You are welcome. Does that mean that Memphis or Nashville are a part of your shopping area? I do have some other people in those places.
Just a little more visual evidence that Electrolysis works. Another one of my clients has signed a release for pictures to be shown. Unlike Tina Marie, I think everyone will be able to tell just how many hairs we removed here.
Before:
After:
This job was completed in about 100 hours spread out over 2 years. Sometimes this client took 3 month trips overseas, and was unavailable for treatment. Needless to say, we got it done.
The mode utilized was MicroFlash on the Apilus SX-500 starting in a manually selected treatment setting, and moving down to a mid range pre-set treatment energy.
I want to be clear, I could not do anyone with this much hair in 100 hours flat, but with no complications like curly hair, or distorted follicles, or changing growth patterns, A. D. was my most favorite MTF type of job to do. The hairs are just lined up like dominoes, and you just pick them off at the fastest pace you can muster, and the client can still be comfortable sustaining.
I have had tons of electrolysis and it works great.
Electrologists aren’t likely to give out any client names ever.
Tell us when the coffee roaster comes out.
Mantaray
132 years of ‘The usual electrolysis’
I too have had a bunch of electrolysis (I am an MTF so I am in the process of removing all face/neck hair). My upper lip tends to have bad reactions if we do too much at once (luckily we almost have full clearance finally), but most other areas just get a little puffy for a couple days at worst. Sounds like you have had some bad luck. Sorry to hear that.
Just to add to this important thread, my client gave me permission to post these pictures. I took these a couple days ago and was going to post them in another thread, but this seemed appropriate as well. He wanted everyone to notice his belt buckle, too, that says “Praise the Lord”.
Front view of untreated chest area. Never had electrolysis on the chest before. Recently clipped the hair though. Since we did not take before pictures of his back, showing his chest gives one the visual idea of how the back looked before we started as the areas are very similar regarding hair density and coverage. His back was covered with hair from the neck to the beltline.
Here is his back after having 60 hours of treatment from Mid-July of 2006 to present time. This is what he looks like as of March 22, 2007, roughly 7 months later. He is all clear and we are only doing maintenance on any new hair that shows. The hair is very scattered and it is thinner. He has not shaved for awhile. Skin is very smooth. No pitting, scarring or infection. He has come almost every week for 2 hours or so, since July, having missed only three weekly appointments. He has about $3,000 invested in this up to now. All work was done on a Silhouet-Tone VMC using microflash thermolysis. His upper arms and shoulders were just as dense with hair as the chest and abdomen area and have also been cleared and maintained as well within this seven month / 60 hour time frame.
This is the area we will refine and work on next week, just the shoulders as he does not want his chest hair removed. We have been over this area three maybe four times to keep it maintained, but we still need to do more work. It is thinning out, but needs more help. As you can see, the upper arm is hair-free. All I have been doing each appointment, is scanning the arm and zapping any hairs that come forth. There hasn’t been much to zap lately. I think he has stabilized. He will direct me where he wants me to go and I believe he wants to go futher down the arms toward the elbows and a little beyond his clavicles. We should be finished with the upper arms, shoulders and complete back within a year thanks to his patience with maintaining a good schedule to get ANAGEN hairs.
Microflash thermolysis is a fabulous choice for such a large area. Of course, using sensor mode, no footswitch, increases my speed and comfort.
Dee
Dee,
Those pictures and figures finally put things in perspective. Although I’m really hoping for a quick, permanent method, I’ve investigated electrolysis and found someone I’ll start seeing in late April. Since she is just starting her business (she’s done electrolysis in the past, just not her own business) she said, the appointment frequency would be based on how long I could lay in the chair. She is charging $60/hr., so I’m guessing that isn’t too bad.
