I am having my first electrolysis session on my lower arms in a few weeks using the blend method. Assuming I have a very high pain threshold, approximately how many hairs do you think my electrolysis should be able to zap in 60 minutes?
You’re asking the wrong question!
Think about this. You hire someone to do some home construction. And, you ask the person, “How fast can you hammer in those nails?” Is this really what you want to know? Or, do you want to know how much MONEY (and overall time) this project is going to require?
To answer your specific question. A blend operator can remove one hair in a couple seconds: about 2 seconds in each follicle. (But don’t insist on this.) If she’s doing a “two-handed” technique, she has no need to switch hands constantly … and this adds another 15% or so to the overall speed.
But this is STILL the wrong question!
How about these questions (specifically relating to your project).
- How many cases like mine have your done? (A real number. The answer, “Oh I do lots of cases like this,” does not “cut it!”)
- On average, how many hours will a situation like mine take?
- What is the average cost of doing this job? You know in DOLLARS?
See, an electrologist can pull-out hairs like a demon … but, the hairs might (and often do) ALL grow back! (And, then they give you the “breaking down” nonsense!)
It’s not about “how fast,” it’s ONLY about “killing the hairs the first time.”
Not to disparage your question, but this is what ALL clients ask and what many electrologists promote too. Don’t count hairs! Count HOURS TO FINISH THE JOB! You’re paying for hours!
Your question: “How many hairs per hour” is not meaningful.”
The question: “How many hours will this take (and the cost in dollars, or Euros)?” Now, THAT’S consequential!
There are actually too many variables to answer this question without working on the person yourself, and even then, what ever answer one gives has more to do with what you personally believe you can do, not what others are capable of doing.
Some would even think the previous poster was saying that removing 30 hairs per minute in blend was an average speed. (one hair in 2 seconds, seems to say 30 hairs per minute to some people’s math. that would also be about 1800 hairs per hour, which would clear the average beard in less than 5 hours on the First Clearance and a Final Clearance time of much less than 50 hours)
Of course, that misunderstanding would not be what the poster was attempting to convey… at least I hope it was not…
Absolutely! The only thing that matters is what the individual electrologist tells you about her strategy and her “end game.”
In “Strategy” I spell this out. We will never get “Standards of Practice” and that’s probably a good thing (it won’t happen anyway). However, it’s all about “what your electrologist can do,” and not being compared to anyone else.
Overall: Don’t be a “bean counter!” That’s my point (other than the one on my head).
Blend can vary HUGELY on timing. When I had blend on my face by a semi pro they were averaging 7-14 seconds treatment time per hair! It takes ME 20 or so, but mostly because I am making sure those hairs are DEAD the first time !
Michael is right, what is the average for the job in HOURS???
And then you have to consider growth cycles. Many of those hairs wont be visible for months after you started.
Time wise, if you are putting enough hours in, it will still take over a year to finish the job just because some of the hairs might not be treatable until then. If the question you are asking is how much MONEY it will cost to complete the treatment, this is something only your practitioner can answer. If I had to pay for my treatments, I would be averaging 20000 or more on my face paying by the hour.
Seana
Clarification on the 2-second blend.
The original poster stated that he had a “very high pain tolerance.” In this case, a blend operator might be able to do a high 2-second blend. As Seana properly points out, timing depends on many factors; but mainly pain tolerance.
I’m working on a Santa Barbara Fireman, at the moment, who can take the blend at 2-second levels (without local anesthetic). Not having to stop for frequent “fill-ups” is getting his back hair removed in record time. (I would estimate a 25% increase in actual “treatment time.”)
So far we have done 15.5 hours and I’m about 75% done. I’m guessing only ±25 hours for the first clearance. I’m sort of amazed! However, we still have those horrible sections along the “lats,” and I don’t know if he can take it (my guess is “no”) … we shall see.
If he allows, I will post his photos … very nice fellow, by the way. One of Santa Barbara’s “finest!”
Michael, how many hours to you estimate to do this females face?
Oh my gosh Dee Dee,
I’m surprised that one of my actual clients did a video of herself! Brave girl!
So far I’ve done her underarms and bikini area, but I haven’t started on her face yet. She’s difficult to work on and, frankly, a bit of a “bitch” too.
But I have a good supply of biscuits and that seems to keep her happy. I don’t think Dr. Chapple did a very good job on her facelift either … the neck area (if you look closely) still has too many wrinkles. But then, she DID spend a lot of time running around in the sun and chasing sea gulls at the beach.
She’s an amazing girl! One of my favorites too! WOOF!
ah but did you see it when she looked up Dee? SKIN ABNOMALITIES!Michael wouldnt take the case unless it w cleared by a dermatologist first! That is if he would even take a female face.
Seana
Oh yes Seana … (I hope all of you don’t mind the chit chat … but it IS fun, and a diversion too?)
Yesterday I had a beautiful young woman come in for a consultation (a few chin hairs). She had, maybe, three hairs showing (under the skin, of course, from tweezing). I told her she’s going to have to stop tweezing and only shave … so all the hairs will grow in and I can zap them.
She was HORRIFIED! There was NO convincing her that shaving didn’t CAUSE more hair growth … because “that’s why men have beards!” She said she’d never shave … period.
She didn’t like my reality check that this “small” job was going to take a year or so of many (endless?) short treatments. Oh yeah, and she was 45-minutes late for the free consultation too.
(Even if I could get her to shave, about half of her appointments would be useless because the hairs would be shaved too close!)
So far, her case is only at the “nuisance stage.” She’s not going to take this seriously.
I’ve learned that these “tiny” cases are WAY too much of a hassle for an old “curmudgeon” like myself. If a woman has a serious case … oh YES, we will get this done in record time. However, a case like this young woman will go on into infinity, and sort of drive me nuts me the whole time. (And, I’m sick of getting my toupee off the ceiling!)
I liked her a lot: fun, happy, athletic and full of life! I referred her to Karen Stathis … my excellent colleague in Santa Barbara! Karen’s the “best of the best!” (But not on Hairtell. Not “all the greats” are on Hairtell!)
sorry to throw a wrench in the fun repartee, I’m not sure what the “breaking down” nonsense you refer to is, but I’d like to avoid that. Do electrologists claim that the follicles break down and the hair becomes harder to treat?
Trying to get calmer again: to my understanding it sometimes seems to happen that electrologists produce false positives - hairs which release perfectly but to a large degree regrow. A while ago Michael pointed out an experience of himself on early anagen hairs here in this forum. Earlier in my career i had a few cases where there must have ocurred false positives as well (notably also on early anagen hairs) - but luckily this has improved drastically.
And if You consider that some electrologists typically need 250-400 hours for a man’s beard, it is simple math to estimate the rate of regrowth.
Practitioners do not (as far as I know) claim that follicles break down AND therefore become HARDER to treat.
If anything, they say that it takes multiple treatments to break down a hair. This is done as a way to explain to the client the idea that electrolysis is not a “one and done” thing, and one will need multiple treatments, and that it will LOOK like it is ineffective in the early going, but if done on the proper schedule and with the proper volume of work, will get done in a certain time.
If you have ever tried to explain the truth to someone whose eyes are glazing over and their entire expression just says, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, bla, bla, bla, can we just get to it already?”, then you know why some have been taught and/or choose to say something that is quick to say, and would appear to be true to the untrained, uneducated eye.