electrolysis advice

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello have been reading (lurking) here for a while, but just decided to join, take part and share my story!
Have begun to look into laser and electrolysis hair removal… and going to consultations. i would be grateful for some advice from those more knowledgeable :slight_smile:

for electrolysis I’ve had ‘test patches’ done at two different places (for upper lip). Place 1 uses thermolysis. Place 2 uses mainly blend but can also do diathermy on same machine. Most of my questions are around two issues:- Pain and after effects

Place 1 was fine during treatment. The electrolysist seemed to be adjusting the levels several times with stubborn hairs once the needle was inserted… I don’t know if this means maybe she didn’t remove the hair thoroughly or something.

Place 2 treatment hurt a lot more than place 1 treatment. When they tired blend it hurt A LOT. I’m not unused to inflicting pain on myself, I’ve a scar from a ingrown hair I removed with a needle… a bit gory and needed professional removal really. I’ve also done home waxing, epilating etc,. but can’t imagine sitting for blend a full 30 mins. And repeating it. They had me hold a wet thingy to help the blend, and tried both blend and diathermy with the same machine. They turned down the frequency on the blend and I still found it painful, so they suggested I go for diathermy.

However they believe blend to be more effective than diathermy, but i dont want that kind of blend pain. Plus from reading these boards, it appears blend may be more successful but it takes longer… however when I was being treated, the needle stays in until the machine makes a noise to let them know when to remove the needle… this is the case for diathermy as well as blend. So would it be quicker?

Why is place 2 with the blend/diathermy was so much more painful than the place 1? Place 1 was quicker and less painful, but does this mean it is less effective on the hair? Is a high amount of immediate pain (maybe a high frequency?) useful in hair removal?

I’ve been told by one of the electrolysist that some hairs may grow back. the other electrolysist told me the hair would grow back, maybe up to 3 or 4 times. Are they both correct but one is giving a more cautious estimation?

The after effects:

Even though place 2 treatment was more painful, the redness and soreness began to die immediately. It wore off quickly within the same day.
After place 1 however the area was very red, it lessened through the day but stayed pink (a bit sore) for a couple of days. Why would one place effect my skin so much more than the other? Is it the machine being used or the method… ?(although keep in mind thermolysis /diathermy in both places).

Congrats if you read this far in my long rant! I hope this is useful to others as well. Would be grateful for any advice :slight_smile:

#2

I found blend extremely painful. I have around 70 minutes done before I called it quits - my electrologist at the time said hey, you’re done - now if only you could go sun tan and the rest of your hairs would be unnoticeable!

It was fair enough. Electrolysis was not her main occupation, even if the name of her business was “the electrolysis clinic”. She provided waxing services etc.

At the moment I get thermolysis from an experienced practitioner who specialises in electrolysis. Both types are effective, if used by people who are skilled in their profession.

Go with the practitioner you are most comfortable with. Go to a place where you aren’t in too much pain. You’ll be spending lots of time there. To me, place 1 sounds better.

#3

Thanks for sharing you’re experience, I didn’t really expect blend to be painful! It does make sense to consider comfort given the time spent at the place. Glad you found somewhere good to go to.

Do you find your skin has a different reaction to blend and thermolysis?

#4

I have clients that demand blend and they don’t find it very uncomfortable. Of course, I am using either PicoBlend, SynchroBlend or OmniBlend on the Apilus Platinum and now the XCell Pro. Maybe that could be the difference? I think it is interesting to compare. My clients, who request blend, are not asking for anesthetic advice, interestingly enough.

#5

I can’t remember too much about my blend sessions, they were so long ago! Well, after the area would be red. I’d need to apply ice for maybe 10 minutes. I usually had 10 minute sessions which was plenty long enough for me (although I now have 45 minute sessions on my face in complete comfort and could go longer!)

The electrologist didn’t apply anything useful afterwards and I wasn’t too sure on care but I tused to apply witch hazel. I found the area was dry and flakey, but I used to use different face products.

