Hi there.

i was reading through some posts and heard people talking about the One-Touch or the Clean & Easy. I was wondering if these were the two most recommended?

I want to buy a DIY machine so i can do a bit myself at home, i am willing to spend hours a day with it i do not mind, i just want something effective, easy, not dangerous!
I will solely use it for the body (not face), and i have never bought a machine before so just would like to hear your thoughts regarding it.
What would you recommend for my first buy? Be good to hear anything in your opinion, but keep it simple for me to understand i get a bit confused with the technical talk and what it all means :P

many thanks

Not a One Touch or Clean and Easy. They may be okay for a few hairs if you have any talent for insertions, but not an hour daily of body work. They will fall apart before you get to hair #10.

Get an older epilator that an electrologist is willing to sell. DO galvanic first and then graduate to thermolysis as you gain more confidence.

Is Sterex the big brand name epilator in the UK?? Clareblend would be a nice used machine and there are others, I'm sure. I would think you would have to buy something used that is not as powerful as some of the computerized stuff that are available for professional use now. You need to read about galvanic electrolysis first and learn all you can about making good insertions. It's not all that easy to get this together, but if you are dedicated enough, I suppose you can make it happen for you on body areas you can reach.

Dee

I am a diyer and I started with a gentronics then upgraded to a Fischer CBX and now have an Apilus Senior II. Used professional machines can be found with much life still left in them. I read as much as I could before I started working on myself. It was a slow learning process and I would still say after almost two years I am still a beginner. I just am a beginner with a better machine than any one with in a fifty miles. Thanks to this site learning it yourself can be done. I hope to some day turn this into my profession but that is a long story way to long for this posting.

Good luck.

Wow, an Apilus Senior, I am so jealous! I just bought an Instantron Elite myself.

PaleBoy, in addition to an epilator, be sure to pick up some of the recommended reading, especially The Blend Method book. You might even want to do your reading up first before you decide to try this yourself and buy an epilator.

I was wondering if any other DIYer here had thought of turning electrolysis into a career. I told a friend that I was going to learn to do my own electro, she said I was crazy, and asked why I didn't at least go to school to learn to do it properly. I thought about it and did some research, and found there are not many schools of electrolysis left, none within hundreds of miles from me that I know of. It is an interesting idea though, I was thinking of a career change too. There are a few listed on the AEA web site but I think they are the only ones left sadly. (I'd love to know if any are still left in upstate NY if anyone reading knows of any.)

I have been thinking a lot about a career in electrology too, Vickie. There is one school in NY called Berkowitz I believe? I am not sure where it is exactly or if it is good. Maybe someone else knows.

It seems like the general consensus I have read is that the more expensive machines are the easiest to use. It does seem like quite an investment for strictly DIY though.

There is, unfortunately for me it is in Queens, many hours away from my small town. The AEA has it listed, and it is an AEA accredited school it says.

http://www.berkowitsschool.com/

I was holding out for an Apilus for a while but couldn't find one for less than $1000 used (an Apilus Jr. like my pro uses and raves about.)

Interestingly, the Bono book says it is better to learn on an older machine with analog dials and analog DC meter as opposed to a newer one with all digital controls (mine has analog dials and a digital meter, in fact there is a picture of someone in there using the same machine as mine.) All the schools I have read about train people on all digital machines now (the Apilus line predominately.) Go figure!

I had applied to one school and was denied. Not the type of student they wanted for more reasons than one. I just was contacted by the only other school in my state after much frustration this might still happen. I have to add that you must be certified to do electrolysis here. I have to decide if getting certified will be worth it. If I will be able to make this a full time career. My wife does not think so, she thinks it will never be more than a part time job.

Maybe I can get some investors to help me get the money for my schooling and repay them with electrolysis after I complete my schooling. Has anyone ever thought of that?

My epilator is an Apilus Senoir II with the IMMPAC upgrade (not just a Senior). I have not figured out what I really have yet but in time I will.

Wow, that is one heck of a machine! Maybe equal to an Apilus Platinum? Very cool I almost landed a like-new Silouet-tone VMC for $500 which I was told is roughly the equivalent of an Apilus Jr., but the seller disappeared before I could buy it

I might keep looking around for a school, my pro electro mentioned that laser is probably driving many of them out of business, I just noticed many electro schools left now offer laser as well. Maybe in the fall when my regular job slows down I will bite the bullet and apply at Berkowitz or one of the out-of-state schools that offer the 320 hour program (would then be too late to take the CPE test until the fall of next year though.)

