Hi everyone!

I am a lighter skinned black person with coarse black curly hair on my neck and sideburns as well as abdomen. I have previously done one laser treatment on my sideburns and neck but I noticed that coarse hair grew in where there was no hair before. The hair is very spaced out so is it possible that the laser caused the vellus hair to grow back as terminal hair?

Instead, after reading some posts by other users, I am considering using electrolysis for this area. I have a consultation with a trial treatment this week and was wondering what I should ask the electrologist to ensure that I am getting the best treatment. Also, I have the website link to this person, and from her website she seems to be a very competent person. http://www.bishopelectrolysis.on.ca/

Do any of you agree? Also the trial treatment is $20 CAD for 15 min, is this good pricing?

My last question is, are there any users on this forum who have had experience with this electrologist in the Toronto and Greater Toronto Area?

Thanks for all of your help!!


-The Green Goddess

Sounds like she's worth a try. She has an Apilus machine, which is a good modern one. Pricing sounds fine. You'll probably need longer treatments (5-10 hairs are removed per minute with the fast method) in the beginning which are cheaper. Once you like an electrologist, you may be able to work out a pay-up-front deal for multiple hours. Make sure you're not feeling the hair being plucked, i.e. that it slides out without much resistance after being zapped. Also, buy some witch hazel to apply afterwards for several days to help the skin heal. On your skin color, you also need to make sure you're not getting pigmentation.

If you want to see who others from Toronto have used on this forum, you can run a search for the city name.

In terms of laser, yes, laser is only supposed to be used on coarse dense hair. It can stimulate induced growth on a woman's face when it touches areas with no hair. Electrolysis is the right method for you if you have pretty sparse hairs.

Thank you lagirl!!

I love her magnification (what else could I say, I have the same rig) and her Apilus SM-500 is a nice machine, (although 2 generations behind being the MOST ADVANCED thing out there, as her site claims) although, with software updates, it could have been upgraded to be equal to a fully loaded SX-500 (which would be only one generation behind, but I did not see the applique's that would designate that she had that done).

Test her out, and see what your skin condition is like when you are done with a treatment, and how long it takes to heal up. That is the only real test between electrologists. How much hair do they remove, and what do you look like when they are done.

I would add Tea Tree Oil to put on overnight on the evening after treatments, for quicker healing, and one may want to continue to use it for 2 extra nights just to make sure. It will reduce the incidence of puss and scabbing.

Given her location and her equipment, $20CAD for 15 min is a very good price.

The SM-500 is no Platinum (and I know from experience!) But it is still a very capable machine. If a DIYer like me can get acceptable results with it, in the hands of a skilled pro I am sure it can work wonders.

Her name sounds familiar. I think I went to her about 7 years ago. Is she located in a hair salon in the plaza on the south east corner? I recall that her brother owned the hair salon. It's been many years so I have no idea if the salon still exists (I no longer live in TO). If it is her, she was very nice but S-L-O-W. Although, perhaps over the years her speed has improved. I only went to her a few times because of her lack of speed. I then started to go to a woman who works out of her home and also works out of Betty's which is in the Promenade Mall,3rd floor. Her name is Ophelia but I have no idea if she still works there.

Now this is the kind of help we like to see here.

I wish more people would "Pay It Forward" like this.

Hi ht2003, she is located in a hair salon, in the plaza but I think on the south west corner of Yonge and 16th. My appointment is today so I am excited!

Thanks for the Tea Tree Oil bit James, I actually use it for acne in general so I do have it .

I will let you know how this appointment goes today. And what can you define as working "slowly"?

Since the SM-500 does have an insertion counter, (although we don't know if she has a printer that would give you appointment stats on a receipt to take home) you can ask her for your tally of insertions for the appointment, and total treatment time. That will give you an idea of the number of hairs per hour treated. This can be an indication of speed. One just has to realize that it is easier to do 1000 hairs per hour when the client has 1,000 hairs located inside 2 square inches as opposed to spread out over an entire face.

If she's using microflash or thermolysis, you should probably expect 4-6 hairs removed per minute on average.