I have been seeing a professional electrologist for 4 years (started every 2 wks, now every 3 wks). I still feel like we have quite a ways to go and I had no idea it would take so long! I am especially concerned with the fact that one side of my face has made more progress than the other side and the reason is very obvious - my electrologist doesn’t do a very good job on the opposite side from where she sits. Numerous times, I have mentioned that I’ve seen better results on one side than the other, but she gives me excuses like I must be getting new hair growth due to hormones, etc. Isn’t 4 years an unusually long time to undergo this treatment? Does it sound reasonable for me to look for a new practitioner?
Is your electrologist doing galvanic!?? Does she use surgical magnification? What kind of epilator? What kind of lighting is she using? Do you have a diagnosed hormonal problem? PCOS? Have you tweezed since beginning treatments? What medications are you taking? Do you feel all the insertions? Do you feel the hair being tweezed? Can you describe the texture of the hair? How much hair did you start with? Have you ever received a first, full clearance?
Four years is ketchup slow and totally out of the ball park for time to completion. Does it sound REASONABLE for you to look for another practitioner??? YES! Did you sample other electrologists before you settled with this one? My goodness, I don’t know if you are more hopeful than preserving or more perserving than hopeful??
This is exactly what i am scared off. Ballpark is 9-12 months for upper lip. I am closing on my 8th month, and i am extremely disappointed with it.
One question: Can electrolysis fail as an optionfor permanent hair removal from upper lip?
I don’t know all the terminology you are using. I don’t know the meaning of galvanic, I don’t know what kind of epilator she uses but I do know that she uses some kind of needles with a foot pedal. No, I have not been diagnosed with a hormonal problem, but my facial hair developed after menopause. The medications I am taking are Lisinopril, Simvastin and Lexapro. Yes, I feel the insertions, but maybe not all of them.
The hair that I am concerned about is mostly coarse, some dark and some white. I also have a few long hairs that are not coarse that I would like removed. I’m not sure how to describe how much hair I had - quite a bit on my chin and upper lip, more than I was comfortable with and about twice as much as I have now. There have been a few times that I have felt like I had a full clearance, but I usually find that 6-8 fairly coarse hairs are left behind and then I tweeze them myself. But then I leave everything alone until the next session.
There are only 4 electrologists in our local phone book and I just chose one of them. The one I chose listed “Board Certified Electrologist”. I didn’t know a lot about the process and she is the only one I’ve ever seen. Is there any other way to find one other than the phone book?
Yes, we definately tend to use “insider” language…it’s not secret, but it is terminology that becomes part of us after awhile! We’ll explain anything you ask about.
Galvanic is the slower modality. Each hair will take several minutes to treat. If she uses multiple needles for the treatment, you are likely having galvanic.
You should NOT be feeling the insertions, but you do feel the treatment energy as it is applied. If the treatment you are receiving is galvanic, it will be a “build-up of heat” if it is thermolysis it is a quick sting.
Four years is a long time, unless you were going to grow lots of hair anyway. My questions include: What kind of hair did your older female relatives grow?
Since you began with treatments every two weeks, I believe that you should be done by now…or at least done to the point that you have a clean up on occasion. So, my concern is that something is wrong with the electrologists technique. It is also very important that you do NO tweezing between treatments. Tweezing between appointments will prolong treatments.
A couple of thoughts regarding that “board certified” thing…some electrologists consider their state license as a “certification” and even use the term “board certified”. This electrologist may very well be certified beyond that license, but the reality is that there is more to it than test taking.
So…you might consider consulting with the other electrologists in your area.
I just wanted to comment on galvanic taking several minutes to treat per one hair, acording to Barbara. Mine electrologist uses single insertion, not multiple needles. Once the probe goes in, current is set off by itself, there is no foot pedal, unless she decides to use it for stubborn ones, which is very, very rarely. I think she used foot pedal on three hairs in almost 8 months. Current flows for about 5 seconds, and then she pulls the hair. Its nowhere near the several minutes per each hair. Not even one minute. Its only when she starts to talk where it gets really slow, but i learnt how to control that too. I know for a fact that this is galvanic treatment i am getting because i asked. She did, however told me that theyre doing "Modern galvanic", if there is such thing. if each hair took several minutes to treat, i wouldnt even explore electrolysis as an option. Id` just grow a beard and be Santa at Christmas time.
I am having my first thermolysis tomorrow, and i am really curious to compare the two.
Sandy, sometimes it might be worth the trip, and visit to a neighboring city or a town, if you have a shot at geting decent electrologist, and doing faster method.
Some of us are even considering flying to Buffalo from Phoenix, Az, to get that chance
Sanny : ELectrolysis cannot fail to treat an upper lip permanently, but the electrologist can fail to perform the proceedure correctly. She must use the correct probe size, the proper amount of intensity and timing and above all have perfect insertions. This is why we clamor and beg consumers to find someone who has equipped themselves with surgical magnification and a good lighting source. Excellent machinery is a big plus, but is not always the make or break thing.
