Shaving before electrolysis for optimal results

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello there,

Hope you are doing great!

I am currently undergoing Electrolysis on my leg. I needed your help in understanding the settings used by my electrologist.

For the first 2 sessions (each session is of 2 hours) these were the settings:
Blend:
Shortwave: 0.62s, 08%
Galvanic: 08s, .44ma
Glv->HF(4 pulses/seconds)

For the next sessions, these were the settings and no other information was provided:
OMNI Blend: 07s, 0.48ma

In the first 2 sessions, I could feel the plucking of the hair. I believe I shouldn’t feel that. I had to request to change to the settings.

Please let me know if you think these settings are correct or I need to go higher on the settings?
I requested Blend as it uses the best of the two: Galvanic and Thermolysis. I was thinking of more optimal settings.

The electrologist also asked me to shave the leg a week before so that the blend electrolysis would have maximum effect in the growing phase of the hair.

What do you think? Am I getting the most out of these settings? Or could we improve on the settings? The make of machine is Dectro and model is Apilus Senior 3G.

Before I continue further, I would request you to provide your valuable input and advice on the settings and whether shaving of legs would produce maximum results.
Also please take a look at this webpage:https://www.follikill.com/2014/01/24/shave-before-electrolysis-hair-removal-treatment/

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you

#2

I ask my clients to shave the area we are treating and allow at least a few days of hair growth. This does a couple things for me. It allows me to see what hairs are actively growing as they have grown since my client shaved. It also is easier for me to see the direction of the hair growth and the angle of the follicle easier. If my client has very long hairs to work on, it is possible to work but it takes more time for me to untangle the hairs and make sure I am getting the true angle of the hair. So I leave it up to the client but let them know what they can do to make our work together easier.

As far as settings go, if you enjoy working with this electrologist, provide feedback during the session. Let her know that you can feel the hair being pulled out (if many of the hairs are ‘dead’ they usually have a ‘crystal ball’ of matter on the end and don’t slide out as easily as an active growing hair with a sheath).

You guys are working as a team and while we can use our best knowledge to treat clients, we ultimately are customizing each treatment to what works best for each individual client.

Best wishes,

Audrey
PNW Electrology

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#3

I would be seeking treatment with another electrologist.

Follicles can be treated at any phase of the hair growth cycle, so the notion that shaving will maximise results is false. It will likely prolong treatment. Plucking will also prolong treatment as it will not result in permanent removal.

The brand of machine and modality of treatment is not make or break. The most significant factor is the electrologist skill, and at a glance, this one seems to be unimpressive.

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#4

Shaving definitely helps with these issues for the practitioner. I’m not sure anyone has ever done a study comparing shaving or trimming prior to electrolysis with not shaving, but most practitioners believe treating actively growing hairs in anagen stage makes it easier to hit the dermal papilla with energy.

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#5

I’m wth Scurvy on this one! Well said!
Shaving hair means that the only hairs that will grow out is anagen hairs. We can kill hairs in any stage of growth, so why are we making it impossible to treat 2/3 of the hair due to cycle of growth?

Josepha would be all over this one, she makes clients not shave wax or otherwise touch the hair for 6 months prior to treatment, for this reason, catogen and telogen hairs wont gow and so wont be able to be removed.She wants the maximum number of hairs available to be destroyed.

I probably wouldnt use blend on large areas like the leg, but that’s just a preference. In my own case, i can provide better efficiency with thermolysis on large body areas. I cant give any opinion on the settings, since we cant see the hairs the density or use any other factors to determine the amount of energy sight unseen.

Seana

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#6

Hello Experts!,

Well, to be frank, I am lost.

As you all are experts/professionals in electrolysis, some answers are absolutely in conflict with other expert’s answers. I am surprised as electrolysis has been existed around for 100 long years and there is no clear cut empirical conclusion as how shaving may prolong or expedite or help the hair removal process with electrolysis.

So, What should I conclude. To shave or not to shave?

Thank you.

