Hi, does anyone know of a good place to go in Vancouver? (The treatment will be for a man’s back)
Thanks.
RandomSelection:
You may want to contact:
Arbutus Laser Centre
106-2025 W. Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: 604-731-5512
Fax: 604-731-5511
[email]info@arbutuslaser.com[/email]
[www.arbutuslaser.com](http://www.arbutuslaser.com)
They are located in the former MSA Building near the intersection of Broadway and Arbutus Ave.
Ask for Juli. She will answer all your questions for you.
Start by checking out their website and you can go from there.
Good luck.
Thanks Eddy. Just wondering if you have been treated by them yourself or know people who have? Are you affiliated with them?
I have had a couple of sessions done on full chest by the different laser machines just so I would familiarize myself with the feel of the treatments of the different machines. I believe it was at 30 joules and was a few years ago. But I am completely hairfree on back and chest because of electrolysis. I have a lengthy post somewhere in the pile on this forum. I am not affiliated with Arbutus at all, though I know three of the techs working there. They are also professional electrologists who have many years experience between them as teachers and examiners as well. I am not in Vancouver (yet) so I am not familiar with any particular person who goes there although their client list is very large. This is a large medical facility that does not only laser hair treatments but numerous medical procedures as well. Please refer to the website for more info. Don’t feel that I am pushing you to Arbutus as I have absolutely no interest in this other than to give you an option to check out. There are other laser centres in Vancouver as well. Check with 2 or 3 or 4 of them and do your due diligence so you know exactly what you are getting into.
Good luck.
You say you got electrolysis done on your back. I was wondering why you had electrolysis done instead of laser, and if you would recommend it over laser? Thanks.
When I have some free time I’ll try and find my thread on this forum and refer you to it to read. I won’t rewrite it as it was a little long. Quite frankly I got electrolysis done on my chest and back because I know electrolysis inside out and I know it has a 100% success rate if done correctly, besides being a needle practitioner myself. I’m stubborn, I am well versed in skin anatomy, but I am also not biased. Laser is relatively new vis a vis electrolysis. The success rate of laser at this point in time is not very high overall. This is still a high risk venture, a process that I am not willing to gamble on. I wanted guaranteed results and thats what I achieved over 30 months. This is why I am hairfree today. Perhaps some day down the road laser will become the magic wand that some marketers refer to it as. When that happens, one would assume that all electrologists will throw their epilators away and buy laser machines. But I for one don’t believe this will happen anytime soon. Is there a place for laser in the hair removal industry? Perhaps there is for those people with light skin and very dark hair. Some may attain a degree of permanent hair reduction. Some may not. I was not willing to play around to discover if laser would benefit me or not. I wanted to be hairfree ASAP. That was my goal and my decision, therefore I chose electrolysis because I knew it would achieve my goals hands down. And thus I did and it did. Now if I was not familiar with electrolysis then perhaps I too would be waivering as to which route to choose, electrolysis or laser. But I am not in this unknowledgeable position, therefore it was easy for me to make an educated/professional decision.
So, to the second part of your question. Would I recommend electrolysis over laser? Chances are I would. On the other hand, if you have light skin and dark course hair I would say to you that laser may be an option you may want to explore to attempt an initial clearance. It may well reduce a certain amount of your hairs. Then electrolysis would be employed to permanently remove what hairs laser didn’t, if in fact it did. If you have lots of time and “lots” of unlimited funds then you may want to think about these different approaches. Will you have regrowth after laser treatments? You may very well. Will you have regrowth after electrolysis? Yes, you may very well if your electrologist is not proficient at the trade. So, it is rather a Catch 22 on one hand, but I tend to favour electrolysis because of it’s established rate of proven success if done correctly. I didn’t want to waste time in getting my project completed, therefore I chose the path of least resistance and went with a process that I knew for certain would work for me. I still have some concerns about the safety factors surrounding the deployment of lasers for hair removal. Lasers are employed in medical/surgical procedures by highly skilled and trained doctors. I can live with that. But I can not live with the fact that a person can operate a laser device after a 10 day training period, 15 days, 20 days, 30 days, or whatever. My personal opinion and I feel very adamant about this, is that where we stand today, a laser machine should only be in the hands of a qualified medical doctor trained in this modality. And should this stir up controversy amongst forum readers, tough luck. Too bad. This is not a toy we are talking about here, rather a machine that if in the wrong hands can do some very real damage to one’s epidermis and perhaps beyond.
