Shaved sideburns first time and my stubble is green!! Help please :(

[pholonx]

I bought a lumea recently and have been using it on my body. I'm super hairy with olive skin and black hair so it's working on reducing the hair on my body. I decided to try it on my face yesterday and shaved my (thick) sideburns before zapping them. Less than 24 hours later and the sides of my face are now tinged green with stubble underneath and I can't bear to leave the house - I feel so stupid and am dreading going out and seeing people I know because it's so obvious. I look like a different person and hate the way my face looks without my side hair :( feeling so sad and down

Is there anything I can do to make it look better?

I never realised how much my sideburns and peach fuzz softened my face and gave me a glow - now my face looks harsh and bloated. Silly but wish I could back in time and tell myself not to touch them :(

I've never heard it turning skin green!

I would use some red tint make up to balance out the green but would hope that it doesn't last long anyway. The stubble will grow out so, especially given your hair colour, I wouldn't think any hair removal is permanent after one go so it should grow back and no harm done.

Might be worth reaching out to lumea customer services for advice as well, I'd do this ASAP so there's a record.

Thanks assassin - my skin looks green because of the very dark stubble under the skin that's pushing through ifyswim :( like how some men's faces look with 5 o'clock shadow.

The lumea's worked fab everywhere else on my body so think it is just not suitable for my sideburns. Just feeling so stupid because I felt like my sideburns were bringing down my confidence and now I've touched them, I'm worried to leave the house because of how bad it looks!! :(

I'm wondering whether now I've done it, I ought to commit to treating it with my lumea for the initial 8 week bootcamp but really don't want to be shaving everyday/regularly and having stubbly sides :(

If anyone has the same combination as me of black hair and olive skin and has lumea'd their faces, what did you do for the stubble between treatments? Did it get better?

Not to dismiss your feelings but we all know these things look worse to us than they do to others. Most people pay very little attention to other people look!

Perhaps the odd colleague might notice...you might notice them noticing, but they should be polite enough not to point it out and they will grow back.

Honestly this thing about women & sideburns...I have hair there too. I have very dark hair and generally very hairy. Of all the hair that's bothered me, the 'side burns' haven't. They frame my face, they're normal & i think they're pretty.

I have never looked at a woman & thought 'sideburns'!

A little make red-toned make up will balance out the green, and if your as hairy as me the stubble will grow out quickly. Try not to focus on it, it'll only make you miserable

Thanks for being so kind assassin - I really appreciate it. And you're right - sideburns are beautiful and natural on women - it's just horrible how ashamed we are made to feel about them. Just generally having a crisis about how I look and got swept up in thinking I could transform myself using the lumea and went overboard :(I've had comments from people on the tube and in public and it's always made me self-conscious. I used to bleach them and not really think twice until some women on the tube started talking about me and saying how they didn't understand why women bleached their hair as it was so obvious.

And it's my colleagues I'm most worried about! They won't say anything (I hope) but will defo notice- I haven't been able to stop looking in my mirror all day so you're right, I need to stop thinking/looking and let it do it's thing. Gahhhh stupid me!!

Wow I'm sorry you've encountered so many rude & offensive people!

I think maybe you need a pot of retorts for anyone in the future unpleasant enough to say anything.

Did you know Marilyn Monroe had peach fuzz? She deliberately kept it because in photos it gave her a soft glow, like a luminous aura.

Granted, I remove the hair I've had comments on but it's such a pain in the arse and my skin is sensitive and hates it. I've started to not bother so much and maybe it's because I'm getting older & no longer as attractive as a used to be (I peaked in my 20s) but I havent had comments in several years.

Or maybe it's because the fact that I've run out of fucks to give shows on my face 😂

If your colleagues are generally a nice bunch, you could always tell them what happened and, if they are a decent lot, they'll empathise and tell you it was unnecessary.

If you want to lumea there, could you wax first and then use it? Might take longer to get regrowth and less stubbly?

It's weird but most of the comments I've had have been from other women and teenage girls - you think they'd be some solidarity!! I'd never comment on another person's facial hair.

And I did know about Marilyn Monroe and the glowy fuzz! It's so weird how the complete opposite of dermaplaning your whole face is now in vogue.

I'm sorry you also feel that you've had to remove some of your facial hair too and have had comments too. It's all just such a faff and expense of emotional labour - I wish I didn't have to spend time/money/energy on removal when men don't have to think twice about what they wear/what their facial/body hair is like!

I also think I peaked when I was younger and part of me is struggling with that and my face and hair changing as I get older - part of me wants to not care but then every months, I try and transform myself and end up hating it. It's awful and sometimes I feel invisible to some because I'm not considered attractive but then hyper-visible a the same time for the wrong reasons (i.e stupid thoughtless comments about facial hair).

Trying to look at the positives though as my legs are now significantly less hairy after just a few weeks of the lumea and that has been life-changing! In a weird position of now willing my sideburns to grow whilst willing the rest of body hair to stop growing 😂

Thanks Paddington but I would break out in acne/spots from waxing my face (tried a patch in my teenage years and learnt not to go near it on my face!!)

the Lumea probably will work eventually on the sideburn hair, if the contrast is good enough. It'll probably just take a few applications to get all of the follicles into the dormant phase of the growth cycle before you can do the maintenance. Have you read the instructions?

And I totally agree with others, I bet it doesn't look half as obvious to others as to you (hug)

sometimes I feel invisible to some because I'm not considered attractive but then hyper-visible a the same time for the wrong reasons

One of the paradoxes of womanhood you've summed up there.

I think the trick is to make the best of what we have, focus on looking healthy & glowy, and let our personalities shine through.

Little bit of swagger.

Undoubtedly if I tried to swagger I'd look a tit 😂

Thanks Malcom, I think it would work given how well it's worked on my legs if I stick with it but not sure if I'm brave enough to leave the stubble on my face/shave inbetween treatments iyswim. I just miss how the peach fuzz softened my face so will let it grow out I think.

Today I scrubbed my face and noticed lots of little hairs coming out which means the Lumea did something at least - so that's helped with getting rid of the shadowy/green tinge a bit.

Thanks for the words of wisdom assassin - glowy and healthy inside is my goal!

And paradoxes of being a woman indeed! It's just scary to see your value depreciating in wider society as you get older because you're no longer considered conventionally attractive. But like you, I'm trying to become more and more bold with not giving a fuck 😂Haven't mastered the swagger yet but often think of the whole male 'big dick energy' thing and think I ought to try and be like that 😂