Flash thermolysis on telogen hairs

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello everyone,

I’ve been reading this forum for a while and this is my first post here.
First I’d like to thank all the people on this forum who take the time out of their busy schedules to generously share their knowledge and experience with others. Without you, people like me would never get a chance to learn about true electrology and its real potential.

I’m new to electrology and I only have a little experience with the actual practice, but I’ve invested in a good machine and Laurier probes and I’m using high magnification of 10x (stereo microskop) and I’m determined to avoid any pitfalls that I beginner like me might encounter.

I’ve been practising on legs, where almost all hairs are telogen with barely any anagen. I’m doing Flesh at around 50mA, 0.2s with a tapered non insulated probe. The hairs are extremely shallow 1-2 mm at the max and the only way I can get them to release nicely is when my insertions are very shallow too. Sometimes, though, that is not enough and I have to zap a hair 2-3 times for a successful extraction. Anytime I try to go deeper the hairs remain stubbornly anchored. The skin reaction is not that bad with only pin sized red dots appearing post treatment. My questions to you are:

1.I know it’s hard to say, but what do you think I’m doing wrong? With 2 almost identical hairs treated the same way I should get the same result. Since I’m using high magnification, I try to get my insertions as perfect as possible each time, so I don’t think that is the problem.
Maybe the energy is too low or just barely enough?
2.Is it OK that my insertions are so shallow and when the hairs slide out without any resistance do you think they were effectively destroyed? Or should I insert my probe a little deeper and increase the energy just to be on the safe side?
3.I’d like to start using IBPs and I was wondering by how much should I decrease the energy from 50mA and how should I change my insertion technique.

Sorry for so many questions and possible grammar errors, English is not my first language.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. :slight_smile:

#2

Without sitting beside you, it is hard to know what is going on but I think that inserting 1 - 2 mm seems too shallow, even for telogen hairs. Are you seeing any moist bulbs at the base of the hairs? Are they mostly dry as your post suggests? I would insert deeper as the depth of leg hairs generally range from 2.5 - 4 mm.

I am wondering about the thickness of your probe. Whether you decide to stick with your standard tapered or switch to an Insulated, its best to use the thickest probe that you can easily insert.

You indicate that you are administering treatment using flash at 50mA, 0.2s. I do not know what epilator you are using but I am wondering if you have been teaching yourself instead of getting formal training or at least reading the trade text books. The 50mA that you note tells me that you are setting up to use galvanic in treatment and if that is the case, 0.2s timing would not give you a release. Perhaps I would understand your predicament better if you noted the machine and probe size.

#3

Try to search for topics on telogen hair on here. There are several thread old topics with bits of clues and general ideas from Josefa who does shallow insertions for telogen hairs successfully. There used to be a discussion about “Kelly” probes from Laurier specifically made for shallow telogen hair. But I’m not sure if it was just experimental phase or they became popular with electrologists out there.
You many know but every machine model and brand behaves differently as there are no universal standards for energy treatment charts especially for Flash/Thermolysis. One brand 50 might be a conservative output and second brand it might be a strong output.

I’m interested to see your microscope setup. If you have time, post a photo.

#4

Thank you both for your replies.

Most of the hairs that I treat come out easily with their moist bulbs at the end and they are indeed very shallow. So, should I still try to insert deeper or do you think think they were successfully epilated? When I try to go deeper, I can’t get them to release and I have to apply one more pulse higher up.
Unfortunately, there are some telogens that I can’t dislodge unless I hit them with 2-3 pulses.

Where I live there are no real electrology schools like in the USA. That being said, I did receive training from an experiened electrologist here and I’ve read one of Michael Bono’s books. Before I joined, I’d been reading this forum for a while and getting as much information as possible. Including all of Josefa’s posts.:wink: With my next order of probes I will be getting a second book from Michael.

As for the epilator, I’m using an Elite Spectrum. I don’t know about other machines, but 50mA, 0.2s is Flash and many of the hairs give me a nice release at this setting. I’m trying to be conservative with the energy levels since I’m working on telogen hairs. The probe size is .003 medium.
The hairs/pores are not very thick/big, but I’ll try to go a size up.

I hope this post helps clarify some things.

#5

Step to a Kelly .004 and you’ll retain the same tip length as a standard tip .003.

#6

Thank you for the suggestion. I will try that. :slight_smile: