Hi all,
The place iam going to have my treatment tomorrow uses Clareblend and Silhouet-Tone, I don’t know the differences between two of them. According to the lady i talked to on the phone, both of the machines are “lastest technology” “most advanced” “the best” machines out there.
Can anyone please tell me which is a better one to go with, and are they good machines?
Thanks in advance
Lee
Do you know what models they are? I use the Silhouet-Tone Sequentium VMC, which is the latest and top of the line epilator computerized epilator from Silhouet-Tone. Sil-tone manufactures a lot of other cosmetic equipment as well. Clareblend has recently introduced it’s new computerized epilator called Elegance. So, the newest for both companies is the Sequentium VMC and the Elegance. As far as best machines “out there” do let us add the Apilus Platinum and the Apilus SX-500 to the list.
The best machine means NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, if the electrologist is not skilled in the art and science of electrolysis. Electrolysis is the very definition of precise and accurate and one needs to observe detail very well. Very close to technical skill is one owning quality vision wear, such as surgical loupes, and quality lighting, like halogen lamps. These props enable the electrolgist to actually SEE hair the client see’s.
So when you go tomorrow, check out the equipment, get a sample treatment and see how it feels, observe how you heal, make sure the office is clean. Do ask if you will be charged extra for the probe, especially if they use gold probes. Come back here and let us know how things go. We’ll be glad to help you along as best we can without seeing you.
Dee
Hmmm… Seems like the lady hit her head on her bathroom tub and now has a mental block with anything to do with the brand name ‘Apilus’
The two best brands are Apilus and Silhouet-Tone, both of the machines are great when used properly. -Clareblend isn’t so much one of the better machines so much as it is an average priced mainstay in the industry. Clareblend is second, or third, tier to the better machines. It’s more of a workhorse for those electrologists that rely heavily on the Blend method, as opposed to those electrologists that rely more on Flash. When used solely for Blend, it can compare to the better machines. But, when talking Flash, Microflash, or PicoFlash, Clareblends are left in the dust. They’re just not that technologically advanced.
Leaving Apilus out of the arguement, and now looking just at the other machine, the Silhouet-Tone. Those are very well designed and constructed machines. Even the lower rung SB-8, Blend 256, or older Sequentium 328’s are excellent machines. They’re made in Canada by a group of designers that really believe in quality. The machines last forever and function like tanks with excellent electrical current delivery. The Silhouet-Tones have lots of quirks to them that were built in as standard before even the present day high end machines began using. Like auto-stairstep pulsing, DC ramping, moisture level detectors, and auto-start/stop-timers. To me, Silhouet-Tone is a great company that just didn’t have the global business savvy of the people at Dectro/Apilus. And Apilus focused completely on electrolysis machines, Silhouet-Tone has their resources spread out with the production of many other aesthetic/cosmotology instruments, not getting behind and promoting their machines like they should.
But anyway, to make a long story short, the two best Silhouet-Tone machines are the older Sequentium 328 and the newer Sequentium VMC. Those are both excellent machines. I would chose them for a treatment over any Clareblend any day, any time, any where. If they have either of those machines you’re doing pretty good.
Mantaray
ps: Someone will most likely chime in that it’s not the machine but the skill of the operator. Obviously, you know that, no need to expound on that. But in comparing the machines, I tried to answer that point.
Thanks for that information Mantaray. I think the new computerized Clareblend is so new that a lot of people don’t know about this one’s performance yet. Clareblend is a great company that has seen the light to go digital. I would be interested in any electrologist’s comments on the new Elegant by Clareblend. Anyone own one yet? Do you like it?
I talked to a Silhouet-Tone rep last week and they may be making the VMC even better within the next year or so. So I may need to send mine in for new chips, microprocessors junk or software?? I’m not as technical as you Mantaray so excuse my descriptions. Not sure what their next moves are to make the VMC even better than it already is, but I’m sure I will be contacted whenever it happens.
