just went for some electrolysis on the small of my back. 2nd time i’ve ever gone. the first time was in PA, this time Seattle, WA.
anyhow, does the amount of work done in the picture seem correct for 90 minutes? i know there are a lot of variables, but it seemed to me that the lady was going really slow, and a little too concerned about chatting, instead of removing hair. maybe i’m wrong though.
anyhow, she used a blend method, but that’s all i remember.
Was she working in single probe galvanic? Multi-probe galvanic? Blend? Slow Thermolysis? MicroFlash? PicoFlash?
How was her visual equipment?
So many variables.
90 minutes could net you 150 hairs, or 1500 hairs depending on the area, and the people involved.
Blend is slower than thermolysis, but is very effective. Ask her if she can do thermolysis instead, especially because it is a bigger area. It is not easy to make a judgement on the progress achieved in 90 minutes because I don’t know how the area looked before you went in. Did you shave the area before? Are you wanting only the noticable hairs removed? I think it looks pretty good actually. This goes to prove that we electrologists are all different with the speed factor. Too much talking, pausing, stroking, etc. causes the paying client much anxiety and I don’t blame them. Personally, I prefer not to talk because I can work faster and focus better.
Is the talking part something you feel comfortable talking to her about? Ask her if you can listen to music. Tell her you just want to close your eyes and try to relax. Tell her you want her to work as fast as possible because this is expensive and there is a lot to be accomplished. That’s my suggestion!
Dee
James, i’m not sure about most of the questions you ask. i know it was blend, and it seemed like each hair took a couple seconds. she also showed me the probe, but it really didn’t mean anything to me. she had one of those big magnifying things, like dentists have.
honestly, the more i think about it, the less i think i’ll go back to her. she was nice, but there were so many times when she stopped working just to make eye contact while she was talking to me. that’s like a 10 second waste of time, and when it happens every minute, it adds up.
she also mentioned that it took three treatments on each hair to get rid of it. my understanding was that the multiple treatments were needed just to get the hairs that weren’t above the skin in the other treatments, not that each hair needs to get hit multiple times to be permanently removed(though I’m sure some would).
the light wasn’t great in that first picture, this picture gives a better view of the hair that is remaining.
In 2 hours my electrologist would clear out the entire area that is in your pic. I think you could definitely get many more hairs removed during a 90 minute session. I would recommend seeing a different electrologist one who has skill as well as speed. I went through the exact same thing last week. I went in for a 2 hour session on my lower back (with a substitute electrologist) and was very disappointed with the results. I’m so glad my original electrologist will be coming back from vacation in 2 weeks so I can go back to her. She can get rid of so many more hairs in 2 hours. good luck with your treatments. 
I am going to sound very biased here, but what the hell! Unless my electrologist’s name were BONO, and was related to Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre Bono Allman, I would be unlikely to do body work with blend, unless the thermolysis operators in my area were just so bad that I would be better off getting a buddy and doing Do-Each-Other-At-Home Electrolysis.
Having said that, body work is very taxing on the electrologist, as one is usually in the position of bending over and reaching to get into position for the correct angle of insertion. Since most electrologists don’t know what an ergonomic work station is, and many who do won’t spring for the cost of getting one for themselves, everyone suffers for the lost productivity and discomfort created by the lack of that comfort producing, speed inducing ergonomic set up.
ok, can i ask why? or should i read through previous threads to get an idea?
Why wouldn’t you use blend on the body?
Im getting some of my back done with blend. I find that my electrolysis takes 2 or 3 attempts on lots of my hairs.
Is that normal?
Blend can be used anywhere on the body and is effective. Two to three attempts is slow, but that maybe all she knows how to do. That may be all her epilator is capable of allowing her to do. I think James as much said that, but also he also was saying what a lot of professional electrologists know already: Microflash thermolysis is faster and just as deadly as the oldies but goodies.
This clients lower back area could most likely have been totally cleared in 90 minutes or less perhaps, if a skilled microflash thermolysis electrologist was doing the work. I never do blend on a man’s back. Don’t need to because there is a better way. Many electrologists have the computerized epilators to do microflash. They use special techniques that make microflash a superior method for removing large amounts of hair. If one’s electrologist only uses blend, then it will take longer, but you will still get permanent hair removal. I personally think the area looks good for what was done.
There is no need for anyone to gasp and then protest such statements about the role microflash thermolysis plays in modern electrolysis care. We all recognize here that blend is a wonderful modality, but any professional electrologist that is trained to do blend and microflash thermolysis will always choose microflash for such areas as this with such hair density.
Consumers need to stick with the electrologist who they are comfortable with whether they are proficient at blend, thermolysis, microflash thermolysis or muti-probe galvanic, or even better, all three modalities. For speed and clearance, a well-trained microflash electrologist wins hands down over what the other modalities offered. If your practitioner hasn’t investigated and learned this option and prefers to stick with blend, then you are NOT getting ripped off. It is still going to work.
It is my fervent wish that all professional electrologists, worldwide, would know how to perform all modalities with ease and can be flexible enough then to use the modality that best suits the clients unique needs. Morrissey, if you are happy with your situation, then carry it on. Some posts on other forums say hairtell.com is very helpful, but say the hair removal advice here is from an AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE. I don’t know what that means. If the person that made that statement would care to explain, I’d be interested to know how so??? Do you have any thoughts on this as I’m mildly curious.
Thanks,
Dee
Mike Bono does a fast Blend technique that would be almost as fast as microflash or picoflash, so one would get lots of hairs done in a short time.
It should also be noted that the amount of skin bared is not a good measure, as the number of hairs in an area are not uniform. That is another reason why computerized electrolysis machines are so wonderful, they intertion counters can tell one how many hairs have been cleared in the session. This can make one feel a whole lot better when one finds a small area has been cleared, but then finds out that the density of hairs in that area was such that one has cleared more than a thousand hairs in that small area. Later, as the number of hairs per square unit of space lessens, the same amount of time will clear much more skin.
How many of your clients ask for a count of hairs removed? Do you offer this information to those who do not ask? Does the unit actually count the number of insertions? For my face, especially, I often have multiple insertions on a single hair; that is: 1) insertion with treatment pulses, 2) tug with the tweezers, 3) hair won’t budge, and 4) try again. I suspect that this would report as multiple “hairs” even though three attempts were done on a single hair.
On the higher-end computerized epilators, Silhouet-Tone VMC, Apilus, Gentronics, etc., digital hair counting is possible. More accurately, we should call it an insertion
counter, because that is exactly what it does. It keeps track of the INSERTIONS. I keep track of the the insertions every treatment and try to set the energy so that one insertion is enough, but occassionally, I need to to do a couple insertions to release the hair.
I tell my clients how many insertions were made after a treatment and have them trained to know that insertions do not equal exact hair removed, because some hairs require a second insertion. They understand this and watch the LED screen to view the stats whenever they desire. I keep track of these numbers so I can give them updates at month 1 and month 4 and 6, etc… They think this is really neat information to know, so they can keep track of their progress.
Dee
Keep in mind also that many times, one treatment insertion can kill more than one hair, so often times, this makes up for the multiple insertions on the few that need it. That is, unless the electrologist is working with a power level that is so low that it requires more than one insertion. (in which case one would be better to set the machine to do pulses and still get one insertion per hair, while the machine does the work that reinserting would do, of course, that would mean that one understands the machine well enough to do that, and is willing to set it up to do so).