Well, I have been reading these post for 6 months and now I think it is time to post comments of my own. I am sure they will be of use to someone.
I started electrolysis on my face 4 months ago. Since I had previously had work done over 20 years ago with little results I thought I would give it another try. I searched around and found someone that came highly recommended. She said that she did blend method. I went once a week for 1 hour and thought that I might be noticing a difference. But then I went away for 2 weeks and could not believe the hair that had grown in. Also, I feel a tweezing sensation with each hair being removed and from reading these posts I realized that this just wasn’t a good sign. After each visit it looked like I had had nothing done. The hair was gone but it had just been tweezed out. The redness went away in 1 hour. What really got me thinking to change electrolygist was the fact that she was beginning to talk too much. She was spending more time talking than actually doing the job. I phoned the Canadian Association of Electrologist and found a member in my area. Actually she is 1 hour away.
I went to her last Monday. She was so professional. She explained all three methods to me and said she does blend. The experience was totally different. She held the needle in for at least 3-4 seconds in each follicle. I felt no tweezing whatsoever. The hairs just came right out. It took longer for each hair than before. Before I would immediately hear a beep then she would be plucking the hair out. I wish I had figured this out earlier but we live and learn and since I had nothing to compare it to I thought I was getting the best bang for my buck.
By writitng this I want people who are thinking about electrolysis or having it done to really question how experienced the person doing it is. After all we all want the best and quickest results and we don’t want to waste money doing it. When they say that they are doing blend, really find out what blend feels like as opposed to the other two. They are totally different.
I did get a little redness after the treatment. Some little redmarks but when I phoned her to book the next appointment she asked how my face reacted and she said she would turn it down a little next time. She turned it down on my upper lip and there is no reaction there.
I am sorry for such a long post but I hope that I have helped someone.
Hi Olivia:
Canadian eh? What part of Canada? I love Canada!
I think that before they were using thermolysis on you and now they are doing blend. Thermolysis can be effective if done right. Blend means they can do less hairs per session because each insertion takes longer.
If someone does thermolysis wrong and plucks, that is a waste of time. Some hairs get accidently plucked too.
I am glad you found something which works for you though.
It does give you some hope.
Alicia
Hi Alicia,
I am from BC.
Yes, she was doing Thermolysis. Badly, I might add. That is what is soooo frustrating. She has been doing it for 20 years. I know it would have eventually worked but taken a long time. I am so happy to have found someone who I know is going to make a big difference.
I would like to add that when I had treatments 24 years ago it was also Thermolysis. I spent many thousands of dollars. I had my tummy and bikini and thighs done. I saw in the thighs and bikini areas only a noticeable difference. However the tummy worked well. I only have a few stray hairs that I am now having done. It was extremely hairy before.
After I get a handle on my face I will start on the Bikini area.
Jane
Hi Olivia:
I am from Ontario, but BC is very beautiful as the licence plates say.
It is too bad your electrolygist was not very good. That would turn a lot of people off it all together.
I know that what my lady does is working since I now have much less facial hair. But there were times when it got very frustrating. I started on laser for 9-10 sessions, but it was only partially successful. Now I have had 90- hours of electro with thermolysis on top of that. But until I got to a certain stage on the electrolysis it just seemed like a losing battle.
I am glad you found someone you like though. I haven’t tried blend, but I have heard some people who swear by it.
My woman uses a Silhouet Tone machine which can do blend.
It is good to have someone you can relate to. I talk a lot with my electrolygist while she works. It makes the time pass, and I know their job can be tedious with all the concentration required.
Alicia
Hi, just thought I would update on my progress, I tried the new electrologist (doing blend) once more. After one week i still had scabs. This concerned me. I mean the other electrologist I had been going to for 4 months was just plucking the hairs out and then now I don’t feel the hairs being tweezed out but am now left with scabs. So I am waiting another week and I have found another electrologist closer to home. She is only 1/2 hour away. I have been going crazy trying not to pick the hairs on my face. I have inadvertently plucked many out (when I am reading or driving) does anyone else do this? Pluck the hair out but don’t realize you are doing it? Well now I have an appointment next Tuesday. I hope this electrologist is the one that i can feel good about and be able to stick with.
Scabs are not necessarily a bad sign. Fino Gior, a top electrologist who posts here and is the author of electrolysis textbook, says in this post:
http://www.hairtell.com/ubbthreads/showf…h=true#Post2103
scabbing is normal. I would be more concerned if there was no scabbing. Please click to: electrolysisinformation.com and it will answer all your questions.
The real test of a good electrologist is when you give them feedback (like “I had scabs for a week and I don’t want that reaction anymore”) and you see if they’re able to adjust their technique. I hope the new one works out better for you, and that you’re able to work together to finally get what you need. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Hello,
Reading your posts regarding spots has made me wary. I used to get red spots but they seem to have disappeared and now I get nothing after treatments. Should I be concerned? I thought that my skin had just adjusted to the treatment. I wouldn’t want to be going through all this expense and pain for nothing.
One doesn’t need to leave a scorched scabby area to do effective work. If your hair is going away, then you are fine.
I think that red spots are probably normal and some scabbing does occur but every spot treated was scabbing. Not on the lip because she had said she turned it down. When she inserted the needle I heard like sizzling sounds and could smell it (like burned hair). The scabs have now healed but I can see little white marks underneath the skin. I hope these will go away. But I am still confused. If the redness goes away shortly after treatment (say 2 hours) then is nothing happening? I can’t wait until Tuesday to try the new electrologist!!!
