What do you think is a good setting for the Sterex blend machine? I had it at 25 on Thermolysis and Galvanic, would that be effective enough or should it be higher? The hair came out easily and there was a little bulb on the end. I was relieved about that, it started off with so much stress!
The effective setting would vary based on many factors, including personal hydration, use of caffeine, alcoholic beverages, past plucking, and so on.
As a Home user who is utilizing blend, I would advise that you figure out your setting by trying a two handed technique where you hold the hair with the forceps/tweezers and insert the probe, and keep the energy going until the hair pops out on its own with no pulling from you. At this point, you have a base line, and can adjust for timing and intensity to either do the same treatment in less or more treatment time. Keep in mind, longer treatment time per hair, can, in some case, lead to a less painful treatment, if you have the energy set correctly.
Just be patient, as you are sort of fumbling in the dark doing this without a hands on teacher to guide you. Electrolysis treatment currents are not like selecting speeds on a treadmill. It is more like speeds on a bike. What speed you should be in, has to do with the terrain you are on, and will change as your journey moves from one area to another. While those who don’t understand the bike, will put it in one setting and try to always ride it in that speed setting, pros are shifting repeatedly as they go along, all the time.
I hope that helps your understanding.
I love the analogy James.
Seriously - You consider adding the effect of the two currents both of which are sufficient to destroy the hair and consider increasing each? And You really mean THAT?
Wouldn’t it be a matter of simple logic expecting each partial current to be lower? (Actually i remember from my training we were typically using the SX-B at levels lower than You indicate).
Look for a good text book, preferrably Michael Bono’s classical text on the blend method which still might be available in public libraries and learn how to judge the parameters.
The SX-B user manual discusses settings. A thermolysis setting of 25 is way too high if you are doing blend.
User manual: http://n.b5z.net/i/u/6134570/i/SXB.pdf
Just wanted to add: if you have the thermolysis up that high, you are basically doing straight thermolysis! For blend, I used to have the thermolysis around 4 or 6, with the DC set from anywhere from 25 to 40, depending on the type of hair being treated.
When I “graduated” to thermolysis, I would rarely have the thermolysis setting above 25 (usually somewhere between 18 & 25). Of course you may be able to tolerate higher settings, but just start low and work your way up. Good luck!
DIYers - take the online courses or actually enroll in an onsite electrology school. These schools also require some on-site training to assist you in the practical application of electrolysis.
Because this work is very tedious and difficult, we welcome new students into the field and then, perhaps more professionals might respond to your technical questions.
There are way too many variables to consider when determining settings.
We are seeing too many DIYers purchasing machines over the internet yet they haven’t even read the books necessary to develop even a basic understanding of energy and tissue.
Sorry I wasn’t using the red cable and the steel bar so have been told I wasn’t doing blend, only thermolysis. Thank you for that manual HomeElectro. I’ve been so eager to get rid of hair, I didn’t want to wait too long to start so I probably should’ve just gone to a salon. I can’t find ideal salons near where I live, I emailed one lady and she said they do galvanic electrolysis but I hear that’s not as effective as blend. A lot of the salons want to do laser or IPL instead but I’d rather have electrolysis. I really want to go to Argryll Electrolysis Clinic, it’s 3 hours away from me though. I take ages using my machine so I should probably learn more about it and then I can just use it on stray hairs and go to a salon in the meantime because I’m desperate for the hair to go!
I agree 25 is too high on an SXB thermolysis setting, infact it would be high for diathermy alone too.I have used mine on approximately 4 thermolysis and anything from 15 upwards in increments of 5 on galvanic sometimes getting as high as 45+ but my machine is getting on a bit and it does seem to affect the setting
Seeing as this is an old thread, does anyone have anymore input to what are good settings to use for the Sterex SX-B for blend method? I tried 4 Therm, 20 Gal, and 5 Seconds but sometimes it’s so painful - though maybe I think it’s because of my insertions? My insertions are terrible right now.
I doubt youll get anyone sharing direct settings, since every machine is diffferent and everyone uses those machines a little differently. At least no one ever shared any with me I had to figure out what works. If you look at any electrology book, it will tell you how to test for tolerance.
