Which types of electrolysis do you offer?
I only use single-needle galvanic electrolysis. Not only do I find it to be the most effective at permanently killing hair, when properly used, it is the least traumatic to the skin.
How long does it take to remove a beard?
How long is a piece of string? I’m always reluctant to give an estimate for how long a beard removal takes. It depends on both the beard itself—how dense it is, the color, and so on—but also previous treatment. Scar tissue from previous work can make removals more challenging, particularly if there’s a lot of embedded material to extract. Prior laser treatments can severely disrupt the growth cycle of your hair, resulting in dormant follicles that re-establish themselves several years later. Consequently, the times that you’ll find mentioned online range from 80 hours to 400+ hours. In general, if I’m working on a virgin beard with a serious and consistent client, I want to go from start to finish in about 200 hours, spread out over two years, with the bulk in the first year.
Can electrolysis scar?
Yes, it absolutely can. I’d be happy to show you my own electrolysis scars during our initial consultation.
You can readily find claims online that scarring from electrolysis is exceedingly rare. Be that as it may, nine cosmetic dermatologists across Southern California have examined my scars. Each had their own philosophy regarding scar revision, but they were unanimous in their opinions about electrolysis. Oh, I stopped referring clients to electrologists. They always come back with scarring. One dermatologist even showed me her own old electrolysis scars from decades ago, exclaiming that the treatment didn’t even kill the hair!
Why did you become an electrologist?
My path to becoming an electrologist is inextricably bound with my gender transition. I first seriously considered transitioning when I was a student at Caltech in the mid-to-late 2000s. At that time, information on the Internet about electrolysis was scarce, but one of the first hits on Google was for the practice of an electrologist named Susan Laird. Susan promotes a method of electrolysis called galvanic electrolysis, and her website details her experiences with other forms of hair removal such as thermolysis and laser, specifically their propensity to cause scarring, discoloration, and insufficient results. As most electrologists practice thermolysis exclusively, her assertions remain controversial in the hair-removal industry. As one prominent blend operator writes in response to a question about Susan’s claims:
Sounds like the Susan Laird nonsense AGAIN. Here’s the problem: with a little personally gathered data people make drastic and over-reaching generalizations. It’s like the old story of the five blind men touching an elephant, and then explaining what it is: a rope, a wall, a tree, a snake?
There have been millions of treatment [sic] by all modalities and, by now, if one actually caused bad results, we would know about it.To answer your question: BULL SHIT!
Mike Bono
Mike Bono asserts that Susan’s claims are born out of clinical observation, and are presumably unscientific. With this, I agree. The stark reality is that there is no medical research being done on electrolysis, and virtually all claims are distillations of personal experience, conjecture, hearsay, and stubborn bias. That being said, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I drove the 350 miles from Pasadena to Santa Clara, and in about eight hours, Susan completely stripped my upper and lower lips of hair. Her work was flawless. In fact, I think so highly of Susan’s work that, if you have the option to see her instead of me, I encourage you to do so. She has decades of experience that I simply do not.
For reasons unrelated to electrolysis, I abandoned my transition only to restart it a decade later. By then, Susan’s website had created enough of a demand for galvanic electrolysis that I was able to find a galvanic operator practicing multi-needle technique nearby in Southern California. This operator—who shall remain nameless—left me with hundreds of white scars where my beard formerly was. Most notable is a white scar “mustache” across my upper lip. I have now worked on four former clients of this electrologist, and, having seen her other work, I can tell you that I was lucky.
During that time, I had been toying with the idea of becoming an electrologist working under the nameless multi-needle operator. I had just been laid off, and electrology seemed to be a career where I didn’t have to worry about my trans status. I had not yet noticed the extent of my scarring; much of it gets washed out under harsh fluorescent lighting, and she explained away the pitting along my upper lip as something that would heal over the course of a couple of years. (It has not.) When I finally realized that, not only was she severely overtreating me, she was scarring up virtually everyone who went to her, I decided to strike out on my own. About half of my clients are refugees from her practice, all of whom found me entirely by chance through various trans networks and support groups.