Evaluate your insertions first. Did you do a depth gauge? If you are not inserting deep enough and the energy releases, then that may be the cause of the hair breaking. Just start at the presets and adjust either the timing or the intensity. You may have the levels too high and you are melting the stick of hair. Go back and re-read Natsuko’s long post.
Suds, basically, you are missing a balance between the insertion and the treatment energy. You need a perfect insertion, along with a good treatment energy. At this point, the hair will either pop out, (if you have limited the treatment energy to below the anchor system) or it will slide out with no traction at all (if you have taken the treatment energy up to and past the anchor system).
I would say that you need to learn to start with the presets for the area you are working on, and then start to move up and out from there if you top out on those, and still can’t get a good release. If “chin-9” doesn’t give you a good release (which it won’t most times on a 30 year old man’s beard) you need to start upping the intensity, and then maybe the timing. Obviously, if you get to 99% intensity, the only thing you can further increase is the timing.
Just a program note, I like to keep it to one zap. If I needed more than one, I would switch to Snycho instead.
And for my dear Natsuko, the term “I will bet you dollars to donuts” means that if I win, you pay me in donuts, and if you win, I pay you in dollars.
Just so you know, I like cream filled with chocolate frosting, and glazed cake donuts 
Hi again,
working with the presets am i better of to go up with the level or timing and power first? Is there a formula to work this out?
Personally, I work within a level first and adjust the intensity and/or timing depending on the hair structure. If nothing budges, I will go to the next level. For dry, hard white bulbs on the upper lip, I will adjust the timing only and not mess around with the intensity.
For any electrologists reading this thread, if you are members of the American Electrology Association, there are two long threads on the discussion board that speak to the Apilus Platinum and Pure. Membership is required to view and participate on the discussion forum and costs $165.00 a year. You can become a member and thus participate at www.electrology.com .
I’d like to mention that new software updates or repairing a software problem can be accomplished without sending the Platinum away. A cable is needed so a hookup can be made from your epilator to your laptop. A password is also needed and off you go. I only had to do this one time, so I can’t remember all the details. If I ever have to do a download again, the people at Dectro are very helpful and patient and will walk you through it, so no need to get flustered.
Dee, when you adjust the intensity and timing within the level how do you know where your stopping point in adjustment is without going to high in intensity and timing ,I am thinking just to always make sure it stays within the recommended energy level. Is this correct?
I go up by increments of 10 for intensity or timing - not both at the same time though. I treat and then decide if I need to fall back a little or go forward again.
For clarity, the AEA Membership costs vary by state, as the AEA compels membership in one’s AEA affiliated state association as well. While one may be a member of the state organization, but not the AEA, one is not allowed to join the AEA without joining the state organization.
If one does go to this thread, one had better be copying and pasting the information for future reference, as the AEA is NOTORIOUS for nuking message boards, and deleting threads, thus finding future access to pearls of wisdom from the past masters lost to the ether of time.
Tangentially, there is a saying, if you want to see your impact on the world, put your hand in a body of water, wave it around as much as you like, and then take it out to see your lasting impression on the water.
Hello everyone,
Well after three days of recieving my apilus platinum pure, i eventually released some hair trialling it on family members.I did not hear any sizzling noise, no hairs broken felt happy with the release of the hair and skin reaction looked good but now i am wondering if these levels are good or to high. these levels using picoflash.
Males arm
level 4
69%
.032s
2 pulses
F3 probes
305 e.l
male leg
level 5
.030s
99%
1 pulse sometimes 2
f4 probe
294e.l
female leg hairs were very coarse
level 4
99%
.060s
F4 probe
588e.l
cant remember what i has for pulses either 1 or 2.
little worried about about e.l levels on the last one but have to say the skin reaction was fantastic.
Please I would appreciate it if anyone can give me feedback on these levels do they sound good or are they to high.
Also I was thinking if a client were to complain the heat is to high would you reduce intensity and compensate it with timing?
Thanks
If sensation is a concern, yes, it is totally appropriate to adjust the program used along with the level used, along with the intensity and/or timing. I will say only this about your levels: If the hair is releasing with no traction, with full bulb intact and the skin looks good, then you have a working point. Note, not all hairs slide out the way we want because of growth stage and structure. This is especially true in the first, full clearance days. This is why we call the practice of electrolysis an art as well as a skill.
For the leg e.l’s, if you think going above 500 was too high, observe the skin 48-72 hours afterwards. If the scabs are really big, then you may want to do some adjusting for the next go around.
I am thinking that personally, I would have used a bigger probe size for all those areas. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I use a lot of 5 and 6’s (Ballet gold or insulated).