I think in the hands of someone skilled, either modality may be similar in pain levels. However, the perception of pain felt by the client differs from day to day, as hydration levels and hormonal levels differ (among other things!) I know this because I have had some treatments that seem excruciating. Some areas of my body are more painful when being treated than others.

To me, if both practitioners are getting results and you have to choose, I would always choose the electrologist who I could go back to, because I wasn’t in too much pain.

Goodluck!

#6

for some reason i am not getting email updates when people post on hairtell :S clicking the notify when new post button!

thanks for the advice! Thought I’d share that i went back to Place 2 for a short session of thermolysis. Took a couple of painkiller plus, weirdly it didn’t seem to make much difference pain wise, even though the painkillers were effecting me…. Anyways it kind of felt rushed, the electrolysist made me bleed in one spot. on the left side of my mouth the needle felt more angled, it hurt more than the other side. Afterwards there was swelling on the left side, this lasted about three days. Scabbing and red spots also, it’s been a week now and I have the red spots. I will post picture if I can figure out how. So not going there again, will be going back to place 1! Interesting point about time of day etc. I will try out different times of day.

haven’t tried the ice pack! Have just been keeping the area clean with witch hazel, will try an ice pack next time.

#7

@dfahey
Place 2 was using a sterex machine, not sure what model, in the uk it’s pretty limited I believe, probably doesn’t compare to xcell pro, no? not sure what place 1 is using.

#8

you are extremely lucky to find anywhere that offers more than just thermolysis it so common and blend is so rare galvic is non existent.
Nearest person to offer blend to me is 1.5 hours away, and then 3 hours to the next where as there are about 30 in my one town that offer thermolysis however I do currently travel 30 minutes to the next town as the women I see is the nearest one registered on the official uk electrolysis website.

#9

While what you say may be true Helen, it’s not a particularity to the UK that this is the case.

I do almost all blend on myself. It’s rare I’ll try and do thermolysis when self-inserting.I do however have 2 people I work on, each specifically rrequests a mix of thermolysis and blend, from session to session .And this is one of the things that has held me back from becoming a pro…I dont do ENOUGH thermolysis.

There’s a conception in a lot of people’s minds that blend is slower than doing thermoolysis. I can only say that FOR ME blend is definitely a slower progress than thermolysis. Does this equate to faster removal times when thermolysis is used? I honestly don’t know, because that depends on my ( limited) skill with the modality.Yes I can remove more hairs per hour with thermolysis, by quite a considerable margin, but that doesn’t tell me which is FASTER. I don’t know what my kill rate is with thermolysis, it could be as little as 5%,and blend could be 95% and I could end up addressing more hair as regrowth. You will hear others here talking about the Total time to completion and this is a reasonable way to determining, on average which is the faster route to completion.

However, because thermolysis removes more hair per hour, there is a perception by the clients that it is faster. Whether or not it really is, is a very old debate that no one has the answer to. Because of this, more clients prefer thermolysis and more electrologists, eager to fulfill their clients real or percieved needs, do thermolysis as a result.

I’ve yet to meet many electrologists, that perform thermolysis, who would refuse to perform blend if asked to. I do know the one school I had work done by here taught its students blend but I dont think many of them are likely to practise electrology, they are more likely to become laser technicians.

Seana

#10

My understand was that although blend takes longer to perform the kill rate was better but as you say no one knows for certain, and it depends who’s doing the treatments. I think may like Thermolysis because they can get cleared quicker and maintain a hair free look at best as possible between treatments.
I think in UK most train with Sterex and tend to just own the 1 machine so I don’t really ask them to do blend instead.
enfact when I asked at my consultation I was told she did thermolysis only she does have 2 machines both sterex both do thermolysis.
The 1 that is 1.5 hours away from me is actually listed as a Sterex teacher she also runs a few days a week out of a salon doing blend and thermolysis which is what they train so she needs to know both.
I just don’t have the time to make the 3 hour round trip wish they were closer cos I’d assume you would know things were done properly with someone who trains others.

