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They both do Thermolysis, Galvanic (multi-probe), and Blend. I'd insist on either pure Galvanic, or Blend, of course.
http://www.electrolysis-by-maryann.com/
She even lists her rates right there on the front page. She certainly puts together a smart site at least...
http://www.1eam.com/index.html
I'd have to call them to even find out their rates, but they're about 10 miles closer to me by bike than Mary-Ann is. I don't like their site as much...
I'd estimate it'd take me between 2 to 3 hours to ride up to EAM, 3-3.5 for Mary Ann. The same back home. If I get a full one hour session, that's 2-3 x 2, 4-6, +1-2 for session and any possible waiting time, 5-8 hours spent if I go to EAM; 3-3.5 x 2, 6-7, +1-2 for session and any possible waiting time, 7-9 hours spent if I go to Mary Ann. Obviously, this means Saturdays, which obviously means if I choose EAM I'd be seeing either Elizabeth or Jennifer, and I'm not sure I'd be too interested in having someone who only got her license in 2006 and board cert in 2008 doing my electrolysis, so that cuts Jennifer out.
BTW, this -MIGHT- prove a moot point - I finally got 'round to telling my Californian sister, and she told her SO, and he wants me to call him and "not rush anything" ... he says he knows a lot of people who've transitioned before, so I'm sure he knows better than to think he can dissuade me. So maybe he thinks he should try to put me up out there and help me get things done out on the coast. Dunno how he expects to do that, they're as broke as I am right now. Well... At least they've got fairly steady income and earn more than I do, but still...
Anyways, I intend to try to call him tomorrow night as soon as I get home from work - he's a musician, so pretty much any time he's not at a gig, he's available to talk. My schedule ain't quite as flexible. If he says what I'm kinda thinking he might be thinking, I'll take him up on the offer, I'm sure there's bound to be an apartment complex out there looking for a new grounds guy, er, or girl. There'd be no reason to wait to begin living as a female if I'm away from Mom and Dad. With a good reference from my current job, that should be a fairly easy job to get. Again. However, I may as well keep my options open and keep researching on what I can do out here.
So... anyone remotely familiar with either Mary Ann or Elizabeth at EAM?
I'm trying to find something, and I have enough money right now to get this particular ball rolling.
Thanks for any input you can provide,
Abigail Drew.
Electrology
Everybody covets Sunday appointments if you can get them. Think about it, it takes a while to grow hair. Your electrologist is going to want about 1/16" of hair to first determine the direction the hair shaft is coming from and therefore the follicle so she has a guide for the insertion, she also needs enough to grasp with her forceps.
So you need a day or two to grow it out and look shaggy. Best to get out of the way before RLT otherwise there is no good time to grow hair.
Hormones will also slow it down, make your skin more transparent so dark hair roots make 5:00 shadow even worse. And it will hurt more on hormones.
Get a white facial scrubby pad at the drug store, it is for exfoliating the face. At the end of your shower run it over your facial hair to get the dead skin away from the follicles and make the openings more easy to see, insertions go much easier, faster. Also keep yourself well hydrated, if your body is dehydrated the process is highly impaired (may have to crank up the juice to compensate -eeep!) Drink lots of water and electrolytic sports drinks like Gatorade. Be well rested. Nothing worse than a client who thought they could relax and fall asleep because they were dead tired. It has the opposite effect and makes you jittery, ancy, cranky and highly reactive to every insertion. I would not work on you in that case.
Have fun, keep going, it will get done and you will look ma-vel-ous dahling!
Neither of them do Sunday...
And I wouldn't be able to make a Sunday appointment anyways - church.
Thanks for the tip on the exfoliating facial pad, wouldn't have thought of it despite the Pattengale shower scene... If that doesn't tell you I'm just a biographer then I don't know what will ;P
As for hydration... I drink almost a gallon a day, easy. And that's on cool days. On hot days, that can more than double. I didn't get the nickname Fish in high school on someones whim. Well, maybe I did, but they certainly had reason!
I'd rather drink a bottle of Propel for electrolytes if I really need to... It's a performance water - essentially just a hint of flavor, pure water, and some electrolytes. Gatorade and such include so much other garbage...
I'll try to keep the rest bit in mind. I do generally get a fair bit of sleep, but perhaps I should set my appointment for late enough that if I need to oversleep my weekday alarm and fail to set it, I can.
Thanks for all the tips,
Abigail Drew.
PS: If no one tells me otherwise, right now my gut is telling me try for Mary Ann first. I usually try to trust that.
Abigail Drew.
Reason I say sports drinks have garbage...
Propel is electrolytic, and has zero calories. Sports drinks are also electrolytic, but have generally 50 calories minimum. Where're those calories coming from since they aren't needed for the electrolytes?
I've looked up the ingredients of each, and trust me, after doing the same you'll much prefer Propel over any sports drink as well.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Galvanic
Is very slow compared to the others and all of them hurt.
Angharad :(
Angharad
It may be slow...
But it's also the safest and always attains perfect permanency, the three kinds these ladies practice are the only ones that can boast true permanency.
