I think I have only ever had one Unibrow case that took me an hour or more to get to First Clearance, and that one had as many hairs as a thick Italian mustache, hairs thick as tree trunks, and I had to work from behind the client with my probe pointing at his feet because of the angles of insertion. As an out of town case, I knew that I may only have this one shot at working on this person, so I just told him that we were going in hell bent to totally clear out the area in one pass, and as such, it would be red, angry and possibly swell. He said, “Go for it!”
When we were done, (we did lots of other work that day) he became concerned about the amount of swelling in the eyebrow area. It had gotten as hard and swollen as the ball of the chin usually does on a first clearance for a man. I explained to him, that is why most people would not go so hard and fast on his case, but that it would be worth it in the morning. I told him to do his after care of tea tree oil and aloe vera and let it heal.
Over the next few days, the client freaked out. He had not kept up his recommended after care, had been scratching the area (because it was itchy, what with him NOT following the aftercare - aloe vera eases itchiness away) and he was starting to develop pustules and scabs in the area (mostly from his constant touching and scratching of the area). Tea tree oil overnight usually eliminates or reduces pustules and scabbing during the 72 hour post treatment window.
After many whiny frantic long distance phone calls the area resolved due to the tenacity of a moderately well functioning immune system, and the client calmed down. He even saw fit to book another trip to see me. In our subsequent visits, I never again needed so much time to work that area. A half hour became fifteen minutes, became five, became none.
Now if I had been using standard blend, as set out by the pre-sets on my machine, his version of a unibrow would have taken me two to three hours to do the first time, assuming he could have even withstood that much treatment in that area in that modality. Our subsequent treatments would have reduced but not to half an hour, but first to an hour and a half, and then to an hour, and so on.
Most practitioners don’t want to go too hard in any one area, because they know that many clients don’t listen to what you say about what to expect, how to keep up with post treatment, and even if they do, living it is different from hearing about it.
In this case, the client came back, and I got to prove that everything I said was true, from how the post treatment care makes it heal quicker, and with less visible manifestations, and also that less time, and less treatment sensation (translation - pain) would be involved.
On the other hand, I have other people, who come to me, have a hard case like this, I tell them all the same things, and yet, they freak out over the temporary post treatment stuff from the first 72 hours after treatment, and never call, answer my calls nor emails, nor come back again. I have one such person who, if he has not had any further treatment elsewhere, has a ragged line of demarcation along the neck line, because he freaked out over the swelling and tingling sensation that comes with removing 500 hairs per square inch in one ten hour session from a face, under the jawline, and part of the neck on a dehydrated person who smokes. This is one very large reason some practitioners won’t go hard on some cases. They are afraid of losing the client. I always tell my clients, “The first time is the worst time, and then I have to convince you to come back. It is all downhill from there, and gets easier and easier.”
One of the things that makes talking about electrolysis expectations difficult is that there are simply too many variables to say what anyone should expect from the combination of their hair problem, and their practitioner.
All the map services tell me that I should be able to drive from Buffalo to Manhattan in 6.5 hours. Personally, I have never come close to this, other than the one time I did the trip such that I arrived at 3am. During non vampire hours, it has always been 8 to 10 hours due to the traffic that starts to pick up around Palisades Park.
Funnier still are my trips to Harrisburg PA. It is supposed to take 6 to 6.5 hours, but the first time I went, it took me 14 hours… due to the blizzard I was foolishly driving through. The second time I went, it took me 12 hours… due to the “hundred year flooding event” that made maps useless, as you had no way of knowing what roads were passable, and which ones were under water.
So the moral of our story is, no one can tell you what the combination of your hair problem, plus your practitioner, factoring in your practitioner’s ideas about what she or he may be willing to do on you will result in, beforehand. Anything else is the equivalent of Armchair Quarterbacking. It is easy to say what you would have done in the same situation, but while I might take Joe Montana’s, or Peton Manning’s armchair quarterbacking more seriously than others, it would still be lacking the vision of seeing and feeling what that person was presented with from HIS point of view. Remember, we all watch football with a view from above. TV rarely gives you a view from the quarterback’s eye level and orientation — why? — because you can’t see what all is happening from that vantage point, that’s why!
(those not playing the game see that one guy all alone in the end-zone waving his arms in the air, but unfortunately, he is on the right hand corner of the endzone, and unless his quarterback is left handed, he is not likely to be seen or thrown to.)
Yes, myself. The second part would certainly be acquired by marriage “Teruel”.