James, Dee, others -- Any recommended electrologists in LA?

So, my current electrologist is on vacation and I want to take the opportunity to try someone else since I really need a session before she’s back.

Wondering if anyone has heard of recommended ones in Los Angeles? I’ve tried Sabrena Smith, Tina Reynolds, and Malonie Banen thus far.

Thanks!

Sorry, lagirl, I can’t help out here. Maybe James will see your post and personally know of someone. I have a vague thought of a past poster that highly recommended someone, but will need to do a search and see if I can find that information when I get a chance.

Dee

Okay, I found it. Two frequent posters on hairtell, redhead and barrester used this electrologist and were very pleased. I found this in the electrologist referral section on hairtell. You can search for redhead and baressters posts if you want more information.

Dee

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Andrea

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Loc: Los Angeles
8 Photos Los Angeles: Mary’s Body AEsthetica & Med Spa
#24918 - 09/08/05 10:05 PM Edit Reply Quote Quick Reply

Mary’s Body AEsthetica & Med Spa
8344 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048
323-651-0505
fax: 323-651-0202
maryyamaki@aol.com
www.maryyamaki.com

Since 1981 Mary Yamaki has been working within the Transgendered Community not only as a professional, but also as an advocate and compassionate friend. Her lifetime mission, “To rid unwanted hair from the face of the earth,” is also her great motivating passion. Mary uses all available methods of electrolysis, blend; 32 multiple needle (two 16 multiple needle machines Mary created); galvanic, and flash thermolysis. Being a Registered Nurse, Mary uses a variety of local anesthetics (creams and lidocaine injections) in order to have longer, more comfortable electrolysis sessions in her studio.

Mary’s experience, speed, and efficacy within the Trans and Electrolysis Communities are well documented and unparalleled. Mary has developed a technique she calls the “Simultaneous Technique.” This technique allows Mary to hold the probe with her right hand, and work both the treated hair (where the probe is being used) and the previously treated hair at the same time. This means Mary is actually treating two to three hairs at the exact same time which saves time, money, and creates an efficiency - that cannot be duplicated - by other electrologists within the TransCommunity.

As an Electrolysis Instructor, Teacher, and Mentor, Mary’s work has become so renowned, that Gentronics, (one of the leading electrolysis machine manufactures) regularly video her techniques, for training and education, now being used throughout electrolysis schools both in the United States and Europe.|

Since 1996, Mary has been very involved with Laser Hair Removal. At the age of 48, Mary decided to attend college, and obtain her Nursing License (CA636622) in order to comply with the latest California State Laws. These laws state - an operator of Lasers, for Hair Removal must “at a minimum” be a Registered Nurse, and a Certified Laser Technician, which Mary holds a variety of Licenses. Mary has been trained to work with various laser machines due - only - to serve the Transgendered Community for an alternative hair removal method. Whether Electrolysis or Laser Mary believes in all the choices to be offered at her salon.

Mary’s personal involvement with people who are Transgendered, and the Transgendered Community, at large, stems from her own personal struggle to find her own identity in the United States. Raised in Japan, in an ultraconservative family, Mary left Japan, at the age of 18, to find a new home and life in Los Angeles. Growing up in the Far East Mary always felt like she was in the wrong place and trapped in the wrong culture. Mary has personally witnessed the transition of many of her TS friends, and it is her personal pleasure to be a part of the process.

Mary’s practice priority is to help you to find the most economical, comfortable, fast, and effective way to rid - unwanted - hairs from the face, body or genitals, for SRS, using the method most appropriate for each individual client.

Thanks for your input and help. Just called this place and they say they only use Blend (although the website mentions blend, thermolysis, and 32-needle) and the lady went on about how Thermolysis scars and causes poke marks and burns, that’s why they don’t use it; and how that’s what they use on the East Coast etc…haha Sounds a bit weird to me. Their prices are a bit more expensive than what I’m paying now, at $40 for half hour and $65 for an hour. I’m paying $55/hr, $35 for half hour right now with Sabrena Smith, although the hour often ends up being only 45 mins of actual treatment or so there. What’s the norm for that by the way? How long do you expect to treat non-stop during that hour minus the setup etc in actuality?

