Hi James, need your help ?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi James,
Its been many months since I first posted here, asking you some questions about electrolysis… and then proceeded to go ahead with it, over the laser option (mostly due to hearing about laser causing dormant follicles to start growing hair in areas, and not working at all for others)I wanted a sure-fire method, albeit expensive and very painful.

I started multi-galvanic sessions , approx 2/3 hour sessions every 7-10 days at the start of october 04. I went continuously and consistently until end feb.05, and took a 3 month break from march this year.

(multi-galvanic although understandably slower ,seems to be the standard method in sydney, as every single place I have contacted (10+) employs it,with but one doing thermolysis,but only for women.

I am 25,with medium-dark brown hairs.
My goal initially was to achieve hair freedom of my upper arms, shoulders and most of back (all of which have patchy,low-medium density areas of relatively thin and somewhat coarse hair). The hair is sporadic in places, with small and large patches in others, but on the whole is not at all uniform or dense like my front.

I Have racked up 42 hours treatment timenow in total. plus a few thousand
$$AUD has been spent. My results so far are but a thinning out of the top part of my upper arms, and the top part of the shoulders only. The shoulder blades and back have not even been commenced upon, and at no stage in any area thus far have I achieved any complete clearance,not even once.The furthest I have gotten since october 04 is a “thinnning out” of the shoulder tops (which is mostly the only area we have worked and do work on every 2-3 hour session)

Q1. Should I have at least by now cleared the area (if not some more areas) fully? even at least a first time total clearance?

Q2 Am I being scammed ?.. because I personally dont believe I have very thick,dark,dense or even very comprehensive hair growth
in the areas I stated, yet in 9 months have still not reached a first clearance of even 1 area, let alone even commenced on the back ,lower part of-upper arms and shoulder-blade areas that I want done ultimately.

q3. The sessions are unbearably painful. whilst the current is expectdly painful, it is the actual insertions that are causing me the most pain. Are they supposed to be felt , and to be so painful too? is that normal? .I thought it should just be the current felt. The place uses standard size probes, and gave me a story about how they can tell that theyre right for my follicles, when I dont recall my electrologist ever conducting any measuremnts of my follicles or anything?

q4 I know that multi-galvanic (32 probe machines every time) can be rather slower than other methods, but should it really be going this slowly, at this stage, and after this many hours?

q5 How far along do you belive I should be by now, in all honesty? , and Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to realise my objectives (which 9 months ago, were due for realisation this very month) ??

cheers,James
anything would be greatly appreciated

Hank
down and out in Sydney,Australia

ps…many thanks in advance

#2

Start with laser, finish with electrolysis. To get to your current level of hair reduction you would have spent a lot less money with laser and a lot less time!

After 1 laser treatment on my chest and back, I achieved 50% hair reduction. And contrary to what many electrologists claim, my hair has not grown back!

It looks like electrolysis doesn’t necessarily result in permanent hair removal for everyone!

Now some will protest that I am jumping to conclusions. But the same things are said about laser when some people report negative results. Laser doesn’t work, all the hair is going to grow back, blah, blah, blah.

There are diminishing returns with laser. Some hairs are hit when they are not in the growth stage so those hairs return finer and lighter. Those hairs will be more difficult to treat with the laser. Fluence can be turned up and longer pulse widths can be tried. Even different lasers may work better. But it does get to a point where further laser treatments will not result in improvement. That is where electrolysis comes in.

My point is not to bash electrolysis. It works on all hair and skin types. It can be used year-round, which is big for sun worshippers. And it does work for just about everybody, if you put the time and money into it. It takes a committment. But it is slower than laser, and that is important when large areas need to be cleared. Hairs are treated one at a time.

I would also add that I use electrolysis. No laser did not get all of my hair, but it got one hell of a lot of it! the hairs that remained after laser were finer and lighter, so electrolysis turned out to be the best method for those.

Multi-needle galvanic is slower than thermolysis, but it should not be that much slower, as you experienced. So maybe the qualifications and/or equipment of your practitioner are suspect. I also did not find multi-needle galvanic to be all that painful.

Still, my advice is to start with laser and finish with electrolysis.

RJC2001

#3

Hi there,

We do not know the long term effects of laser and doctors I have spoken to (including my Dad who is a doctor) have warned me against it. We just don’t know enough and they are getting in patients who have been damaged by lasers. Why risk it when there are safe alternatives? Prove to me one day, without doubt, that it is safe and then we’ll talk. Until then, I’ll stick to electrolysis.

