I would do a sample 15 min treatment with her and look for the following:

-do the hairs slide out without resistance after being zapped?
-does she use proper magnification?
-what method is she using to get you to your first clearance? how's her speed?
-how does your skin look post-treatment and how does it heal (given proper aftercare of course)

Electrologists are often wary of giving precise numbers when it comes to treatment completion because there are just too many factors involved, that don't necessarily depend on them. however, in most cases, if they do give a number, THEY will be the ones who will get blamed if you're not finished by then. These factors involve how consistent you are in your treatments and committed to getting a bunch of treatments up front to clear the area (better with thermolysis btw at this stage, even if you switch to galvanic afterwards when you know for a fact you're treating just the anagen hair that just came out), underlying medical conditions, etc.

Thanks, I will give her a 30 min session try. So as long as the hair slides out easily, she's treating properly?

I think I'm understanding why thermolysis for first clearance is a better idea: since it removes hair more quickly than galvanic, you're paying for less time clearing hairs that might be mainly telogen hair (which are less effectively 'killed'). Right?

One thing I'm still trying to make sense of is what she meant when she said that hair regrows after 1 week with thermolysis but after 2 weeks with galvanic. I'm assuming she meant that for areas where regrowth is ordinarily quick, such as a man's beard, but why would the techniques yield different regrowth rates?

you are correct on the first statement.

in terms of her other statement, i suspect there was some miscommunication. a hair cannot generate and grow out in 1 week. it has to be a NEW hair. if the exact same hair appears (hard to tell), then it likely broke off on its way out.

Anyone who performs thermolysis who thinks it has that much more of a regrowth rate doesn't understand that the efficacy of thermolysis is all about practitioner skill. If one gets the treatment energy correct, and the insertion correct, it is exactly as effective as galvanic and blend. What you don't have with thermolysis is the higher tolerance for IMPROPER insertions and near misses.

Alright, thanks all for your helpful responses. I will have a try when I get back into town and report back (no doubt with more questions :-) )

Hi I am looking for a recommendation for an Electrologist in New Hampshire. My wife has already had Laser but outside the US and we are looking for an Electrologist as she has very big problems with hyperpigmentation. Plus she will need to get her face done which is finer hairs and the laser might not be worth doing as teh hairs are quite fine but dark.
We have been out of the US for quite a few years now and if anyone has any good experiences in the Concord NH area that would be best for us. We are looking for Thermolysis and someone mentioned microflash but I am uncertain as to what that is. She has a lot of facial hair and really wants it gone.
I looked at the directory but would like to see if anyone has any personal comments about any of teh places.
Thanks
Steve & Cathy

I'm hoping with you that someone in New Hampshire will give you a personal recommendation. We'll see what happens. If no one responds then you need to do the chore of making a list of practitioners close by and then going in for consultations and short treatments.

I remember you from another forum and I won't mention the country you were located at the time because you haven't mentioned it here yourself, but I'm curious if you ever found an electrologist there. I remember you said there was a lot of laser locations, but the electrologist side of things looked dim. Did Cathy have laser performed on her face or was it just body work?

Microflash thermolysis is a variation of thermolysis (heat destruction). It is high intensity and very short timing, well under a second. It can only be performed using a computerized epilator and the electrologist must be very skilled and focused to perform this modality correctly. It is an excellent way to remove hair, any size hair on any color of skin because it is lightening fast, something that would please you both because she has lots of fine dark hair. When I say it is fast, I am saying that you can get the hair cleared and keep the hair cleared until there is no more hair to treat. With consistent appointments, timed to get anagen hair, you can expect permanency in 9-12 months at the best. You may need a few additional months if there are more than the usual hurdles to jump.

Now let's hope that someone comes forward to share the good news about their practitioner from the Concord area.

Dee

http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/75/page/1 - from this forum's directory.

it's hard to get answers to a post like this as by the time someone from NH might read it, it will be very far from the main page. either way, you should post a NEW thread with this question in case that DOES happen. however, your best bet is to call all the electrologists you can find and ask what machine and method they use, how long they've been practicing, etc.

microflash is a faster type of thermolysis. either regular thermolysis or flash will be fine for her, as long as the practitioner knows what they're doing. you would be able to tell after sampling several electrologists and following recommendations here (i.e. not feeling plucking, good post-treatment reaction etc)

Yes we have posted on the other Forum regarding lasers. We are currently in the Philippines but we will be moving back to teh US around Januaryy or so.
Electrolysis is just not done here. The place that does the laser for us also does electrolysis and it's a galvanic unit with a single probe and I'm certain no one theer knows how to operate it very well snce it seems they use it primarily to encourage laser hair removal as electrolysis is just too painful.
Gotta admit doing 1 hair at a time with a single probe would take a very long time.
No chance of getting electrolysis done here not even in Manila.
Cathy just had teh Bikini area done and is still undergoing treatment this last time she was pretty badly burned. The techs heer really don't know anything and my suggestion was to set the pulse to 20ms and 30 joules on the Lightsheer but it seems that while she can handle a 30ms pulse and 30 joules. She can't handle the 20ms pulse. It's been 6 days and the blisters are still bad and the scabs are still pretty black and there is open raw flesh where the scabs have come off.
Thankfully she has a fairly high pain tolerance.
We will finish up the laser but at a lower setting. Once we are in the US I will just have her use electrolysis. Laser woks but with her skin the hyperpigmentation problems would make her face a nightmare. The test spot I forget the setting but it wasn't very high lasted 3-4 months on her face!
Scary! Thankfully it was in an out of the way place on her forehead.

Regarding Microflash does it still use a probe? I really want something that's permanant so she doesn't have to go through this any more. She really wants to be hair free but laser just isn't the answer for her.
It doesn't have to be Concord NH but something within driveable distance would be ideal.
Theer are many paractitioners in the Concord NH area but no idea about if they are any good.
I'm hoping electrolysis will be less painful for her as the burns from the laser take about 2 weeks to heal.
Electrolysis should not need such a long recovery time.
I'm hoping someone comes through for us.
Thanks for the info
Steve & Cathy

Thanks, we are new to this forum and I gave up on electrolysis when I found it wasn't available in the Philippines where we are currently living. My work contract is up here soon and I will be going back to the US.
I'm going to have to study all about electrolysis like I did with laser but Laser in the Philippines is not exactly the way to go. It's cheaper for the same machine by far but the techs often have little idea of what they are doing and know very little about the machines and many places even affliated ones get nervous about using the machines on any setting that would be effective.
I wanted Cathy to use electrolysis but they just don't do it here so when we get back to the US we will get it done there.
How should I post a question so that it will be seen? Also I want to post it in the correct area. I will study up on thermolysis and microflash and see if Ican figure it out. Cathy isn't very good with technical things.
Thanks for your help
Steve & Cathy