Considering DIY / Buddy System

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#21

Well I’ve had the VMC for about 2 weeks now. I’m going to avoid certain topics because I don’t want other do-it-yourselfers getting the idea that anything I have done is safe, lol.

For training purposes I purchased some long F3 stainless steel one piece probes. I was practicing insertions for a little while with the unit off, however I didn’t feel this was too difficult (probably from my experience prototyping micro circuitry). I believe I have been making good insertions as there has been no pain, puncturing, or bleeding during or after removing the needle. I can also feel the needle bottom out in most cases, although sometimes I can insert it the full length, which worries me since the probe is about .375" long.

So I have been trying to treat a few hairs at a time using thermolysis. Assuming I’m making good insertions this seems to take a lot more skill and I’m reluctant to turn up the machine. Right now about 1 out of 5 hairs releases painlessly without pulling the skin (these are course and not the tiny little blond hairs). The treated area when I’m done does look similar to areas my electrologist treats. I’m only treating about 10 hairs at a time to limit any damage I might be doing to my skin due to lack of skill and training. If the area looks ok after a few days I give it another go.

#22

Get in good with galvanic before trying the thermolysis. I made the same mistake and paid for it.

The reason I say this is thermolysis seems to have a ‘splash damage’ effect on your skin, where the heat actually transfers to undesired tissues and could quite possibly damage them. What I’m getting at is thermolysis is a more precise practice where galvanic you can be off by a couple of mm and not pay for it.

#23

We tell everyone here to start with galvanic only. It will be very forgiving of your mistakes. When you get better at that, you can move up to blend. As for thermolysis, let me put it to you this way, I have been an Electrolysist for longer than you may have been alive, and if I were going to do some hairs on my chinny-chin-chin, I would NOT use thermolysis on myself. Do you understand what I am telling you? If you had an electrolysis buddy, you might be able to work your way up to thermolysis, but as long as you are working on yourself, stick to galvanic and blend. Your skin will thank you.

#24

Glad I ran into this post, I will definitely ‘heed’ the wisdom during my practice and stick to Galvanic when working on the face. Thanks for the heads up!

#25

The machine I purchased is not capable of galvanic but does do blend. A large reason for my interest in the VMC was because it is designed to minimize operator error by having pre-set programs for different areas and hair types. Even if you try to manually tweak the programs about the only thing you can adjust is the amplitude of the wave form and not the frequency, pulse widths, or duration. I’m guessing this is probably why more experienced electrologists may prefer other machines.

I also have no intention of using it on my face any time soon.

#26

When you learn a new language, following and knowing the grammar is very helpful. Once you become fluent (or are a native speaker), you never think about the grammar rules again. Now, wouldn’t it be silly if every time you spoke your native language you considered the grammar rule?

It’s the same with electrolysis. A beginner has to learn the “grammar rules.” But once you have mastered the skill, it’s all second-nature to you. Problem with some “computerized machines" is that they restrict you to the “grammar.” All of this sounds great to a beginner. As you say “ … [the machine was] designed to minimize operator error by having pre-set programs … “ All of this can (and does) eventually work to your disadvantage.

Remember, somebody (a person) actually “set” the program … so, just who is this person, and what do they know that I don’t?

There is not one expert electrologist that completely relies on the machine doing the work, or setting the current levels. Another example: you will never see a “master chef” following a written recipe or actually measuring the ingredients. Why? Well, they know how to cook!

#27

They have been using a VMC at the school I was having my electrolysis done at.The first few times I went in, the students seemed to have a hard time with it, and eventually had to have the instructor come and set the parameters correctly. When the students were having a hard time , it would kick them out of the program or parameters they had set. Not one of them actually got the automatic timer to work for them, they all had to use the pedal.

I then came here, and started reading up on some of the threads about people having problems with the VMC kicking them out of the programs.Some of the pro’s at the time suggested it wasnt the best machine for a novice for exactly this reason and because if the machine didnt think what you were setting was right as it did sort of a sanity check, it would kick you out, things like setting the intensity too high for the type of hair selected.I remember thinking about this when I readtheir comments.

Interestingly enough recently I went in and the student at the school didntshow up. Theinstructor ( the head of electrolysis at the school) ended up working on me. She couldnt get theautomatic to work either and ended up using thepedal,butshe was REALLY good andmanaged to get complete clearance on my upper lip in underan hour.

I passed up several VMC machines when looking for a machine. I ended up witha much cheaper older silouette tone SB2. I’m actually pretty happy that I did, after all the grief I’ve seen them go through with the VMC it’s actually pretty comforting to know that when a professional knows the settings they want to use, their judgement is what counts and not the machines.

