Pre-shaving an area a few days prior to an Electrolysis session?

Im pretty sure this is a very elementary question, and Im really hoping that my assumptions about this are correct.

I was just wondering , since my eletrologist spends a great deal of time and energy (more than 50% of my appointments) zapping hairs that are “out of growing stage” , if I were to shave an area that I intended to have her work on (say a week beforehand) , would this result in all the new, stubbly hairs that show up being “in growing stage” ??

If so… then this would be a great way of approaching my treatments in general to eliminate the time , money and physical pain wasted on treating hairs that might be “out of growing phase”… and she could simply focus on treating those hairs that would clearly be “in growing stage”.

well? Do I have the right idea here?

cheers,
Hank

Yes, indeedy,Hank! Shaving 1-3 days before is great. I really wish all my clients would do this,but they won’t or they forget. That’s still okay, as I can still perform electrolysis. Shaving just makes it better for the client as far as sensation and not wasting time on the dud hairs. The simple act of shaving equals getting your money’s worth. So,do it!

Dee

One of the problems with doing an initial clearance on virgin growth is the percentage of hairs that are actually in their growth cycle and effectively treatable.

If you shave a few days prior to treatment, the vast majority of hairs that will be sticking their hair shafts above the skin’s will be those that we actually have a very good chance of effectively treating. While an electrologist using good lighting and magnification can still work through virgin growth and get a lot of the anagen (growing) hairs, it really slows the process down. I like to see my clients get the best deal for their money and for those who shave, I can give them a 90% plus kill rate on the hairs that I treat. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

For virgin growth. I am estimating that the kill rate is only about 40% at best. Add to this the fact that the hairs I treat are in the middle of a tangle of other hairs, this slows me down also as I have to make certain that I grab the righ hair shaft with the tweezers before I try to epilate the hair after I zap it. This can really slow me down. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

yes, this is a good idea. the reason some people don’t want to do it is because they don’t want stubble after electrolysis. for example, if a woman is getting her face done and everything can’t be cleared in one treatment, she doesn’t want to have stubble afterwards. This is the reason I don’t shave the abdomen area before treatment. The hairs are so fine that they’re barely visible. But if I shave, you can feel stubble afterwards, which I don’t want.

Yep, spot on Hank. If clients don’t want to then that’s fine but it makes such a difference. Where I am, it’s really frowned upon by many of my fellow electrologists, which is not a great help.

oh man… I cannot believe this.
I have always thought, somewhat subconciously that maybe just maybe this would be the case if I were to shave before my electro appoints. , but it was never enough of a conscious thought to actually genuinely contemplate it, and actually act upon it.

Now, having been attending electrolysis (thermolysis) sessions on average 1-2x p/week for over 18 months, I am absolutely KICKING MYSELF at this realisation.

I now realise that I have wasted a very large amount of 1hours,2money,3pain4travel in treating “virgin growth”, with any no. of hairs (typically up to half or more) being “out of growing phase”, and thus destined to return anyway.

I am dumbfounded, that with all the thorough research I have done into hair removal , types of electro., practitioners, pain-relief methods,skin after-care,etc,etc over the last few years - more research than most folks would probably do -… that I have completely overlooked this very simple , yet completely fundamental & absolutely invaluable approach to my electro sessions, that would have already put me much further along the path towards being hair-free by now , and would have saved so much in terms of everything, most importantly the TIME that I have spent being treated over the last 18 months, which could have been spent purely dedicated to removal of “in growing phase” hairs (or at least 90%+ in-growing hairs).

as I said… ABSOLUTELY KICKING MYSELF, that I could have possibly overlooked this , all this time.

my electrologist has never mentioned anything, but then I guess - its probably worse for her business in the long run , for me to finish sooner, or maybe she just didnt think it was her place to say anything about shaving beforehand.

annoyed with myself,
Hank

It’s not all bad, I’m sure that quite a few early anagen hairs just under the surface got treated too.

Mrhanky, what areas are treating with electrolysis?

Have you ever reached first clearance, because if you did, you should only have growing hairs to treat?

How would you rate your results after 18 months of treatment?

It’s not all bad, I’m sure that quite a few early anagen hairs just under the surface got treated too.

Every session, the hairs I get treated (from any random patch), are quoted as being “mixed” by my practitioner. She never mentioned shaving before, and of everything I have managed to take into account and not overlook, this was one thing that somehow, I never consciously thought to examine.

Mrhanky, what areas are treating with electrolysis?

Have you ever reached first clearance, because if you did, you should only have growing hairs to treat?

How would you rate your results after 18 months of treatment?

I am treating upper and lower back ( middle is naturally bare (?) ), shoulders/shoulder blades and upper arms.
25 y.o white male.
Have never reached full clearance, but Am getting close to it on upperarms (up to shoulder tops) each visit, as well as moving on to treating sporadically the shoulders now. Have yet to even touch the back in 18 months so far, but only go 1 hr a week usually, and have missed many weeks.

Id say on average I do 3 1 hr visits in 4 weeks.
Although it doesnt sound like much progress is being made here, the upper arms are definitely hugely improved and close to bare now, with the odd stragglers popping up every few weeks.

cheers,
Hank

you can also speed up the process by a lot by doing longer sessions per week to clear the entire area as fast as possible. it’s more money up front, but less in the long run as you will only be getting hairs in anagen as they come in after the clearance, instead of playing catch-up. that, along with shaving, should help a lot. 1 hour a week sounds short for all those areas.