I think I just made a BIG mistake ( please help )

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#1

I just got the One touch and was eager to try.

So I read the instructions without fully understanding them and sat at my desk with my hands ready to try.

After inserting the probe I felt the “tingling” I should have felt… left it for 15 seconds ( Only at power 1 ) Then tried to remove the hair.

It didn’t come out easily but I decided to yank it out anyway :frowning:

Anyway after only 3 mins of trying I stopped because I got 2 small redish lumps from where I had try to remove the hair.

I’m scared now. What if I have cause permanent damage? They don’t feel sore but I’m worried. Should I run them under cold water? Apply lotion or just leave them?

Another thing I don’t understand is the salt solution. I moistened my fingers like it says but should I be actually touching the tip that is inserted in the hair?

I only touched the metal band so this might be why it didn’t work.

Any suggestions?

#2

Nah, you’re fine.

The hand holding the probe is supposed to touch the band and not the needle. Some recommend to not touch the band until the needle is fully inserted.

#3

So is that why my fingers have to be moist? Once my moist fingers touch the metal part then that completes the circuit and electric is released?

And I should try not touch the “touch band” until the hair is inserted to avoid burning the skin around the hair?

The red lumps seem to have gone away so I’m gonna try it again.

Thanks

#4

You have the idea correctly.

The upper layer of the skin is pretty dry, so it typically doesn’t react with the electrical current, so it shouldn’t matter too much whether you are completing the circuit prior to insertion. In fact, sometimes the current is useful for “burning” your way in past obstructions in the follicle for a complete insertion.

#5

Even though I had an idea how hard it would be to do, I could have never have prepared myself for how ACTUALLY hard it is.

Some times just thinking about it seems to much hassle.

I guess I can only practice :roll_eyes:

[ January 15, 2003, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: BlindFaith ]

#6

When I started with an OneTouch needle it took me one hour to do just two insertions. The needles come in two-packs and I found out that the spring was very soft in the one I was using. With the other of the two it was much easier. I assume that first needle to be defective.

Even with a harder spring it was very hard at the beginning, but experience will make You a master sooner than Yoy ever think is possible. Just hang in there and not give up and You will see for Yourself.

#7

All this and more is why I have said that a pro (who really knows what she or he is doing) is the best option. More hairs per hour, even if you have more time than money. :confused:
If you insist on do-it-yourselfing, please recruit a friend or loved one to learn the insertion process, and invest in at least a circle lamp so that person can see the follicle openings well enough to make proper insertions. The skin you save will be your own.
When insertions are made correctly, and with the correct sized probe/needle there is no need to “push past obstructions” for most people. This is yet another point about self-inflicted-electrology; You don’t have the dexterity to make a proper reverse insertion on most places you want treated. You are also frequently working one handed. Finally, your vision is not best, because you are looking in a mirror, (reversed image) and not looking at a properly enlarged image of something in front of you allowing you to make the insertion without awkward attempts at dexterity that would not be needed in a forward motion. :roll_eyes:

The good news, the thing you are using is so low power that you would have to hold it in for a long, long time to get really serious permanent damage. Don’t get me wrong, you can give yourself permanent damage with this unit. Most people however, don’t hold it in long enough. The most likely thing a person using this system will do is a bad insertion, coupled with too little time in the follicle, and then pluck the half cooked hair out, for a service not much better than simple plucking alone. All this and it takes longer than anything else one could have done to remove the hair. :angry:

Get a friend to help you. Both of you read electrolysis books to learn what you need to know about doing this, and you will both get better treatment for your trouble.

[ January 15, 2003, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: James W. Walker VII, CPE ]

#8

HUGE confirmation from me on the inadvisability of doing it on yourself. I have good manual dexterity, good vision, am using a 5 diopter magnifying lamp, and am doing all this on a partner. It is still quite difficult. There is no way I would attempt this on myself.

Granted, these are coarse bikini line hairs that are laying nearly flat to the skin, but I’m hard pressed to describe it as anything other than a real bitch.

I’ve found that the insertions are essentially painless when done correctly, but plenty of times it hurts almost immediately, and plenty of times the needle seems to hit an obstruction less than halfway down.

James, since you mentioned obstructions: When the needle stalls on early insertion, is that more incorrect angle, or is it a hair in a suboptimal stage of growth, such as telogen? Bono advises inserting the needle to anagen depth on all hairs, but my victim finds proceeding past this point rather objectionable. Any thoughts on this?

#9

With a little practice, I found the One Touch pretty easy to use. The instructions were certainly inadequate to train oneself sufficiently. But after a while I was amazed that not half the households have one of these. I use a bright desk lamp and reading glasses to see better.

It is certainly too slow for large areas, but if you have only a few hairs, it would be faster to zap these yourself rather than drive down to a pro.

I would never advise to burn the needle for insertions, which is why I recommend to always keep the finger off the band until you have made a proper insertion. You can not feel if you are properly inserting if the hot needle is just burning it’s way through whatever skin you direct it into. Plus you can damage the surface skin more by inserting it hot.

I had the dexterity and vision to have little problems, but for those that don’t, it would be better to go to a pro.

If the hair does not come out easily, then you didn’t get a proper treatment on that hair and you’re just plucking if you yank it anyway. Depending on the depth of the hair, the courseness of the hair, and the moisture in your body, you may need to treat longer (maybe even 60 seconds). If you didn’t get the needle to the root, you will never be successful; so insert precisely, which takes practice.

#10

Yes, when you push past the bottom of the follicle, or through the sides of the follicle, there is a noticeable breach, and a more painful situation is encountered.