Seana

#28

The Silhouet-tone VMC is a fabulous epilator, on par with the Apilus SX- 500. I was grimacing as I was reading your post, Seana, because I have found life with a VMC to be extraordinarily easy to use, after I understood how it was meant to be used. :smiley:

I used the VMC for four years and still own it, although I have passed onward to an Apilus Platinum now. I can tell you through experience that I had no negativity associated with using this epilator! It was a dream machine.

I’m pretty sure you can do single needle galvanic by disabling the thermolysis side, but I may be mixing that up with the Gentronics digital I owned before the VMC! Most epilators allows one to do galvanic if there is a blend option and I would have to look at my VMC face plate again to know for sure.

I was never kicked out of a program. Don’t understand that part? If you go to a preset, there is a modulation key that allows you to adjust up or down to +50 to
-50. The modulation key is that larger black button in the middle.

[b]If the automatic sensor didn’t work on the VMC, but the footswitch did, that signifies that the needle holder or the indifferent electrode cord needs to be replaced. [/b]

Let me emphasize for the hundredth time on this bulletin board, that the presets are helpful and the operator DOES have complete and precise control of the epilator, more so than with a knob job, if they know what the heck they are doing! You can expand or contract from the preset if you have to. You have to learn the language and grammar of the particular epilator brand you are using. There are hundreds of combinations of possible settings and you learn those combinations as you log in hours and hours on the epilator. The more you use it, the smarter you get.

Frankly, most schools I have heard about and the school I attended had several brand epilators, old and new, to sample and even the top dog of the school ( the instructor or someone above her) didn’t know how to use them!! We were told to get the instruction book and learn on our own. Maybe that is why I have made it my personal hobby to try and test drive any epilator that I can get for a hands on experience.

Epilators with presets are awesome because they give you a place to start. Those presets are not random selections. Beta testing was done on human subjects to help determine the best combinations. Basic epilators that don’t have presets work much the same way. The manufacturer provides a guide, like a timing and intensity chart for fine, medium, coarse and very coarse hairs. If you go to a high timing and a high intensity, you will be kicked out of the program on some brands by a frantic ding warning on other brands telling you not to go there!. It is a safety feature that screams, “Dummy! You can’t do that!” .

Not understanding how the epilator works is the fault of the thinking person sitting next to it. The VMC, with its presets, can be adjusted to one’s desires and needs. It is a high tech, quality epilator that just needs to be understood better. Sensation-wise, it is very, very comfortable, right up there with the Instantron, the Platinum models, SX-500, Senior II. The VMC hits you with a small diversion current and then it sneaks in the big current right underneath the little pulses, unlike the Apilus SX-500 that has an arc of warming. It has a slowly increasing energy level inside that arc.

There are several good epilators, with great presets . All it takes is a little time to learn the best settings and how to gradually adjust those presets, if they need any adjusting at all, so you can make your own custom settings for your clients.

I worked an hour on a woman’s upper lip tonight starting in a preset on the Apilus Platinum. Within that hour, I adjusted up and I adjusted down more than a few times, to suit the hair structure and area of the lip being treated. Yesterday, I removed hairs on knuckles , an ouchy area indeed, with Instantron’s Elite Spectrum. No presets on the Spectrum, but I was able to work within the parameters suggested by the manufacturer for fine hair structures and tweaked the intensity up and down as needed. By the way, the Spectrum is an easy to understand and very comfortable epilator! You take it out of the box, look at it for a few minutes and you know instantly what to do if you are a professional electrologist. Very nice epilator that offers blend as well. Will have to check if you can do single needle galvanic only? Oh, well…

Time to watch Jay Leno!

#29

I will add to Dee’s comments that the VMC is a cool machine, and that what you are hearing is more a misunderstanding, than the machine “Kicking people out of the program.” What really happens, is that if you try to set the machine for an energy that the makers believe to be dangerous, the machine won’t let you do it. The Apilus has something similar, but it is not as hard to get out of that and do the ill advised level on the apilus as much as one needs to know to do so on the VMC. It is a safety feature, not a malfunction.

#30

Apparently there are a couple different revisions of the VMC because mine is a little different than my electrologists. The unit I have has a button for head or body in which you can select which area of the head (eye brows, cheeks, chin, etc) and body (legs, stomach, back, fingers, etc). In each of these you can select fine, medium, coarse, and very coarse. Then within each of these you can select level 1, 2, or 3. Then there is also the modulation key where you can fine tune each one +/- 50. I find this slightly confusing though because when you adjust the “modulation” up or down the amplitude of the setting graph increases. I’m guessing this graph is a scaled representation of the wave form it is delivering but I honestly don’t know.