One of the main problems with wanting to have permanent hair removal done is that it is expensive. Because of this, we try a multitude of things to try and get ourselves to the pristine condition of attractive hairlessness that we so desire. Unfortunately for us, there are a lot of people out there that realize that we women - and some men - will endure a lot of expense, discomfort and frustration to achieve these ends.
The main problem here is that a lot of these people have absolutely no scruples when it comes to seperating us from our money. Sometimes they can offer us products that can either make our condition worse or even cause us physical harm. Most times, fortunately for us, the products that they so attractively advertise do little more than seperate us from our hard-earned cash. I remember and uncle of mine, an avid fisherman, who used to tell me that most fishing lures were designed to catch the fisherman - not the fish! This is also very true with permanent hair removal.
Creams and growth inhibitors:
My experience with them was a total wash out. Some of them were very irritating to the skin and completely ineffective as far as any type of hair reduction, temporary, permanent or otherwise. Some of these items advertised “anti-androgen formulations” or other such nonsense. The problem here is that for any kind of OTC preparations, the concentrations of any known drugs have to be so low as to be completely useless.
Another limitation with these preparations is that unless they can get to the regenerative tissues at the papilla and bulge of the follicles, there is absolutely no way that they can possibly be effective. Each hair is associated with a sebacous gland that secretes sebum, an oily substance, into the the upper portion of the follicle. Sebum succeeds in protecting the tissues from bacteria and the like by constantly exuding this substance out of the hair follicles and onto the cuticle of the skin. In short, these compounds have a snowball’s chance of getting anywhere near where they would need to be in order to be effective.
Note: I am not addressing the OTC depilatories here. They do not advertise that they effect “permanent hair removal” but offer an alternative to shaving. My experience with these products is that they do work as advertised. However, I sometimes have adverse reactions to them. I have friends who use them frequently with no problems. We’re all different.
Microlysis:
This sounds good in theory and Global Electrolysis spends a lot of time and money advertising these “large areas in a single treatment” machines - along with the patches and topically applied chemicals (weak solutions of lye and silver nitrate) to those who believe that this would be the ultimate and easy way to “effective, painless permanent hair removal”. Sounds too good to be true? It is! The same limitations that prevent creams from working (sebum-filled hair follicles) prevent the chemical agents from reaching the lower levels of the follicles and destroying the regenerative tissues of the hairs in the “treatment” areas.
Microlysis is an alternative application of an important modality in electrolysis, i.e. cataphoresis. I use cataphoresis as an after treatment whenever I do a blend treatment. What cataphoresis does is use the anode of the galvanic current to drive positively charged ions into the follicles that have been treated, neutralizing the lye that was formed by the galvanic portion of the blend, creating an unfavorable growth environment for bacteria and firming up the surrounding tissues. The important distinction here is that the treatment is being used on areas where the hair follicles have been removed, allowing the migration of these ions to reach the lower levels of the treated follicles. This not done to remove hairs, but to speed healing and reduce the likelihood of post treatment infections.
Do It Yourself Epilators:
Again, we have something that sounds good in theory, but falls way short of the mark. Unless you are an expert at making proper insertions and progressive epilation you will not have good results with them and will experience a lot of discomfort as well.
I’m not saying they are not capable of working, they do if used properly. However, as they do not have any sort of calibrated level settings, of any real value when it comes to current flow, you have absolutely no idea of how many units of lye you are producing, or with the thermolysis units, the amount of AC current the machine is supplying. There are definate amounts, in terms of units of lye that are required to remove hairs, depending on hair thickness and depth - or the level of high frequency that will accomplish the same task. Without an accurately calibrated measurement system, and the ability to make fine adjustments in these levels, there is no way that the average DYI will be successful with these machines.
Again, all I can do is suggest that anyone who desires to “do it yourself” should buy one of the text books, learn what electrology is all about, and then go out and buy a professional epilator from a reliable dealer. It would also be a good idea to purchase a good binocular magnifier and a good, easily positionable light source. It is also necessary to learn how to make proper insertions. This takes a lot of time and practice with informed coaching.
Even then, I would not suggest that anyone try to work areas like their own face and I know from experience that working in areas that require the use of a mirror becomes slow, awkward and generally frustrating.
Hope this helps!
Joanie