The other place I scheduled an appt with is Robin R Harris in West LA for tomorrow. I’m going to try her for half an hour. All the others I’ve found (about 5-6) didn’t take credit cards, and I prefer to do that. So we’ll see how it goes.

I went with #2 because I got a bit turned off by the bashing of thermolysis by the Mary’s although it’s a bit farther from me.

I don’t have time, and I don’t know how close she is, but you could try:
Lisa Stephens, CPE
9915 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
PHONE 916-224-4247

Patsy Kirby,in Bogeda Bay zip code 94923 and phone number 707-875-9135 and one other woman come to mind, but I have her face in my mind, and will have to connect the name to that face to be able to give you her name.

talk to you soon:

James

That is such bull about thermolysis. There is a difference between west coast electrologists and east coast electrologists, so I have been told. West coast seem to be partial to blend and east coast seems to be partial to thermolysis. I like both <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> because I’m located in fly over country!

Great research, lagirl. Good to know this stuff and share with others.

Sounds like she uses a Gentronics, same brand I have as a backup epilator. It can do all the modalities, which is neat.

As far as time of treatment, some electrologists set the timer as soon as they shake your hand to the time they wave goodbye. My preference is to set the timer after I’m gloved and ready to actually treat hair, so one gets a full sixty minutes of electrolysis. I’m not obsessive about watching the timer,unless I’m treating an upper lip, otherwise, I usually give clients five minutes or so more time anyway.

That credit card info is interesting,too.

Thanks for all the info and please let us know how tomorrow goes.

Dee

Thanks James. Both of those are northern California #'s I believe, which is pretty far (5-6 hrs). I’ll let everyone know how the appt with Robin goes. Just to provide more info, Sabrena and Tina whom I’ve tried before both use the new Apilus machine, which does all modalities. Tina used blend on me, and Sabrena currently uses microflash on me. They both accept credit cards. Malanie uses a pretty old blend only machine and her main thing is waxing and other facial treatments I think. I only went to her once. She only accepts cash and checks.

Hey LA Girl,

I used to use Sabrina Smith, and I got frustrated because she smokes in the room where we work, takes breaks on the clock, and was always endind our sessions short. I felt jipped.

Then I found Tina Reynolds and her business Zap A Hair. Tina is awesome!! She’s punctual, professional, clean, doesn’t smoke in her office, etc.

She’s a bit more expensive than Sabrina Smith, but if you buy a package in advance, she can get pretty close to matching Sabrina’s price.

Here’s her info:

1328 Westwood Boulevard
Suite 22
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 474-4787

website: www.zapahair.com
e-mail: tina@zapahair.com

Office Hours:
7 days a week, by appointment (including evening hours)

Hope that helps - she’s amazing!

thanks. i’ve tried her before as well. she’s a bit slower than sabrena and a bit farther away from me, that’s why i switched. how would you compare the results that you’ve seen? how long did you see both for?

by the way, had an appt with Robin in Westwood as well yesterday. she was also slower than Sabrena, but very precise in terms of removing all the hairs that were bothering me on the eyebrows. in half hour, we only did the eyebrows, and she’s also more expensive, while with sabrena i get eyebrows and both underarms done in that time. I would definitely recommend her too. Same price as Tina, so a bit more than Sabrena. She works out of a dermatologists’ office, so it’s very clean and professional. but yes, same thing happens with me. Sabrena cuts my time short too…

BTW, Even though Robin in Westwood may be a little slower than some others, her work is of extremely good quality. I have had several areas cleared by her with very little regrowth. She is also extremely good at clearing areas with curved and distorted follicles and very well versed in dealing with problem skins. As she works out of a dermatologists office, extremely sensitive clients may recieve local anesthesia from one of the dermatologists in the dermatology staff.

One note of intertest about Robin is that she also teaches electrology (part time) at the American Institute of Education in Long Beach.

You might not get as much clearance with her as with some others per treatment, but at least you can have confidence that she will not overwork or injure an area. If you have skin problems she would be an excellent choice.

Robin is also very good at clearing the required areas prior to SRS, having done many of these with excellent results.

Joanne

Yes, I was happy with Robin’s work. The areas look clear and great. I do know she is an electrolysis instructor as well. I don’t need any numbing creams, so that’s not a concern. The location is something that’s a bit of an issue since I can’t do evening appts (too late after work) in westwood most of the time. So, we’ll see. I think I’ll try going back to Tina. She used blend on me, so I’m not really sure how fast she is at microflash. Btw, all 3 use the Apilus machine. I think I’ll ask her to use microflash if I do go back.

