Hi Pam, Arlene, Dee, James, NoHair and MaraJay (and many others here!),
Interesting thread here and some interesting topics have come up here as well. When I was taking my training, the school had a Gentronics 16-probe multiple galvanic machine. As a girl named Julie and I were the two most advanced students at the time, one of our instructors spent a couple of days with us on the use of the machine. As a part of the requirements to qualify for the state boards we had to have a minimum of 25 hours of galvanic practical experience. Julie and I worked on each other using the machine to get those hours, as we figured that it would be better to have two students do this on each other than to subject one of the clinic’s clients to galvanic.
We did find out that it did do a good job of hair removal, be it very slow, and the comfort level was acceptable as we used fairly low currents as there were so many probes to keep track of and manipulate.
I think that the best that either of us did with the machine was on the order of about 90 hairs per hour. (Remember that we only had 25 hours apiece on the machine.)
However, when it came to microflash thermolysis (and PicoFlash - the school did have an Apilus Platinum) both of us were working at well over 400+ hairs per hour with the Senior II, SX-500 and the Platinum.
One of the points that I have come to accept here is that the statement (By James I believe) that thermolysis does require the most precise placement of probes for maximum efficency is absolute gospel. Galvanic does have the benefit of leaving some degree of lye behind, effecting latent destruction of the germanitive tissues, and the blend also does this to a lesser degree. However, once one becomes accustomed to the feel and look of a proper insertion and then begins to work on their speed, thermolysis can give effective kill rates up to 80%+ once an area has been initially cleared and the schedule of treatments is adhered to. This is my opinion based on counts of random hair samples that epilated very easily with an intact inner root sheath and a full, wet juicy bulb.
With regards to pigmentation or localized skin bleaching, it has been my experience, limited as it may be with regards to the other pros here, most of this occurs when too much energy is released too shallow into a follicle. But the deeper that the energy can be released into the hair, and the better the energy level can be adjusted to treat the follicles to the proper degree, the less hyperpigmentation and blanching one will see.
One other thing that I became aware of very early on was that the better I could make my insertions, the better use I could make of the insulated probe types. Right now, I routinely use the Sterex insulated probes and the ProTec Insulated Thermolysis probes on my more sensitive clients and am still able to achieve good epilations with minimal discomfort. One thing of note here. I prefer the ProTec probes as the insulation on them does not tend to collect dried plasma as much and the insulation lasts longer, prior to degrading. However, for treatment times of 1-hour or less the Sterex insulated are a good choice and you get 50 of them for about the same price as 30 of the ProTec. For longer treatments, the ProTecs just seem to hold up much better. One other advantage of the ProTecs. They do have a plastic sheath at the end of the shank that protets the skin from thermolysis damage on shallow angle insertions from shank contact to the skin.
One thing to note here, except for the mid-brow and brow areas, I try to use the largest probe diameter that I can possibly use. This does two things for me. It makes the treated hairs slide out much easier and it reduces the current density during the treatment, reducing the discomfort to the client. With lower temperatures in the heat effected zones, this tends to keep the heating-pattern temperatures more in the thermocoagulation range (127 deg. F to 160 deg F max.) and is much less likely to produce thermodessication and thermolysis blow-out, resulting in blanching, hyperpigmentation, and increased healing times between treatments.
I guess that my main focus in learning electrology was to keep myself from inflicting a lot of the things on others that happened to me prior to becoming trained myself. I am not a wuss when it comes to pain, but I neither enjoy receiving it unnessarily or inflicting said-same on others.
Anyway, that’s my $0.02 worth. I’d like to thank everyone here for the information that they have been imparting to this forum. I know that none of you are getting anything for your efforts - as I certainly haven’t reaped any financial benefits for all of my posting. I have enjoyed reading your posts and have learned a lot - and I hope I’ve been able to give something back as well. I really love doing electrology and I am especially happy when I can give a client the best I possibly can. You have all given me food for thought and leads to more knowlege of things that were not covered when I was being trained. This has allowed me to improve my practice of the art and science of electrology. I love it when clients leave my practice with smiles on their face after a treatment!
My best to all,
Joanie
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