Seana
Yes, I’ve been looking around on the internet trying to find settings and not so many people are willing to share. I do know every machine is different and every person is not the same so settings vary but I’m just really confused when I see the manual say to stay around a 4 for Thermolysis while on the internet I am reading people going into the 10’s and 20’s for Therm. The manual says to start at 4 Therm, 5.0 Seconds, and 20 Gal and only increase Gal. Though on the internet I see people around a 12-25 Therm, 5.0-7.0 Seconds, and 45 Gal. And already at 4 / 5.0 / 25 I am finding it so painful. I cannot imagine how they’d be treating with those settings? Unless it completely changes the intensity / feeling once you’re at that level?
I will try to find the tolerance again using Michael’s book - admittedly I’ve been following the Sterex manual.
Thank you Seana.
Start low with the thermolysis side only. Creep it up until the hair releases. Then enable the galvanic side, after you find a units of lye chart. That chart will help you determine a range of where you should be for a particular hair structure. Smaller hairs need less units of lye than very coarse hairs. A very coarse hair may need about 80 units of line. a finer hair less than 20 units.
If you see froth pouring forth from the follicle opening, I want you to shout, “EUREKA!!!”.
Caution: don’t work on your own face if you are not a trained professional.
The neibours started to complain at the constant shreiks of EUREKA coming from my home. I had to start practising from a clinic so they would stop complaining.
When you say 20 on galvanic side what does that mean? Is your machine calibrated in Tenths of milliampres? Does setting of 5 mean it delivers 5 tenths of a milliampres? 20 mean your machine delivers 2.0 milliampres?
I wanted to link some free PDF short guides on blend by Michael Bono, but his website has not been loading for me. Try to find the guide from bonoelectolysis.com
Thank you Dee - I’ve found my working point at 16 for Therm and at 12 seconds. I’ll experiment around again as I did this at 2am and wanted to head to bed and it may even be around 15 Therm with 15-18 seconds? Or would you suggest going with 16 Therm at 12s due to the shorter time and higher current?
And Fenix, this is my exact dilemma now after having found the working point. The Gal/DC side’s unit is “00.00 %” so by 20 I meant “0.20 %” - as I assume everyone else does too since I’ve been seeing “55” “65” etc online. So, “0.55” “0.65.”
I looked to the manual and found this (note: Timer is wrong, should be 99.95 Seconds not 9.95s) -
So, if I’m correct then 100% is 1mA and this confuses me because in Michael’s book he’s using mA values of 2-30 depending on units of lye and this device only goes up to 1mA…so I’m actually wrong and have no idea what I’m looking at nor know how to convert this haha
I have his book and the Sterex SX-B Manual (which isn’t that helpful) - but would be good for others also curious to have access to the free PDFs.
Called “Go-Daddy” and their server is ‘down’ … so my website is not even loading. They say it will be fixed in a few days.
Hummm … 2.0 or 0.2 DC … that damned decimal point!
A few years ago I had surgery on my ankle. The physician threaded in a lidocaine drip into the main leg-nerve, to keep me out of pain for the first 24-hours (a very good technique).
The pain was BRUTAL and none of the nurses understood why. They had to finally inject me with a heroine-type drug (Dilaudid). That worked splendidly.
The physician specified the digital drip gizmo to be set at 10.0 … mistakenly, they set it at 0.10; horrific night indeed. Next morning, the physician was not happy about the error, and neither was I. (The Dilaudid, however, was lovely.)
Eventually, when I get this building project done … I plan to do a video called, “What I got wrong about the Blend.” (And, I did!)
Here’s a “hint” …
The original blend machines had no DC meter at all. The meter was installed ONLY to see what the blend operators were actually doing.
Real blend operators don’t bother with “units of lye” at all. After a year or so of understanding this modality, you don’t need any of the meters, gizmos, etc., that only limit your ability … and compromise your results.
As you can see, I can’t get my point across in writing … a video should explain this horrible error that is now memorialized on nearly every machine that produces ‘the blend.’ UGH!
What has happened is, partially, my fault … I have to correct this and I certainly will.
Michael is DC flood-out a real phenomena when blending currents? How does one recognize and avoid DC flood out or too much HF when blending if practitioners don’t have to follow text-book charts on blend formulation? Or was DC flood-out a theoretical concept in your text that has no real consequence on real world blend?