Dee
Thanks so much for the info. It is very helpful to know these things prior to my appointment, so i know what to ask and what to expect.
She told me that there is an extra charge of $5 for the gold probe in addition to the treatment cost. I can purchase one, after each treatment she will sterilize it and keep it in my file for future treatments. (Is that a standard way of using gold probes?) However, there is no extra charge for disposable stainless steel probe. I feel more comfortable with disposable probe. Is gold probe much better for sensitive skin? Which one should i go with?
Thanks
btw, does Silhouet-Tone has the microflash feature? or it is just the Apilus.
Oh, yes indeed, the higher end Apilus is not the only dog in this fight. The Sil-tone VMC is really a nice product,too, but hasn’t marketed it’s product as well as Dectro. There’s some leap frogging going on here, meaning, the newest Apilus Platinum has taken it up a notch farther and this epilator can do PicoFlash. The Platinium is costly, so I think electrologists like myself stay with our rather new epilators that still deliver a great outcome. I’m assuming that Silhouet-Tone is planning to leap over Apilus in the short future, but again, I’m only assuming. Competition brings good stuff to the consumer.
Oh, just saw the probe information. I mean, what the heck is going on here with electrologists charging an extra $5 for gold probes!!! Ask her how much she pays for a gold probe. Ask her how much she pays for a stainless steel probe. There is a 26 cent difference between the two probes. We just discussed this recently on another thread. I use disposable gold probes everyday. I do not charge for these probes and I do not re-use them. They cost me 85 cents. Add in shipping and handling and that brings the cost up to $1.00. Where is this extra charge stuff coming from? What am I missing here, fella’s? Buy your own box and take them with you. Be sure to ask her what size you need before you purchase.
niuniu;
I do not know which state you reside, but here in Washington State, we have very few laws. In fact, there are only two rules set by the State. One is that you have to use trash cans with lids, and the other is that the probes must be sterile, single use probes. Re-using probes is a no no. As stated earlier, the cost of gold probes vs Stainless steel is virtually no difference. I have a very large assortment of different styles and sizes of probes for selection, and amongst them are gold ones. I choose based on modality, and customer follicle size. For some clients I even use two different sizes if I need to for different body areas. Cost works out to only about $1 a probe, so I pick up that cost, as well as post care lotion and use of a little bit of lidocaine. If clients wish a stronger version of lidocaine I do have that available as well.
Get your own Ballet Gold Probes by contacting:
Texas Electrolysis Supply - 16627 Sealark Road - Houston - Texas - 77062 Call (800) 626-6025
Then bring them to your appointment, and request a $5 discount for having supplied your own probe 
My standard answer on the reuse of disposeable probes is, “That’s like going to a restaurant and the waiter coming over and saying, Lick that spoon off really well, and I will put in in this ziplock bag and write your name on it and when you come back, we will let you use it again. After all, it has only been in your mouth.”
There are reusable probes out there, but they must be resterilized. I don’t think the average electrologist could even name a company that makes reusable probes. The fact that some people try to reuse probes only proves they don’t have good vision equipment. You can literally see the end of the probe disintegrate before your eyes on any treatment lasting more than an hour. Sometimes one needs to change probes during the same appointment, or the mirror smooth tappered end becomes a jagged cutting, scratching point.
Okay you fellow electrologists! I must put a plug in for my most favorite ever epilator. Fischer CBX
I wonder that you’ve never tried it. They have a video (http://rafischer.com/therm-video.htm) that shows the difference in current action between the 13.460 and 27.120 MHz.
I always think that I will switch over to that really cute Apilus - and have worked with one at my colleague’s office on the giving and receiving end - and then I come home - happy with my own.
The CBX epilator is computerized and can do all the things that the modern electrologist needs.
I have always stated that the Fischer CBX is on my list of favorite machines.
Hey James, I must have missed that!
On another subject, I think I asked you one time about artificial sweeteners. I KNOW that I read an medical article that linked artifical sweeteners with pigmentation that resembles the mask of pregnancy - but I lost track of the article. Have you, per chance, a copy of that article or something similar? Doesn’t it make sense that something that might cause that mask of pregnancy also has other links to hormonal issues?