On a tangent here, I will say that the lower abdominal area seems to be ouchy for most, so instead of using the Bikini Program, I may switch to an Eyebrow Program and do Synchro or Multiplex, depending on the hair structure. Is this what the makers of the AP Plat say to do? I don’t know, but after talking to a colleague who has done this, it seemed to work for me. This is why I keep pointing out that these computerized epilators do not control the electrologist. You have to be a thinking, clever problem solver in order to refine levels for the individual you are working on.
We can’t give levels because there are too many variables. If I share my levels with you, then you may burn someone because the person you are working on, your insertion skills, probes, etc. may be far different than my situation.
This is about concepts and the concept I keep reinforcing is start low and work up gradually until you find a working point.
In areas such as legs or arms, there are hairs of different sizes. For this reason, I prefer to use average levels that allow me to treat all the hairs with the same values.
Thus for thick hair two or three pedal treads and thin hair a single tread. Thus, reducing the risk of overtreatment of fine hair follicles.
Ditto for me. Thanks for that info, Josefa.
Anyone know why the minimum interval between pulses for Pure Platinum is 0.3 while that in the Platinum is 0.0?
Maybe that’s the way the engineers designed things??? Another question for Jean-Louis or any technician at Dectro. My list of questions keeps getting longer. I haven’t called him yet. I got slammed last week and didn’t have a long enough break that corresponded with the time change (3 hours difference between Ohio and California).
With the apilus pure do we need to always change the settings of probe size ?
You don’t have to. I do because I am giving my clients a print out (exclusive for the Platinum only - not the Pure). So, when a session is finished, I print a statistics sheet which records the name, session #, date, probe size (only if I enter that information before I start), number of insertions completed, time, subtotal, tax and total. I can disable the recording of some of that information as well so it does not appear on the statistics sheet. There is a cumulative column that keeps track of the total insertions performed from day one to present. Same goes for the total amount of time logged from day one to present. So, if someone asks an Apilus Paltinum client, “How long did it take you to get the hair removed from your lip and chin?”, the client can say, "It took 3,485 insertions, 12 hours and 14 minutes, spread out over 14 months at a cost of $1,348.96. Pretty cool, especially for my clients who are the detailed oriented engineers.
Too much information perhaps, but I just can’t stop myself. So to answer your question with more simplicity, setting the probe size is only for the statistic sheet printout - it has nothing to do how the energy is delivered.
I am a liitle confused, you say that the only reason ot is there so you can print out a statistics sheet, but Dee the apilus pure does not have the feature for printing out a statistic sheet ( or maybe it does and I do not know). If the apilus pure does not have this feature so for what reason have they got the probe setting adjustments?
There is an external printer you can purchase if you decide you want a printer option in the future.
You select type of probe you are going to use - stainless steel or insulated, as you have discovered. I believe the programs are factory pre-set to be used with F3 stainless probes, but don’t hold me to that. Insulated probes are recognized as well. Not sure if the probes diameter’s (from sizes 2-5) are recognized. There is not a size 6 option if you use a ballet size 6 Gold, but all still works great though with this particular probe. It is all about setting the levels to suit the task at hand.
Awesome Post. Here are pictures of my latest “work”. I am doing less harm than before certainly, but still had an EL of around 400 because I was tolerating it, and the redness was not horrible. I took these pictures immediately after, and did absolutely no post treatment care. I will follow up with another round of photos in 1 week. Let the critique begin…
I am really really hoping you would be open to posting some pictures of your before and after work. i went to photobucket.com and got a free account there. your post more than any embodies the spirit of what i had hoped for. you are making me think i should move up in probe size. i just couldn’t get much release without mid to high 400’s EL, and the resulting redness is a major (albeit temporary) downside. did you get much redness at all with these levels? also, i plan on posting pictures of my experiments so that all can visualize what a given setting may produce.
Anyway, i started out testing my pain threshold very naively and about 10,000 EL produced enough scarring to put heroin junkie-like scabs on my forearms (where i tested first). Even though I “take the pain”, depilator said it best when they said “it was a bomb exploding in the follicle”. STILL. NO ONE IN HERE or AT DECTRO can tell me WHY this machine has capablities that are SO FAR OUTSIDE the realm of useful.
but on a more positive note, here’s my picoflash settings and the resulting “damage” or “denuding” depending on your view of my unorthodoxical approach, along with photos:
Left foot denuded. About 50 hairs on REALLY white thin skin…
Picoflash
.042s
76%
2x
485 EL (i hated to go this high, but i found it best for release)
Cheers, and please show me what your results have been like with pictures if you can.