a bag of money. I felt that the electrologists that would put a timer, check the time every 2nd or try to make me sign a contract that said to come up at least two times a week as a client or she wouldn't be able to treat me were being unfair and were thinking of getting paid more than treating me. I honestly did non like that equally I knew that I would exist doing treatments for a long fourth dimension and wanted an electrologist that I could trust and that wasn't just in it for the money. The 1 I go to now schedules me for a session of however long and sometimes laissez passer the fourth dimension scheduled by ii-10 minutes and she never charges me. I remember she knows that there is a lot of work to do and she treats me more than like a human being being, rather than a pocketbook of money. She always makes certain that whatever surface area we're doing that day is completely hair free.

I got a task! = I can pay for electrolysis

In Jan 2015, I moved to Japan because I got a task at that place and was officially employed. That meant that I could finally afford electrolysis treatments. I was not interested in light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation as it had ruined my face and made the hairs grow like crazy, then I definitely wanted to invest my time into electrolysis. If you've read my ' About Me ' page, you'll know that the second I moved to Japan, my periods magically came back and have been regular ever since. Electrolysis isn't very popular in Japan and so finding a clinic was a bit hard. I actually have to go into Tokyo (I live in Saitama, another prefecture) and it takes well-nigh an hour and a half each mode.
The first fourth dimension was just like the other clinics. They explained how electrolysis works and give you a free trial for 10 minutes. Because I had already done electrolysis before, I told her I wanted to buy an hour right abroad and do a handling. She used a unlike kind of machine (there are so many varieties btw) where I held a metal stick and she would zap each pilus for a minimum of 10 seconds. She said she prefers to apply this machine and zap for a longer periods considering she's seen more success zapping for a longer time than for a shorter fourth dimension. She has a big light over my head, a magnifying drinking glass and sits right beside me and then she's crouched over my body then she sees all the pilus. I love her because she never puts a timer and we just talk while she does the treatments. Every clinic is dissimilar in terms of prices. I retrieve Japan is on the higher end for it. You tin can buy minutes or you can buy a 5 60 minutes package. Other clinics will sell bigger packages as well, but she's the cheapest ane I've establish then far and dearest her. A 5 hour package in Nihon costs 61000¥ (540$) so you can come across that it can become pretty pricey. I decided to do 45 minutes treatments per week because one, I couldn't afford more and 2, it hurts soo much that I cannot handle more 45 minutes. I would've liked to go twice a calendar week, but I could only afford one time a week for 45 minutes so that'south what I started with.

My PCOS Kitchen - Electrolysis Hair Removal - Facial Hair - Hirsutism - PCOS Woman - Insulin Sensitivity - Insulin Resistance
If yous expect at my nautical chart (sorry I but started the nautical chart in May 2015 and non January), you can run into that I started with 3-3.75 hours per month, decreased to 2 per month, then to 1 per calendar month and now I practice 30 minutes per month. My chart also includes my weight, what days my periods came and how long betwixt each flow. The black sections are considering my periods overlapped between 2 months. In January 2016, I got my periods on the 30th until the 3rd of February and then once more on the 6th of March.

My PCOS Kitchen - Menstruation History

You lot can cheque out my latest health update to see where my insulin levels and hormones are!

My PCOS Kitchen - How My PCOS is CURED

The treatments

I started the treatments with my long hair bleached because I had stopped waxing. Because I had so much hair, we decided to start section by department or else we'd get confused as to where we had done and where to redo, etc. I asked her to do my chin get-go considering that was the place I hated the most, then she moved to my sideburns, then my cheeks and then my jaw and neck. Past the style, she didn't go over those places in 1 treatment, I hateful in the class of twenty or so hours, she went through all those sections one by one, while going back to previous sections to zap the hair that had come back. My confront wasn't clear, or semi-cleared until nearly Nov 2015. I call up I finally started to expect like I had no beard around that time, but the pilus would come up dorsum so I still had to go every calendar week or every two weeks.
While she focused on eliminating the pilus on a item section, I would still have hair on the other sections and I was fine by that. Y'all have to remember that in one case you start electrolysis, yous CANNOT shave, pluck or wax the hair as you're simply going to ruin everything and the hairs Will come up back. Y'all can trim and bleach, only under no circumstances should you pluck the hair out of your face up. Information technology's a pretty crappy part about it, only I learned to live with the hair and I'm finally seeing results.

Hormones & Insulin

Information technology is of import to note that all women produce the male person hormone testosterone, simply in much smaller amounts. This is one of the hormones that causes facial hair, among other ones. Excess facial hair depends entirely on several factors: the hair follicles' androgen sensitivity, genetics (people from the Middle East or Mediterranean tend to take more pilus), insulin sensitivity, testosterone levels, and hormones like estrogen and progesterone. If you have a poor diet and have consumed high amounts of carbs like carbohydrate and refined carbohydrates, your body most likely started becoming insulin resistant over the years. When that happens, your torso is unable to procedure sugars properly or pause downwards food. This unfortunately has a major bear upon on hormone levels which tin can cause hair to abound. A nutrition that is high in carbohydrates raises insulin levels, which in turn raises testosterone levels and other female hormones, which tin contribute to an increase in facial hair. Loftier testosterone tin can as well cause acne and scalp hair loss. As long as your hormones are out of whack and your insulin is also high, hair Volition grow. Essentially, you CANNOT do electrolysis or laser if you exercise not have your insulin and hormones nether control. The hair that you zap will not only come back, but fallow hairs will also come out. I recommend checking out my guide on how to first a low carb diet for getting those hormones in control.

How long should it take?