The Diet Cure by Julia Ross goes into the hormonal side effects of Artificial Sweetener use, as do numerous other books including Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Sweetpoison, written by author Dr. Janet Starr Hull
Lastly, I will say that while most people think “the FDA approved it, so it must be safe”, neglecting to look far enough to find out that the FDA initially denied aspartame approval for over 8 years until the newly appointed FDA commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes overruled the final scientic review panel, approved aspartame, and then went to work for G.D. Searle’s (initial owner of aspartame) public relations firm at $1,000 a day. Hayes has refused all interviews to discuss his actions. The Carter administration was about to outright BAN aspartame when the FDA commissioner who would be charged with carrying out the order suddnly quit, leaving the post to be filled by the Reagan administration, which chose Hull Hayes at the behest of Donald Rumsfeld, (who had just walked out of his office as CEO of G.D. Searles to become a member of the Reagan Cabinet). The FDA also urged Congress to prosecute G.D. Searle for “specific false statements or concealed facts” stemming from Searle’s testing of aspartame. However, the 2 government lawyers assigned to the case decided against prosecuting G.D. Searle and then joined G.D. Searle’s law firm! Even the National Soft Drink Assn. filed a strong protest letter (available below) in 1983 against the approval of aspartame for use in beverages, saying “aspartame is inherently, markedly and uniquely unstable in aqueous media.” Also, the FDA still allows hydrogenated oils to be used, does that make them safe?
I did some reading on Aspartame tonight and I’m sure glad that I don’t consume products that contain this crap. This stuff does sound lethal and it’s still here, as a food additive in 2007?!
Cancer, seizures, short term memory loss? The list is longer, by the way, so anyone interested can look into this on their own. Airline pilots are told not to ingest foods with aspartame, like diet drinks, before they fly. I guess it’s good not to risk having your pilot develop seizure activity just before take-off. President William Jefferson Clinton was drinking a lot of Diet Coke during his deposition days in the late '90’s, and he kept saying, “I don’t recall that”. Hmmmm. Memory loss? Speaking of Clinton, he appointed Tipper Gore’s cousin, Mike Taylor, as Deputy Director of the FDA and when a vote came up in Congress in 1985 for labeling products that contain aspartame, then Senator Al Gore voted with Senate Republicans AGAINST aspartame labeling. Doesn’t fit his profile. Maybe he was drinking too much diet soda. Aspartame is used in children’s medicines. I’d rather little kids develop cavities rather than get cancer.
I also learned that aspartame is 400 times sweeter than sugar and there may be as many as 9,000 products that contain this artificial sweetner, world-wide! Recently, the FDA and the European Food and Safety Authority BOTH agreed to keep the aspartame in the food, drink and medicine supply because of a 2005 study that concluded this stuff really isn’t bad enough to ban. There are so many scientists and studies from the past that speak of the horrors of aspartame and then there are the food, medicine and drink lobbyists that get the wink from the politicians who won’t ban it. Doesn’t matter which adminstration is in power. Doesn’t matter what country. What a strange thing to allow a food additive to continue through the food and medicine chain worldwide??
So, I would think, since there are 167 reasons to avoid those artificial sweetners, I guess hormonal risks with whatever side effects we see, is one that relates to our hairy brothers and sisters. It would hurt no one to convert to a more natural way of eating. It’s easy to do with some thought and planning.
I am currently treating a female who is very educated, and has a “Cadillac Of A Health Care Plan”, and has had every test there is to pinpoint the cause of her uncharacteristically high level hirsutism. To date none of the tests can come up with a reason, and yet she continues to gain more and more hair as the years go by.
Oh yeah, she drinks a minimum of 2 liters of diet soda a day.
Now when I tell her that all her health care plan has done is to show that when I told her that her diet soda addiction could be the one and only reason she has unwanted hair all over her body, I may have been taking a shot in the dark, but I hit the target right in the proverbial bullseye.