Between Flash Thermolysis and any involving galvanic, well, flash thermolysis destroys the nearby skin cells (think second and third degree burns, and the resulting scar tissue, all hidden under the skin until its too late), and if treated close together the problems only escalate... definitely a very bad idea on a beard, at least. And I'm not sure I'd be too interested in taking any chances anywhere else either.
Even though there's tons of places within minutes of me doing laser, laser isn't true permanent, generally speaking, and has the same problems as flash thermolysis - if not worse.
I want to be free of hair and have nice, healthy skin left behind. Not dead burned out skin. I can be patient for results if my electrologist can be. I'd rather get them and have it take a while than not get them and have all my skin permanently scarred. Or get them AND have all my skin permanently scarred. Oh what joy THAT would be.
And about the pain... if I can compound fracture my thumb and walk away like nothing happened, wash up the the store restroom, buy the cheese I'd gone after, ride home like nothing happened, and only get dragged to the ER by someone else who noticed the swelling days later... And putting my hand directly into house current just tickles a little.
Granted, I don't think my pain tolerance is quite so high anymore with my HHM and no longer being a zombie, but the dead place is still there, and I haven't experienced any pain quite worth banishing there yet. The only difference between then and now, I think, is that I'm conscious of that place now, rather than just reflexively banishing all pain there without thought. The walls between the dead place and the outside are gone and the moats dried up, but the zone is still a dead zone. And the only thing stopping the walls from being rebuilt is my own strength of will.
Well, we'll see about the pain, but a little pain will be worth it. Even a lot of pain would be worth it.
Just my reasoning, based on research, and what other members with far more knowledge and experience have said,
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
time
not sure you're quite clear on how slow "slow" is with galvanic.
Blend is slow compared to thermolysis. I had both. As a note: I had perhaps a dozen hairs in each cheek, a fairly light fuzz across my top lip darkening toward the ends, and a sort of amish-style chin beard. All dark, which would have taken me toward laser, if it had existed back then. I had thermo, probably a thousand hours, total. Now, if I understand correctly, you got *lots* more than I had. Blend takes perhaps twice or three times as long; original electro (galvanic) perhaps a dozen times as long as thermo. If you're dealing with heavy beard, and determined to go galvanic ... well, cheers! Twenty years from now we can raise a glass to toast your last session, 'kay?
Not sure why you're so anti-laser. It had arrived by the time I was doing surgical prep, and that's what I had for that area. Again, not a *lot* of hair. It got done *fast*, though, and the stubborn bits she solved with blend (so far as I know, there's not a significant difference in results from blend versus galvanic; you've constantly got new growth, until the hormones that provoke male-pattern hairiness are shut down, so I suspect some reports of persistence actually refer to new growth, not regrowth).
fwiw.
Amy!
Why so anti-laser?
http://www.hairzapper.com/laser.htm
And she's not the only one saying it, and many of them aren't even in the business at all but are burned victims.
http://www.hairfacts.com/methods/laser/laser-hair-removal/
Another site that warns against it, this a site that tries to discuss all hair removal methods equally.
I have spoken to people who have had pure galvanic done and only spent less than 500 hours total on the face - they started and ended completely with pure galvanic. Almost identical stories with blend.
I'm also strongly anti-thermolysis, the risks are just too high for me to consider.
http://www.hairzapper.com/thermolysis.htm
The images are gruesome, you have been warned.
http://iamtransgendered.com/electrolysis.aspx
This site gives a rough overview of each, and again, warns against both laser and flash thermolysis. It seems to think Blend is the holy grail of TS electrology, but I'm not so sure I necessarily agree. I'm willing to go blend though, if done the way Susan suggests:
http://www.hairzapper.com/blend.htm
Now, for all I know these quick finds and many other horror stories that you could find if you wanted to spend a few days looking are not the norm and perhaps I'd be perfectly safe using Laser or Flash, but I don't really feel like taking that chance, personally.
Now, what I intend to do when I go in for my first consultation with Mary Ann, is to try to get her to talk about her blend methodology. If I like what I hear, I'll let her do blend, otherwise, I'll insist on Galvanic.
Honestly, I think straight galvanic would be ideal for me anyways, as I've already mentioned, house current going straight through my hand only tickles. Heat does tend to bother me. A lot. Until it gets punted into the dead zone, anyways.
I understand why people would prefer not to use galvanic, it's much slower at treatment, but you don't need to treat as many times. And that's the key difference, right there.
Don't think I don't appreciate your opinion though, but in this case my opinion has already been decided.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
*shrug*
Sounds like someone's after money.
Galvanic's fine for someone with female-pattern hair. If you get three sprouts in three months, it can be handled with galvanic. If you have more ... say it takes longer.
"Treat as many times" is a misstatement. Hair follicles go dormant. If you zap 'em while they're dormant, nothing happens. Doesn't matter whether it's pure electro, or electro + heat, or pure heat. You only kill them when they're active.
If your mind's already made up, though, have fun.
Amy!