Some discomfort is possible from having a probe that is too large for the follicle, but I don’t know that these home units have different sizes available.

Good insertions are the biggest part of a comfortable treatment. Next comes proper treatment energy setting, probe size, moisture content of the skin and current delievery of the machine.

#11

Dear James, regarding insertions past follicle depth:

Mike Bono suggests inserting to anagen depth on all follicles, and comments in his book that he has seldom felt the bottom of a follicle. Do you think that’s attributable to his using sharp or bullet point needles?

I’m using Precision Uniprobe needles, which appear to have a rounded point, at least as far as I could tell under a 40x microscope. I frequently hit a tangible barrier halfway (or less) down, and am starting to think that’s the bottom of the follicle. I’m reluctant to epilate at that depth as it seems it would be way too hot, and might miss the papilla.

I might try sharpening a needle using 600 grit paper. Getting a symmetrical point could be really difficult, though.

Thanks,

Eric

P.S. Incidentally, if anyone’s going to build or modify a One Touch, I would suggest scrapping it entirely and proceeding with pro supplies for needles and stylus. They’re not very expensive and certainly more readily available than the One Touch supplies.

#12

I agree that one is best off getting a pro machine (maybe a used one) and using the plentiful supplies made for these. Ballet probes are made to be super smooth, and have polished blunt tips to make sure that insertions are easy, and that one does feel obstructions.
I can feel the inside of the probe so well most of the time that I can tell you when I encounter the hair’s anchor section, and then secondarily, the bottom of the follicle.

I don’t recommend sharpening probes. You want to feel when they are obstructed. This will keep you from bad insertions. Trust me, you will feel a big difference if you get to use a Ballet Probe. I personally recommend the gold ones. My clients can all tell the difference between a gold and any other. The sensation is much more comfortable with a gold probe. I have substituted insulated, and stainless steel on clients without their knowledge, and they have all asked me, “What are you doing different today?” The can tell the difference.

I would advise that when you get the pro unit, that you use Ballet Gold Probes in the largest size that will comfortably fit in the follicles you are working on. You will probably find that to be a size 4, 5, or 6. The better your magnification system, the larger the probe you can easily fit in, because you are not poking around with only an approximation of the location of the desired entrace.

#13

Are the Ballet needles of some supreeme quality despite they are disposables, better than the reusables Kree or TES Cushman that I has been concidering to buy?

#14

The ballet probes are very well made. They are also single use presterilized, and disposeable. Since I am sure that average person does not own medical grade sterilization units, it is probably best to use disposeables for home use.
The probes are well polished and the ends are well rounded. Both these features aid in good insertion technique. The gold metal and the polished smoothness offers a superior ease at sliding down the shaft. The rounded blunt tip keep risk of punctures very low. You would have to really push to puncture. At lower sized probes, (2, 3, 4) the probe is more likely to bend than to puncture.

#15

Sterilizing will not be a problem for personal use and if I need to buy more than one kind of needles I prefer smaller (cheaper) packages than 50 pcs.

“The probes are well polished and the ends are
well rounded. Both these features aid in good
insertion technique.”

Does that not apply to Kree or T.E.S. own brand? Are there any good reusables You can recommend?

Can I easily do all work (beard removal) needed with a single kind, f.ex. a .003 medium lenght?

#16

Sterilization is always a problem.
Even though you are only using it on yourself, you can still be pushing bacteria into your body after letting the probe sit around with all the bodily fluids decaying and bacteria multiplying in between treatments.

Permanent probes can do the job just find, but there is an unmistakeable difference in both ease of insertion and sensation of treatment between most other probes and Ballet Gold disposeables.

I would also say that male beards are best removed by size 6 Ballet Golds, and most Female hair takes a 4 or 5 with good vision. If the vision equipment is not good enough to allow the use of those large sizes, a size 3 will have to do.
As for cost of probes, you can always purchase a blister pack of 10 probes from a school, or a local electrologist. Probes are not controled substances :grin:

#17

A slight misunderstanding, a sterile needle is of cource an imperative, but for personal use a bottle of isoprophyl alcohol will do just fine. There is no need for certified medical sterilization equipment.

I have got contradictionary advices about what size to use, one is telling a thick needle is right for coarse beard, some other that a .002 is the best. Some more that has an oppinion, please? The only that I am certain about is that a OneTouch .005 needle is a bl**dy h*ll to insert on the thin ones.

Where I live it appears to be impossible buying needles unless becoming a certified practiotioner. Therefore a mail order seems to be the best option.

#18

Anybody out there that knows about an international mail order reseller of needles inside the European Union?

#19

The thickest probes give the most treatment with the least current because they give more surface contact and the follicle has less space to fill with lye in order to produce results. On the other hand, smaller probes are easier to insert, and feel sharper and more painful due to the “Point Effect” of electricity.
Now you know that anything that feels worse must be working better don’t you? That’s why skin irritants are put into some skin creams so that people will think they work better than the plain old active ingredient alone.

If effectiveness is your goal, the largest probe that you can fit in the follicle is the way to go. If you want to feel the most pain, go with the smallest probe that you can fit in the follicle you won’t even have to turn it up. It will just hurt more. On the other hand, you can turn it up with a larger probe and still feel less sensation.

I will look into the british connection for probe sales and get back to you all… You got a guy working on the weekends :wink:

#20

It’s time for me to place my order, will a box of Ballet Gold 0.003 be the best buy? I.e. is that size appropriate for all kind of beard growth and easy to insert even on thin hairs?