You charge $50 per treatment??? HOLY COW. Would you be willing to perform 16 hours on me in a weekend? I’d fly out. That is somethin’ else. I have had the entire right side of my shoulders, upper arms, back of neck and part of back done and it cost me about 1600. That was ONE clearance. I have no idea how permanent it will be. That is the thing about electrolysis, I could blow 5-6K and not know if it’s working yet. Scares me, I’m gonna be PISSED if it’s not working.
I had the front of my neck done with microflash, below the adams apple. I am not going to let anybody touch it for about 24-30 weeks. Right now it is 8.5 weeks and it’s still pretty clear. I’m thinking at about 12-14 weeks I should know more about the permanency. I’m hoping, and praying. I’ve never had any luck with anything before.
jme1, you should really sample sevearl electrologists to compare their skill. is this person using thermolysis method of electrolysis?
She is using an Apilus machine. Sampling several electrologists is not an option for some of us. She is the only one that is close, and by close I mean an hour and a half drive.
Thank god I am not that hairy. Sorry to those who may be offended. I could never even imagine how much it would suck to have hair on my chest like that.
You think that’s bad? I have that on my shoulders, upper arms. I’m not even worried about chest hair right now. If I can get my uppear arms shoulders, back portion cleared I’m just going to purchase an IPL and shoot myself with it every 12 weeks.
I hope I don’t sound rude, but that looks like a man (before), then a woman (after), are you sure they are the same person?
You need only look at the nose for verification.
Other than the woman on the Step By Step Page of my business web site, no genetic females have allowed their before and after pics to be used. If it were not for the Male To Female TransGender Community, we would have little to show you. In fact this site would not exist.
So go out and hug a TG today 
Oh I see. Man you did some good work. Fab.
Wow, what a great job. The skin looks good too, considering the hours of electrolysis it looks really good. Thank you for posting these pictures, James. I’m beginning to think I should do a before pic in my post… My camera is pretty rubbish, so will see if I can get my sister to have a go at taking one for me.
Thank you both for your kind words.
I tell everyone to take a Before Picture, as later on, it will help to keep you motivated, as you lose the ability to see the progress one has made as time goes on without one. It is also true that once the work is complete, no one would believe that you ever had it done.
One of my Genetic Female clients had what she called “Ottor Face” and we had to remove black hairs from her entire face, and clear out the upper lip. When she was done and tried to recommend my services to tohers, and they all said, something to the sort of, “How would YOU know what I am going through, YOU never had a problem with unwanted hair! Your face is perfect!” When she would tell them what it used to look like, they woudl say “Oh, yeah? Prove It!” and she of course had no pictures to show, and she had never allowed anyone to take any of her either. Now she wishes she had at least ONE to prove that it happened.
I started my electrolysis treatments in mid 2004.
I’m basically done.
ELECTROLYSIS, WHEN DONE RIGHT, WORKS.
I had my entire body treated. The only remaining hairs on my body are on my scalp, my eyelashes, and my eyebrows. And those darn nose hairs. Specific areas of treatment: initially legs, underarms, genitals, peri-anal. As hair got scarce, I moved to the face (upper lip, chin), and after the electrologists started to get bored and I was finishing my treatments early, I let them work a little bit on my eyebrows and arms (which weren’t problem areas at all). LOL.
I am a male. I initially sought treatment for health reasons. In the mid-90’s I was diagnosed with a degenerative neuromuscular disorder. I had been bedridden for weeks at a time. As a result, my skin frequently got infected (usually starting with the follicles - staph infections), and with impaired body functions, maintaining hygiene got to be a lot of work with hair in the way.
So I wanted to get rid of my dark, coarse body hair. Like most people starting out, I didn’t know beans about hair removal. I didn’t know there was such a thing as electrolysis. My dermatologist steered me towards shaving and trimming hair. So I went on the internet and did a search on permanent hair removal. One of those searches, well into my journey, brought me here.
In the beginning, it was a challenge finding electrologists in my area who were willing to work on men. It was even more of a challenge looking for folks to work on all body parts. Finding a good one to do both … HAH!
