DIY Electrolysis Equipment + Other Questions

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#1

Hello to all,

I am a 26 year old Greek male living in Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam, and seeing as there are no electrolysists in the country I decided to start DIY electrolysis. I have done it all - home IPL devices, salon IPL, salon laser, but non were helpful - just a big waste of money.

I’m looking to do mostly Blend as I don’t want to play around with Thermolysis so I ordered the Sterex Blend SXB but I have a few questions regarding DIY;

  1. I know it can be done, but how hard is it to treat areas of your body? Such as arms and hands? Especially treating your dominant hand+arm using your other hand? And it is easy to treat the nipple area, pubic area, hair growing up my penis, and legs? I am not interested in treating my beard.

  2. What visual aids do I need? I’m a guy wearing thick glasses so I don’t know if an optical loupe is practical?

  3. What numbered needles do you recommend I mainly stock? And would an insulated be better for these areas I listed?

I will try to find somewhere to order Michael’s book that will ship internationally.

#2

1.It can be very difficult to see different areas. Nipples arent too bad, bikinin areas is extremely difficult to diy, neck as well.You wont be working on your non-dominant hand without a LOT of practise.

  1. I use a 12X magnifying mirror , and a 8x loup light. I found loups awkward and messed up my depth perception.

3 Match the probe size witht he hair. In practical terms, that means I used a lot of f3’s and f4’s starting out. F5’s as skill progressed.

Michaels book is available fro Texas Electrolysis Supply. They ship to canada, so that’s international, but I’ve no idea on vitnam.
I do recall however we have had at least one poster here who was taking up practise in vietnam. Try searching the forums. I could be wrong?

I’m officially giving up my crown as the DIY queen. I’ve gone so much further than that I cant call myself DIY anymore? Still its a part of my history. Blend is the PERFECT modality for DIY in my opinion.

Seana

#3

  1. I hope this isn’t personal to ask, but did you treat most of your body areas yourself? If you could, then maybe, just maybe, with a lot of practice, and determination I could too.

  2. Since you’re using a 12x mirror this means you’re treating your face as well? Also, I’m trying to find a magnifying lamp on eBay and most shipping from Hong Kong/China are 10x and 20x (diopter) - would 20x be too powerful and thus the field of vision be too tight? So would 10x diopter provide me enough magnification to work comfortably with many areas of my body - happy trail, legs, pubic areas?

  3. The Sterex SX-B uses an F Shank I think, so should I go with the Regular and not the Short probes if I am to work on my body?

  4. Is a standard slanted Tweezerman tweezer fine? Or should I use a tweezer that has a close to 90 degree angle?

Thank you so much Seana.

#4

I havent treated any body areas other than a few test hairs on my arm/bikini.Many will be awkward to reach, view/treat, but mostly I am not concerned with body hair.
YEs I treated my face, everything above the jaw line. I cant see to do my neck properly but I manage theoddd insertion there. Mostly I have my partner or another electrologist work on my neck, which explains why its the only area not completed!
The magnifier I use is pretty much identical to this one:

This has a very close focal length. Its suitable for some self work on the body,but mostly I use it for working on clients.Many electrologists get by with 3.5 X. Bear in mind the larger the magnification often the shorter the focal length. I have tried 3.5X loupes from china, cheap ones, and to be honest I had so much trouble with depth perception I never worked with them.

I dont use short probes for anything. I dont see the advantage.

I use point tip ( professional style) tweezers usually in a 3c size.I have used slant tweezers for the first year or so, it worked, but I can be much more precise with the point tip. Too thin though, and they wont grasp properly.

Seana

#5

For those of you who do a lot of DIY work, especially legs and pubic areas which magnification did you use? I really can’t decide between getting a 3.5X or an 8X.

The higher the magnification the shorter the focal length which would mean working on my pubic areas and parts of my legs would require I bend in uncomfortable and perhaps impossible positions.

I’m looking at something like this - an LED magnifying glass
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201887625949?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=501898645164&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Thank you :slight_smile:

#6

You’ll have a lot of trouble with that. It too is made for a closer focal lengthand the cable arm will droop after very little repositioning ( which you’ll do a lot of) .Yoou want an articulated arm that you can ock into position and as bright a ight source as you can get.

#7

Thank you Seana and you are right - I didn’t think to think about the neck of the lamp drooping over time.

Michael’s book arrived today - I will read through this.

My Sterex SX-B Machine will come in this week and I will order the F3 and F4 regular length non-insulated needles from Sterex since this should work for most hair types and I will be working with galvanic and blend method.

The only thing I still really struggle with is choosing magnification and type. I skimmed through Michael’s book but didn’t find anything - though maybe I will find a bit on it after proper reading. So I understand now I should be going with a magnifying lamp that has a neck that can lock into place - and 3.5x magnification be sufficient for self body work? Or do I need loupes? And loupes are glasses you wear on your head right? Or another term for magnifying lamp?

If I can go with this standing magnifying lamp this would be great - I am not a fan of glasses as I have glasses already and don’t think they’d feel comfortable and be easy to work with.

This one has a 5x lamp but i’m not sure if this is magnification or diopter - http://www.ebay.com/itm/262671660245?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=561585797955&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

From my understanding most of the magnification listed on eBay is mostly Diopter? So I should be finding a “8X” which would give me 3X magnification?

#8

You’ll find ebay sellers of.ten use diopter and X interchangeably. I’m afraid I’m SUPER busy finishing off office renovations, so I dont have tons of time to assist , but the one piece of advice given me early on was to get the best magnification money can buy .It was advice that always served me well.

#9

Thank you Seana ^^

#10

What do you guys and gals think of these magnifying loupes/headbands? I have glasses and find it very uncomfortable wearing contacts so I’d like something that doesn’t put too much weight on my nose as I already have a heavy pair of glasses.

Loupe 1

Loupe 2

I know they’re cheap and I was advised to go with the best money can buy but for now I want to test them out and see if they’re decent enough for DIY, and if they’re decent, eventually down the road I may invest in proper ones.