I have fair skin (type II) with vellus (fine), long, light brown to blond hairs in the places that I want to have them removed by electrolysis. I want to do my upper lip (a few coarser ones-- overall not much hair), sides of face (more hair, it is long, fine and light in color-- goes into my cheeks a bit), arms (I want to do my entire arms but not get rid of hair totally- just thin them out-- arms are really, really hairy with very long, light brown-blond hairs all over), and buttocks (light brown-blond vellus hair that I want thinned out or removed completely just so it’s not that noticeable and felt to the touch).
So, I had 2 consultations- one yesterday & one the day before.
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The first one was a transgenendered lady with 15 years of experience and is currently in the process of becoming a Registered Nurse. She works from her apartment. The machine she uses is a Berkowits-- I did notice it was kinda old, and uses multiple needle thermolysis. She uses sterile disposable needles and wears latex disposable gloves. When I first walked in, it felt a little weird because I expected an office— it didn’t feel very clean because the electrolygy set is set up right in her living room but I don’t know if that’s a problem… I know renting an office in the place I live is beyond expensive. The consultation in total went on for a good 45 minutes, she was very nice, gave me a total overview of electrology history and the different methods and why she does thermolysis which was consistent with what I read and she was not pushy at all. She also mentioned that she had lots of electrolysis done on her back in the day. I asked her for a sample treatment and she agreed. She did like 5 hairs on each area: my lower arm, side of face, and upper lip (she used a lower setting ont he upper lip). During the treatment, I felt a little prick, it wasn’t that bad- the upper lip was worst. I did feel her tug on a few hairs- I don’t know if that was plucking. Afterwards, I was a little red and swollen (upper lip only) for about 30-45 minutes… then it all subsided. She charges $50/50 minutes and said that first clearance would be achieved as follows: 5 minutes on upper lip (I have very few hairs now as I recently waxed), 25 minutes for sides of face, and the remainder of the 50 minutes she will spend working on my arms. She said I do not need to shave.
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The 2nd consultation was with Maria V egaa. When I came in, she made me fill out this form which asked about my past hair removal, skin type & conditions, and an explanation of the process of electrolysis (that it takes time, etc etc). She has her own office, which was very tiny— ti was clean but now that I had soemthign to compare the other electrologist’s set seemed pretty close to this one when it came to cleanliness. She gave me an overview of the hair growth cycle and that the hairs that will be permanently gone are the ones that she treats in the active growth stage-- so I asked her if it would be helpful to shave my arms and she said not to shave. She seemed very busy and in a rush-- I guess she had other clients coming. She uses the Apillus machien and it looked brand new, also uses disposable sterile needles, and wears gloves. I asked her for a sample treatment and she declined, saying that she can treat me for 15 minutes for $35, so I accepted. She worked on both sides of my face (more on the cheek area where I don’t have THAT much hair)-- during the treatment, I felt a prick, no tugging/plucking feeling at all. Afterwards, it was a little red and bumpy and it subsided after about an hour. I don’t know how much she managed to get done because the hair int hat area is less noticeable and I wasn’t really sure of the difference… but it seemed like she only worked on me for like 5-8 minutes not the 15 she said. She charges $100/hour and kept mentioning a package deal of 5 treatments with $25 discount.
BTW, $100/hr seems to be the norm in my area as I’ve called a few other places…
I’d really rather go with the cheaper one, but what do you all think?
I need some guidance! Thanks!