It would be great if someone can provide any feedback on results with Tina. Out of the three, she has the least experience, about 2 yrs. The others are at 13-14 yrs. It’s hard for me to judge how my results with her were since she used blend on me, while Sabrena used microflash, plus I switched about half way through (so not sure if the results were due to the new electrologist or because it was time to start seeing no regrowth).

Tina may have sped up since you last used her. And considering the breaks and the cutting short of Sabrena Smith, you really are getting more time for your money with Tina. Plus she doesn’t smoke while working on you!

I’ve been seeing Tina for 6 months now and have GREAT results. Of course, I go 2 hours a week. I saw Sabrena for about a year.

I have had significant progress under both, especially under Tina. My entire back/shoulders are almost permanently clear now.

thanks for sharing. it’s hard for me to judge, especially since Tina only used blend on me. I’m trying to set up an hour with her this week for a microflash session. Will report on how it goes. Does she use microflash on you?

Sabrena did cut the time short with me just like you, but she’s actually never smoked in my presence, so I can’t relate to that. haha

Tina uses Blend on the areas I don’t want getting too red (ie above the collar), and Flash-- or a form of it, i get them confused (therma something maybe??)-- on the rest.

I believe she’s equipped to do numerous methods, depending on what you prefer.

Hope that helps.

I’ve been going to Tina for over a year now and am still extremely happy with the results. As you know, lagirl, I was the one who originally sent you to her. She does do flash on me. I tend to get little scabs after an appointment, but they go away after a week and leave no permanent marks. What I like about Tina especially is that she’s very, very thorough. She’s as obsessed about getting every last hair as much as I am. Also, she doesn’t start the clock until she starts to work. She has even given me a little extra time occasionally if there’s something she’s trying to finish. I just think she’s terrific.

Please tell me you are joking about the smoking while working on you. That’s gross!

thanks hairlessinla. have you restarted your treatments again? how have your results been? you must have been seeing her for a while now to judge clearance?

i made an appt with Tina for this Saturday for an hour. Will let everyone know how it goes. The reason I originally switched was only due to location. Sabrena is a lot closer to me. But considering the circumstances, I’m willing to go back to Tina. I wasn’t able to find anyone who took credit cards in my immediate area although there are about 5-6 experienced electrologists to choose from. So driving 15-20 mins instead of 5-10 it is <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hey laserhater,speaking of gross, one of my clients came to me because she was grossed out about her electrologist smoking while she was treating her. But that’s not the end of the story. While she, the client, was laying on the woman’s dining room table having a treatment (home-based office) a CAT JUMPED UP ON HER ABDOMEN! This absolutely knocks me down, too, to hear that this stuff really happens. But,in the end, my client and I had a really good laugh because as she was being treated by me on a professional table, in a real office, my cell phone started to ring. My ringtone was set as a meowing cat and she just about fell off the table thinking there was a cat in the room.

Dee

I have started my treatments again… I never actually stopped, but have been taking longer breaks in between. Improvement is quite apparent by the amount of time it took for her to finish. There is so much less in the original area (bikini… or whatever you would call that area on a man), that she got to areas this time that there was never time for before. She nearly cleared my back in this one session. There are only scattered hairs there, as my laser treatments on my back were very successful. She also cleared my upper chest and shoulders, although I should mention that I always schedule 2 1/2 hours. Still, this was the first time that there was enough time to get to all those other areas. (She has worked on my upper chest and shoulders before, but never my back).

By the way, I looked at the machine while she was working and it said “thermolysis”. There were also two numbers, but I didn’t ask what they mean. I guess they are pulse rate and intensity, or something like that. I think the numbers were 15 and 63, with 15 on the top and 63 on the bottom. I may be remembering these incorrectly, but I think that’s what it said.

Thanks for the information. I had a 45 min session today. She used Microflash or Thermolysis. Not sure. She uses the Apilus machine which is what the other 2 I tried use too. I believe it allows for all methods, including microflash. I decided to stick with Tina. She’s a great person too, and we always have a good time chatting. I just bought a 10 hr package, which comes out to $55/hr.