Please call the electrologist and tell her about this. Stubbly hair 10 days after a treatment would be a sign of undertreatment of the follicle. It “sounds” like the hairs may have been broken off under the skin. [/quote]
I think she just isn’t as thorough at clearing the area as the other electrolysis, but I’m not sure. I’m starting to feel some very minor stubble about 3 weeks after on my back of my neck with the other electrolysis too so I think the others are just starting to grow in I watch her and she removes them with the black bulbs almost everytime, or with at least the white root sheath. But I don’t know
I’m doing thermolysis with the Clareblend Ultra Blend on the right side and micro-flash with a Apilus on the left.
Clareblend Ultra-Blend - 16.65 hours
-Shoulders, delts, small parts of upper back, and small part of upper arms are cleared. Most of the area is bald with very little regrowth. I know this has nothing to do with if electrolysis has been effective yet because my first treatment was in mid January. In some places, such as behind the neck, it is EXCRUCIATING painful.
Apilus Micro-Flash - 7 hours
-Shoulders, most of delts, small part of upper arms. Now,on the left side, although half as many hours have been completed, About the same area has been done as with the Clareblend. However, the areas are not bald. It has stubble. And I don’t know why. I can tell you, with the other machine, the first area treated still does not have really any regrowth at all while the Apilus treated areas do. I think she might not clear the area as aggressively and leave more hairs, but she always goes back over spots that were already treated to get other hairs sprouting up. But why are there really no hairs sprouting up from my other electrolysis?
Is regular thermolysis more effective than micro-flash? How effective is micro-flash? I know it’s faster, and doesn’t hurt as much, but what are the main differences in permanency? All I want is it gone.
The differences between slow Thermolysis and Flash is the intensity and the time duration. Slow thermolysis works by blood coagulation and requires enough RF to raise the surrounding temperature above 126 deg F. Since it is slower time wise, the heat can and does travel a way from the tip of the probe.
Flash however, uses a lot stronger RF level and heats above 212 Deg F. But for just hundredths of a second. The heat is confined to a very small area right at the tip of the probe. For this to be effective, the probe must be placed at just the right point at the base of the hair follicle, or the hair stem cells are not killed. Generally, if done correctly, Flash is less painful, as the heat stays at the base of the hair follicle and does not travel as far as the nerve cells to generate a pain reaction. Also because the pulses are so fast, it allows more hairs to be treated quicker, but it does require accurate insertions.
A problem as happens also concerns distorted hairs. Because slow thermolysis heats up a larger area, it is possible for the heat to reach a hair that is bent, whereas Flash has a difficult time with distorted hairs. However, if caught the second time around, just as the hair is making itself known, it has been found that the hair is usually straight and can be gotten easily at that time. However, if time is allowed to go on, the hair will return to its distorted shape. So retreatment time for getting regrowth becomes very important. This is only a brief explanation, but I hope it meets your needs.
One more comment,
The Ultrablend can perform Flash Modality and most Apilus machines can perform Slow thermolysis. So the differences in modality are the main factors. Granted, the Ultrablends dial is in 10th of a second, whereas most Apilus machines are 1000ths of a second. The lower end machines are 100ths of a second. The apilus machines are instant on/off pulses, whereas the Ultrablend ramps their voltages. But overall both machines can perform either modality.
About the distorted follicles versus the straight follicles versus slow therm versus flash, This is really clear to me as a novice that has recently jumped to flash several months ago from blend. As treatment type and style has been attempted to be kept constant, and regrowth of treated areas comes in, the whole outcome has been telling. Common sense of course, the flat areas with nice predictable papilla locations have cleared beautifully, areas with flexion of a joint like the knees, some areas of the feet, around the hip, have shown more regrowth. It’s pretty clear and it’s really a feedback that has made me re-think my approach.
It can’t be stressed enought that flash requires the skill to hit that papilla close and direct, and blend when that can’t be guaranteed. For the sake of overall speed, I’ll go back to six-second sequential (ST)blending those areas that hair must grow in a flexing environment. If I go back to flash on flexion areas, it’ll be with more careful, slower insertions, and descending three-hit minimums.