SandyW: I would sample all four electrologists in your locale and then look beyond if you have to. These stories are unbelievable. The only thing that changes how business is performed is when market forces are changed by consumers demanding a better product. So register your complaint about four years!! Educate yourself by reading hairtell.com and hairfacts.com so you can trust but verify. Sorry for your plight, Sandy, but that is the way this profession is in some areas.
When one first starts electrolysis, one has hairs in all different stages of growth. Some are in perfect growth stage, and are visible above the skin’s surface. Others are also in perfect growth phase, but have yet to break the skin’s surface. The rest are in various stages of the shedding or resting process. Now we can’t treat the hairs that are not visible above the skin’s surface, so both the growing but not visible, and the empty follicles in resting stage are safely hidden from our attention and treatments.
The hairs that are visible can be treated, but only the growing stage hairs will be assured to be permanently removed. Those who practice first clearance are doing so because this assures a faster completion time, and takes the guess work out of the treatments. It is quite simple that post first clearance, if you see a hair any time in the first 4 weeks after first clearance, it is assured that it is a hair in perfect growth phase, and treatment of that hair can lead to permanent hair removal. Should the client continue to get full clearances inside the Anagen Growth Phase, one would be assured to catch every hair as it comes in and leave only the hairs that were out of phase at the beginning, and what ever hairs that were mistreated due to some sort of error, or simply having been missed entirely in the first pass. If one never gets to first clearance, one never gets to the point where every hair treated is assured to be permanently removed. This failure alone can prolong your treatments. Wouldn’t one rather get 90% or better kill rates, instead of 60% or less?
Many electrologists are to timid about talking hours to completion. Now for sure, we can’t tell anyone how long it will take, but we should be telling the client that we need as much time up front, as close as possible so we can do this in the shortest time. If the client chooses to do something else, that is their choice, but we should let them know that many hours up front, saves many months on the back end of the treatment journey, and soon cuts the appointment times in half and extends the time between treatments by double.
I don’t think that there are many people who are not telling clients this because they want to assure themselves of the extra income, rather, I believe that most are just trying to not discourage new clients by sounding like they are saying, “You had better give me lots of money up front and trust me that you will be rewarded in the end.”
Yes, there are many ways of finding an electrologist. Where in Virginia are you located? Try to run a Google search and see the sticky post called “how to find an electrologist” on this forum. Something is not right with what she’s doing. It should not take that long. You also should NOT be ever tweezing the hairs. If there are some left, you should clip or shave them. Otherwise, you’re sending them into dormancy for another few months and it’s affecting your treatments. You should also definitely be getting a full clearance each time, especially since you’ve been going regularly for so long.
It would help to know what machine and type of electrolysis she’s using. How long does she keep the needle in? How long is it taking to remove each hair? With fastest methods (thermolysis types), she would be removing 5-10 hairs per minute. With blend, abotu 2-3 per minute. And galvanic is the slowest at about 1 hair per minute. As you can see, it would help you greatly to find someone who is good at what they do and are using a fast method.
Are the hairs sliding out easily without you feeling them being plucked after she zaps them? If not, she’s just doing expensive plucking.
I think you should sample 2-3 other electrologist to compare skill, machines, etc. You will probably find someone more receptive to your needs to remove ALL the hair you’re paying them to remove.
The “Modern Galvanic” that I am aware of is a multiple needle technique taught by Kay Lasker in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you are having blend, which combines galvanic and thermolysis??? I have not heard of a single needle galvanic technique…but that does not mean it doesn’t exist.
Sanny, how did you like the thermolysis treatments?
I’m not sure what brand of epilator you have Barbara, but I can report that I can do single needle/probe galvanic on my epilator (Sil-Tone VMC) if I go into another program and disable the thermolysis side of the epilator. I was able to do it on my Gentronics digital/computerized epilator as well. Same with the Ultra Clareblend.
One probe doing galvanic for 1-5 minutes or more? I would not call this an efficient way to remove hair and one would need to be humming to oneself indefinitely as practitoner and the poor paying client wait for the hair to release. One may as well add some AC (alternating current) and create blend to speed things along.
I am anxious to know your ongoing thoughts as well, sanny, concerning your thermolysis experience. It sounds like blend was used for you. Blend is galvanic and thermolysis and could take 3-5 seconds per hair on the upper lip, as you described. I’m not sure why you could not get a first clearance even with blend?
Some machines make it difficult to disable the thermolysis feature for single needle galvanic.
I have worked with Fischer and Gentronics machines that make it easy to just work in galvanic. Wow, memories. Fisher. Has anyone seen any new Fisher technology around? I loved those machines back in the 80’s!
