If you are reading this, you might already know how exhausting hormonal facial hair can be. Plucking every morning, hiding it, dreading it growing back by the afternoon. So many of our clients arrive feeling worn down by years of managing something that never seems to go away. I want to start by saying you are not alone, and you are not doing anything wrong.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is one of the most common reasons women experience unwanted facial and body hair. It is a hormonal condition, and one of its effects can be higher levels of androgens, which influence the kind of hair that grows on the chin, jawline, neck, upper lip and stomach. The medical word for this kind of hair growth is hirsutism.
PCOS itself is best looked after by a doctor or endocrinologist, and that side of things is not something I treat. What I do is help with the hair itself, and electrolysis is genuinely well suited to PCOS-related hair growth.
There are a few reasons for that.
Electrolysis works on the follicle directly, so it does not rely on hair colour or skin tone. Many people with PCOS have hair that is too fine, too light or too mixed for laser to work consistently. Electrolysis does not care about any of that. If there is a hair, it can be treated.
It is also precise. PCOS hair tends to appear in patterns rather than full coverage, and each hair matters when you are looking at someone every day in the mirror. Electrolysis lets us work hair by hair, in the order that makes the biggest difference to how you feel.
Because PCOS is hormonal, new hairs may continue to appear over time, especially during flare-ups or changes in medication. This is not a failure of treatment, and it does not mean electrolysis has not worked on the hairs we have already cleared. Properly treated follicles do not come back. What can happen is that the body activates previously dormant follicles. We simply treat those as they appear.
The most successful PCOS treatment plans I see have a few things in common. They are consistent, with regular appointments rather than long gaps. They are realistic about timeframes, because we are working alongside a hormonal condition, not against it. And they are paired with whatever medical care you are doing in the background, because treating the cause and treating the hair work best together.
If this is something you have been quietly carrying for a long time, please know it is welcome here. The first appointment is just a conversation. There is no pressure, no judgement, and no expectation that you arrive with answers.
Most people with PCOS have spent years being told to manage it on their own. You do not have to.
Vivian, Founder of Hills Electrolysis