I’ve had ineffective treatments, and I’ve had excellent treatments. It took a while to measure the results - who was not so great, and those who are enshrined in the pantheon of legendary hair killers. I’ll keep mum on the former. Of the latter - I can’t say enough about Arlene Batz (NYC). Based on my experience, she is a rock star when it comes to killing hairs. Thank you Arlene. And there are others!
With each hour spent in treatment, and with each communication with folks here at Hairtell (thank you James Walker and others), I became a much more savvy consumer of hair removal services.
Here are my random thoughts, based on non-stop weekly treatments over the last 6 years:
Finding an electrologist: Electrologists are a tightly-knit group who may deal with a lot of weirdos and downright flaky people from time to time. Find a good electrologist in you area. Cultivate a relationship with that person. Show up to your appointment on time, show respect, and communicate. Don’t be flaky. If the electrologist is initially reluctant to work on certain body parts (example: genitals), she might assent later when she (or he) gets to know you better, or gets more confidence in treating that area (she might not have worked on that area before!). That person could also refer you to somebody else who could.
Laser?Did not appear to work for me.
Blend or thermolysis?Thick coarse hairs that are in hormonally influenced areas … go for blend. Mop up thinner stuff with flash thermolysis.
Juice?Technique is everything - but current is important too. I’ve had ineffective treatment from well trained CPE’s who just didn’t use enough juice.
Fastest results: Leg hairs. It’s amazing how they go away with just one treatment.
Most stubborn hairs in my experience: Corners of lips (very deep), and scrotum (hormonal). They take a licking and sometimes keep ticking. For years. mad
Most painful areas: Eyelids, scrotum, peri-anal, and … knuckles of fingers and toes. MFERs!
Emla?Suck it up, bite down on a toungue depressor instead. crazy
Most embarassing moments: Unintentionally sporting an erection (happened only once) during treatment and breaking wind in the electrologists face (happened only once) while getting anus hairs treated. My apologies. eek
Downside to being completely hairless…as a guy… I honestly can’t remember what it’s like to have body hair. Life is much easier now. HOWEVER … If I’m wearing shorts in public or even in a semi-private setting like physical therapy, I get stared at. Mostly by women. They say my legs “glow,” whatever the hell that means. At my annual checkups, my doctors stare at my junk. Guys will do a double take on my face ("Where’s the stubble?? and “Dude plucks his eyebrows!”) Everybody !@#$ing stares at me. So … I don’t wear shorts anymore if I can help it. blush My wife likes to run her hands over my armpits. She admits she is insanely jealous of them. It gets annoying after a while. Did I mention that I went to a massage therapist not too long ago, and she lingered on my legs just a little too long? cool
Funniest and most frequently asked question asked of me by electrologists: “So, uh, are you gonna get a sex change after all of this?” (Not meant to be a knock on TG folks here).
You know when you’re reaching the end of the treatment road when… … your electrologists spends more time hunting for hairs, or digging out dead ingrowns, than actually removing hairs.
To folks undertaking treatment … and maybe feeling a little overwhelmed, take heart. If you have the willpower, persistence, and the resources … stick with it. Electrolysis works.
That’s most of my rambling thoughts for now … I’d post pictures of the results, but, I am a fairly modest fellow. Just take my word for it.
One can view for oneself how well electrolysis worked for this Executive Clearance Client.
http://www.cornell.edu/video?videoID=861&startSecs=0&endSecs=1042
Really excellent post real_sore. How many hours treatment have you had in total and what portion of that was with Arlene? I have a spreadsheet on google docs with all my data (hours, costs, area treated, by who…). Hope more people did that.
Did you get any scarring? Can you see “holes” or pigment changes where there was hair in a few parts of your legs?
James did you do that client’s beard? Is her picture on your site or did she just do that one video interview? If you did the beard, thats an amazing result, just like the one you posted before.
That client did not do pics on my site, nor contribute to the interviews for my business, but did this interview in the local media near the client’s home.
Thanks for the complement.