New here, need advice

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
1

I went for two appointments; one hour each, Saturday and Wednesday (today… well, technically yesterday; it’s 12:30am). She is using the Thermolysis method and now after 2 sessions I’m starting to wonder if it’s not the wrong method for me. Am I just getting paranoid at reading http://www.hairzapper.com/thermolysis.html#skindamage which says scars can appear years after treatment?

I also am wondering if I should be worried, since it says that “Generally, the original intent of thermolysis was to remove a few sparse hairs or an upper lip of peach fuzz. Both St Pierre and Arthur Hinkle warned against the use of Flash Thermolysis for the purpose of removing coarse deep terminal hair such as beards.”

Also, she wants to see me twice a week for an hour, and today she said my skin was dry from shaving and recommended I keep lotion on it until I have my next appointment Saturday… this appointment was Wednesday. I am reading in other places I’m not supposed to put any lotion on it!

She says she’s been doing this since 1979 and has a license displayed. The facility and room seem kind of old and I’m starting to wonder if the equipment is too. I did not look at what it was; I should call though and find out!

What method do you think would be best for my pattern of growth and coloring? How long should I expect to go for the method you recommend? Should I put lotion or just some aloe vera after treatment? The The article also says that “With thermolysis, we find that with each pass, we remove the main hair, but stimulate follicle sites surrounding the original offender. The skin, does what it does best, and that is to protect itself against stimulation and one of those mechanisms for protection is…(good grief)…HAIR. Often the harder you work, the more there is to do!!!” so I’m afraid that alough this place is cheapest I’ve found ($55/hr) it will stimulate more growth and I’ll end up going longer, which may increase the chance of scars, and considering I have PCOS the other hairs will already have a greater chance of becoming stimulated without help.

Please give me any advice/guidance you can. I’m scared I may get scarred or have to go practically forever… Here are some pics after having 2 treatments, one hour each; one Saturday and one Wednesday. The most important question… SHOULD I GO TO MY APPOINTMENT SATURDAY or cancel or get more info??? I also have to shave to go to school tomorrow and I’m afraid if I do after it looks like this tonight I will irritate it even worse!

Please see http://www.soulcysters.net/first-professional-electrolysis-276413/ for pics; The first 2 pics have “auto correct” done on them (brightness and contrast adjusted by computer) but the last one is no flash, no autocorrect, just pic from with desk light.

Thanks!

Oh, and I’m 31yo female; had this kind of growth for over 10 years.

2

Hi Empathy:

I couldn’t look at the photos without logging in, so didn’t
want to go through all the registration process.

Laser may stimulate fine hair surrounding a terminal hair,
but I don’t think thermolysis does.

If the person treating you uses settings which are not too
high for your type of hair or skin then it can work withut leaving scarring. If you had a bad reaction then you may want to discuss it with her.

I put something on the skin after treatment to help soothe it and help it heal. Aloe is probably good as is
tea tree oil(diluted). Some recommend Witch Hazel too.

I wish you luck, but talk with your electrologist rather than
scaring yourself with stuff you read on the net.

Alicia

3

Take a deep breath and relax.

Whenever one is getting hair removal of any kind, the skill of the person doing the work is the deciding factor in effectiveness, desirability of results (although post treatment care comes in for a photo finish second), comfort and time to completion.

As for what is posted as information on that site, what I will say is that some of it is good, some of it is slanted.

Good thermolysis work just looks like you never grew hair in that area, and it gets that result faster. I can understand why someone doing galvanic or blend would fear that. What frequently happens is a galvanic or blend electrolysist “tries” thermolysis, has poor results, and brands it inferior. Well, that is like a person who has driven cars with automatic transmissions all their life hopping into a 5-speed manual transmission car and trying to back up and pull out of a parking place. They will also believe that the car doesn’t work, not realizing that it is their skill set that is lacking for the operations being attempted.

Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of people out there performing poor hair removal treatments regardless of method, and nothing pains those of us who do it well, than to see the results of someone who does it poorly. I am with her on that one, but it is not fair to paint everyone with the same brush you apply to those making grave errors in their treatments.