If someone was selling a Silhouet-Tone VMC for $500 it would not last the length of the auction. As these had a MSRP of $5,000 when they debuted, and still go for $3,500 brand new, and used ones are rarely sold for less than $2,000 ($2,500 is the norm) someone would have arranged to buy it early and have the auction stopped.

Of course, the other alternative is that it was a fraudulent ad and the person never had one in the first place. I would like to think that it just got snapped up by someone who lived driving distance away who said "$500! I'll be right over!"

It is a long story, but to make a long story short, I found the person on craigslist, not ebay. He had a whole salon to sell off, including a very expensive dazor lamp I wanted. He had pictures of it all, including the VMC powered on. He seemed eager to just be rid of everything and didn't seem to know what he had beyond it was "electrolysis equipment". I offered to drive over six hours (each way ) no promises but just to look at it and examine it personally; I know what it sells for and I was willing to gamble a few tankfuls of gas and 12 hours of my life to land such an amazing buy. Once I offered to come and see it, I never heard back. He may have sold it locally before I got there, I don't know. Sadly, all I got out of the deal was a typical story about the one that got away.

All I got to say is that I don't know too many people who know what a S-T VMC is who would not have reacted like the annual Filine's Basement Sale Brides upon hearing a VMC for $500.00

Even broken it would be a good buy, as the cost to fix it could not surpass $500.00

...or maybe he never even had the machine at all! You never know with people selling stuff on places like Craig's List. I have tried to find a used Apilus or Silhouet-tone for several months and it seems really difficult (depending on the price, of course).

I may buy one new and finance some classes at the same time. To those of you that are professional electrologists, how many hours of practical training do you feel are really needed to get a person started? I am looking at one program that is 80 hours plus the classroom work. After that, I plan to work on myself to perfect my skills before working on someone else. I live in a state that doesn't require any licensing.

I'd like to hope someone just got there first, and it wasn't a scam. I'd post the link to the info openly but just in case it was all on the up and up I won't. The price quoted was in private, very possible he was offered much more by someone else, I couldn't have offered what it was really worth anyway, I just don't have that much money to spare. Being just a DIYer, $2500 would buy a good amount of pro electro. Heck, I'd even been happy to land that sweet magnifying lamp he had. Ah, well, win some lose some.

The pros can correct me if I am wrong, the info I found was confusing, but it seems like you need to complete a 320 hour program to qualify for CPE certification. Oddly, the Berkowits school has a 120 hour program (in unregulated NY state), but wouldn't anyone who invests in schooling want to qualify for CPE certification?

Yes, it would be nice to have CPE behind one's name. In order to get this, you have to go to an AEA convention and take the test. I think the test costs a couple hundred of dollars.

If you live in a licensed state like Ohio, electrologists have completed 600 hours in the classroom and clinic combined, taken a wriiten and practical exam over two days through the state medical board. The requirements are now up to over 700 hours in Ohio and electrolysis is earned in a two year associates degree program in the college of nursing and health. Twenty-five hours of continuing education is required every two years to keep one's license active. With these requirements, some of us are qualified and happy to keep running our businesses with the initials that we earned through our home state licensing board.

Continuing education is important and whether you have a CPE or other initials doesn't guarantee that you can remove hairs with expertise, but those initials and pretty certificates on the wall do impress the consumer.

The CPE exam costs $325 for non-AEA members, and $275 for members. Of course, membership costs between $140 - $350, depending on where you live and when you join. Keep in mind the expense of going to what ever city the CPE Exam is being given, and while you are there, you may as well get those CEU's (and I don't mean "certified educational upgrade" either sorry, hairtell inside joke) by attending the actual AEA convention at a cost of another $275 to $350. Don't forget to figure in the cost of travel and the hotel stay, and meals and incidentals of course. Basically, most people pay about $1,000 or more around taking the CPE test alone, and then one must decide if one is to repeat that expense on a yearly basis, or retest once every 5 years instead. This doesn't count what they paid for their training.

Speaking of training, the requirements for taking the exam state:

the registration form
MUST be accompanied with the following documentation:
A. If applicant practices in a licensed state
1. a photocopy of state electrology license
B. If applicant resides in an unlicensed state
1. a photocopy of certificate of completion
from a SCHOOL OF ELECTROLOGY with
date of graduation and number of hours
completed (320 minimum required). You
must have graduated from school prior to
registration. PROMETRIC must receive copies
of certificates no later than the registration
deadline.

