Question:
Home electrolysis, does it work?
Does it work and if it does what is the best home electrolysis kit to
buy?
Answer:
-Many have tried, and most (including myself) have failed.
If you want to test your luck, get the Inverness One Touch kit. Whatever you
buy, it must have a probe that inserts *inside* the hair shaft and directly
reach the root of the hair.
I've tried it twice, but doubt that I accomplished much. I fugure if I am just
plucking the hairs out without killing them, I am just making it harder for the
professionals, so I quit doing that, and have booked 32 hours with a place in
Dallas to get started on some *real* electrolysis.
I recommend that you read:
http://www.tsroadmap.com/physical/hair/
which has lots and lots of information concerning electrolysis, including
personal accounts of do-it-yourself electrolysis. -I have an Inverness One touch home electrolysis unit. Cost me $19.95 at
the local Drug Mart chain. I have been using it a couple days a week for
months. I have cleared about 1/5th of my face including my upper lip and
at least an inch out from my mouth plus some on the cheeks. It is slow and
uncomfortable but it works and seems to be permanent. By permanent I mean
that I got to try it for about 6 weeks a year ago and then packed
everything away while we moved. After a year there was still a reduction
of hair where I did it.
The gadget comes with a 9 volt battery. When I tried it with that it would
take at least a minute with the probe inserted on each hair. I pulled out
the 9 volt battery and substituted two 6volt lantern batteries in a series
circuit for 12 volts and cut the time to 35-45 seconds on each hair.
Electrolysis does not use heat to kill the hair follicle that can lead to
scarring. The current breaks down water molecules in the follicle into
hydrogen that escapes as a gas and the hydroxy ion, usually known as lye,
that remains and kills the cells that cause hair growth. The electrolysis
reaction is self limiting by the amount of moisture in the follicle.
The skin is red and bumpy for a day or so and some redness lingers for 2-4
days. I think the bumps are when soap is left in the follicle after the
hair is pulled out. On most hairs you can see a little sheath of gunk
around the root. Looks like gelatin. The lye in the follicle is combining
with natural oil to form a soap coating on the root. It is a clear color.
If it comes out with the hair, not much redness afterwards. If the hair
slides out but the gunk stays in the follicle, there is much more redness
and swelling until the body can get rid of it.
Regrowth seems to be from 30% to 75%. Not sure why. Some days it just
seems to work better than others. I have practiced enought that I can
insert the probe, turn my head and read the computer screen for 30
seconds, then turn back, remove the probe and pull out the hair with
tweezers. I can do about 50 hairs an hour this way. Yes it is slow but I
would be spending time on the computer anyway. Of those 50 hairs perhaps
half are gone permanently and the other half will need to be done again.
The first 2-5 hairs I did were misserably uncomfortable. I would bet that
most of these things are used on less than 3 hairs and thrown in the
trash. I stuck with it. It gets better with practice. I concentrated on
the dark hairs first. The grey ones do not show as much of a shadow so it
made covering a beard shadow much easier once the dark ones were mostly
gone.
http://www.tsroadmap.com/physical/hair/
This site has information on hair removal. Yes some girls have permanently
removed entire beards using home electrolysis. I will eventually remove
everything I can see in the mirror to insert the probe. Take this as a
report from someone who is actually doing it, not just an opinion.
