Now that I’m close to full clearance on my face, I want to go ahead and treat my arms and legs (and basically everything else!).
Given the cost and the size of the area involved, I’d like to invest in a professional unit and treat myself. Does anyone have any hints as to what the best unit might be for a beginner like myself, or what to look for on Ebay? I’d like to spend up to $800.
I already took a look at the thread on Ebay units, but I’m still not sure what to look for. Thanks for any help.
I already had a decent chair for my victim to sit in.
I wish I had spent more on the epilator - one that does flash would be nice - and I wish I’d spent more on the binocular loupe.
From my perspective, do-it-yourself electrolysis works if you have either only a little or a lot of electrolysis to do. If it’s just a few hairs, you can put up with minute-long epilation times, and it’s probably more efficient than hunting for an electrolysis. If you have a massive project involving more than a hundred electrolysis hours, it may be worth it to develop that expertise yourself. I reckon we have done somewhere around $5,000 worth of electrolysis, all after hours and in the privacy of our own home. I am confident we are in the small minority of elecrolysis patients, though.
Unfortunately, there is nothing good on Ebay right this minute, but what ever you do, don’t buy anything from a guy calling himself “MedicalEquipmentBroker”. All his stuff if overpriced crap that was cheaply made with parts you could get at Radio Shack and he charges prices that make you believe that they are real professional quality machines. The look like the real thing in the pictures as well, but anyone who has ever seen a real one and touches one of his immediately knows they have been scammed.
By the way PalyMS, if you activate your Private Message function, you might be able to get even more help from the community here.
I’d estimate that I’d probably have at least $3500 worth of work that I’d like to have done (at about $70 an hour for a pro), so it’s worth it to invest in a more professional machine. This is the price I have to pay for being born this way, I guess. <img src=“/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif” alt=“” />
Any thoughts on units that date to the 80s? There are a few on ebay that are going for less than $100 right now. I also saw the Uniprobe Lite ($300 approx) and the Uniprobe Autoblend ($800) at http://www.uniprobe.com. Any thoughts on those? (I understand that around $1000 is standard for a good used machine, but I’m just researching all my options before I invest!)
(BTW, James, thanks for the medicalbroker tip. I wish we could get that info out to more eBay buyers before they get ripped off. Also, I’d like to enable private emails. I just can’t seem to figure out how!)
Sorry, DIY’er, I overlooked the fact that you own a Uniprobe Autoblend. Have you been satisfied for the unit? Has it been a solid purchase for long-term do-it-yourself work?
I am satisfied with the Autoblend. In the end I also invested in a different probe holder (to use tapered needles), pushing the price up by a few bucks, but anyway - it’s a fine unit.
However, as I noted, if I had to do it again I would have bought a unit that does flash. We end up cranking the Autoblend’s RF up to the max and get down to 2-5 second epilations, depending on the hair, and it would be nice for the patient to not have to sit still for several seconds.
I have concluded that the faster the RF the better, as the heat is conducted away from the follicle into the surrounding skin; lower heat settings prolong the treatment disproportionately. For example, check the label on your water heater: 120 degree water, while intolerably hot, will not scald your skin for several minutes. 150 degree water doesn’t feel a whole lot hotter, but will scald the skin in seconds.
Flash, however, is only appropriate for the seasoned electrologist who can be confident of using the appropriate energy delivery and of doing proper insertions.
Again, if I knew I was going to be using the machine long term, I would have gotten one that does flash. However, at the time I bought it, I didn’t know. So it was a decent compromise.
You aren’t contemplating doing this to yourself, are you? If so, my candid advice is that you’re better off not trying it. When I do epilations, my face is about a foot away from my patient. If I couldn’t get that close, I would have given up a long time ago. The insertions are hard enough as is.
You aren’t contemplating doing this to yourself, are you? If so, my candid advice is that you’re better off not trying it.
I actually was. I figured I have at least $3500 worth of work that I want to get done (on my arms and legs). With some time and patience, investing in a second-hand unit (or the uniprobe) would save me at least a few thousand dollars in the long-run…no? I’ve tried the One Touch, and I find it too slow for the area I want to cover.
I’m also not interested doing do-it-yourself anywhere on my face, which is, from what I’ve gathered, the most difficult area to treat yourself.
Yes, facial work is impossible to do on yourself in many areas. You should get the books listed on our books page, Starting with Mike Bono’s THE BLEND METHOD, and get an electrolysis buddy. The two of you should read the books, and work with the machine on each other after practicing on yourselves. This will get you the best results.
You should e-mail me at (ExecutiveImageS at AOL dot Com) I am sure that you know the proper way to type that in your address function <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
I’m still curious if anyone out there has any experience with the Uniprobe Lite (http://www.uniprobe.com). It’s clocking in at a very appealing do-it-yourself price of $299.
Uniprobe Lite is a thermolysis only machine. This must not be confused with “flash” thermolysis, in which the RF is delivered in the “milliseconds” that James referred to elsewhere. Regular thermolysis is an improvement over galvanic, but I believe blend to be a significant improvement over thermolysis.
I would absolutely pay the extra $$ to be able to do blend.
I also would absolutely pay the extra $$ to be able to do flash.
On a per-insertion basis, blend is supposedly more effective than flash - the lye created continues to kill tissue for some time after the epilation. However, the benefits, in terms of speed and patient comfort, appear to generally tilt the equation in favor of flash.
All that you say is true DIY’er.
I would only add that Thermolysis treatments are only better than blend if one is getting treatments from someone else, and that person is well skilled. I don’t find thermolysis to be very friendly to the DIY model because it is VERY unforgiving of errors.
I agree. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t have flash available when I started out. Looking at it in hindsight, I did not become comfortable that I was doing proper insertions until I had epilated several hundred hairs - and given my speed at that time, this was not until I had been doing it for at least ten hours solid. If I had flash capability, I would have probably made even more of a mess than I did.
Ok, well. I’ve gone ahead and purchased a Uniprobe Autoblend, since, after months of searching, I found nothing on Ebay. (Hopefully it will have a high resale value when I’m done with it.)
Thanks to the both of you for your incredibly helpful information. I’ve bought some books and am planning on taking everything slowly and carefully. I will let you know how things go. And, no worries, James, I will DEFINITELY not be working on my face! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
palyMS, now you’ve got me curious and wanting to buy one. Please keep us posted on how things are progressing. Did you get the unit from www.uniprobe.com?
Rosie, I bought my unit from Texas Electrolysis Supply, which is one of the dealers recommended on this site. It came out to $899. (I preferred to go with a supplier that I’d heard of, as opposed to the one www.uniprobe.com linked to…)
So far, so good. Because of the holidays, I’ve only had a few hours to play around with it. I’ll definitely keep you posted.
Since the people at Texas Elec. Supply are trained Pro’s, they can answer questions about equipment, and supplies that a simple call center employee could not help you with.
This goes all the way to sterilization equipment and mixing concentrates for cleaning instruments, and skin.
Paly, how is the uniprobe working out? I’m about thisclose to purchasing one myself. Also, I think you mentioned doing work on your arms which is what I want to do. Will you be attempting to do the work yourself on your dominant arm? I know I can paint my nails with my left hand, but inserting something in a tiny area is going to be a little bit more tricky.
Also a question for James. If I were to get the uniprobe, what would you recommend as a book to read to help out.
The top of the list is my recommendation for all budding electrologists to read. Mike Bono’s book is great for illustrations and explaining obscure ideas for those who are not engineers.