I found this really helpful article hither that talks about how many hours or years you should look to get rid of facial hair. It's an article specifically designed for transsexuals, but they go through the same thing as women with PCOS.

Factors to consider

An important cistron to remember is that electrolysis Volition Take Time, even years. You should expect treatments to have from 1 to 4 years or more. According to the article, the average is 2 years and the fastest has been 10 months. Completion requires from xl hours to more than 700. The treatments NEED to be regular, and by that I mean every unmarried week. The biggest financial challenge will be to become your face up cleared, after that it's just zapping the hairs that come back. For me, personally, it took 10 months-ish to clear my face after going there one time a week. It tin can patently take less time if yous have the money, only for my case, information technology wasn't. Later your face is cleared, so you can start going for less fourth dimension or merely 1-three times a month depending on how much hair comes back. I've been going for ii.5 years now.
I think the most important thing to remember is that if you do not have your hormones and insulin nether control, the pilus WILL come back. Before even starting treatments, you need to get your female and male hormones and insulin under control, either by diet and do or past medication. If they aren't in command, the hairs will always come back, unfortunately.
You demand to be patient. It won't happen overnight. Information technology'south almost been three years for me and I at present get once a month instead of once a week. The hair is barely noticeable, but a few do come dorsum. The hair on my neck and jaw are coming back first because that is the last section that I started. The hair on my mentum was the section I had started with and I haven't had hair there for a skillful yr now. I get occasional pilus on my sideburns and cheeks, merely most of it is on my jaw and neck. I just started doing the upper lip because it's one of the nigh painful area to treat and I've been avoiding until now. I started the upper lip in June 2017. I tin only handle about 5 to ten minutes on the upper lip and then I starting time crying. Fifty-fifty if the hair decides to stick effectually for the residue of my life, going once a calendar month for touch ups instead of in one case week is definitely a life bask and I'll take that any twenty-four hour period.
It volition injure. I find that the treatments during my periods or right before my periods are the nigh painful. Perhaps because I'g extra sensitive during those days, just I try to schedule my appointments at times where I volition not be on my periods. I too accept an Advil one hr before each treatment. There are a few creams you lot tin use before treatments (Maxilene and Emla) that sort of numb your confront, but they can be quite pricey and honestly I've never noticed a difference with or without them and so I just stick with my Advil. I've been told that getting your face frozen afterwards going to the dentist is a godsend since you don't feel anything and can do 2+ hours without pain, just I obviously can't exercise that every calendar month lol.
Your diet will bear on the growth of the hair. Brand certain to eat healthy and exercise as eating sugar or gluten will affect the pilus and they will come back faster. In April 2016, I had an ACL surgery on my knee because I broke information technology a few months earlier. Anyway, I was hospitalized for three weeks and couldn't bring whatsoever food in the hospital. I had to eat what they gave me for three whole weeks. I had been eating gluten-free, sugar-complimentary and depression carb for the past yr and I suddenly had to consume wheat and rice every single repast for iii weeks. At that time, I used to go do treatments every 2 weeks for 30 minutes for the past 4 months, but when I was hospitalized, the hair came back later a week and double the amount that normally comes. I had to go practice electrolysis 3 times that month because I had eaten carbs, gluten and sugar for three weeks, too because I was stuck in bed and wasn't moving. Ever since, I've been very careful almost what I eat and the hair growth has decreased over the months. You lot'll also detect that eating depression carb tin can lighten the hair colour.

After iii years of treatments and seven years of having facial hair, I finally look like a adult female once again. A few of the hairs do come back in some random places, but I go do impact-ups once a calendar month and then information technology's all good once more. You can see in the pictures below the hair earlier the treatment, the pilus right later on, and the pilus growth three weeks after. Compared to two years ago, I think it'due south absolutely incredible.

The Unfortunate Truth

I simply want to say that it is extremely important that you remember this. And I don't mean to be savage or mean, just simply desire to say the unavoidable truth. Equally humans, we all take blonde infant hair. The pilus is in its dormant form. If your hormones are out of whack or if your insulin is too high, those blonde pilus follicles will come out of their dormant form and turn long and black. Once the facial pilus has come out and grown dark and black, there is no style to remove it, unless permanently removed. Past that I hateful, no matter how much vitamins or medication you accept, no matter how salubrious you swallow or how much you exercise, one time the hair is out, information technology's out. Information technology doesn't thing if you pluck, wax, trim or shave, the hair volition come back. Call up most it. If you were to pluck your pilus on your head, it will come back. The hair follicle has been created then fifty-fifty if you pluck it out, the hair volition just grow back considering the hair is not dormant anymore. So you may think that eating healthy is not important, just information technology is. Past eating healthy, exercising and eating low carb, yous are controlling the amount of insulin your body makes. Past having a normal corporeality of insulin, your hormones kickoff to go normal and so do your insulin levels. So eating healthy makes the baby blonde fallow hair that hasn't developed into long and dark hairs stay that style, stay dormant and not come out. Just the hair that had come up out previously from your hormones or extra insulin will unfortunately always be there unless permanently removed. Since pilus starts to appear with PCOS' extreme levels of hormones and insulin, at that place is no way to remove the hair follicles once the hair has come out, unless you do permanent hair removal Just IF YOUR HORMONES AND INSULIN ARE NORMAL.

The treatments in pictures

Hither are some pictures of treatments I had this year so you can run into how pilus growth works. I don't really take hair on my sideburns, cheek and mentum anymore. It'southward all in the neck and under my jaw as it's the last area I started. I started the moustache area in June 2017 so however have pilus considering we oasis't cleared the entire are yet.