Hi people, just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Kris, and I have been studying this site and it’s vast resources for about a week, after I recently bought a vector system for about $80 and then read about it on this forum. I then bought a needle holder and tested the system. It works, but it’s painful. So in the past few days I have purchases a silhoute-tone
VMC, and am awaiting shipping. I will be asking many questions along the way and look forward to learning. I will be performing electrolysis on my wife and myself.
I made that mistake with vector too, it was a pricey endeavor when I first started. I now own two machines and I consider what I wanted to do accomplished, good luck on completing yours!
Thank you. My vmc passed the egg white and water test, I used it for the first time on blend, and it works great. Now I need to learn technique.
I’ve gotten to use a VMC a couple times ( my partner had one she just upgraded from, and it’s still a backup for the practise) . It’s a fine epilator, I do find it runs a little hot but it works really well. Dont be dismayed if it takes longer than you expect per hair, just concentrate on getting good release of the hair. You’ll be very happy with the blend.
Seana
Thank you guys for responding. I have used the vmc for a few sessions now and I have some questions. I use a 5 diopter magnifying lamp and I am working on my wife’s right armpit. I have watched many electrolysis videos and I try to use Michael’s method of holding the arm while working on the armpit. I have developed my ability to find the bottom of the follicle and I have the machine on blend and coarse hair setting. I can move the power up 3 notches and then proceed up to very coarse. I am using a precision .005"
Long needle on the armpit, and I own needles from .003" th .006". I match the needle to the hair diameter, and I am having release issues with some hairs with larger follicles, it seems the .005
Or .006 is not big enough to get good conductivity and hair release. Some of the hairs foam up and release smooth, some are dry and ‘pop’ and have a black root ball with no sheath. The ones that do release well have follicles that the needle fits tighter into. What do I do with the wider follicles? Tapered needle?
Some have 2 to 3 hairs, it seems in the same wide area, and it is hard to hit each one. Some I have used thermolysis only if the needle is fully inside the follicles and it has worked well. I don’t want to use thermo until I have mastered this
Kristy,
It sounds like you are doing very well!
I’d steer away from the precision probes, I know TES has them on cheap for a card of 10 of them for $5 but I found the tips very sharp ( strait cut piano wire with zero taper to the tips) and made insertions uncomfortable.Sterex, ballet,and protec ( canadian needle) all work well.You may be able to back up a little bit on the size until you are better with insertions. You can easily use an f4 where you are currently using an f5 or f6, then go bigger when you have insertions down pat.It will make things a little easier for learning.
Note that the energy dispersed is relative to probe size and is concentrated to the tip ( lookup “Point effect”). The larger the probe the more even the heat distrubution is because of the larger surface area, also less concentrated. So smaller probes are “hotter” but not as even. There’s a great photo by Josepha showing egg white tests with different size probes ,I’ll see if I can find it.
The hairs that are anogen ( black root) hairs that are coming out without sheaths, indicate inaccurate insertions. IT’s not the end of the world, and you can give yourself a firm pat on the back for doing as well as you are! Primarily the issue is likely to be insertion depth .Here’s a couple tips that can help you out.
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Take a depth guide! You can do this by comparing to similar hair nearby. Treat a hair, by any means place the tweezers as close to the follicle as possible and pull the hair. Now look at the hair under magnification and compare where the root ball is on your probe. This is the depth you should be inserting into. Different hairs will have different depth. Also be certain your direction is spot on, the probe should glide smoothly into the follicle, if its resisting back out and try again, or you risk puncturing the follicle wall.
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as you are inserting watch carefully the surface to the skin. If you see it starting to indent slightly, back out just a touch. You are right by the root at full anogen depth.
Also bear in mind that when you see a hair that seems to curve back toward the skin almost as soon as it exits the follicle( it may be lighter in pigment too, esp near the base) , this is a telogen hair! The insertion will be shallower than that of the other anogen hairs you are treating nearby.
Consider picking up off amazon a used copy of “Electrolysis thermolysis and the blend” by Arthur Hinkel and Lind. It covers the basics of insertions and increasing accuracy.
You’ll often find where you have 2-3 hairs together, they are not exactly the same follicle but instead right next to each other, an can vary in depth. The Hinkel book covers addressing these hairs in detail as well and different strategies for doing so.
The better your magnification is, the better your insertions will be. . At 5 diopter, you are at about 2.5 X magnifcation. YOu can order Dental Loupes that are a bit stronger, 3.5 X or 4 X, off ebay relatively inexpensively, they are usually out of china and take a bout a month to arrive.
Telogen hairs can be dry, anogen hairs should not be. If the follicle is dry, and it’s an anogen hair, you arent deep enough likely.The follicle will have more moisture the deeper you go (look up Moisture gradient) , That the hairs seem dry and are coming out with incomplete roots, is indicative this is the case.
HAppy Zapping!
Gosh I wish someone told me nearly this much when I started!
Seana