Hello everyone,
while surfing through the internet, I read that “Shaving one to five days prior to electrolysis greatly increases its efficacy because it ensures that only growing anagen hairs are treated”.
any advice or experience if this method really works to make sure that only the relevant hairs are treated?
thanks in advance!
No no no no NOO!
That is one of the worst mistakes you can do.
Save hairs for 3-4 months before your session of electrolysis. That way the electrologist can treat the maximum of hairs that is possible in one treatment.
This subject has been discussed many times here on Hairtell. Electrolysis books have this same advice written in them about shaving prior to electrolysis. I use to give this advice to my clients, but Josefa has convinced me otherwise that it is better to have the most amount of hair present for at least one hair growth cycle of three to four months.
If a client NEEDS to shave for psychological comfort and sanity, then I am relaxed about that and can still bring them to their goal in an acceptable timeframe, so it is not the end of the world if they shave, but optimally, for body work, leaving the hair alone is a better choice.
What area are you concerned with?
Tjeena Sterkarn … Boy, and thanks! (And Dee Dee too!)
A couple times I wrote about “micro-managing” your electrologist. What I meant by that was taking someone else’s “strategy” and applying it universally to another. Strategies are different and depend on modality and experience.
Of course, I know that telogen hairs are easily removed by electrolysis: this was clearly stated in my book published way back in 1995! Still, the “anagen only” idea persists and will never end: even though it’s completely wrong. However, the “anagen only” strategy still WORKS! (Remember, because something works, does not therefore make it true.)
If the electrologist wants to only work on anagen hairs, and wants the person to shave, etc., that’s really okay because her strategy IS going to work! There’s nothing actually wrong with this approach, it’s just not based on fact. A better way of saying this would be: “I prefer working ‘anagen only’ so I can assure the patient of less skin reaction.” (Yeah, this is a valid reason to do this.)
However, it’s annoying when a client demands that I work in a manner that I do NOT want to work, i.e., damaging that I “clear off” the entire beard in a few days, work on “anagen only,” demand that I use a certain needle, or demanding that I use a specific setting.
There are a LOT of valid strategies in electrolysis! For example, you cannot expect a multiple needle expert to follow MY strategy, or the strategy of a micro-flash user. I really wish our beloved readers here on Hairtell understood that there are “many way to skin a cat!”
What counts are actual results. I don’t care if you use two-hands, one hand, or remove the hairs with your fingers. Are you causing permanent hair removal? THAT’S what counts. So, don’t “micro-manage” from only reading a few comments on-line!
As the song from “Porgy and Bess” goes: “It ain’t necessarily so … the things that you’re liable to read in the Bible … it ain’t necessarily so!”
Hi ,
I am actually concerned with the hairs on my upper lip. they are very soft and light but sill so many that I just do not feel comfortable.
That is why I thought that shaving would help to make them a bit more “sturdier” and hence easier to treat.
do you think shaving is a good idea in this case?
many thanks
espera
Would shaving not make treatment easier in terms of the electrologist being better able to locate the entrance to the follicles of shorter hairs as opposed to hairs say an inch in length?
I personally prefer to treat when the hair is shorter because I think it is easier to determine the direction of the hair growth and see the mouth of the follicle. There may be other electrologists that don’t mind treating when the hair is longer.
Espera
Your electrologist might prefer one way or another. In would ask which they prefer.
I use a Zeiss microscope for those types of hairs because they are difficult to see with the lighted magnifier. You might try and find a practitioner who uses a microscope.