Hi. Thanks in advance for your help. I have alot of coarse hair on and underneath my chin. I’m trying out two practioners, both using blend. I had my first treatment with RE #1 last Sat, and was very red afterward, and developed maybe 4-5 pinpoint scabs. Redness went away in 24 hours. I used EMLA and only was aware of a slight sensation of the hair slipping out of the follicle. I had my second treatment with RE #2 yesterday. I was only about 65% as red afterward, and only have 1-2 scabs. Redness went away in 6 hours. I used EMLA again, plus she had a topical spray that added extra numbing. I had a sensation of the hair coming out of the follicle that was much closer to plucking. My questions: I know that feeling the hair being tweezed means that it’s not being treated correctly, but should there be no sensation whatsoever when it is pulled out of the follicle? On coarse hairs where the bulb is big, would one feel anything? And was the extra redness with the first one due to that being my first ever treatment? Or does it mean that RE #1 went deeper and that her insertion/zap will be more effective?RE #1 is 40% more expensive than RE #2. Both very professional, with 5 and 15 years experience, respectively. I want to make the right choice between the two.
When I was having thermolysis (diathermy), I was being treated by several different practitioners at the same salon.
With one girl, I felt no tug what-so-ever, but I had the most awful reactions afterwards. Clearly, I was being grossly over-treated!!!
By contrast, another girl left me with hardly any swelling. But I could always feel the tug.
I’ve since switched to blend, and I feel the tug much more than I ever did with thermolysis. I asked my practitioner about it, and she said it’s quite normal. (Blend doesn’t fry the hair root in the same way as does thermolysis.)
It’s hard to gauge how much ‘tug’ you should feel, as previously untreated hairs have big bulbs on them, and if you have tight pores you will feel a tug.
My reactions with blend more closely match your experience with RE#1.
I suspect RE#2 might be able to increase the settings on the machine a bit.
If you can cope with the redness lasting 24 hours, you could go back to RE#2 and ask her to increase things a bit, as you’re concerned that you could feel the tug too much. If you can work together to get the setting right, she would work out more cost effective than RE#1.
Hi Joya–
I know how hard it can be to tell if your treatment is effective, and a direct comparison can be difficult.
As always, Toni has a good reply that echoes a lot of what I was going to say.
Based on the information you’ve given, I would probably go to electrologist #1 if faced with the same choice. However, if you are prone to scarring or especially worried about overtreatment, it would be more of a toss-up.
Sounds like they’re both pretty good-- you’ve obviously done your homework! Please keep us updated on your decision and progress!
[ September 09, 2002, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Andrea ]
One thing to add here is that the machines the practitioners are using could also make a difference in what you feel.
The treatment pattern of some machines is like a tear drop, and with others it is more like at football.
If you compare the feeling of a football pattern machine to a teardrop style machine, there is more of a tug to be felt with the teardrop as the anchor of the follicle is pulled up and out through the follicle shaft.
The teardrop style machine would also have less noticeable redness and swelling because when used correctly, teardrop machines focus treatment energy in the lower layers of the skin while sparing the upper layers as best as possible.
James W. Walker VII, CPE — Buffalo NY 