The bearded lady

Glad you find it as good as I do, Lona!

You've just reminded me I must have a quick go with it tonight as I won't have time tomorrow with DD and the GDs coming for Sunday lunch...

Good luck MaryXYZ

Just popped back to say that I'm very impressed with my Wizzit after a few weeks. It doesn't hurt and really works well.

maryxyx IPL type laser treatment is more effective (other brands are probably available) and less painful but it is more expensive than electrolysis.

It only really works well on dark hairs though. I have had electrolysis for a number of years and I have no doubt it has made a big difference in terms of being a permanent improvement.

I have spells of monthly electrolysis treatment now as the individual offenders are too sparse to make laser treatment worth while.

Yes, you'd probably get it on the NHS if you were being detained at Her Maj's Pleasure, too, Mary!

Good luck - I do hope it's successful and not too painful

I'll have a consultation first, and then probably go for upper lip treatment. If I like the results I would be thinking of having the rest of the face done. At the moment I shave every day and also use Eflora cream, which is quite effective at reducing regrowth.

The hospital did write to my GP saying I should be sent for facial hair removal on the NHS. I got the predictable response from my local NHS trust - "We don't pay for that here". Postcode lottery again.

MaryXYX Electrolysis is permanent but you have to realise that as we get older as one set of coarse hairs is zapped another collection of fine hairs is waiting to become coarse, not as a result of the electrolysis, but as part of the natural aging progress and we have an awful lot of hair follicles on our faces

I started electrolysis at 40. I am now 71 and still need a 10 minute electrolysis session every few months. Admittedly I have a fine head of dark hair, which means I tend to have a fine crop of dark hair on my face as well. Untreated I would probably have a beard to rival my husband's by now.

As it is for the first two years I had electrolysis, I had a session every week. Gradually it spaced out, every fortnight then every month. For the last 20 years it has been about four or five times a year, it goes in fits and starts.

I would be very unwilling to pay upfront for 10 hours. Let alone have one hour sessions. When I started I had 15 minute sessions, but soon cut it down to 10 minutes. It can be quite painful, lots of little prickles rather than a great howl. I would start by having a few short sessions, 10 - 15 minutes and see how you get on before committing to one hour sessions.

Having made all these provisos, I have never regretted starting, and continuing, with electrolysis. I started finding coarse hairs on my chin in my late teens and by the time I started electrolysis at 40 I was 'veet'ing my moustache twice a week. If you do have a lot of coarse dark hairs it is the answer.

My understanding is that hair grows on a six week cycle, so once it has been treated on a number of different weeks it will all have been hit. Laser is long lasting but not permanent, electrolysis is supposed to be permanent.

I think it is likely I would be having one hour sessions, as otherwise there would be a very large number of sessions. It's probably going to be early in the New Year when I'm feeling well enough to go ahead.

Mary - I hope that is not in one hour sessions! When I used to go, it was about 10 minutes per session and I think I paid about £15 - £18 for that. I do think like Ana that you may have to go for top ups, as other follicles start producing hairs in future years.
The sun was shining this morning and shone a spotlight on my under chin hairs. Just how do they get that long without me noticing?

But wouldn't you need to go back for 'top-ups' even after that, Mary?

If it does get rid of the hair completely and for good, though, it's got to be worth it! Hope you feel better soon

I've made my first visit to an electrolysis salon. Had a brief chat and took a leaflet. I'll contact them again when I'm feeling a bit better - good excuse. I guess I would be looking more at the high end of the charges: £524 for ten hours if I want it all done.

My chin hairs are back. Luckily I tend not to look in the mirror with my glasses on so it's just the three stiff ones that annoy me. Darn teenagers have disappeared the tweezers again tho.

Thanks for your posts Lona and everyone. My wizzit has just arrived and following advice from this thread I ended up removing the guard and trying it in different directions. It is uncomfortable but bearable. I have pale, fine down where a man would have a beard (thank you hormones). Probably it is not too noticeable but I know it's there. I'll probably use it briefly every day so the effect is not too obvious.