#7

Duma,
Did you received my email?
Dimi

#8

Hello Dimi,

Sorry, I have not received it. Please resend.

Thank you.

#9

I resent it. Please confirm.

#10

Hello Dimi,

Thank you so much.

I finally got your email. I am taking time to read and will reply.

Thank you again,
With Regards

#11

Hello duma,

You did not reply, so I assume all your questions are answered.

Best,
Dimi

#12

To shave or not to shave? It’s not a big deal. Personally, I work on a case by case basis since clients have different situations. Either way, as long as the insertions are on target and energy is concentrated at the lower 2/3 of follicle, you’re ok. Even the best among us, and I know personally that Lucy Peters work is phenomenal, and they request shaving. An above post notes that Josepha asks not to shave and her reputation is great. So there you have it, it’s all good as long as tech skill is good and follow tech’s established protocol.

Because hair growth is so individual as growth is contingent on so many factors, control groups and empirical testing is very expensive.

#13

I’d like to take a little better stab at this one than I have.
First, I will say, that usually the people who tend to worry most about the inability to shave, are generally thse with a LOT of hair to worry about. And for these, I dont worry about it. All the hair is going to be killed , eventually.Eventually it will come into a growth phase, and because it grows when you shave it, it will be destroyed.
Will I be treating all the available hair in the area if a client regularly shaves ? Well, no I wont. The overall process of the permanent hair removal will take onger, why, because those hairs in catogen or telogen wont grow out enough to be removed. But eventually, they are going to reach the end of telogen and shed. And come back as Anagen hairs!
So, when someone is getting regular treatments, and removing all of the available hair , there is a portion of the hair that cant be treated ( because it’s too short to determine the angle of insertionor remove the hair once treated.It isnt the end of the world. We are still detroying the hairs we are treating, the only real issue is the length of time the overall process might take because there are a portion of the hais that we are not getting to treat in their first cycle of growth. Some hair flllicles may only generate a hair once a year. But if you arent getting to treat all the available hair in each session anyway, due to the sheer quantity of hairs available for treatment, what exactly is the difference? There really isnt any.

It’s not that we havent gotten a synopsis or understanding of hair growth cycles, or an “Empirical conclusion” it’s simply different ways to approach the same problem. Will the choices we make make a difference to the overall timeframe for a permanent clearance? Well the evidence is that yes it will . It’s just that that difference isnt critical to the overall progress. All the hair is going to die eventually. If you are in a hurry to have that process over as soon as possible, then dont shave.If you dont mind extending that for a bit beyond the standard 18 months, then it doesnt matter if you shave or not.

#14

I agree that in the hands of a skilled practitioner, shaving prior to the start of treatments will not prevent you from having results. I also agree that this circumstance will lengthen the time of completion in several months if you refrain from shaving between sessions, or in years, if you continue shaving during the intervals between one session and the next.

There are good reasons to let hair grow as much as possible, especially if you are in need of traveling due to the lack of good professionals in your area, or simply due to the lack of professionals willing to work in body areas . The main reason is that shaving a certain area, say, a week before, will only allow us to treat 10% -20%? of all the hairs in the area. This percentage will be higher if it is a man’s beard, but it will be lower if it is a woman’s facial hair.
Will you have optimal results in this 10-20% that could only be treated? Of course, but you will need to travel at least another 9 or 10 times to achieve what could have been achieved 3 or 4 times and thus save a lot of money and time.

The next good reason is of a psychological nature. If you let the hair grow and start the treatment with 70-80% of the hairs, the results from the first clearing will be equivalent to that percentage. A reduction percentage that will give you the necessary motivation to reach the end and achieve your purpose.

On the other hand, and based on almost 40 years of experience, limiting the treatment only to hairs in the growth phase not only has no advantage in terms of results, but quite the opposite. A follicle in the growth phase is 3 times deeper than a follicle in the resting phase, and therefore, requires a higher heat pattern. As a result, the healing process will take more time to complete.

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