Hi
I thought you might be interested in my recent experiences with a new hair removal system - Epil-Pro - a safer, faster and less painful alternative to permanent hair removal than Electrolysis invented and manufactured in England.
I’m TS and started hair removal early 2002 year by buying 6 sessions of IPL (Intense Pulse Light) treatment – AcuLight - This was supposed to be
the best of the Laser treatments – However at over $600 for 6 sessions of 15 minutes it was not cheap – though the interval between each session was on average 2 months – which made it appear cheaper than electrolysis. Except that it did nothing for me – I have a lot of grey beard but even the dark beard seemed to be still coming in
abundance.
So I switched last July to Electrolysis, having one hour of treatment every week. My therapist is excellent – the level of pain was tolerable but the hair kept coming back on my top lip and as it
returned it became more and more painful to remove – the hair is getting finer and the follicles shallower which is part of the
cause. Over the last month I had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and that has made my tolerance of the pain less
easy.
I called the makers of Epil-Pro and asked for a local salon. Two weeks ago I went for a free trial where she cleared my entire top lip in 10 minutes – what is more I did not need to shave it again and still have not done so. (For the past month I had been avoiding any electrolysis on my top lip because I could not stand the pain).
My next appointment was booked for today, which has been strangely emotional. I started the day with a 1 hour electrolysis session (I decided to run a direct comparison between Epil-Pro and
Electrolysis), cancelled a singing lesson because I could not allow myself to go with four days beard growth. Did manage to have a nail
appointment despite the beard (they are a beauty salon so they understand) - then finally I had a one and a quarter hour Epil-Pro session.
Because of the pain, I have been having electrolysis treatment just on my chin and mostly on one side which has resulted over the last month in half my chin being relatively clear of hair - The re-growth on my chin is a lot slower and more sporadic than my upper lip, and seemingly more successful - though she had cleared most of the chin at some time, and most had grown back. Today I asked her to concentrate on clearing as much as possible of my right chin so that I have a test area for comparison. At the end of one hour of electrolysis I had had enough, but there is a clear test area. about an 3 cm in diameter.
To prepare for today I have not shaved my upper lip since the first Epil-Pro session 12 days ago. There had been quite a lot of regrowth - however it was so fine and fair that I was able to not
shave for two weeks - the first time I have ever been able to do that and not grow a moustache. Even without makeup - the growth was very
difficult to see. I am reluctant to take that as unbiased evidence for Epil-Pro because I have had so much electrolysis on that area in the past year - That said this was still the first time I have been able to not shave.
Not shaving the rest of my face for the past five days was however far more of a challenge. I hated it. I had been hiding myself from people all morning - covering up my face whenever I had to make a short walk to a salon. I realised today that, for me, getting rid of facial hair is more important than GRS. It is such a constant reminder of my past and forces me to into a very masculine action every day and sometimes twice. It also causes me to wear foundation in the sweltering heat. To have no facial hair will be such a relief.
So finally the Epil-Pro Session. One and a Quarter Hours was a lot - almost more than I could take. Some of the treatment was damn
painful - but not as painful as electrolysis. What made it seem worse was the speed at which the therapist Jackie plucked the hair.
Epil Pro works by sending a very high frequency sound wave down into the hair follicle destroying the hair follicle in a similar way to electrolysis - except that it is instantaneous, so the hairs can be plucked almost continuously.
Jackie set to and started plucking twenty or more hairs before pausing… There is an attack and decay to the pain. When you pluck there is a sudden pain that quickly fades, especially if you wipe the area with cotton wool after wards. However if the hairs are being plucked quickly, the attack (onset of pain) of the second hair hits before the previous one has decayed (faded) increasing the overall pain effect. If the third comes straight in again - the effect is that you cease to feel the decay and just feel the attack - and it starts multiplying - hope you can FEEL what I am saying here.
Basically a long run of plucking causes a steady increase in pain until it becomes unbearable - especially along the jaw bone that just seems to be more sensitive - well on me anyway. The solution if this happens to you is to get the therapist to just pluck five or ten at a time then pause and wipe. That makes it all more bearable. I don’t want anyone to be under the misapprehension that this is a painless process which it is sometimes advertised as. It may be if you are a women with a few fine hairs - the hairs at the to hair line near my ear were finer and much less painful. The heavy regularly shaved
hairs especially under my chin were more painful. Aspirin before I go next time.
But I am ecstatic because the results were worth all the pain - Jackie has cleared the regrowth on my top lip leaving it completely clear - and then she cleared all my chin that had not been cleared by electrolysis - then she cleared both my cheeks right up to the hair line at the top of my ear - I have NO hair left on the front of my face – That is 20 or thirty times the amount cleared in an electrolysis session of slightly less time. There is still a load of hair under my chin and on my neck - but a week Friday that is all going.
In three sessions totalling less than THREE HOURS - I will have cleared my entire face of hair and will probably not need to shave
again - I will need to have the regrowth cleared every couple of weeks to start with then every month and then less frequently - That is my expectation now based upon the last two weeks.
OK Very Early Days - and I am not holding my breath - but I am enjoying the feeling of not having any hair on my face - and for the first time this afternoon - I was able to comfortably go shopping with no foundation on at all - WOW!!!
I will keep you informed of my progress - in the meantime if you are interested in trying Epil-Pro. Please call Sujata Jolly (the inventor of the equipment) on 01628 674644 - and ask her for the details of your nearest Salon - (You might mention that Rikki said to call)
The Price of Epil-Pro is more than Electrolysis – about twice the price from what I can tell but then prices of electrolysis can vary
from $20 an hour to $60 – The recommended price for a one hour session of Epil-Pro is $60.
Please note that I have absolutely NO financial or business interest in Epil-Pro or any salons using it – I just wanted to share my experience because I suspect there are a lot of girls out there with similar frustrations to me and this looks as if it could be the answer - Not sure if its able to be inported into the US - but I’m sure a call will tell you.
But from everything I have learned in my research and talking to my electroligists this should not work…if anything it will eventually undo what you have done with electrolysis.