****OR 2. a NOTARIZED AFFIDAVIT from an instructor,
who is a CPE, indicating number of hours
completed (320 minimum required), date completed,
and proof that trained electrologist has
been in practice for at least one (1) year following
completion of hours (i.e. notarized statement
from employer, photocopy of advertising dated
one year previous to completing registration
form, etc.)
AND proof of residency such as photocopy of
driver’s license.
An eligible electrologist is defined as one who
has met all necessary requirements in the state
in which he/she resides/practices, or in the case
of not having an established practice, the state
in which legal residence is maintained.

So, although the training time needed to take the CPE is 320 regardless of how one gets that training, if one's state did not require that, and one was not planning on taking that test, one might not go for that much school time.

Keep in mind, schools are almost never around the corner, and usually require one to travel and set up living in another city, if not another state. Add to that many schools bigotry against training men (leading to the closest school, not being the closest school you may actually be allowed to attend), and you find a real hardship for would be electrolysis students looking for training.

In the end, the difference between a good electrolysis provider and a not so good one will be that person's desire to learn, and willingness to practice. No amount of arbitrary hours can assure that. (especially when many of those hours are spent on things that have only tangental relevance to the actual work an electrologist performs.)

James, that makes sense now. I am a bit embarrassed

I used to live in a city that had an electrology school just a mile away from where I lived. I went past it often, and wondered... I went to a big fancy college in the same city, but I think I ended up going to the wrong school! The electrology school was bought out and closed a few years after I graduated. Oh, the irony. If I only knew then and seen the opportunity...

If schooling and CPE certification sounds expensive, for me it is a bargain compared to what I paid for that fancy, now unusable degree But as someone said earlier, it sure looks impressive hanging on the wall

Vickie, if you are in NY and want to become an electrologist, email me and I will help you.

electrolysis@juno.com

Ah yes, Vickie. At a class reunion, my former roommate spit out, "Leave it to Walker to find a way to make what I make without going through what I went through to make it!"

Let's just say our return on educational investment dollars looks a lot different.

Do you think selling a machine on ebay is the way to go? I have an Apilus Senior II that I am considering selling along with various other supplies and am not really sure where to list it. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to list it... also, I went to school in NJ for electrolysis, at a county college. The program was great but the only complaint I had was in order to become school certified through the program was to complete other classes i.e. biology, english, microbiology which I still don't understand.So if you can find a program in a county college it would be worthwhie but expect to take more classes than just Electrolysis.

Keep in mind that the whole point of increasing the hourly requirements is to make one take classes in more than just electrolysis. Just ask all the Ohio Electrolysis students how they enjoyed their REQUIRED Massage Therapy Classes.

As for listing your machine, Ebay, Ioffer.com and the AEA Classifieds are good places to list... Oh, and of course, right here on HairTell.com If you have a price that you are comfortable with quoting, you can just post here what you want and allow people to PM you via this site to set up a potential deal. After all, the Apilus Senior II is a wonderful machine that many professionals would be good to upgrade to, and would be the envy of many a Home User.

Arlene, NY but not NYC. Actually, in terms of distance I am about halfway between you and James

I'll have to look and see if any community colleges offer such a program. I would hope I could avoid most of those non-core classes, since I already took most of those years ago and have a four year degree (in a scientific discipline) now.

It pains me to think how much I spent on all of the credit hours on pointless, even silly classes with no relevance to anything in my major (think "basket weaving 101") just to fulfill some requirement for graduation. I could have probably bought a set-up and a new Apilus Senior on what I paid for all those trivial classes alone.

ARE you still interested in selling your electrolysis machine, I live in Lima Ohio and am looking for one?

Let me know
meu2

I posted on the ebay thread a month ago about purchasing a machine. Unfortunately, I missed out on a Clareblend posted on ebay. They have some great machines up now, but too expensive for a new DIYer. I recently saw an ad for a Electro blend epilator model UC-2. Supposedly brand new, with all the books, but no needles. It was orginally purchased for $1,500. Is this a good machine? If so, how much is a reasonable offer on such a machine? I will have to figure in shipping and handling as well.

The Hinkel Electro-Blend UC-2 is a great all purpose machine with the ease of stereo knobs to select treatment energy and timing. It can be set to do galvanic, thermolysis or blend. It is a nice machine for anyone, Home User, or Professional.

I would not expect to touch this machine for less than $800, and anything under $2,000 is better than retail.

Thanks, James. The woman wrote me back so I am going to make her an offer. I think I can possibly get a good deal since it was posted for a few weeks and she still hasn't gotten rid of it. I saw an older posting for Elite SPECTRUM by Instantron and might inquire about that as well.

Many electrolysis offices are still using the venerable workhorse known as the Elite Spectrum, lovingly made by the hands of my dear friends at Instantron.

