Electrolysis after laser hair removal for dark coarse facial hair

Several years ago I got laser hair removal done. I had growth I wanted gone on my sideburns and upper lip. At the time I had no other dark coarse hair but I thought I could get rid of the less prominent baby hairs by treating my entire face.

Five years later the places I had initial concern stayed clear, however I developed this insane growth in the places I had treated that weren't really hairy. Since then we've found out laser will actually stimulate growth in areas without coarse dark hair.

I had 15 minutes done of electrolysis yesterday as part of a consultation. The pain level is so less than laser treatments but it does take longer since they treat each individual hair.

I do have slight swelling in the follicles of what was treated causing raised skin. It was recommended to only shave the area being treated, but not shave two days prior to the appointment and not wear makeup for two days after. Any chemical peels and such should only be done a week before the treatments. My technician charges $95 an hour. I'll keep updated on progress.

Today I went for a treatment time of an hour. You can see that we didn’t completely cover the whole lower face that I was looking to cover. In three weeks I’ll go back for an hour. Then three weeks after that I’ll go for two hours. I find the pain minimal and extremely manageable. I do have fairly sensitive skin so I am very swollen and red. I mentioned to the tech that I have a reaction to some metals, so we’ll be using a gold probe in our next session. Swelling seems to be my biggest challenge. I’ll ice this and keep it clean and moisturized without wearing makeup for the next 48 hours. Also very important to watch your water intake!

One day after the swelling has reduced a lot and I’m left with red dots (immature scabs). I still haven’t shaved the remaining hairs because I’m waiting for all open skin to close before potentially adding bacteria through shaving. You also just have to be very gentle with your skin to prevent scars. This means I haven’t shaved in 4 days total.
If you’re doing this I recommend getting the entire area treated in one pass and going back for a complete clearing again in 4-6 weeks so that regular hair removal isn’t a complicated process like this.