If you have an untouched area, which receives clearance over one session or a few closely spaced sessions AND all the hairs are permanently killed. You can easily wait three months until the next clearance. 70% to even 90% of hairs can be killed at first clearance depending on how many of the total are present to begin with. So in my sister’s sideburns, first clearance gave 70% reduction. On her hands, it was 90% or more I’d say.
I would say the first thing that determines this is the acknowledgement that telogen hairs CAN be killed. Once this is accepted, then yes, modifying and perfecting treatment for telogen hairs will determine kill rate.
So an electrologist can have 25 years of experience and not be treating telogen, another could have only 5 and be doing it.
I expect (although I could be very wrong :eek:) that she will have sterex tubes of aloe and witch hazel gel. These are okay except they do have other stuff in the ingredients.
If you want to be prepared, you can buy distilled witch hazel from boots beforehand, it’s pretty cheap. That is all you really need. You can buy some aloe vera gel from her or from Holland and Barrat (bigger tube) to use as a protective layer… it’s 99.9%.
In the long run, you can buy witch hazel water from the site where you will buy the rosehip oil, as I really like the quality of their products.
thanks stoppit, my local holland and barrat is opposite my local boots so that’s easy to source, i’ll then put an order in on the website for the rosehip oil and some other bits and bobs
thanks again, you’re a star and you’ve been a great help
Blend, thermolysis, galvanic, Sterex to Apilus will all permanently remove hair without scarring. What is important is the skill of the electrologist. Not all will do long sessions however this does not reflect on their competence, long sessions require a lot of stamina, to keep up speed and skill. Some electrologist for health reasons or shear numbers of clients can not always offer these kind of sessions. Better to go to someone for 30 minutes who is perfect and quick with every insertion than someone who could potentially cause a lot damage if they are not experienced.
Have a test patch, Anita ‘should’ be skilled and be able to give you a treatment plan to suit.
i tried to call anita a few times but it went straight through to the answer machine, i’ll email her again and wait for a response
i read on the forums that you are in glasgow on a thursday, is this still current? if so how close are you to glasgow airport or the city centre? and also do you have slots in your schedule on this day?
i considered travelling to oban but the extra journey time to oban makes it very difficult for me
i spoke to anita this evening and i’m booked to see her on thursday, she sounded very nice and understanding and echoed some of the things ive read on here and some of the comments in this thread, i’m still nervous but im feeling optimistic and looking forward to starting my treatment
i’ll keep you all informed with how i get on
thanks again to you all, you’ve helped me feel confident enough to take these initial steps
I’ve just had my consultation and a test patch. Anita explained everything and the pro’s and cons of other hair removal methods, I feel a little bit fortunate in that all i’ve done is trim the area and this shouldn’t have promoted more growth, I had considered laser and waxing at one time or another and it seems both of these can cause more problems
Anita feels she can treat the area and that i should start to see an improvement in as little as 2 months with good results by the time i travel.
I won’t lie it was uncomfortable at first, im a big wimp haha and was tense and nervous so this probably didn’t help, the area I’m having treated is quite sensitive as well and im sure this played a part. I had tried to guess how it would feel, I’ve a couple of tattoo’s and I was imagining it would be similar, I think the first couple of zaps were more painful than i expected and i sat there twitching a bit and sweating.
Im a bit red and bumpy in the area and i hope this goes away as i feel this is more noticable than the actual hairs or at least draws more attention to the area but I feel a little relieved that stoppit had mentioned this prior to treatment, Anita put some wicth hazel gel over the area straight after the treatment and I have applied some aloe gel to the area as soon as I returned home.
I’m booked to see Anita again tomorrow and I will see how I get on, initially I may have to see Anita weekly/fortnightly to get this area under management, it was uncomfortable but I guess its the price to pay if I want this area clear of hair. I believe Anita used diathermy method which is also called thermolysis.
I hope this will be successful, Anita seemed very knowledgeable, friendly and sympathetic, her treatment room was clean, modern and well lit. I’ll keep you all informed as I proceed with treatment
well as you’ve probably gathered i’m anxious about the whole treatment, it’s been about 5.5 hours since the treatment and the swelling seems to have gone down from how it was, there’s still a little redness but i’ve also noticed what looks like black dots where the hair has been removed…is the start of scabbing or something else?
i’m booked in again for very early tomorrow morning so would appreciate some input if anyone can offer advice…i think i had about 15 hairs treated and i can see approx 6 of these black/brown dots where there was hair…this is close to the edge of my eye under my eyebrow…is this a normal reaction?
not sure about the black dots but when looking at the skin really closely after treatment it is easy to see things that aren’t really there. like sometimes scabbing looks like marks??
anyway, if you are going again tomorrow (1) show and ask anita; she will tell you what’s going on (2) you will be having a more extensive treatment tomorrow so expect more reaction.
yes, it can be more obvious than the hair but in normal circumstances, the skin gets back to normal pretty soon if you experience scabbing or anything like that. once the redness and bumps go down, the scabs are less noticeable and they too will fall off later.
most of the swelling has gone, i admit when i came out and caught a look i thought oh no but i felt reassured after re-reading your posts, these dots aren’t raised as i would imagine a scab, i recall anita mentioning something about the folicle sealing a few hours after treatment, perhaps this is what i’m noticing, they are brown/black dots…they almost look like faint freckles where there was hair
i’ll ask anita tomorrow but thought i’d check here as you’ve helped reassure me and like i say im a worrrier and a big wimp and was just looking for more support and advice
Cautious use of ice packs can help alleviate the swelling and mild inflammation that can appear following electrolysis treatment. Apply briefly for a few minutes, then remove a few minutes, and repeat for up to a half hour.
I had a 30 minute treatment today. I asked Anita about the dots and she felt they were a normal reaction and were slight scabbing. The zaps were a lot easier to deal with today, I feel there are some areas that are more sensitive than others and the first zaps yesterday were a shock to the system. I think I could have tolerated another 15 minutes but Anita feels it’s balancing the sessions to reduce the amount of post-treatment swelling that I will suffer.
I’m a bit puffy and swollen today but already I can see the improvements with the amount of hair that’s been removed. I feel another 15 minutes would have been almost full clearance. Anita advised the use of an ice pack and I used one straight after the treatment which felt nice. I’ve continued with aloe vera gel and the odd wipe of witch hazel.
This morning the swelling I had from yesterday had gone, the area was still slightly pink but I can put up with that as it’s part of the course to remove the hair. I’m booked in again for next week and I hope it goes as well as todays session as I’m feeling more and more positive with each treatment. I’m confident in Anita’s skill and technique. Anita’s main concern is preserving my skin and I was impressed with how quickly my skin had reduced since yesterday. I imagine I’ll be puffy for a couple of days and I’m keen to see how the area looks without the swelling, at the moment I’m very impressed. I’ll put my ice pack on again in a moment.
Thanks for both your comments and advice, I appreciate it