She still won’t consider for a minute that I could be correct that if none of her hormone tests come back abnormal, and no one else in her family has this problem, and she has never been on any medication that has increased hair growth as a side effect, then that only leaves the damned aspartame!
(Oh, yeah, and she is also experiencing the obligatory weight gain associated with aspartame use. Whereas suckers eat this stuff to lose weight, it actually puts a minimum of 20 pounds on you as your body thinks it is eating 400 times the amount of sugar as the volume of aspartame you ingest, and sets into motion the metabolic processes to handle that amount of sugar WHEN THERE IS NONE THERE! At some point the body must convert startches into sugar just to mop up the insulin it has secreted in anticipation of metabolizing sugar you told your body you were eating, but never did.)
I have to chime in here my recent experience. I have been trying to cut down on white granular sugar. So I went from aspartame, to Stevia, to Stevia Plus, then to Splenda. I was talking to a nutrition major, or health major (or something), and she was telling me, to my surprise, that I was better off just using granular sugar or raw sugar, but just less of it. She said that’s what they’re teaching in the schools now. That the body actually processes it better than the artificial sweeteners. You can have white sugar, but cut back somewhere with the corn syrup in your diet, if overdoing it is a concern. Best news I’ve heard all year because gawd that Stevia tastes nasty.
Mantaray
(ps: I can’t say which machine is best, but if a burgler came through my door, I know a good bonk on the head with a S-T Sequentium 328 would knock him cold for sure. The plastic Apilus would only give a goose-egg at best.)
I’ll stick to my turbinado, sugar in the raw, thank you. Now that burglar comment was funny! Hehehehehehehehhe < I stoled that from poster Rachelle.
Barabara, I’m glad you added the Fischer CBX to the mix. That’s why we need you here. And true, it has been mentioned several times here on hairtell.
I don’t know the technical aspects of how artificial sweeteners cause cholasma or the mask of pregnancy, but I plan to study up and see what I can find out.
Just came back from the consultation. She uses the Silhouet-Tone Sequentium VMC and a older model of clareblend (I assume coz the machine looks pretty old). She told me that with Silhouet-Tone Sequentium VMC which is a faster method compare to clareblend, I will get pinpoints left on my skin, and it will heal in a couple of months. With clareblend, skin reaction will be much less, skin will be more smooth after the treatment, but it is a slower method.
She said that she can remove 400-600 hair an hour with Silhouet-Tone Sequentium VMC ( is that good amount??) She is a LE and CPE, so does that sound like iam in good hands?
She also charged $2 for the consultaion( probe charge)
So now iam confused, should I choose the faster method but leaving my skin with pinpoints or the slower method with less skin reaction.
She also said that gold probes are good for those who are allergic to stainless steel, otherwise they are the same.
Iam going back for an hour treatment this friday, any advise will be helpful
Thanks very much
Does microflash leave a worse skin reaction than blend? I thought it was the opposite. (I am assuming the 400-600 hairs an hour is either microflash or picoflash on the Silhouet-Tone machine).Pinpoints for 2 months seems a bit drastic. My electrologist uses the Apilus machine doing microflash and I do get some pinpoints under my chin and on my throat but the majority of it goes away in a few days and the rest of my face has hardly any reaction at all.
Is 400-600 hairs an hour common for microflash? That seems pretty good to me.
Mantary and James: My naturopath said to stay away from all aspartame and splenda and cut down on regular sugar. She said Stevia is ok, though, b/c it is really all natural (not like splenda which says it is natural b/c its made from real sugar but in reality there is a chemical reaction that takes place in a lab in order to make it) and it does not interfer with insulin levels. Any thoughts on this?
Hi:
I’ve had a lot of work done on me with the Sequentium 328.
It seems to work very well, but I think a lot depends on operator skill and experience. It is a good machine though in the right hands.
I keep trying to talk her into getting the VMC!
Alicia