So, RandomSelection, I would caution you to do due diligence, do your research so you fully understand both techniques - laser and electrolysis, then when you feel comfortable with the knowledge you have gained, at that point you should be able to make the best decision for yourself. You will have to live with your decision so make the best one that is in your best interest. You may end up trying one or the other or perhaps a combination of the two. My preferance to date? If a client has a fair bit of hair, I have them shave 3 or 4 days prior to electrolysis treatments. If a client choses to have a laser treatment before seeing me, no problem. I will accept this client just like anyone else. I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of skin since 1974 so I let my years of developmental growth guide me. I do hope that the technologies surrounding the development of lasers for successful hair removal of all colors and skin types only increases in the years going forward. Needle electrolysis isn’t easy on the hands and eyes of the practioner.
So good luck and remember do your research.
Thanks again Eddy. I have been looking around the forum a little more, and I noticed that it seems like electrolysis is more of a sure bet then laser (although I am a good laser candidate with fairly light skin and dark hair).
I was wondering if you could recommend a few electrologists (hopefully with websites) in the area that I could check out. Also is there someone I could see who would tell me whether it would be cheaper (price is a big factor, more important then speed) to do laser or electrolysis, or is this too difficult to predict at first?
At this point I think that I will get a few laser treatments and then get some electrolysis to finish up, but if electrolysis is cheaper, or even a little bit more, I might go for that.
it’s hard to say. depends on how much hair you have. electrolysis is about $60/hr and an experienced tech can get 5-6 hairs per minute with the fastest method, thermolysis. of course, only hairs in anagen can be killed and not all the first time around, so that adds on more time. generally, consistent treatment in one area for at least 9-12 months are necessary, but a lot longer for an large area since it will take some time to get the first clearance. I think the cheapest and most efficient way to go is to get laser treatments until you reach diminishing returns and hairs are too fine for laser, and then finish with electrolysis. electrolysis works faster on fine hair and laser works best on coarse dark hair, so that helps.
RandomSelection:
You may want to contact:
Arbutus Laser Centre
106-2025 W. Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: 604-731-5512
Fax: 604-731-5511
info@arbutuslaser.com
www.arbutuslaser.com
They are located in the former MSA Building near the intersection of Broadway and Arbutus Ave.
Ask for Juli. She will answer all your questions for you.
Start by checking out their website and you can go from there.
Follow my post from above. It is pasted here again for you. I suggest you contact Arbutus as the techs there are also electrologists. A division of New Tech Electrolysis is also in this facility. You say you are a good laser candidate. If you are, the techs at Arbutus will confirm this. If you aren’t they will also let you know. As for an idea on costs for laser and electrolysis, they are the best people go give you an idea of what cost factors and timeframes you will be looking at. If you go for laser and electrolysis this can be performed at the same clinic no doubt by the same people that would be performing the laser treatments on you. You can’t get any more consistency than this. Now I’m not pushing you to go to Arbutus Laser. You can choose whomever you feel comfortable with. I have no affiliation with any laser company. This suggestion is only for you so you can start on a fact finding mission. There are other laser centres downtown, ex. Dermal at Davie and Granville St., out at Metrotown in Burnaby, etc. You may want to visit 3 or 4 of them with the same questions so you can compare answers. This should help you separate the chaff from the wheat.
{Also is there someone I could see who would tell me whether it would be cheaper (price is a big factor, more important then speed) to do laser or electrolysis, or is this too difficult to predict at first?}
No this is not difficult to predict. The word “predict” is ambiguous. Arbutus can answer this question to your satisfaction, I can assure you of that.
You want names of electrologists? I can give you a few names if you want to privately e-mail me. I would publish them on this forum only if I had explicit permission from these electrologists to do so. Some don’t want their names published without their knowledge. So out of respect for everyone, I will only do this through a private e-mail at this time.
Hope this helps you a little.
Cheers.
Thanks lagirl and Eddy for your help. I will begin looking for a place now.