Is shaving really that bad??

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I’ve been getting electrolysis done on my face for about a year now and I’m frankly really tired of not being hair free yet so I started shaving my face in between treatments.

I usually see one electrologist but their partner sometimes works on me too.

So I went in last week and I shaved my entire cheek area about a week before I went in. It was already growing back and noticeable. I mentioned to them that I shaved the area and they said I wasn’t going to ever finish if I kept shaving the area :confused: So I asked isn’t it better than waxing and actually pulling the hair out and they said yes but trimming would be better. But that doesn’t make sense to me because trimming and shaving are almost the same. I actually even noticed after I shaved the area that some hairs were just falling out I guess they were already dead. So do they just not know what they’re talking about? Or am I missing something?

#2

Shaving has NO EFFECT on what is going on under the skin. It is exactly like trimming…it is cutting hair off at the surface of the skin…PERIOD

If you shaved your (any area) one week before an electrolysis treatment, then there should be a good length of hair for the electrologist to see.

You haven’t missed anything…and they don’t know what they are talking about - regarding that “shaving” thing.

That said…

If you were having weekly treatments for 6 months and it has gone down to bi-weekly, then you are surely seeing less hair, right? Are you getting cleared every time?

#3

The only thing I can say in their defense is that they may have been referring to the need to distinguish between noticeable hairs that need work, and those that would be seen as (or rather not seen at all :grin:) normal hairs.

When a person shaves the area, it is nearly impossible to know just how long a particular hair would be, had it been left ot its own devices. This situation would cause one to choose between treating every hair in the electrologist’s sight, or guessing and picking off random hairs, not knowing if it were thick enough, or long enough to merit attention. At least that is my guess as to what they mean.

#4

You have got to get cleared everytime. I choose one of the faster forms of computerized electrolysis, PicoFlash thermolysis, (MicroFlash is fine, if the electrologist does not have an Apilus Platinum or Pure), to clear and to keep the area clear. The vast majority of cases are on to once a month clearings by month six. Blend is a great modality, but far too slow for my clients with a lot of hair. Shaving or clipping is the same. Good God.

#5

When you shave, the hair that is in a phase of rest does not grow, because of it her electrologist cannot treat it. Whereas when you cut the hair with scissors, the hair can be eliminated.
There have you that to know that to be able to treat the follicle, it is necessary a bit of hair in the surface of the skin.

#6

Well I’m not sure what to do now. The hairs were actually growing back when I went in so aren’t they in the active growth stage? They didn’t even treat the hairs that were just growing back, that’s why I keep shaving the same area off.

Barbara I do see a reduction but I thought I would be further along at this point. I’ve actually never had a full clearance ever. I know you guys always say get a clearance to being with. But my face has never been fully cleared, she seems to work on certain areas but doesn’t even really touch others. I’ve actually had some two hours treatments as well but there was still hair left after those too. I’m wondering if she’s not working as fast as she could. Her partner sometimes works on me too and they’re noticeably slower than her.

Also her machine looks about 20 years old so it’s not up to date at all. I know that dfahey has pointed out that pico flash is faster but I called a few places already and they said they just do thermolysis. I didn’t think standard thermolysis was much faster than blend. I guess I might have to do some more searching because I want to eventually get my stomach done as well, and that would probably take 10 years with blend because there is a lot of hair.

#7

Hi Canadian Girl:

Shaving is fine, as long as you leave them a few days growth before treatment. How many days depends on how fast the hairs grow back.

Sometimes its not the age of the equipment as much as it is the skill of the practitioner using it. What machine does your electrologist use by the way?

Truthfully good electrologists are harder to find than people
who do laser. It’s more time consuming and tedious for both the
practitioner and the patient. There is more easy money to be made with laser. It also takes a lot longer for electrologists
to hone their skills. If you like your electrologist and the job they are doing then you may want to stick with them even
if they don’t have the very latest model machine.

#8

It is too bad that there are no electrologist’s near you that have an up-to-date epilator, especially if they are skilled! You are going ketchup slow when you don’t have to and it is costing you more money. Yes, skill with a twenty year old epilator will take you somewhere slower. Skill with one of the best advanced epilators will get you finished much faster and for a lower cost.

So sorry for your plight. Are there no other electrologists near you that you can check out? These older mindsets about the electrolysis procedure is what give fuel to the words that electrolysis is a slow, tedious process. When electrologists don’t modernized and re-train, this is what the consumer gets in some locales.

Dee

#9

Hi Dee:

If she is getting blend then wouldn’t that be just about
as slow with an older machine as a newer one?

My electrologist is still using a sequentium 328 abd I will
have to keep working on her to see if they will get a newer machine.

When I was first looking for someone to do work, I called
about a half dozen places, leaving messages and my current
electrologist was the only one who called me back.
I like her, she cares and tries to do the best she can for me.
Her machine isn’t the newest but she is comfortable with it
and it does the job.

I will try one more time to get her to look at a newer machine.
I will try a new tact though by saying that if they got the
newer one then either her or her partner could both
do electrolysis at the same time since they wouldn’t have
scheduling conflicts. It’s worth a try!

#10

People still don’t believe me when I say that so many electrolysis people are hanging up the phone on thousands of dollars worth of business.

As for the machine thing, you might get farther if you looked to set up a deal where you buy the machine, for them, and they give you treatment in accordance with the retail price of the machine. One they get the hang of the new machine, they will want another one, because no one will want to have work done with the old one anymore.

#11

I rarely need to do blend. I use blend for mole hair mainly. I never do large areas with blend because I have the better forms of thermolysis in my bag of tools. Synchro thermolysis is like doing blend on the Apilus Platinum or on the Pure if you add it on. When electrologists update and re-train on these better epilators, clients can get the hair off faster, hands down.

#12

[quote=CanadianGirl]I do see a reduction but I thought I would be further along at this point. I’ve actually never had a full clearance ever. I know you guys always say get a clearance to being with. But my face has never been fully cleared, she seems to work on certain areas but doesn’t even really touch others. I’ve actually had some two hours treatments as well but there was still hair left after those too. I’m wondering if she’s not working as fast as she could. Her partner sometimes works on me too and they’re noticeably slower than her.quote]

I’m working on the same areas and I’ve never had a true full clearance ever either, with blend and with weekly one hour sessions. So I sympathize. Sometimes I just clip my hairs because I get tired of looking at them, too. I hate shaving, so I don’t do that anymore.

#13

If they are not treating hairs that are growing IN (not back - there should be no hairs growing back) then what are they treating?

Hairs that are in the anagen (active) stage…are growing. Once you have had a spot cleared (chin for example) any hairs seen after that are new and should be treated at the next appointment.

I’m curious. What kind of hair are you having treated? Is it coarse as in beard-like? Is it fine as in wispy or fuzzy? Is it somewhere in between?

#14

Well I called a couple more electrologists over the weekend and both of them said they do blend as well. It seems to be the popular method in my area. One lady was asking me questions and said she could do other forms as well. I’m going for a consult to try her out. But one thing she said to me was that it didn’t matter what method you used it depended on the skill of the person doing it. I’m not sure if that’s completely true or not from what I’ve been reading on here. Do you think it would make any difference in speed if I switch from one blend electrologist to another? Well I’ve to see what she uses on me for sure first.

Barbara she does a few of the hairs growing back in but doesn’t focus on them. She usually does the ones that are already thinned out. The ones that she already treated but still grew back but thinner, but I don’t even shave those. The hair isn’t like a mans beard. When I first started they were coarser but have gotten better. It’s definitely not peach fuzz though. The hair is black so it’s somewhere in between but it’s all over.