Question:
Well all you girls out there, do we have some good honest experience?
Annie Brion posted a question about electrolysis on 17/3, got little
response. (very sad). There must be many who have tried it!
I am well sick of shaving - electric shaving leeves me feeling like I've
just used sand-paper, wet shaving takes quite a while and always leaves a
few blood spots.
Both Graham & Grace would benefit well from this :
So for a full face job, what sort of price are we talking about?
What sort of time span?
What sort of success rate?
I have visited Shirley web site, its quite informative, but more experiences
woud be helpful.
I fully intend to build myself a site when time permits (there's a joke :
This is the sort of info I'd love to collate for others to get instant
reference, so it's up to you all.
Answer:
As I understand it both electrolysis and lasers rely on destroying the
blood supply to the bulb of the hair in order to prevent regrowth. This
is why simply plucking the hair, even when the bulb comes with it
doesn't mean the hair is permanently removed. Both methods require that
sufficient energy is transmitted to the correct area; electrolysis uses
a needle to deliver electrical energy while all lasers rely on melanin
in the hair to transmit the light energy.
Not all follicles lie in the same direction or are the same depth which
is why with electrolysis, even with a very skilled operator there can be
no guarentee the needle is reaching the correct point. There is also a
possibility of scarring associated with the use of needles. I've heard
that without the use of hormones that permanencey can never be achieved,
anyone know conclusively?
There are gels available with both electrolysis and with lasers but
there efficiency is unknown. I think they are more marketing ploys than
anything else. There are many different laser treatments available ruby
is one of the most succesful but there are also alexandrite and yag;
they all need melanin in the hair to transmit the energy. The darker the
hair the more melanin it contains; if you are blonde, laser treatment
will not work.
Hair grows in cycles, it can be dormant, growing, shedding or non
existant. This is why more than one treatment is always needed. If
anyone says they can destroy the hair in one session they are incorrect.
Expect to have at least 4 treatments, the treated hairs need to be in
the growing stage in order to be destroyed; but you should see definite
signs of the treated area thinning with each session.
Electrolysis will be slow because of the need to treat each hair
separately, 15 minutes was about all I could stand at a time and I'm not
convinced there was any permanent removal at all. That in itself is
interesting, because all these companies are allowed to claim permanency
even if there is regrowth as long as they can show a reduction in the
hair count, sometimes for as little as a few months.
When I phoned around most companies were surprisingly honest and
admitted the treatment is still relatively new and nobody really knows
how permanent it will be; others were not. I had a few test patches done
for free (good companies are willing to do this or at least offer a
refund off a full treatment session) the results were encouraging. My
chin was always the hardest area to cover with dermablend and the first
to grow through on a long day out shopping. But after laser treatment
the test patches are relatively hair free after 6 months.
I fully intend to have full treatment sessions but to be honest at the
moment the £1000 cost is a bit inhibiting. Costs can be 3 or 4 times
as much with some companies but I found £250 to be the average for a
full face.
I hope this thread develops, I would be really interested to hear of
other peoples experience.
Alison
