hello, I have had a new client today who stopped me after 5 hairs because 4 of them plucked.
She was an experienced electrolysis client with fair, short, vellus, downy hairs and one strong, vellus hair on her chin.
At consultation she told me that her original practitioners (a big group in the City) were fine and she ‘knew electrolysis’ and that, in trying to find a local electrolysist, she had tried one who plucked her hairs. She was ‘giving me a go’ to see if i could match the good electrolysis she’d had originally.
I agreed with her that hairs should not be feeling plucked and explained that the first few may well pluck with a new practitioner, until the working point is reached. She agreed.
I used micro flash as i had established that she wasn’t getting blend before and all her hairs bar one, were fine. vellus. fair and short. I treated the first (strong-vellus) hair and it was plucky. I kept the setting at 8 (apilus) for the first vellus hair and it,also, was plucky (i was using 2-3 pulses) The skin was ok.
For the next vellus hair, i turned up to 9. This one came out without resistance. However, the next one was plucky again.
By this time, the client had made her mind up that i wasn’t up to stuff and asked me to stop.
I explained that I would like to try other settings and variables but she did not want to continue.
Perturbed!!!
I feel for you, and offer our apologies, as I am sure that things like this web site are the reason many customers may be more finicky than in days past.
In some situations, a little information is just enough to make one impossible to work with.
What can I say other than she should have allowed you to complete a full treatment, or at least 15 minutes, to an hour before making a decision.
The only time I ever recall stopping a treatment prior to the completion of the agreed upon time duration was once when I was just a starry eyed youngster, I came across a practitioner who was very good at the written words of the profession, who could talk and lecture about the subject for hours without fatigue, who was licensed, and a teacher of the subject, but when working on me, it became obvious that I would be lucky to get 100 hairs per hour out of the experience. It was also way more painful than other work I had done, and while everything else seemed to say I was in the hands of a professional’s professional, the work that I received has been surpassed by some practitioners with decades less experience. Even then, I allowed for enough time for someone to “get into the groove” before making my choice to throw in the towel.
All I can do from here, now though, is say, I understand where you are, and how you feel.
The only reason I can think of where that would make sense (assuming the client was not being completely irrational), is if the client had previously been treated by a Platinum and you were using a lower end apilus machine and she didn’t like the pain level.
I have an SX-500 but have used a Platinum and I can attest to the fact that there is a notable difference between the amount of pain required to successfully epilate a hair between the two, especially on shallow insertions as would be required for vellus hairs.
OH crumbs!
thanks so much for your replies. I feel a lot better now. I talked it through with some one who knows me yesterday, then went on with my day, still brooding about it. Had headache by end of day!
Read through Hairtell just to feel the connection with other electrolysists and remind me that I know my stuff!
Read your replies this morning-thanks James and t4ngent.
I have only 5 years experience but my case load has been building up constantly all of the time. I have had 2 complaints (including this one) in that time. The first was to do with a Campbell de Morgans lesion and the lady had been on holiday immediately after treatment.(sun,sand,sun lotion!).
I’m very passionate about my job and am devastated when someone isn’t happy.
Must toughen up.
This site is great. I’m all in favour of people being able to inform themselves constructively-even with the downsides!
Tata and thanks again,
Junex
At least you are very honest about your encounter. Most electrologists would never think of sharing anything that may be slightly negative about their work. We are all fallible. We have all overtreated a client at some time. It is not always the case to have hairs slide out with no traction even though the mantra is NO TRACTON NO TUGGING.
She should have given you more time to figure out the recipe. People do freak out if there is pulling because it hurts and they know that the hair isn’t being cooked enough to result in permancy.
Be not too hard on yourself. Sorry for the late reply.
Thanks dfahey. Frankly, I am glad to be making direct contact with you people-every cloud has a silver lining! Love to you all junex
Hi Cherrytree, recognizing our mistakes is the only way to improving.
If you are in a similar situation again, you should leave the hair which is resisted and try to treat another one. Those hairs which you left behind will be easily removed the next time. 
5 years is not newbie. We certainly cannot please everyone - even though it’s probably the personality of most of us…
I feel as a newbie every time I face a new customer.
And in my opinion, the client has a legitimate right to decide whether to continue or not. In the same way that we have the right to refuse to continue to treat him or her.
So, what do you think had really happened here? Vellus hairs are more often plucky because less of them are in the anagen stage. But 8 and 9 on the chin with the Apilus is kind of harsh, even for the thickest hair.
When treating vellus hairs, it is also easy to break through the bottom of the follicle and put all the treatment energy below the hair.