Sizzling sounds and the smell of burnt hair are NOT desirable. The intensity is too high and should have been adjusted after it happened to the first hair.
Red spots and scabbing will heal and fade, but they needn’t happen in the first place. Always give your electrologist feedback so they can correct levels. It really can be the norm to have your face looking like nothing happened within minutes to a couple hours after treatment. YES, it is possible to treat a hair follicle so it is permanently deactivated without these unsightly side effects. I know that this is a fact because I do a lot of facial work and persistent red spots and scabs are never a complaint I hear about or see. The hair is cleared and maintained in a timely manner, too. Why? It’s not because I’m some hot shot, it all has to do with my props: quality epilator, quality light source and quality magnification, along with the careful reading and customizing levels for a clients particular skin. No one needs to suffer through scabs and red spots. They just need a skillful practitioner with good equipment.
Dee
hi, i hear sizzling sounds too sometimes during my treatment like about 3-4 times during my 30-40 minute treatment…so that indicates that the setting is too high??
Yes, however 3 or 4 times in 30 minute time span doesn’t fall into the persistent catagory. If your electrologist hears this, too, then she/he is probably making adjustments, I would hope.
It is worthy of note that proper hydration is an issue here. Not saying that this is the problem in your case, but if a client is even partially dehydrated, the skin is uneven in its water content. If the electrologist creates a setting based on the conditions in a follicle that is dehydrated, when the probe comes to a more hydrated follicle, a blow out can occur. At lease people with “combination skin” have known zones where one expects there to be differences. A partially dehydrated person has no visible clues to where the skin has unevenly distributed its water resources.
The extent of the difference from one follicle to another increases with the severity of the dehydration.
Just one more reason electrologists nag everyone to just get their proper water, and electrolyte intake each and every day.
I had forgotten about hydrating. I knew this but thank you for reminding me. I will drink lots of water now until monday night. That is when I have my first appointment with the new electrologist. And thank you for all the comments from you guys.
On tuesday I had my treatment with my new electrologist. I was extrememly happy with the outcome. I had booked a 1 hour appointment and she went 1 and 1/2 hours and only charged me for 1. The funny thing was is that I had gone to her about 5 years ago and I had to quit going. I am so glad I found her again. Her new business was now in her home which was nicely set up. She cleared all the dark hairs on my face in that treatment time. I hardly felt one hair being pulled out. She used both types of electrolysis. She used blend on the very thick coarse hairs. After 12 hours I had a few areas that were like raised bumps (like mosquito bites) In those areas I have a few little red marks and most of them have faded since tuesday. It is a little itchy now under the chin but I guess that is the healing part.
Something I did notice is I have almost no hairs left on my cheek bones. I suppose that area reacted very well to the initial 4 months I had with the other electrologist. I think that next time I go (1 hour/week) I will have time left over for the tummy area.
It is so nice to have most of the hair gone on my face for the time being.
Hi Olivia:
It is nice to hear that you are making some progress. It is also good that you hooked up with your old electrolygist and are comfortable with her.
It is good to get rid of the dark ones since they stand out the most, even under the skin.
Try some aftercare on the areas treated and the mosquito bites or red marks will heal quicker.
Good luck!
Alicia
I had my second appointment with the new electrolygist. It went very well. She cleared the area in 45 minutes. She was able to do a lot of detailing. Even the sideburn area. What I like most about her is that I don’t come out of there with stray hairs all over that I just want to pick at. She carefully looks for all the hairs by running her finger back in the opposite direction of the hair. I had the treatment last night and this morning there are just a few red spots and 2 tiny little bumps. Once again she used both blend and thermolysis. I am going to continue to go every week for 1 hour. That way I think by next week I can start on my tummy and then after that on my bikini line.
I also just had blood test to rule out Hormonal problems. Everything came back fine. A little low in estrogen but I think that I have to just chalk my excess hair up to being hereditary.
Make sure they do a saliva test as well. Frequently, although a woman is in the “normal range” she is actually overly sensitive, and so what is normal, actually effects her as if it were abnormal.
James, thank you for this info about the saliva test. I’m going to the endocrinologist next week. Do you have anything else I should keep in mind? Also, do you have experience working on women with hormone problems? My electrologist and I have made a lot of progress since January - if it turns out that I do have an imbalance, would that make the results less permanent?
Thank you so much for all your great advice!
I asked my doctor about the Saliva test. My Doctor is a GP but is very progressive. He believes in vitamin and herb therapy. He sees synthetic hormone replacement as the last resort and said it does more harm that good. He did say that since my estrogen level is a little low we will be treating it with herbs, vitamins and exercise and above all stress reduction. He says that stress is the greatest cause of all hormonal imbalances. The saliva test costs $75 dollars and he says that that it can be very inaccurate. I am going to do more research on this. He feels that by doing blood tests more frequently and monitoring the levels gives a much more accurate reading.
My electrolygist treatments are really going well. I have another appointment tonight. It is for 1 hour. But I honestly do not see very many hairs on my face. When I started appoximately 5 months ago I could not clear all the hairs in 1 hour. The ones that are coming in are very soft and thin. There are still no hairs on my check bones. The area that scabbed so bad with the second electrolygist are still noticeable up close but seem to be fading. That was 4 weeks ago. There are dark coarse hairs coming in on my upper lip but the treatment level is so low on that area because I hate having bumps and scabs but I do notice an improvement even treating it on a very low setting. I also wanted to say how great my skin complexion looks. For the first time in 8 years my skin tone looks even. I have even had positive comments on it.
I hope these posts are helpful to you guys and not too long. If I am boring anyone please tell me and I will stop.