A new beginning, a new electrologist (long).

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
1

Ok, I’m from London, UK and back in May I had a consultation with a lovely lady. This lady really knows her stuff, she was trained by Dectro in Canada many years ago, has an Apilus machine, has a selection of different size needles, wears gloves and has great hygiene. At the consultation she made sure I understood everything that was explained to me, she did a test patch, took photo, computerised print out, etc. This lady is mega busy and in February she started dividing her time between two offices…fortunately for me one of her clients is almost done and with a little shuffling a slot was found.

Fast forward to today…I had my first 1 hour session to work on my chin, the hairs here are blonde but slightly course. Based on the readings she took from my consultantion, she choose to perform Multiplex. She told me that my skin is sensitive (it gets really red), and being that many of the hairs were so close together she would leave some of them until next time as not to over treat the area. I left happy, with a red chin and some white heat spots. 4 hours later my chin is looking almost normal except for a few flakey scabs. I’ll keep everyone upto date with my progress, but just thought I’d post just incase anyone was interested.

Thanks for reading, and any comments are welcome.

2

Glad you checked in. People always want to hear personal stories about the hair removal experiences of others. I like what I hear about her setup and her comments as well. I feel very encouraged for you, max1970. Do offer her feedback on your healing so she can make some adjustments if she needs to.

Dee

3

Time for an update! Christmas was a really tough & upsetting time for me regarding the hair, and I know I was a nightmare to live with. Well…it has been 28 days since my first treatment, due to the way the New Year fell we were unable to keep to the scheldule of every 2 weeks. I have mainly blonde slightly course hairs with a few courser than others, and a few dark ones thrown in. Had my second treatment of an hour today using the Apilus sx-500 (think that’s what it’s called), using the Multiplex method. She said due to the sensitivity of my skin she only had the power on at 72. 4 hours later my skin in fine except for a few bumps and some minor scabbing. I am just a little concerned that she may not be seeing all the hairs that are so obvious to me…for instance I can see 3 dark hairs and at least 10, maybe 20 courser blonde hairs that have been missed…these particular hairs where the ones that were the killer for me over the holiday period. She did tell me that the machine counted 211 hairs removed in that hour…is that a good speed? I could also feel the hairs coming out…I wouldn’t say they were being plucked but I could definately feel them. I really don’t have any issues regarding this ladies treatments, but she uses a circular mag lamp and I just feel that I’m being undually stressed with the length the hair has to be before she can see it well enough to remove it. I have another treatment scheduled for 2 weeks time and I will keep you all updated.

Any comments are appreciated.

Any comments

4

Hi Max:

I’m assuming you are getting your face done.

I sometimes feel around my face after a treatment in
case my electrologist has missed some hairs, especially
course ones. You can also keep a pocket mirror handy for a
quick look-over too.

Usually if I have a few hairs that I really want gone
I have a good scan in the mirror ahead of time and point
those particular hairs out to her. You could probably
tell her that the last session some hairs were left
in a particular area that were bothering you,
and you really need to get rid of them.

Alicia

5

She has a great epilator, now if she can bring the magnification up several notches to match the epilator!

Multiplex is a thermolysis mode for deeply rooted hair. What happens is, the current starts out with slow thermolysis to heat the entire hair follicle, and then is followed by a pulse of rapid thermolysis (MicroFlash). Not bad, huh?

She could probably go faster if she had a clearer vision field, thus we are back to magnfication issues, but let us not focus on 211 hairs. She needs to do what is comfortable for her because that is better for you. Speed is important and others can go faster, but the important thing is that she is inserting well and you are healing well.

Electrolysis is a partnership. Practitioner and client help each other. I would suggest that you ask her for a mirror close to the end of the treatment and inspect. If you see that hairs were missed, show her what you want treated before you go. I do this for my clients and sometimes I am spot on and sometimes the client says, “Oh, here’s a dark hair or clear hair that you missed.” I welcome their help because after all, I am only human. If a client isn’t positioned just right with the light hitting an area just right, hairs can be missed. Help her out so you don’t go home disappointed.

Dee

6

Thanks for all your comments…I’m never without my mirror so I think after my next treatment I’ll whip it out and have a quick check before she takes the probe from the holder.