#11

Not luck: research! Would recommend anyone looking for electrolysis does so with certified practitioners, the places I visited weren’t the nearest to me but carefully chosen. The travel times you’ve given sound doable but I can understand someone not wanting to travel far for cosmetic treatments. As Seana pointed out, like most clients, having tested blend I’d definitely want to go with thermolysis if poss for all the obvious reasons…

The research I did on this website led me to place 2, however I am concerned about the healing from the treatment over a week ago, a small ‘dent’.

I am scheduling a consultation with a 3rd place to try. Will update once I have been.

#12

I’d done tones of reasearch too and know the nearest person offering blend is 1.5 hours from me.
I have tones of thermolysis near me but I travel further to the only person that is registered, it actually led me to be scared of trying those that aren’t registered however I have had my doubt with my electrolysis along the way and sometimes wish I had the guts to try elsewhere.
Too many horror stories from my research have led me to stay where I currently am, I don’t want after 10 months to go somewhere that might pluck. I sometimes feel I should be further along than I am or I get a mark etc… that I think she should be more skilled with her experience not to do or to remember certain requests or hairs are left behind after treatment because she says she can’t see them etc…
Before and during is an education.
I am fully away that I must be a nightmare to deal with but i do off load sometimes on here with my fear try to rationalize things before speaking with my electrolysis, I think women with excess facial hair isn’t normal and therefore makes us extremely sensitive people but it won’t be forever I know electrolysis does work just have to have the guts to follow through.

#13

Ladies, please, stop questioning the effectiveness of Thermolysis. For someone who has spent many hours over recent years providing evidence about the infallibility of this method, it is at least quite offensive to continue with this old and absurd belief where “Blend is more effective than just thermolysis”.

Seana, if you get a 95% kill rate with Blend, for only 5% with Thermolysis does not mean that this is the rule for others.

#14

I don’t think one is better than the other just talking about peoples perceptions and why they perceive something.
It’s all down to the person doing the treatment in my book.

#15

What she said!!! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard ELECTROLOGISTS actually state* that thermolysis wasn’t “as effective” or “as permanent” as blend.

*makes me want to pull my hair out

#16

The blend is slow and causes scars.

Thermolysis is faster but everything grows back.

Thermolyisis requires a more precise insertion and blend operators are usually sloppy at it because they do so much damage in the follicle, a good insertion is not necessary.

You can’t remove distorted follicles with thermolysis.

You can’t remove small hairs with the blend.

You can’t remove large beard hairs with thermolysis.

Thermolysis is more precise and causes no scabs to form.

The blend causes gigantic scabs because it destroys too much tissue.

Let’s see, did I miss anything. Yep, we have heard this nonsense for the last 50 years and it will probably continue on and on?

#17

Actually I havent done enough to give ANY statistics, those were assumed and likely VERY far from accurate , numbers pulled from the air, to make a point. We dont have the data to say one method is any faster or kill rate is any different, as it changed from practitioner to practitioner.

The point I was making , is that the customer PERCEIVES thermolysis as faster because more hair is treated per hour. and thus asks for it, and the electrologists, for the most part, give the client what they are asking for whether or not it has ANY basis in fact.Thus more electrologists working commercially, seem to practise thermolysis more than they do blend.
Honestly I wont give an opinion on which method is more or less efficient.Unless I had 100 or so finished clients that I could point to the TTC of, any such assumption would be very foolhardy!and even then, those numbers would onlyapply to myself and wouldnt mean a dang thing when comparing someone elses work.

About the only thing I will say about kill rates with thermolysis, is that in my own case, I’ve probably not got enough skill with it to have a very good rate.

EDIT: Actually, having gone back and re-read my initial post, I think I worded it almost perfectly. I was concerned Josefa that you thought I was proposing those as actual numbers, but I definitely didnt. This might be one of those times that the language barrier has skewed the meaning for you. I think I was clear when I said they COULD be 95% and 5%…but that I didnt really know.Could be , and IS, are subtle differences in language that mean very different things.

Seana

#18

We have a section on laser myths. Perhaps we should have one on ELECTROLYSIS myths.That list seems like a very good place to start debunking.