Since when does it take 1-3 minutes to remove a hair with blend, Harvey? Didn’t you mean to say galvanic?
Hi there discolane. There are three modalities of electrolysis for removing a hair permanently. Galvanic is chemical destruction, thermolysis is heat destruction and a conbination of the galvanic and thermolysis is called the blend.
Flash thermolysis takes less than a second per hair. Manual thermolysis is a couple to several seconds per hair. Blend is 7-20 seconds per hair.
Galvanic is usually 1-3 minutes per hair, but can take as long as 9 minutes.
Electrologists have battled back and forth over one method being superior or just as good as the other for years. Electrology textbooks put it this way: what is the shape of the heating pattern created by these different modalities and how does that pattern affect the permanent destruction of the hair. The smaller the heating pattern, the higher the regrowth rate.
Flash has the smallest heating pattern, so regrowth is higher, followed in this order by manual thermolysis, blend and pure galvanic.
Your electrologist is using the modality that is probably more comfortable for her and more effective for you. Not knowing your situation, you might ask her, since her Apilus is capable of doing blend, if she can give a treatment using the blend method so you can compare the sensation of flash thermolysis to the sensation of blend.
Before I was an electrologist, I had the hair removed from my underarms. My electrologist used flash and I have been hair free in this area for 15 years. I remember being very concerned because the regrowth I was experiencing. It was quite a bit and months had passed with regular weekly appointments. I held on and did finally acheive permanecy, but now that I am an electrologist,I have always wondered if I would have reached the end sooner with blend.
I am not partisan to any method. I use all modalities for hair removal as the situation warrants. I reserve Flash for fine, blond straight hairs and manual thermolysis is used for medium straight hairs. I use blend for thicker, deeper hairs that may or may not be curved. On occassion,I’ll bring out the big gun, my multiple needle unit, where I can treat 16 hairs at once in 1-3 minutes for that stubborn beard hair. They all work!
Different methods do work, and each has their limitations. It’s been said again and again that outcome is operator dependent. Some can go at lightening speeds, some are more comfortable going slower. If you trust your electrologist, so much the better.
As for your friend getting permanency between her eyebrows with 3 sessions, that’s great, but I didn’t know if you were asking why others doing the same area are having to go weekly. Were you trying to compare treatment time in this area with blend vs. thermolysis?
Don’t be afraid to ask your electrologist questions.
Dee