Just using the description of the amount of hair you have, it sounds as if the electrologist is not effective. The expereience I’ve had so far has been outstanding and certainly not slow as you have described. My electrologist uses thermolysis for the facial areas and multi-needle galvanic for the body. I’ve had the entire back of my upper legs and sides cleared and bikini line and my sessions for the body areas are around 45 minutes (as we use 10-15 min of the one hour sessions on my upper lip). I’ve been going for around 2 months now (actuall, I think it’s less). Started working on my body areas several weeks after commencing facial treatment. So in all, I’ve not had many sessions yet the results are Great!

As for the pain, I find the current painful but not the insertions (only a few times on the back of the thighs where there are lots of nerves). My electrologist does not “measure” the size of the follicles as an experienced professional will know by looking at you what probe to use.

Wait for what James and the other electrologists have to say on this as one can’t beat James for accurate and reliable information. I just hope my “personal” experience can help you a little bit. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Keep us all posted!

Electrobaby

#4

I started multi-galvanic sessions…at the start of october 04. I went continuously and consistently until end feb.05, and took a 3 month break from march this year.

yet in 9 months have still not reached a first clearance of even 1 area…<snip>… what I can do to realise my objectives (which 9 months ago, were due for realisation this very month) ??

Hi Hank,
It sounds like you’ve only had 5 months of electrolysis, not 9. Since electrolysis takes 9 to 18 months to work, you haven’t even reached the minimum yet, and maybe that timeframe was too optimistic for the amount of hair you have anyway? Did your electrologist ever estimate how long the whole job would take?

The (somewhat) good news: If in 3 months of not going, your hairs didn’t all grow back—not even thinner and lighter—then those follicles were effectively killed off.

How much less hair do you have now in the treated areas? A third less? Half? That might give you a clue to calculate how much longer you need in those areas.

I don’t know squat about galvanic (I’ve been having thermolysis done for 13 months), so I can’t say if you should’ve already had one full clearance or if this electrologist is any good. Hopefully James and the other pros can weigh in.

best of luck to you!
–susie

#5

Hi all, and thanks for the advice.

I have never really considered Laser, since i CANNOT RECONCILE the possibility of paying large $$$, and being one of those people that it doesnt work on, or for it to provide results (that could be compared to a super-lasting wax that lasts 6months or 1 year or 2 years hair-free), only to be back in the same hairy situation again in x amount of time.The whole nature of this modality of hair removal is too ambiguous for me,personally.

while Laser has removed large amounts of hair effectively on many people, and also,reportedly prevented any hair from recurring, I am only hearing these stories from people that have had laser 1-5 years ago, whereas the long term prognosis for the results lasting is really unknown. I have a friend who had the hairiest back and he payed a lot of cash, got laser , and now has a smooth back,its been 18 months and he has had virtually no regrowth, but that isnt to say the follicles wont start regenerating hair again in another year or 5 or 10.
With electrolysis, you know that when the follicles are killed (ie. have not generated hair for 9-12 months after being treated) that they are dead,dead.

I suppose I need more surety, that I wont spend thousands of $$ to maybe or maybe not achieve my desired results, that may or may not be to the degree that I would like, and that may or may not last permanently. I couldnt go ahead with laser to possibly attain my desired results, only to find myself back at the beginning in say,1 or 2 or 5 or even 10 years from now. It would soul-destroying for me.

Im pretty much set on electrolysis as my vehicle for reaching my hair removal goals, just not sure I am with the right person, right method, right approach,etc.

Susie: I certainly have had rather extensive thinning-out of some areas, since I started going 9 months ago (although minus the break/s I have taken, youre correct -I have only had 5 months cumulative treatment). The problem is that Im not so sure that after 40+ hours of intensive multi-galvanic electrolysis (not even mentioning the monetary aspect), that I should still be awaiting the very first clearance of just one area,(let alone getting around to the other 75% of the area i eventually WANT done, on which my electrologist hasnt even been commenced yet.

many thanks for the feedback folks

ANYWAY, I’ll wait to see what James has to say on the subject of my predicament…

cheers,
Hank

#6

You will find my advise on this all over the board. If you want fast clearance, you need thermolysis treatment with a practitioner who has good speed. Since you have been utilizing Galvanic, you are where you should be in that modality. It is slow. There is no doubt about it. It is the slowest form of permanent hair removal.

The best hair removal value is PicoFlash electrolysis with a speedy practitioner who has good ergonomic equipment, does long hours, and has good vision equipment. Next would be MicroFlash Electrolysis with the other things I mentioned. Next in line would be plain thermolysis, and fast blend, followed by blend, and then, multi needle galvanic, and finally straight galvanic.

I wish Fino or I could have done your work. You would have already seen bare skin in more than one area. We would have removed 21,000 to 52,000 hairs in that time.

#7

I don’t know of any electrologists working with flash in Sydney.

If you come across one, let me know.

THANKS!