This is why we say, get as many consultations and sample treatments as you can before you choose the person who will do your work. I used to all but drive people out of my office on their first appointment telling them to make sure that they give others a consultation and sample treatment, until some came back to me and were mad at me because of a bad experience with someone they gave a try to.

I will go on record as saying that we stand by our advice for nothing but Aloe Vera (hey, if you have a plant at home, snip a little bit of leaf off of it, crush it up, and rub it on) Tea Tree Oil overnight, and maybe witch hazel, and, if you have itching, a good cortisone cream in an Aloe Vera base. Oil based so-called moiturizers would not be in harmony with your healing process.

The person writting this web site may be the best blend operator out there (Hey, Mike Bono and Donna Rissos, I said MAY be) but it would not be correct to say that there are not people doing work that equals hers in galvanic and thermolysis/diathermy.

Lastly, I would say that since she takes time to knock the computerized machines, she probably doesn’t own one either.

Just do your diligence and see as many people as you can and pick the person you stick with based on the quality of the skin after the work is done. You may end up back with the web site maker, or you may not.

On the subject of thermolysis scarring, I will say that I did a middle eastern woman who liked to say that she had an “otter face” because all her vellus hairs were very long and very black which stood out against her very bright light skin. We had to establish her hair line, and take the hair off her entire face and neck, forehead included. She now apologizes for not allowing anyone to take a “Before” picture, as she can’t give me recommendations, because no one believes she ever had a hair problem now! Her “After” results are just too perfect. We did it all in evil thermolysis with an evil computerized electrolysis machine, in evil flash – MicroFlash thermolysis even, and no one believes that she ever had a hair problem now. Seven years later, she still has a beautiful hair free face, even though she has had to have more cysts removed since we worked together.

4

Dear Empathy,

I couldn’t view your pictures on SoulCysters.

The hair zapper site you were reading is PAINFULLY out of date. This electrologist has never used a computerized epilator and is stuck in the past. She has missed the boat. While many of us are using the different thermolysis modes that the better brands of professional epilators offer now, removing between 500 - 1,000 hairs per hour, she is stuck in the past with modalities that are effective, but very, very slow. Any modality can scar, so don’t be too ready to believe that one is better than the other in that area. Skill, along with modern epilators that offer a variety of modes in both thermolysis and blend can do so much more that you will cry with joy as you come to see yourself loosing that awful hair at an unbelievable pace that will give you back your self-esteem.

I am always dismayed when people read the hair zapper site and get scared. This is great-grandma’s electrolysis. It is what was available for many years and worked great, but there are better ways to remove a hair today that would please you greatly. If she would re-train and update, she would know what we are talking about and actually like it much better. Clients want the hair off fast. This can be accomplished and like James said, your skin will look like it never grew hair when you are finished.

The principles espoused on hairzappers were true thirty years ago. They ARE NOT TRUE today. Just know that. Get those consultations and short sample treatments to see how it feels and heals. Tell them you visited this site and tell them what you have learned. They will probably tell you not to trust what you read on the Internet, but think for yourself. We are not telling people lies here and I hope you believe me when I say this.

Soulcysters is an awesome website, but they are in serious need of a professional, modern electrologist to reassure and guide women on their hair issues. I cannot possible possibly spend any more time than I do on the computer answering questions and repeating on another website, but have mentioned hairtell on the few posts I have made on Soulcysters. Anything that PCOS’ers need to know about hair removal can be found here. If you want to mention that in your posts on SoulCysters, you would be helping many. You can even copy and paste this thread on your thread over there. I have seen some woefully inaccurate comments and misconceptions about laser and electrolysis over there, but I only have so much time to get involved.

Electrolysis will work for you. I would start my research here on hairtell.com and hairfacts.com and start interviewing practitoners. This is your face, so don’t get this one wrong. If you can provide us with a hint of where you live, maybe we can offer some recommendations of people to consider interviewing.

Welcome to hairtell and I hope we can guide you well. I know this is all very confusing, but you will figure it out. Just read, think and ask.

Dee