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Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Okay, so I went for my consultation. The electrolysis was very nice and seemed experienced. She has been doing it for 30 years.

I thought it went great. I just felt a tiny pinch when she did each hair. She uses ballet stainless steel probes. She did five hairs, but I only felt like two. She said the setting was normal for my hair and I was not in pain at all.
I am alergic to nickel, so she said if I break out she can get gold probes.

I guess I felt the probe going in, but the hair seemed to just slide or jump out. She did a few fine ones on my chin and then put aloe gel on.
Is this how it will be for courser hair to, just a pinch?
She only did a few hairs, but it felt like I could be there all day.
She said she uses disposable probes.
She doesn’t wear gloves or a mask. She turns my head so she isn’t breathing on me.
She said my skin doesn’t seem to get red easily. You can’t tell I had anything done.
She said I can wear make up and swim with no problem. She didn’t reccomend witch hazel, she recommended calamine lotion.

She said it will take a year, since I have course hair all over my face.
She didn’t want me shaving between appointments, instead bleach and cut.

Pain tolerance affects everyone differently because my sister said it was very painful. Her hair didn’t come out as easy.
So what does everyone think?? Any red flags?

#2

I’ll let the experts comment on the fact that she doesn’t use gloves when treating patients.

But I would strongly push for her to use at least gold probes. Stainless steel = longer lasting skin reactions. I would prefer quality insulated probes since she is most likely working with Thermolysis anyway. The less reactions on the face the better. All my PIH and long skin recovery can be attributed to stainless steel probes as my electrologist doesn’t use anything else (cost savings.)

Calamine lotion is ok but I found it too drying. Don’t get too hung up over the lotions and potions each electrologists swears by. You will experiment yourself and find stuff that you feel work best for you. I found that Tea Tree oil was most effective. Witch Hazel was good as a light disinfectant.

#3

I have course hair will Thermolysis work?

#4

It sounds like things went well… and to think you were so worried about the pain :stuck_out_tongue:

To answer your last question first, yes, thermolysis will work just fine in the right hands, even on coarse hair.

Given your nickel allergy, I would be using gold or insulated probes regardless of method. And yes, stainless are significantly cheaper than the other options - rough prices for ballet: stainless $0.50, gold/insulated $1, though I typically opt for laurier IBPs for my sensitive clients at $2.50. I personally keep all of these options stocked, though it comes down to preference of the electrologist (our tools are an extension of our selves in the skill department).

Likewise, with prep and aftercare, we all use slightly different things. Don’t worry too much there as long as there is a proper prep and aftercare.

As far as gloves and masks go, I’m not sure what the department of health regulations are like in PA… but at a minimum, she should be thoroughly cleaning her hands before she works on you, any time she gets up and touches something else, and after she’s done if she isn’t wearing gloves. I wash my hands constantly and always wear nitrile gloves (I don’t bother with latex due to some people being allergic). I only wear a mask when one of us isn’t feeling well or a client’s hygiene is a problem, particularly because I almost never get sick. Between clients, I also do a thorough cleaning using cavicide wipes on all of my equipment and surfaces that were touched, in large part because of my dad’s death due to a MRSA infection he picked up in a hospital in 2013 because someone couldn’t bother with proper protocol there.

#5

Well so far I’m not breaking out, so I guess stainless steel is okay for now?

I guess she sanitized everything. I was more focus on what the pain was going to feel like

Can I get a deadly infection if worse case scenario she didn’t sterilize everything properly?

She wiped my skin down with alcohol first.

She has a sink in her room, I’m not sure if she washed her hands between working on me then my sister.

Also, since she just did a few fine hairs on the corner of my chin, is this how it will feel like all over on course hair. Like is it less painful to do fine hairs then it is for course? Or is it all the same as long as the setting is the same?
Like the current is the current?
Also, does it matter if she’s certified? She said she went to a electrolysis school.
Thanks so much for your help!!

#6

Also, she surprisingly doesn’t wear goggles/glasses to see the hair, just treats it with the naked eye. Is this okay? The hair did come out.

#7

During electrolysis, we wound the skin… if someone isn’t sterilizing and sanitizing between clients, there’s a chance of picking up a nasty infection. Staph, the type of bacteria that’s in MRSA, is very common, particularly in the sinuses, so if she’s doing any work around the upper lip, it’s possible to transfer it onto the tweezers, probe holder, probe cap, her hands, etc.

I leave my sterilizer out in the open so everyone can see it, all of my tools are in single use sterile packages, etc and I don’t open anything until I’m ready to begin working. Not everyone will make it that obvious.

When I have family come in together, I still do my full clean up between them even if they’re likely to give each other whatever they’re carrying outside my office.

Coarse hair requires more energy than fine hair, so more energy typically comes with more pain.

My near vision is good and I can typically see even finer hair without any magnification… that said, I still use magnification 99% of the time (and have different options on what magnification I’m going to use and also a couple different lights so I can position things to see better).

As far as being certified (CPE) goes… I could go off on a rant about how utterly meaningless the CPE is, but we’ll just leave it at… as long as she has a proper education in electrolysis, either through school or apprenticeship, that’s fine.

#8

Thanks for your feedback and time.

I’m just concerned about her cleanliness. She just seems very low back and acts like electrolysis is nothing.
She didn’t wear gloves or a mask and dried cough pretty much in my face.
I doubt she changed probes or sterilized between me and my sister’s treatments.

I am annoyed she tested on some fine hair on my chin, that I couldn’t care less about. I wish she would have did the course hair on my jawline. It’s like I still don’t know how it feels before I pay for a full session.

I told her about things I read online and she acted like nobody else is right. She said thermolysis works on course hair.

She said I could wear make up right after treatment and jump in the pool. She barely said I needed to do anything for after care.

I wish she was more sanitary and she tested more course hair. I was acting like oh it doesn’t hurt at all and the hair just popped out, but this was like fine hair. I’m so disappointed that it still can be way more painful.

#9

electrolysis isn’t open heart surgery… you don’t need a sterile operating room to do it, BUT it is still a procedure on the skin that wounds it, which opens up the possibility of infection. As such, it should be taken seriously both in the office and after treatment.

Honestly, I feel like it’s cheating to give someone a sample on just fine hair. I go for the nastiest looking hair I can find and start with that, since it’s going to be the true test of what’s going to happen.

Don’t get hung up on “way more” painful… it’s not going to be that much worse than what was already done unless we’re talking about her treating vellus hair and you still have super tough male beard type hair to go.

Thermolysis can work just fine on coarse hair… A lot of here get great results with it.

#10

Thanks for the response.
She did apply aloe after.
She dropped a cap and then picked it up then started working on me. I mean she seems relaxed and not a germ aphobic.
You mean I could get a skin infection or an infection within my body, I don’t want to get sick.

Well, the hair she treated wasn’t vellus hair, like it was still hair that was brown to black, but it is not as course as other hair on my face.

Yea, the hair she treated I barely felt anything but a pinch, so I could take more pain anyway, I guess it pretty much is how it will feel at least on the areas I really want treated.

Thanks so much for your time I really appreciate it,!!