I agree with James here, too much power to the wrong depth. A level 2 or 3 for a longer time, or a high intensity and short time with several repeated pulses would have raised the pattern of warming up to the anchorage area. The flash of the Apilus allows coagulate without drying. Ideal for hair type “vellus”
Thanks for all feedback-
Is my Apilus different from yours yb?
I am quite often up to 8 and 9 (micro flash) with hairs on chin and then try variations of different settings as well, to find the best. I tend not to use the pre-sets at all, and use blend wherever indicated (often, on chin)
Sometimes blend isn’t right though. Multiplex, i find, can be very harsh.
I really want to get to the best standard i can with help from colleagues.
x june
I have been re reading posts to gauge what, if anything I have learned from this platform.
The answer is; I’ve learned a lot and I’m still learning.
On the subject of the above thread; I know now that I was going too deep and too high.
I do shallow hairs very differently now.
Hairtell is a true finishing school - except I don’t believe that we’re ever finished!
Lots of love to fellow passionate specialists.
Junex
Hi Cherrytree, thank you for your post.
I have been practicing since 2008 and I also feel that there is always something new to learn. There are many posts on this forum that send me back to my electrolysis textbooks or to the internet to review and learn something new.
Staying as close to the presets as much as possible, affords a more comfortable treatment, but there are some custom settings that can be even more comfortable. To me, MultiPlex is the choice for sensitive clients and turning off the PicoFlash at the end is something I learned from my colleagues. This makes it even more comfortable. I actually remembered that when I attended a Dectro symposium last year, that the instructors had mentioned this little pearl, but it had drifted out of my memory. Thanks to Kelly via Josefa, for bringing this concept back to me.
Synchro for those huge chin hairs is utterly fabulous, but never use a level 8 or 9! I rarely go above 4 when using Synchro and NEVER above level 6. Blend is not needed because Synchro is so completely destructive. Be careful with this modality. It’s a shark! Start low and gradually work your way up. To me, it is the best invention ever for zapping hair. Insulated probes are recommended.
Thank you for re visiting this thread Dee and Carmella.
Ditto Carmella - I am using this forum as education, pure and simple.
I am using the Apilus Senior 11 Dee.
I don’t know if what you say regarding turning off pico at the end of multiplex can be applied to multiplex on the senior 11?
Is there a setting on the senior 11 that is anything close to synchro? What does synchro actually consist of?
Huge thanks for your help
Junex
How to describe Synchro…
I know! Ok, let’s use Fireworks as an analogy. Regular Thermolysis is that firework that pops in the air with one quick sound, and one color, and one large star-flower pattern. Pico would be the same, but a shorter, quicker, smaller burst of light that is gone just as quickly as it lights.
Synchro is that firework that bursts into lots of pico’s, that then sizzle and glitter on the way down.
While I am very comfortable with calling Synchro a thermolysis only answer to situations when one might normally resort to blend, I am not ready to say that I would use it in all situations that I would otherwise use blend. That is a game day decision that is very dependent upon the opponent, what looks the defense is showing… er, um, I mean the client and the properties of the specific hairs and follicle match-ups I am facing in the treatment area.
The Synchro thing has been bugging me on and off for a while 
The thing with the firework analogy is this. Were the synchro firework ignited within a confined space (as within a follicle) it would probably look like one single slightly longer release of light. All of the sizzle and glitter would be contained and it wouldn’t allow the individual releases of energy (sizzle and glitter) to be seen on their own, especially when you consider the time frame.
I also wonder about the gaps between the pulses and if they are actually measurable in real terms. 27 million (27,000,000) cycles per second 27Mhz I think the longest pre set timing is .26 seconds so that makes 7,020,000 cycles in .26 seconds divide that by 200 that allows for an equal pulse to gap ratio and 100 pulses, you get 35,100 cycles per pulse with a space of 0.0013 a second that’s 13X10,000th’s of a second. I think that’s 1.3 mili seconds. Is that really enough time between pulses to make it any different from one continuous pulse…
Bear in mind that human reaction time is measured in 0.1 of a second (100 mili secondsd) or more in most cases and then I wonder about how accurately the energy can be released within the follicle between pressing the pedal and starting to move the needle.
It was this over thinking that prompted me to make my last post in this section about the pre sets and doing manually controlled multiple pulses.
I’ve no doubt that my calculations are wrong, studying was never a strong point for me but I don’t think they are so far off that they won’t give pause for thought.
I’ve made assumptions about the pulses and the gaps between them and I don’t know enough about atoms or their component parts to really have a valid opinion but it’s an opinion just the same.
Sometimes it’s hard being me I’m off to bed now this has given me a headache
Thanks for above, I’m not atall sure my brain can cope!
Junex