Tell me about electrolysis

[stephogirl]

I would like to look into permanent hair removal for parts of my face and was considering electrolysis. Does anyone have experience with this? Costs? How many times did you need to go back? Results? Also, does it hurt? ;-)

[noodleoo]

I don't, but I'm curious too! I hope someone answers. I tried laser hair removal but it was unsuccessful (I have dark skin and dark hair). If you have light skin and dark hair, you might be a good candidate for that.

[LoveTrains]

I did electrolysis for a while on some stubborn hairs at the corners of my upper lip. It was painful - think a little zap every time they do it to the hair folicle. You can get numbing cream which the technician recommended I get, but it requires a prescription from a doctor. She explained that in my state she could not legally give it to me every time I came.

Since I was lazy I did not get the numbing cream - and yeah it was painful. I was doing 15 minute sessions, which cost $20. The way that it was explained to me is that you have to go back for multiple sessions because they can only zap the hair they see, and so while they would kill that hair folicle, a hair could grow right next to it and they would have to zap that one.

I probably went once a month for about 5 months and still didn't zap all my hair away. It cost me $20 for each 15 minute session, but a 30 minute session cost $30. I think $1/minute is a pretty standard rate.

[aurora]

The science geek in me wanted to come in and talk about how you can put a current into water to separate it into oxygen and hydrogen. I didn't even realize that the term had started to be used by the beauty industry.