With regards to magnification, I really don’t think there is anyone in the uk that uses surgical loupes, believe me I’ve searched. I’ve even mentioned to her that my biggest fear is that hairs are not seen well, therefore I worry about insertion not being spot on. She ashores me that she can see perfectly with the mag lamp. This lady did bring say that there was a little cluster at the corner of my chin, but she wanted to leave those until next time as she didn’t think they were long enough to see what direction the hair is growing. These hairs are at least a couple of mls… with a blunt end, as I had trimmed them previously.

If Multiplex is a thermolysis mode for deeply rooted hair, then why did she say to me that they don’t have much of a structure?
She did tell me that because my sebaceous glands produce a lot of sebum, the 72 setting using Multiplex was better so my skin doesn’t burn.

Perhaps I’m getting too worked up over this issue…but I just feel 5 years of electrolysis with various Electrologists should result in something positive, instead of all the pitting and discolouration that I have.

All the advice that I receive here is very much appreciated, thanks for listening to my whining…I’ll go and make myself a Horlick now! :0)

7

Could someone please respond to the paragraph below, which was in my last msg.

If Multiplex is a thermolysis mode for deeply rooted hair, then why did she say to me that they don’t have much of a structure?
She did tell me that because my sebaceous glands produce a lot of sebum, the 72 setting using Multiplex was better so my skin doesn’t burn.

Appreciate!

8

You will have to ask her. She may be using this mode at very gentle levels for the smaller hairs with little structure?

With all the years you have put into this and your comments about pitting and discoloration, I am disappointed. This is not an inevitable outcome when one has the extreme priviledge of landing a place on the table of an electrologist that is skilled and has a great setup. Clients should be finished within 1.5 to 2 years maximum, with skin looking as if it never grew hair. This can be accomplished. It is accomplished everyday by many well-trained electrologists. That’s all I can say about this and your comments and questions are always much appreciated because they help others to learn.

Thanks max,

Dee

9

We are not the one’s working on you, so we don’t know what she is seeing. We are like “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”, “Back Seat Drivers” so to speak.

Having said that, 72 is actually a low setting, on the Apilus products from the Cleo through SX-500, the only setting she could do lower in that category would be 71. This is because 7 is the area of the body, and 2 is the level of treatment energy.

It is like football signals, if you are not on the team, you don’t know what Blue-52-Strike Hut-Hut! means. On the Apilus team, 39 is actually a higher setting than 72, because 39 translates to Beard Setting, Highest Pre-Set-Level.

I don’t know why she is using multi-plex instead of MicroFlash in this case. You could have curly hairs, she could be using that as a hedge against her problem visualizing the follicle opening. There are just so many variables.

What multi-plex gives you is multiple thermolysis bursts, and possibly even an ongoing warming. This is often used for large hair structures, and deep seated hairs, but it could also have applications for thinner hairs.

If you are getting discoloration and temporary pitting it would be because she is not able to get a perfect insertion due to lack of vision, or because you are having too much treatment energy, causing what we call a “blow out.” I believe that she believes she can see just fine, because, if you have never seen the difference between a circle lamp and loupes, and a stereo microscope, you don’t know what you are not seeing. I am spoiled rotten now. I can’t work legs without my stereo microscope now, because although I used to be able to do legs with my naked eye, I now refuse to settle for the guesstimated insertions that involves.

Having said all that. I am now wondering what she meant when she said she was using “72”, because as far as area plus level code for Apilus, that would be Arm level 2 if I am not mistaken. If she is not working on your arm, I would wonder why she is using that setting. Now, if by 72, she is talking about either the timing or intensity, then we have to go back to the drawing board just to understand what setting she is using.

Now you see why we can’t coach the home users on how to de each other, and we have a hard time critiquing other people’s work. It is hard to just understand what they are doing, and hard to know what should be done, and hard to explain the different right ways to go about something. In the end, what we can best discuss is pictures of what your skin looks like before and after.

10

Thank you for being so patient with my many questions…I sometimes feel as though I am going around in circles and all I’m looking for is a little bit of security.