My waxing / plucking regime has been the same for over thirty years Boatyard
During that time people have said plucking / waxing / epilating (is that a word?) makes it worse.
I haven't noticed that, but as the alternative would have been to do nothing, I am not sure what that proves.
Does having your hair cut make it grow faster? I know that my lunar calendar gardening book has info on the best phases of the moon for getting your hair cut / facial hair removed.

Do plucking the hairs on your face make them grow darker and stronger?

I'm finding that my Wizzit is ok if I use it every day. That way, it seems to keep everything in check with the minimum discomfort.

My Wizzit has arrived & I'm very pleased with it. Sales of it must have shot up!

Went shopping yesterday with DD & was very surprised to see Threading being carried out in the shopping mall. Just a little stand with 3 reclining chairs - no privacy at all. All 3 chairs were occupied though & one reclining lady was rubbing her I assume now hairless chin, & smiling.

According to the women's mags, waxing on the face makes more hair grow.

ha ha ha ha ha Maggiemaybe
"Two of my menfolk have picked the Epistick up, studied its rather dubious appearance and the Chinese writing, and quietly put it back down. I have no idea what they're thinking."

Yes, probably good to get it done by a professional first Nanabelle
Do they still do hot wax in the UK? I seem to remember that they were not allowed to do it from the big tubs of hot wax around the time we left the UK. They still do it in France. I find I can put up with more pain and hotter wax if I do it myself, but as I said up thread, the left eyebrow is tricky to shape for a right-hander. The Parissa is about £10 in Boots, but it lasts me about six months.

At my yoga class tonight someone said that the willow hedge arch outside had been removed, but the roots were still there and would be sprouting up again soon.
My first thoughts were of my upper lip

Thanks Mamie for your reply. Six weeks is a pretty good time. I will look up the Parissa stuff but think I will try a professional to begin with, to make sure it works on me - and I can stand the pain

Thanks, I may have another go. Chinese is not my language of choice.

Charleygirl, I have at last screwed up my courage and tried my £1 Epistick and I think it's grand! I had a little slip of paper in with mine with English instructions, which I will copy below. It's very easy to use when you get the hang of it and you can feel it nipping out the little hairs and then can see the blighters caught up in the wire coils. I'm just off to moisturise now, in the hope I don't get a shaving rash!

"Hold each end and bend the bar downwards into an inverted U. Place it against your face and roll the bar inwards and outwards with your thumbs. The spring will catch the hairs and gently pull them out."

Not so sure about the "gently" - it stings a bit! It's not what even a wimp like me would call painful though.

Apparently there are videos on You Tube if the instructions don't make sense to you. Fingers crossed!

I have always had to wax (from about age 35) and needed to get it done once every six weeks. A few years ago I discovered the Parissa hot waxing kits in Boots and I now do it myself. It saves a fortune. I use tweezers in between and am trying the Wizzit, but I think that probably isn't up to the job!

It's nice to be in such good company on this thread. My upper lip hairs have become thicker as I have got older and there seem to be more of them these days so although I have often used jolen bleach in the past, tonight I have used the boots facial hair removal cream - just trialling it on a little either side! (Hope I won't end up with a certain German man's look ) I am interested in how quickly it regrows. Think the time may have come to go for regular waxing though. Seems a shame in a way as I have stuck with it since I was about 13! My worry is that if all hairs are removed at the same time (as with waxing and cream) surely they will all grow at exactly the same time, and therefore moustache will appear to be much thicker?
Can I please ask - those of you who wax - how often do you have to go?

Of course, to make this all so much worse, when I wear my reading glasses and look in the magnifying mirror - horrors appear!

Maggiemaybe my Epistick also arrived and yes, there were instrucrions as promised, but in Chinese. I tried it on my leg and the back of my hand and it was so hit and miss that I gave up. There is no way that I could attempt to use it on my face. A good job that it only cost £1.