is this a warning sign?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hey guys,

I had a first session with a new electrologist today–she uses a top-of-the-line machine and while the zapping hurt a bit at times, I felt no plucking whatsoever and always saw the bulb come out with the hair. She also worked fast and was very pleasant.

So here’s my question. At one point, she said that every follicle will need to be zapped somewhere between 5 and 25 times for it to stop producing hair! She said in the meantime it would produce “finer, lighter” hairs. I asked her several questions about this and it was clear that she was adamant about it… From what I’ve learned here, this doesn’t sound correct, but if everything else seems good, should I ignore it? Why might she have said that? Does it mean her treatment wasn’t actually as good as I thought? (She did say that treatment time should be 1-2 years, which is what I’ve heard a lot of people say here, too.)

In case it’s important, the area being treated is my thighs.

Thanks in advance for your input!

#2

Good grief! … Holy cow! … Madonna mia! You’re kidding, right?

[Each follicle must be] “zapped somewhere between 5 and 25 times?” WOW! Is that specific or what? Five times vs. TWENTY-FIVE times? That’s a 5-fold increase. Gotta love this accuracy. Yeah, I’m impressed.

Okay, so let’s do the math on this, knowing what we know about hair (not supposition) and how long it takes a pre-treated hair to re-grow.

How long? A minimum of 3 months!*

Therefore, using the electrologist’s own scandalous statement of “25-times,” that would give you a minimum of 6.25 years to complete the project. If your hairs regrow in, say, 4-months, that would increase your total duration of treatment to a whopping 8.3 YEARS!

And, what does “1 - 2 years” mean anyway? 20 hours, 200 hours, 2,000 hours? Why not give you an estimate in projected TTT “total treatment time in actual TREATMENT HOURS!” You are paying for HOURS … not “years.”

And she was “adamant about it” too?

Ignorant and stubborn is not a very nice combination. Sometimes I really hate this “profession.”

*Um, well, not if she’s giving you “instant regrowth” which is maybe what she’s counting?

#3

Softening the tone a bit.

Look, your electrologist may just be too lazy to go into the detail of why it will take you a year or so to complete the project? She could discuss your previous hair removal techniques and shedding cycles.

She could do this, but clients NEVER seem to get it … I mean almost never. So, giving her a break, she just might think … “the hell with it, I’ll just say it takes 25-times to kill the follicle.”

Actually, although I have never done this, I do understand her motivation.

#4

No, an individual hair follicle does not need to be treated 5 to 25 times. If I am clearing an area every 4- 6 weeks after the first, full clearance is obtained, then I tell the client that we need to visit that same are anywhere from 8 to 15 times over the next 9 - 18 months as new hairs cycles in. Most hair follicles can be treated once and they are done for good.

Most people like that kind of strategy for their face because they can’t leave the hair grow untouched and untamed. For body areas, we could clear and wait for three or four months before we did another clearance.

#5

I have heard similar explanations many times and thinking about it, I was taught similar too, which is very controversial, because how would we then explain the statement that coagulating the lower 2/3 of the follicle and cauterising the papilla results in permanent disabling of the follicle.
But in school we were not taught much about the hair growth cycles and how they vary on different parts of the body and and how to create a treatment plan to COMPLETE AN AREA. We were taught how to pass the exam - correct insertion, sufficient treatment, allow healing times between treatments, answer the list of questions the examiner will most likely ask correctly. So I can see how the superficial explanation of “an area needs to be treated a number of times” can turn into " a follicle needs to be treated a number of times". I don’t think it always means that the tech is not doing a good job, especially if she finishes an area in an year or two. She probably just hasn’t thought about it much and looked for further info or come across this website or Michael’s books to know better. If she goes the extra mile and educate herself about that she will do an even better job. So maybe share this website with her gently and see what happens.
I was very fortunate to find it very early on and I can’t express my appreciation enough to all people sharing - professionals and clients, that has taught me more about electrolysis than school ever did.