I should mention that the discolouration and pitting are from previous treatments with other Electrolgists, and of course some acne scarring.

James, with regards to your statement:-

-Q
QTE-

I am now wondering what she meant when she said she was using “72”, because as far as area plus level code for Apilus, that would be Arm level 2 if I am not mistaken. If she is not working on your arm, I would wonder why she is using that setting. Now, if by 72, she is talking about either the timing or intensity, then we have to go back to the drawing board just to understand what setting she is using.

-UNQTE-

She is working on chin hairs, mostly fine, and some slightly course. As with the 72 setting, she did mention that she is using that setting but for a longer period. In her defence she has also mentioned on both occassions that the hair has a curl to it…perhaps she means the part of the hair that is in the follicle, but to me the hairs on the surface all stick out.

I’m more confused than ever, and now I know why you really need to know your stuff!

Thanks again!

11

Its been 3 days since my last treatment and my skin is looking rather bad. some of the small scabs have come away, but I have quiet a few larger ones that make my face look a complete wreck. I just don’t understand why these scabs are so large, the hairs weren’t even large, just slightly course. I’ll try and take some photo’s, not sure my camera can get some good shots, but I’ll try.

12

Here is a photo of my chin 2 days after treatment. I hope it works!

Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!
and another
Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!

I’m also told that my facial hair is normal by family members & friends, but I look at this picture and all I can see abnormal hair.

Opinion Welcome!

13

May I ask, how many sample treatments you got before you settled on the person who is doing your work now? How many other choices do you have in your area?

14

Sure you can James! I’ve seen 7 Electrologists and this is my 8th …I’ve had at least one sample treatment from each of them.

I couldn’t actually see the picture…did it work for you James?

15

That picture site is a little bit grouchy. I was able to trick it into letting me see the picture, but for image links to actually show the picture here in the thread, like we use here, Photobucket.com seems to be the most friendly.

This is hard for me to say, because I have not been to England in a long time, and when I was there, I was not an electrolysis provider. In short, although this may be the best you can get where you are (I hope not) there are many people here in the US who can do better.

Oh the things I could do with your facial hair, and leave none the wiser about what you are doing when we have our secret meetings.

Anyone want to buy me tickets to London? I have two life long friends there who would be very happy to see me again, and lots of people who might become new life long friends (or at least forever grateful) if I did.

16

I could barely see the small picture, but what I could make out made me think that you better have acne because I don’t want to think this is from an electrolysis treatment.

17

Oh James, I’d be forever grateful! I’d happily buy you a plane ticket, unfortunately last week I was told I was being made redundant, this of course is worrying me as I’m not sure were I’m gonna find the money for treatments, let alone find a good Electrologist. This hair issue has eaten away at my life, I have severe depression and struggling each day. The thing that upsets me most is not being able to enjoy the simplest of things with my little boy, this hair consumes my mind every minute of every day.

My skin always errupts badly, looks ok the first day and then my skin seems to go down hill from there. It’s not like I’ve not shopped around either…my current journey time to this Electrologist is over an hour away. I think magnification plays a big part too.

I’m just so exhausted with it all…what else is there for me to do.

18

No Dee, that is not acne! I do get at least 1 or 2 large spots each month before the decorators come in, but everything you see there is from Electrolysis.

19

Not good. Trust me, max, this is not what you can expect to look like after treatment. Would you believe me if I told you that my clients leave my office and go back to work or to a party in the evening? One can get the hair off and the skin looks as if nothing has happened within minutes?hours? This is awful and sadly so, unneccasary!!!

Do you have any other options? Please let this heal completely. No more treatments. Have you ever shown your present electrologist what your face looks like between appointments?

I know we have heard good feedback on good electrologists in London. There is a Pam D???. I know of another person ( she is very busy and specializes, so I don’t know how far you would even get and she would probably not like me if I mentioned her name).

Has every electrologist you have been to left you looking like this. Can you resubmit your pictures so we can have a better view? Use tea tree oil and aloe to get this cleared up!

20

Hi Max

Sorry to hear that you’ve been having problems. The picture link doesn’t work but not important. Who did you see was this person in London? When you get a moment could you drop me a PM?

Its been a while since your post has your skin cleared up?