Most of these are digital selectors, but the insertion delay cannot go lower than one second, which for a home user, is quite alright, but for a professional becomes a glass ceiling, eventually. I and several of my friends are regularly using insertion delays between 0.2 and 0.5 seconds.

Again, this machine will do galvanic, blend, and thermolysis. Used ones typically sell for $500 - $1,000, and they can be serviced by Texas Electrolysis Supply, in the west or south USA, and can go back home to the Instantron Company if you live in the east or northern states.

Tell them James says howdy.

So it sounds like the Hinkel is a better option. The Instantron looked more modern with it being digital, so I thought it might be better for a beginner. Oddly enough, the person selling the Hinkel said she paid 1,500, whereas the Instantron seller said they paid 2,000. .

The Elite Spectrum sells new for $2400 from Instatron directly ($395 more with air.)

James, any idea what an older Instantron Elite is worth? I think I got a great deal it, but I am curious what I could resell it for if I upgraded.

I was also considering sending my older Elite back to Instantron to be refurbished/recalibrated and have the wonky LCD display replaced. Any idea what the refurb/recal would run from Instantron directly?

These usually sell on Ebay for $500 to $1,000 with some going for less on a bad week, and rarely some going for more on a good week (when no other real machines are available, and one is willing to ship to India)

Having them work on the machine runs $80 to $200 plus shipping depending on what is needed.

I paid $300 for my Elite, it was no $500 VMC but hey not bad

Speaking of Instantrons and repairs, I have a question I hope someone who has used my machine can help me with. I am embarrassed to ask, since I fear this is another case of "user error". But I want to make sure if it isn't me I send it off to be properly repaired if need be. I read the manual and still can't figure it out, again maybe it is my lack of training or something.

I have the machine set with the computer off (requiring the footswitch and no insertion autodetect and delay) and the auto/manual set to manual (no automatic timing) the meter set to display mA/galvanic and finally modality set to galvanic only.

When in this configuration, I have the ground attached to myself, insert the needle into a follicle and press the footswitch to turn on 0.3mA of current. Instead of displaying 00.3 on the meter, it constantly goes up and down, from positive to negative, displaying all sorts of illogical values (at least illogical to me.) If I touch the needle to the electrode directly, it displays a -1 constantly (null?). The RF indicator light also comes on, even though modality is set to galv only and the RF settings are all set at 0.

When I have the computer on (in auto or manual mode) the meter shows exactly the current I have dialed in (say 0.3mA so the meter displays 0.3). if I have the computer off but in automatic mode, the same thing occurs, it correctly displays the mA I have selected on the dial.

With the computer off and mode set to manual, the sensation of the current at a given mA level is the same as if the computer was on and/or mode was set to automatic. So, in other words, 0.3mA on a given area feels the same regardless of whether the computer is on or off, or if the mode is set to manual or automatic.

A friend, who is an electronics technician, said that in computer off/manual mode the meter is dancing around because the circuit is not consistent and something is causing resistance to vary and that throws the digital meter off. He also said that computer on is adjusting the current constantly to maintain the desired level, as would just having the mode it set to automatic.

My question is, are the weird meter readings expected or does this sound like some sort of user error/inexperience on my part? Thanks

hello, I'm Spanish, and I read your post, hacerca of the machine UC2, Hinkel and I want to know if you bought and that this is the UC2, I HAVE THE THANKS clareblend-ultrablend
thanks

It has been SOOOOO long since I have used an Instantron Elite Spectrum that I will pass on this one and call in the champions. I will see if I can get Skip Mahler to give you an answer directly on this question. Wish me luck

I just talked to skip, and he said lots, but the long story short is you need to turn the RF off so it doesn't mess up the meters. He said he will call you and explain everything as well as answer any other questions you have.

Insantron is a great company!

james walker hello, my translation is not very good level of English and Spanish is not quite understand, but I need instructions on the CLAREBLEND-ULTRABLEND, THANKS
A SALUTE

INSANTROM, DO NOT KNOW FOR NOTHING

My the Instantron message was for "VickieCNY".
As for you "tikitina", what language do you speak?

James, your support is fantastic as always but you are a bit late. My post was made in May, I sold my Instantron Elite since then It was the older Elite model, not Elite Spectrum, though I have had my eye on a few Instantron Elite Spectrum units since then.

james soy española.
thank you

¿¿HELLO AND NOBODY USED UC2 Hinkel?? Anyone can help me with some parameters to guide me a little? Pleasessssssss

hay alguien que lea lo que escribo?????