About ramping currents. My understanding was that most good machines ramp DC to avoid the shocky feeling, but don’t do so with AC, as it’s really not necessay with either blend slow therm, or flash.
Mantaray,
About the Currents. The Ultrablend ramps Both RF and DC currents. The only case any ramping takes place on the Apilus, is if you choose the blend modality and DC current first. If you choose RF current first, both the RF and the DC hit instantaneously. I imagine it boils down to what methods the vendors have patented more any anything. I know the apilus as I have watched its waveforms on a oscilloscope. The Ultrablend mentions its methods in the manual. Flash will get the pesky hairs the second or possibly third time if need be if gotten at the correct time as the hair it first appears will generally be straight. It boils down to comfort level and speed verses proven high kill rate. In school, I tried blend on one client, and he never returned. He had already had over 300 hours on his back, and I thought a different Modality like blend might have a higher kill rate, and I wanted the training while I was at school. However, he never returned, so I have no idea how effective my treatment of him was. He stated he was ok with the current, but I suspect it must have hurt him more than he was willing to let on. You know that Male Macho thing.
Virtually every one of my client have preferred some form of thermolysis when all modalities were demonstrated for them. For some people, Flash they find the best, and others prefer the lower RF levels of slow thermolysis. I strive to find a point that is not too painful for each client. If someone comes in with a lot of distorted follicles, I will offer them the choice of either option. I really one had one client who came to see me, and did not even stay for their entire schedule. I suspect it was another electrologist who was just trying to check out my shop. I even believe I know which shop they came from. The person knew far more than most clients coming for treatment would generally know. When I made a comment that I might have to raise my rates, unless I get more clients, all a sudden they wanted to leave. Really was a strange visit.
One thing to consider in your evaluation. Flash did clear the area initially in half the time that it took for Thermolysis, is it maybe money better spent, even with some retreatment being required. But it is true, that insertions are much more critical with Flash. One need to be checking the insertion depth often to make sure they are inserting to the proper depth. This is done by examining a deep anagen hair against the probe for depth. First grasp the hair as close to the skin surface as possible, and removing the treated hair, check it against the probe to determine the proper depth. Another item to take into concern, is that blend only works for hairs in anagen stage, whereas Flash will kill some stem cells no matter what stage the hair happens to be in. For that reason, I find doing first clearing with flash, gets at least some of every hair, whereas blend is often ineffective to start because only a small percentage are in anagen stage. The more you get into the different modalities, the more you will see why many electrologist pick a certain modality that they like, and just stick to it. My thoughts are get the initial clearing off as soon as possible, and then work with whatever modality that the client prefers. That way at least I am more likely to get hairs that are in the anagen stage.
To update you guys about my process, you can see how much total I have spent below. I have cleared the entire right side (shoulders, traps, small part of upper back, behind neck at about shirt line down, all upper arms). It cost me about $1700. I have spent $500 on the other side, but I think I’m about to give up micro flash and just go to straight manual thermolysis after I can sparsen the area out.
I will try to guestimmate how much it will cost me total. I was originally thinking about $18,000.
If I was just using the one electrolysis, I would imagine it would take me $3200 for the first clearance. $2800 for the second, $1700 for the third, $1200 for the fourth and $900 for the fifth. I’m thinking about that point I should be pretty close? So, maybe $10,000…if I’m lucky. We’ll see.
That kind of scares me about how microflash is difficult on curly hairs. I would imagine the hairs on my shoulders and such are EXTREMELY curly and strange hairs as if I shave that area I get massive cases of ingrowns. I mean I would be able to shave once, and not shave for another 3-4 weeks, literally. I thought that might of been the problem with the laser too, a weird type of hair follicle. I don’t know.
I watch her and she removes them with the black bulbs almost everytime, or with at least the white root sheath. But I don’t know